Adventure is Out There: A Bit of Italian But Mostly Australian Style.

June 17, 2014

Didn't wake up until 9. So much sleep. Much needed sleep. 

Ate breakfast. Guess what it was? Yeah. Corn flakes and pastries. Then we slowly got ready and packed up and then took the metro to Vatican City so we could see the Sistine Chapel. We had our backpacks so walking sucked way bad. When we finally got outside the Sistine Chapel (I learned how to spell it since the last time I blogged about it) we found out that either it cost money or we just had to wait in a freakin long line to get there and honestly, we didn't really care. So we turned around and went to eat. 

We had tortellini and the portion sizes STILL amaze me. It was a child's portion. So small. So we basically inhaled it and then Kins went to the toilet and she used the men's. Hilarious. Then we got gelato! As we were eating gelato, these pigeons started surrounding us and they were all injured. One didn't have a toe. Another had a huge gash on its head. It was so sad! So we fed them our waffle cones. They loved it! But then we seriously had like 20 pigeons around us and we were getting some weird looks so we left ha we took the metro to Roma Termini and then we had to catch a train to the airport. So we got our train tickets and we were sitting in front of the screen waiting for our train to come up so we could know what platform to go to and this guy who was on the phone just walked up and tried to grab Kinsey's train ticket! She wouldn't let go of it and so he just said Fiumicino? Platform 24. And then walked off. It was freakin weird. He didn't work there or anything. So we sat in front of the screen and just waited for it to actually come up and after a bit, the computer proved that the guy was right. Dang. 

So we took the train and said see ya never Rome! And headed to the airport. At the airport, we couldn't check in to our flight until 6 and it was only like 4 so we sat in front of the check in desk ha then we got hungry (surprise surprise) and so we went to the airport cafeteria and got MORE tortellini! Ha I wanted spaghetti but Italians are rude and she would only let me have spaghetti with seafood sauce. Disgusting. Then we paid and I tried to sit at a table and yet another Italian yelled at me and told me I couldn't sit there. I'm assuming that's what he said. Goodness. After eating and chilling we went back to the check in desk and stood in line because it was opening soon. The lady at the desk was so nice! She got us seats by each other! Winning! 

So we went to our gate and all of the seats were taken so we had to lay on the tile floor. We got some crazy looks because we were literally laying on the floor with candy and our backpacks and we were just encompassing our homelessness. I FaceTimed my mother and Ben-ha :) it was good to catch up with him! Eventually at 10pm we started boarding. 

Our plane was AMAZING. It was GINORMOUS!!!!!! Emirates knows what's up. The seats were so spacious, we had our own TVs, we got our own personal pillow blanket and headphones, we even got menus of freeeeee food! Incredible. We got in our seats and we were stoked. We felt like first class for sure. And I got a window seat!! And no one sat by us so we got the row to ourselves! The first thing we did was look through the movies. They had great movies! All of the Disney classics and some! So we immediately watched Sleeping Beauty. 

June 18, 2014? 

After Sleeping Beauty, they brought us food and it was delicious! Grilled chicken, potatoes, a macaroni salad, and Sprite. Mmmm. Then we watched Enchanted and I passed out. I woke up to the credits so I turned it off and passed right back out. Way good flight! Woke up when we were landing and suppendly we were in Dubai! I watched out the window while we were landing and it was trippy! The clouds were seriously on the ground. I could see sand in between the cloud packs but landing was weird because I couldn't see the ground until we were literally on it. Stepping off the plane, we got smacked with the hottest, most humid wind I've ever felt. It was awful. We had to take a tram thing to the main airport so we sat down and this lady and her little girl sat by me. We landed at 5am Dubai time and so we missed an entire night of sleep (because sleeping on the plane wasn't ideal sleep) so I was pretty out of it. I was just sitting there with my passport and phone in hand in a daze and the little girl next to me started whining to her mom and leaning in to her. After a little while of doing that, her mom leans over to me and says could you hide your phone, my daughter hates it. So I put it under my passport. But, what the crap?? Her daughter hates it? Has she seen technology before? It was freakin weird! Then she kept looking at me like she was gonna say more but I was in a mood where I would've said something rude back because I was used to the Italians. Luckily (for her) she didn't say anything else. 

In the Dubai airport, we went through security and we had to plop down in front of the stupid screen, again, and wait for our gate to come up. I had to find a bathroom and that took a bit but we were in front of the screen for forever. We were used to it by then though so we just lounged around. There were so many ladies with their faces covered up with cloth and the men were wearing those Indian dress things. We were in a new world for sure. One of the workers must have thought we looked lost because he came up and asked where we were going. He went and checked the screen and came and told us it wasn't up yet. We were like, we know... That's why we're still sitting here. We must just look lost all of the time because that keeps happening to us! I'd like to think by this time, we are pretty good at getting around ha but apparently we don't look it. 

Finally it came up and we headed to our gate. Kinsey laid on the floor and immediately passed out. I people watched for a while, used the wifi for a bit but I did fall asleep for a little while. I woke up to our flight boarding so I woke Kins up and we went through and down an escalator and they literally checked our bags at the bottom of the escalator. Like took everything out. Then we had to repack our stuff and wait at yet another gate for a while. It was never ending. Finally we boarded the plane at like 10am. Five hours in Dubai lasted a lifetime. This plane was as cool as our last one!! This time however, I got an aisle seat and Kins got the middle and this older woman got the window seat in our row. The great thing was, we were the second row on the plane so we got an easy escape once we landed. 

We had to wait a while until our plane would take off so Kins fell asleep AGAIN and I watched Captain Phillips. I was on the edge of my seat! I had gotten halfway through the movie before we took off. It was definitely a good movie though! I thought Tom Hanks was an idiot when at the end he up and attacked the giant dude. What was the point of that? Anyway, after watching that, they brought us our first meal. We got beef stroganoff, fruit, pasta salad, a roll, and more Sprite! It was delicious! After I ate, I tried watching Frozen but after she sang Let It Go, I fell asleep. Woke up to the credits again. That always seems to happen to me. 

Then I decided to read my book. It was a fourteen hour flight so I had to do a lot to waste time. I read for forever. I finished the second book in the Divergent series and started the third and then I stopped because I hate them but I read them because, for some dumb reason, I need to finish them. Pretty dumb. I got up and stretched. Felt nice. Tried to sleep. Couldn't. Tried to watch the Lego Movie. Too weird. Then they brought us mini pizzas as a snack! That was divine. Then I watched Princess and the Frog. Hilarious. My favorite line is, hush up and watch the gumbo. Hahaha gets me every time. The lady sitting by us was watching something hilarious because she was laughing hysterically. Kins was in and out of sleep basically the whole time. 

June 19, 2014 

After Princess and the Frog, they brought us breakfast! We got eggs, potatoes, a croissant, apple juice, and fruit! Super good. After we ate, I watch Pocahontas to end the journey. It ended right as we were landing. It was perfect. We were the first people off of the plane! We saw how they open the doors and it was cool! Ha never seen that before. We were an hour later than they thought we would be so we got in at like 7am. June 18th literally didn't exist to us this year. While we were walking to customs, we felt like we were leading an army because we were at the front of a huge group of humans. Ha we were at customs for forever because they have these awesome smart custom checker things but they were alllllllll down so they had to merge our line with the other foreigners ha our line was made up of Americans, Australians, and New Zealanders. After they merged the lines, the machines started working. Weird. 

After the guy stamped our passports, we had to wait in another line and a dog had to go through and sniff our bags. After we were cleared, we were finally able to leave. Gosh the Australians are protective! As we walked out, we saw a cute little lady holding a sign that said Lindsay Judd. She started wVing frantically when she saw us haha we walked over and she gave us giant hugs :) her name was Maree and she is Luke's mother. Luke is an Australian that I met while he was visiting Utah. We went on a few dates and got to know each other and then he went back to Australia but we kept in touch a little. He found out we were coming to Australia and I asked him if he knew where we should stay and he was lovely enough to set us up with his parents while we were in Brisbane! He's seriously the sweetest. So Maree should be a tour guide. On the drive home I learned all about everything we drove past and Kinsey (surprise surprise) fell asleep in the backseat. That girl can fall asleep anywhere! When we got to their house, she made us delicious egg sandwiches while I FaceTimed good ol Jeff Boyardee. The sandwich she made=Avocado, sunny-side-up egg, ham, all on toast. Holy calito it was brilliant as. After we ate, we showered (thank goodness, I felt absolutely horrific) and then we took a six hour nap. Not a great idea for adapting to the time change, but it was definitely necessary. 

After we woke up, we researched what we were going to do while we were in Brissie. Maree got her planner out and planned with us. She is seriously the greatest. She offered to drive us everywhere she could when she wasn't working and she even wanted to hang out with us! We lucked out for sure. We also saw a gathering of cockatoos. They are LOUD. They are just like seagulls in Utah. They are everywhere! That night she made us dinner and we met her husband, John. He is the funniest person I've ever met. His jokes are prime. Maree moved us into the "shed" in the backyard. It's not even a shed. It's a full extra room! It had two beds, a TV, a sink, and it was super spacious! After dinner, we watched television. We tried Australian hot cocoa which is amazing. We tried Vegemite with cheese and crackers and it was different but good! John made us some smoothies but they contained celery, beets, and other rando ingredients and it tasted like grass from the lawn mower. I had to wait until they left the kitchen and I hid the evidence down the drain. Bleck!! Then we went to bed. And Australia is FULL of wildlife at night and they are LOUD. The birds are freakin noisy. The end. 

June 20, 2014

Maree wanted us up early so she could take us to the post office (I'm shipping half of my stuff to North Carolina because my backpack is breaking my back it's so heavy, but I hadn't decided what I was sending yet) so we woke up at 8am and John had made us another smoothie (yippee....) and Maree made us this seriously delicious brekkie of toast with avocado on it and scrambled eggs with tomatoes in it on top of the toast. So good. Then I told her I wasn't ready to go to the post office so she headed off to work and I "spilled" the smoothie down the drain. We decided to take a nap since we didn't go to the post office but we were meeting Kyleigh at noon so we couldn't sleep long. So we set an alarm for 11 and fell asleep. At 12:10pm, we realized we never heard the alarm sooooo we got ready real quick and headed to the bus stop. We realized we hadn't converted our money yet so all I had were francs. But we still waited for the bus and prayed they would let us on. 

The bus arrived and we explained our situation and assured him that we were going to get money in the city and he let us on for free! We were heaps grateful. On thus bus, we asked this lady what stop would get us closest to the cultural center and she said that that was where she was going so we could get off when she got off. So a few stops went by and then she got off so we followed suit. When we got off, we were looking around for the elevator on the bottom left side when you're facing the city because that's where Ky said she was meeting us. There was no left elevator. So we asked someone where the cultural center was and they pointed and told us that it was a 15 minute walk that way. So we started our walk. Where did that lady think the cultural center was?! Ha so we walked for a bit, asking a few people along the way so we could make sure we were on the right track, and we reached it. We saw Ky at the bottom left elevator and it was so good to see her! It had been too long since I hadn't seen her. She led us to her favorite place to eat. It's called Hong Depot. I'll give you two guesses as to what type of food it was. Yes nailed it.... Asian. 

It was good! I had a rice, beef, vegetable bowl and we tried Bundaberg. Bundaberg is like "the drink" here. They make both alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks. We tried the peach drink and it was sweet as! After lunch Ky showed us her apartment and then we went to the city. All we had to do was cross a bridge and we were there. Brisbane is brilliant as. It's super modern looking but with a rainforest touch. There's the Brisbane River that runs through the city and there are trees everywhere. It's beautiful. So we crossed the bridge and we were in the mall. We tried to exchange our leftover francs for Australian dollars but they don't take coins or cards so I was only able to exchange my franc cash. 

In the mall, there was a candy store with shelves full of candy from different countries. It's great to know that America is known for pop tarts and peanut butter. After the mall, we walked along the river and saw the Story Bridge and the Brisbane temple and then we turned around and walked through the Botanical Gardens towards the Walking Bridge. The Botanical Gardens were brilliant as! It felt like we had been dropped directly into a rainforest. It was super pretty. And the Australians really support biking and running because they have biking and running paths EVERYWHERE. And you have to remember that they pass you on your right or else you'll really run into some problems. I've gotten used to driving on the other side of the road and car but I still have those awkward stand offs while I'm walking because I always go to pass on their left. I'm getting there! After the Botanical Gardens, we crossed the Walking Bridge and yes, it is strictly for walking and biking. Creative name, I know. After crossing the bridge, we walked through South Bank. This is like the hip place to go. There's heaps of shopping, there's a fake beach, and they have heaps of restaurants and dessert places. The fake beach is a literal fake beach. It's a pool basically but there's sand around it and it leads off into the water, just like a beach. 

Australia mines opal and that is my absolute FAVORITE stone in jewelry. Like I want my wedding ring to be opal. I love that my new favorite country, besides The States obviously, mines and is known for my favorite stone. Meant to be I'd say. So they were setting up a farmers market and there was an opal tent and the rings were gorgeous as!! I didn't get one. But let's be honest, I probably will. After looking at the tents, we wanted dessert so Ky took us to Cowch. It was seriously the most hipster place ever. So the lights were in the shape of udders and milk bottles, they had cow splotches all over the walls, and there were mini little couches all over. It was sweet as! And the people there were heaps dressed up. Like dresses and suits dressed up. We were in our leggings and chacos... Awkie. But I've never felt so cool just because I was in a place like that. I ordered the mango passion fruit cheesecake. Holy calito it was delicious. It came with cookies n cream ice cream. Man it was good. Worth the $11 I spent on it even though it was the size of a hockey puck? Probably. 

After our super hip desserts, we headed back to Kyleigh's. The sun goes down around 5pm here and it was already dark and when the sun goes down, it gets humidly cold and as someone from Utah, where the winters make you want to throw yourself off a cliff they're so cold, I was like pshhhhhh I CAN HANDLE ANY FORM OF COLD BRING IT ON. Yeah I ate my words so hard. My feet were gonna fall off. My arms were useless. It was pretty cold I guess. 

So Maree wanted us to meet up with some people from the YSA ward here from the get go. The second we got to her house she was like, I'll call Brooke (her daughter in laws sister) and have her put something together and she can take you to church and it'll be so fun. So she called Brooke, I had to talk to Brooke and set up something, so we planned to do something Friday night, which was that night. So Ky took us back to her apartment and I messaged Brooke and told her where we were and she said she would come pick us up. She didn't sound very excited to be doing this so we were kinda dreading it because if she wasn't excited we most definitely weren't either. So there, Brooke. Before she came and picked us up, we met Ky's husband, Bjorn. He seems like a great guy :) then Brooke texted me and told me she was there. So we walked downstairs. Brooke and her friend, Ta Paea (tuh-pie-uh) were picking us up. It was kinda Awkie at first. We didn't really know what to talk about so we talked about school and jobs and such and then we warmed up to one another. 

We went to Eat Streets Market and this was a very hipster place as well. Australians are hipsters, who knew! It was a $2 entry but Ta Paea paid for us! Such a gem. Inside, there was a mixture of food tents and merchandise tents. We made one round and checked out all of our options and then we each picked a place to eat and picked a meeting spot and then separated to get our food. Kins and I went to get the same thing but we had no idea what to get. As we were walking towards this crepe tent, we passed a girl that was eating this delicious looking pancake with meat on top and powdered sugar and syrup. So we creepily followed her for a bit trying to get a better look at her food. Then we rock paper scissored to see who had to ask her where she got it. I won :) so Kins asked her and she pointed us in some direction and said it's somewhere down there ha and so we walked that way and we couldn't see any tent that had pancakes! We just saw Asian food. Then we saw another man with the pancake goodness so I asked him where he got it and he told us to go to Joe's Delights tent. Then we found it! This pancake was called a Canadian Pancake. So we ordered and we got it and went to find Brooke and Ta Paea. While we were gone, their friend Maddie had joined them. 

We went and sat at the live concert to eat our food. So much fun!! The girls were hilarious and we had to describe a hipster to Ta Paea and we saw a couple from the singles ward there on a date and apparently it was like HUGE that they were on a date. It was the second date and they were clearly in love. Ha dating for LDS singles here is crazy. The ward encompasses a huge area and there aren't many eligible people to choose from to date. So when a couple happens, people get excited! Ha it was such a fun night! The girls were hilarious and super fun to talk to. They told us about Matt Inglis and how he is the hot one in the ward and all of the girls love him and he has an incredible beard so we tried to Facebook stalk him and he had apparently deleted his account temporarily so Maddie called him to see why ha then they told him that two American girls were there and they said he could choose between us when we saw us haha so then it turned into a joke that him and Kins were meant to be together so she just had to meet him. 

When Eat Streets Market ended, we left and Brooke was gonna take us home but it was only ten! And that was too early to go home on a Friday night. So she called her friend Tyler and told him we were coming over. When we got there, there was a couple watching a movie on the projector and then there were six people crammed into one kids bedroom watching YouTube videos haha it was a pretty funny sight to walk in to. We met Matt Baker, who was the owner of the room everyone was in, and he was super great! He is a designer for amusement parks! He works for an amusement park in Australia but in July, he's going to the States to try and get a job with Disneyland!! Brilliant as! The other people in the room, we met, but they weren't super interested in knowing us ha so when we got there they slowly left the room. Haha we had tried to call Matt Inglis but he didn't answer but he called back when we got to Matt Baker's so I talked to him. I told him there's four very attractive women (Maddie had gone home) at Matt Bakers and he needed to come over. So he said he would after whatever he was doing was done. So we told Kins to primp herself. Hahaha 

We talked to Matt Baker for a while and it was a blast getting to know him! Then Matt Inglis showed up with his friend Michael. They thought I was hilarious. Haha I mean, who wouldn't. Michael has traveled everywhere so he told us all about Thailand and what to do there. We also learned a lot of the Mormon culture in Australia. It is all of the Australian LDS members' plan that if they aren't married by the age of 25ish, they are going to move to Utah. There's plenty to pick from. So the hunger for marriage isn't only a Utah thing. It's a Mormon thing. But it's worse in Utah. It's all making sense now :) I thought that Utah was just desperate to get married! The only difference is the age that people decide is "almost too late" to get married! In Australia, when you're between 25-27 it's like ok I gotta get my act together if I wanna get married. In Utah it's like holy crap I'm 23 and single! I'm never getting married! 

Anyway, they were funny. We talked until 4am. Then we decided to call it a night. Brooke took us back to Maree's and we had to sneak back to the "shed" without waking anyone. Maree and John are up every morning at 5:30 so we were cutting it close. I felt like I was in high school again, trying to sneak back into my house when I had snuck out (confession mom... I snuck out, sorry, we'll talk about it later...). Then we were immediately dead to the world. 

June 21, 2014

This was our day to be with John and Maree. So of course, Maree woke us up at 8am, just to get an early start. I wasn't able to function much. Brekkie was a blur. Eggs on toast again though and it was brilliant as, I do remember that much. John made us smoothies. Again. Man I was starting to feel bad for wasting them but I hate them! So the second they left the room, it was down the sink. Then we got ready, packed some snacks, and headed to Lone Pine. Lone Pine is a koala sanctuary and basically a zoo of Australian animals. 

When we got there, Kins and I were five years old again. Maree and John led us everywhere and took pictures of us on their camera and everything. We just embraced it. They took our picture by the sign first off. Then they paid for us :) they're seriously the greatest. Once we were inside, we went to the sheep dog show. And that was funny. They had two dogs, a Border Collie named Hunter and an Australian Shepherd named Rex, and Hunter was new so the trainer had him get the sheep to come down to us, go over a bridge, go under some thing, and go between the poles. It was awesome! There were like 10 sheep. Rex was freakin out because he wanted to help so she finally let him. Hunter was a bit timid with the sheep, he wouldn't touch them. But Rex full on pushed them back into shape ha they got the sheep into their cage thing and to get them to gather together, Rex stands on them and then lays down on top when they're all together. Haha after the show, Kins and I took a selfie with Rex. Maree videoed the whole thing for us. That started my "selfie with the animal" phase. After we saw the show, we saw furry chickens haha they were hilarious looking! They had full on Afros. Haha then we saw miniature horses and they are adorable. And that's when we headed to the kangaroo feeding area. 

It was a giant open space full of kangaroos and ducks and pigeons. There were wallabies and medium kangaroos and big kangaroos and momma kangaroos and little kangaroos. Ahhhh it was a blast!!!! I was super timid at first. I had only heard scary things about kangaroos! I heard that if you seem to be a threat, they'll kick you or punch you. So I was nervous. But I went for it. I knelt down and a kangaroo came right up to me and I petted it. They are weird looking animals up close. They're feet are just two toes. One is HUGE and it's got a giant claw on the end and then there's a baby one off to the side. Their tails are thick as! So big! And their little hands are like human hands. I warmed right up to them though! We went from kangaroo to kangaroo just petting them like crazy and talking heaps of pictures! John was provoking them. He would grab their tails and pull, he would grab their arms and drag them. He made me nervous so I left him ha I took a selfie with a kangaroo as well. It was a good one. 

On our way out, we saw an emu and this was definitely my favorite selfie. Hands down. Emus are creepy first of all. So I was hesitant. But I went for the selfie, and he full on leaned in towards me for the picture. I was DYING at the picture hahahaha I laugh still when I think about it. Maree loved it haha when we were about out, we saw a kangaroo laying on the ground and its stomach was moving. So we walked over and there was a Joey in her pouch!! We could see its legs and hands. Then it poked its little head out! It was so cute!! The pouch is nothing like I thought though. I thought it was just like a pocket on pants. Just attached to them like that kinda. But it's all pink and fleshy and weird inside ha it looked like the Joey was crawling out of her stomach. But it was cool to see for sure! 

As we were leaving, we walked out of the entry on accident. A man walking in decided to loudly comment "they must not know how to read". Why do people feel the need to make comments like that? Was he in a hurry to see the kangaroos? Does that really necessitate a biting comment? Gosh that bugged me. I hate people like that. Anyway ha after the kangaroos, we went to the koalas! They are so cute. They just hug those branches and sleep. What a life. We walked past Australia's biggest lizard as well. We saw snakes but I won't even talk about them because I hate them so much. Then we watched a show about birds and we learned about owls and these little green birds that belong in the parrot family. They are super colorful! Green back and tail but orange and yellow stomach and purple heads. They are very pretty birds. Then we learned about dingoes! They raised it in captivity so it is very trained but we learned they attack babies and such in the wild. I've never seen a dingo. They look like fox dogs. They're very pretty dogs as well. I took a selfie with the dingo as well. Haha 

Immediately following that show, there was a koala show! Koalas aren't bears and they are in the same family as kangaroos! I had no idea. They look hilarious when they stretch ha they put both legs out and point their toes like dancers and then they raise on arm in the air and scratch with their other hand haha so human like. She brought a koala out so we could put him and take pictures but we could only touch his back because apparently they are very sensitive. They'll scratch if you scare them or anything. So I took a selfie with the koala. I don't know why though because Maree paid for me to go and hold a koala and take a picture with it!!! She's the sweetest! So I got to hold Violet. The trainer said not to move my arms at all because Violet was very tense because she was sick of being held. I could feel how tense she was. They placed my hands in front of me and set Violet there and put one arm on my shoulder and the other right above my chest area... When she would tense, I could feel her claws. It was kinda scary a bit haha so fun though!! I was so glad I did it! The trainer said Violet liked me because she wasn't twitchy ha so I call that a win! 

After that excitement, we saw some cockatoos and Maree kept saying hello cockie. Hello cockie. And it responded!! It said hello! Maree is an animal whisperer. If you haven't noticed, Australians abbreviate everything by shortening it and adding ie to the end. Ha after the cockatoos, we saw fruit bats. Holy crap I hate them. I hate Utah bats but these bats are at least ten times bigger. Their wing span is that of a hawk. They are huge. And creepy. Blah. While we were by their cage, two bats were going at it. They looked like they were fighting but when they parted, we heard Maree "oh look! Look, its thing is out! it's penis! It looks like a piece of licorice!" Hahahaha and it was even funnier to hear that in an Australian accent. So we left ASAP. Ha we headed back to the kangaroos because we missed the big kangaroos that were apparently further up in the field! So we went up there and some way nice people from Georgia gave us some food to feed the Roos! That was super fun to do!! The little ones grab your hand and pull it closer as they eat. It's adorable! Ah it was such a blast!! After that, I picked up my koala picture and we went to the platypus area! They are weird looking animals as well haha part otter part duck. Weird. But kinda cute. But weird. Haha they're quick little swimmers! On our way to the exit, we saw Tasmanian devils. They look like the ROUS's from the Princess Bride!! The one we saw was pacing back and forth and he wouldn't stop. He was determined. Haha then we left Lone Pine. As you exit, you walk out through the gift shop and we saw some safari hats and just tried them on and then looked around a bit and Maree and John were their brilliant selves and they bought us some safari hats!! They are forest green with orange and yellow kangaroos on the front and it says Australia under them. They're sweet as!! We wore them the rest of the day. 

After Lone Pine, we got lost. We were driving aimlessly with John trying to direct Maree and Kins and I snacking in the back haha it was pretty funny. Eventually we found the car dealership that we were looking for. Maree wanted us to help them buy a car. When she said she wanted our help, I thought she just wanted us to be there. Nope. She meant she wanted our opinion on the cars and how we felt about them and what we think she should do. Haha when we got there, we met Warren. He was the car salesman. He loved us. He offered us jobs. We were dancing to the music playing at one point and he said he would love to take us out one night because we would be fun at a club. He was like 50. We stopped dancing. 

Maree was choosing between two cars. One small. One bigger. So we went back and forth between the cars. Sitting in the backseat. Seeing how spacious it was. Trying out the far backseat. Everything. We were the car models basically. Maree asked us what we thought about the cars and what we would choose. While Maree and John were discussing, Warren gave us candy and more candy and more candy. It was awesome. Then we got some water bottles! Killing it. While we were sitting and watching them fill out the paperwork for the bigger car and Kins full on fell asleep at the desk. Warren found that to be hilarious haha then after two and a half hours of car hunting, we left. We headed home and when we got there, we started dinner but Maree's daughter called and invited us to the Illumination Festival so we ate super quick and went! 

At the Illumination Festival, there were little tubberware containers with the battery powered candles inside floating in the pond. There were thousands of them! There was also an air balloon and lit up water crafts out on the lake. There were little tent shops and fire twirlers and they set a statue on fire on the beach. It was fun!! Everyone had latterns and they had fireworks! It was a good night out. We also met Kent and Linda, Maree's daughter and her husband and Jared and Carrie, Maree's son and his wife! They are the best family. Kins and I bought matching bracelets with elephants, infinity sign, and a tree charms on it! I also bought a Harry Potter bracelet!!! It had the snitch, the Deathly Hallows, and an owl on it!! So prime. Then we went home, had hot chocolate, and went to bed! 

June 22, 2014

This was our chance to sleep in! Maree and John had church at 9 and the singles ward wasn't until 1 so we slept!! I woke up at 10:30 so I could shower and then we didn't John's smoothie! No waste for the day! So we made our own brekkie and got ready for church and Brooke came and picked us up. We got to go to church by the Brisbane temple!! It was amazing! We looked homeless. We were in our Chacos and our dresses. Whatevs. Rockin it. 

We got a lot of weird looks when we walked in. Didn't know if it was because of how we were dressed or that we were new but we got them looks! Sacrament was cool in the Australian accent. And there were heaps of missionaries there! A girl had just been baptized so she got confirmed in sacrament and that was cool to be a part of. After sacrament, we got bombarded. Person after person wanted to meet us. We met Mark and Bronny right off the bat. Then we went to Sunday School and met Liberty and we saw Michael and both Matts there! After Sunday School, Liberty took us to the kitchen to get watermelon and she heard about our travels and was stoked we were going to Cairns! She wanted to join us! She was very soft spoken, we could barely hear her haha in the hallway, we walked past some boys and they heard us talk and they looked at us amazed and said Americans! Ha after, we went to Relief Society and everyone stared at us. There was a sister missionary that was giving us the STAREDOWN. I was like what do you want?!? Freak! She stared at us the whole lesson. Goodness. 

After the lesson, we met Julia, Kristine, Julie, Sarah, Justin, Austin, and a million others. We took a walk around the temple and then we came back and some other people approached us. They liked our accents :) ha then Liberty came out and wanted to take pictures with us and then she took her hair out of her ponytail and threw her head back and started taking selfies.... While we were all watching. Awkies. Then we found Brooke and left. 

Brooke dropped us off and Maree made us dinner. We were going to go feed the possums after but we ran out of time and so Brooke came and picked us up and we went to a YSA house party thing at Michael's house. Super nice house! We met a ton of people there as well. Simmo, Paulie, a guy here, a guy there. Too many names!! They made fun of my wolf shirt. Rude. They thought we were hilarious. Brooke said we were a big hit! Ha she said they loved us! Ha we were there a while and then Brooke took us home. So after a successful day, it ended well :) 

June 23, 2014

On Monday, I woke up at 9 so I could FaceTime Jeffrey and watch the USA vs Portugal game! But I couldn't find the remote! So Jeff updated me. Ha Maree met Jeff and she was very excited she did haha we talked for a while and then I woke Kins up and we got ready. I gathered the stuff I wanted to ship to North Carolina and we walked to the post office wearing our safari hats ha we looked gooooood. So we shipped the package off to Jeffrey and we got on the closest bus! We asked the bus driver if it took us remotely close to the cultural center and she said it would at least get us to the city ha so we got on. She asked us if we were students and we said sure and so she gave us the student discount even though she knew we weren't students at all. Ha whoops. 

She told us to get off on the last stop and so we did and we had to walk back through the mall and over the bridge from the other day. We were late meeting Ky and so we ran over the bridge ha we looked real good in our running clothes and safari hats and sunglasses. We got to Kyleigh and she had her friend Emily with her and her husband! So we walked back over the bridge and went to lunch at Vitiano's. We had to wait in line and they made our pasta or pizza right in front of us! It was cool. So when me and Kins got up to the front he asked what I wanted and I hadn't decided yet so I told him all of the things I was thinking about and he started making something. I thought he was making what Kins wanted so I kept talking. I was like yeah I don't know what I want, what do you think? And he said miss you can't change your mind I already started making yours. So I had to eat whatever he made me haha it was alright. But not what I would've chosen! Ha but oh well. 

After lunch, we parted from Emily and Bjorn and Kyleigh took us to where we were going abseiling. Abseiling is like repelling! Our mentor was named Blair and we had to walk up about 100 stairs each time we wanted to go abseiling. It was exhausting!! Ha the view was beautiful though!! It was in front of the Brisbane River and the city. At first, abseiling was alright. It took a bit to get used to. But once I got the hang of it, I absolutely loved it!!! He told me a few tricks that you can do and so I started trying them. I was able to do a 360!! He was pretty impressed ha we became good friends with him. We went like 9 times and it was such a blast! Those stairs were killers though. Every time I walked them I would do the awkward stand off with the runners that were running up and down the stairs ha our time was up and so we left and went to take the ferry across the river! It was mind boggling. The prettiest view I've ever seen. We sat on top of the boat in the front and the sun was setting and the city was slowly lighting up. It was amazing. I can't even explain it. We rode the ferry for a while and then we got off at the Walking Bridge and walked across. Maree told us to meet her at the car park by the university and the Botanical Gardens at 7 so we found where we needed to meet her and we had a while so we went to find a place to eat. 

We found the Red K Cafe and it was this tiny karaoke Asian restaurant place. Super hole in the wall. We thought it would be entertaining to listen to the Asians karaoke but they didn't put us in that room! I was upset. They put us in the TV room and this strange movie was playing and we got strangely into it. Weird. We just ordered chicken and rice and they brought it to us and the chicken had bones in it. It creeps me out to eat meat off the bone. So I didn't enjoy that fact. And it was just a weird place! No one was there! Strange. So we went to pay and it was Kins' turn to pay. Her card got declined like seven times before it finally worked. Our cards suck here. So then we started walking towards where we thought we were meeting Maree and John but we borrowed a kids phone to call them just in case. So we went to the spot and sat on this bench and they came and picked us up! We parked and went into the Botanical Gardens with bread and apples in hand. We saw those freaky looking fruit bats there. Like heaps of them. Gross. I hate them! We went into the middle and Maree and I peed in the wilderness hahaha and then we went and each found a tree and used the bread and apples to lure possums out of the trees. 

It took me a while to get a possum to come to me. Maree kept having them come to her and then I would go and join her and they would run back up the trees. Finally I lured one down. It was adorable! They would take it out of your hand and eat it out of their little human hands right in front of you. Their little apple chews were seriously cute. I found one that quickly became my best friend. He trusted me and I fed him very well. Probably too well. Oh and I forgot to mention that.... It's illegal to feed the wildlife. Maree and John are such rebels. It was so much fun!!! Ah I loved it. But Jenna their granddaughter was with us and she's a freakin Vegan know it all. Ugh she pissed Kins and I off so hard!!! She never wears a bra. She's picky. She's high maintenance. She thinks she knows every darn thing. Holy calito we wanted to kill her. She was there and she would just randomly break out in song. She loved the sound of her own voice. Man. Hate hate hate. We think that Maree and John loved us because we are better grandchildren than Jenna ever will be. Ok rant session over. But seriously. The worst. 

After feeding the possums, we left and we ate dinner at home and we had party bread! It's just butter on bread with sprinkles all over. And it's actually way good! Try it! Then we had a super good chat with Maree about marriage. She gave us some way good advice. She told us that there's 80% of people that we like and 20% that's hard to deal with and marriage is about knowing that 20% and still loving that person and working with them towards a successful marriage. Communication is huge. Maree knows heaps. I'm grateful we stayed with them :) after our chat, we went and packed up and then went to bed. 

June 24, 2014

We woke up to Maree knocking on the door and having a panic attack about being late. We still had a good 40 minutes to go before we needed to leave ha so we got up and got our bags together and went inside to eat brekkie. The cereal they gave us was called Nutty Crunch but Kins just went to town on it because the box said surprise cereal. So she swallowed some due to the intensity of Maree and how fast we needed to get ready. She immediately noticed that she had ingested a peanut so she ran off very elegantly I might add, and took some Benadryl. Maree was very confused and I told her what had happened. She immediately threw her hands over her mouth and freaked out a bit. "Oh no the cereal is called nutty crunch I didn't even put that together oh no oh no!" Then you hear John pipe in "well duh Maree the cereal is called nutty crunch. Of course it has peanuts." Hahahaha way to lighten the mood John. So Kins came back and she was fine but her stomach hurt. So after that fiasco, we drove to the airport. Maree dropped us off and we said our goodbyes. They were an absolutely incredible family to stay with. 

Kins and I were on different flights. Mine was first at 8:55am and so I had to go through security without Kins and she had to stay back because her flight didn't leave until 11:55am. I boarded and I was in the third row at the window! The perfect seat! I slept the whole flight. I woke up when we were landing and the sights out the window were beautiful! After landing, I sat down by the baggage claim and journaled and listened to music while I waited for Kins. My flight had landed before she had even left so I had like three hours to kill. But it was nice just sitting there and doing nothing. 

So Kins got there finally and we looked around for Caitlyn (Luke had asked her to pick us up) but we didn't see anyone so we borrowed a phone and called her. She told us to go to the pick up zone and her and her husband JJ would be there soon. They picked us up and drove us back to their place. They are hilarious. They just got married in January and their story is seriously exactly like a situation I'm in currently. Crazy. We all showered and talked for a while and watched the sunset and then JJ left for his church meetings and us girls went out to dinner with Caitlyn's friend Sami. We went to this Asian place and I got teriyaki chicken and Kins got this egg noodle pork thing and we split both of them and shared! We're cute. We had to use chopsticks. And that was rough but I got the hang of it. 

After dinner, we parted from Sami and drove to get some petrol. We saw an aboriginal on the side of the road! Cool! Then we headed home and set our bed up. We stole their house mates queen bed. Hopefully she doesn't come home tonight. We moved it out into the living room haha then we all watched 27 Dresses and after the movie ended, we ended the day :)