Adventure is Out There: Australia Style Part II.

July 6, 2014

Shanice made us get up at 7 so we could be out of the house when the Mitchell's got home at 8. She drove us to Caitlin's and we immediately passed out on the awful couches. We woke up to shower and after we showered and got ready, we started walking to the church. It was an hour esrly but we have had enough of the YSA members. Haha too much together time. I can't believe how rude they are to each other and how petty they are. They only care about themselves and it's sad! So we went to the church building and we ran into Tyra on our way so she drove us the rest of the way. She said that Thomas wanted her to give us his number so we could hang out this week. That will be nice because he's cool and he has a car and he's a local! All good things. 

At the church building, I FaceTimed my mother and we just locked ourselves in the young women's room and hung out in there until sacrament meeting started. We sat in sacrament and Kristine, Luke's girlfriend, came and sat by us with her mom!! She's the greatest. Then Luke joined. Man I've missed him. Ha he's a great tour guide and he's fun! 

After church, Luke took us back to Caitlin's after we ran to the store and picked up some food because she was hosting a break the fast down by the pool. So we went down to the pool and made chicken sandwiches with Japanese mayo and they were divine. I don't know if it was because we had been fasting or if they were just good sandwiches, but man they hit the spot!! We sat around and called Maree and waited for everyone to show up and then we enjoyed some pasta. Luke had to leave to go back to work and after he left, Kins and I argued with one of the elders about how much better USU is than UVU and then we went up to Caitlin's apartment and just talked until Caitlin came up. Then we watched Wedding Singer and passed out. 

July 7, 2014

Monday we woke up and went and laid by the pool until Thomas called us. We were down there for like two and a half hours and then JJ took us to the chapel to play basketball with the elders. We met Thom-o there. The guys wanted to play basketball without girls at first so I took the opportunity to FaceTime my family! Talked to mom, Katie, and Ty! Winning! Then I talked to Jeff for... A really long time. Like a long time. Haha then I went out and joined in the basketball game. While we were playing, a lady came and told us to be quiet. We were like, it's 4 in the afternoon, we can do what we want. Haha even the elders were like what the crap. Haha our basketball team was called Gryffindor and it was me, Kins, Thom-o, and one of the elders. We killed it! Won. Then it was time to go ha 

Thom-o took us, Denise, and Cela to Yorkey's Knob and we met Jared and his brothers there. Kobe and Sherry showed up as well. I played Australian football with Jared, his brothers, Thom-o, and Cela and it was hard! Ha but my team won. Of course. Haha then we got into the ocean! The brothers were like oh there's a crocodile, oh there's an eel, oh there's a shark. Obnoxious. Haha then when we got out, we showered, and then buried Thom-o and made him into King Triton from The Little Mermaid. I was in charge of the trident and the crown. Nailed it. He looked majestic. Then we left and Thom-o dropped us off at Caitlin's. He's such a gem. 

When we got to Caitlin's, they were hosting FHE. Sherry was an investigator and so she joined us and the elders came and gave her her first discussion. It was the coolest experience. She came because she wants to know why millions of people are all a part of this gospel. She wants to have her moment of knowing whether it's true or not. She just started reading the Bible. The missionaries started out by asking why each of us go to church. I just said that I feel completely welcome at church and I feel like I'm a part of something important while I'm there and it's a great way to start the week off so you can make new goals each week and reset life a bit. There are just so many reasons to go to church! Sherry said she's gone because she feels safe there. It's so incredible to hear someone that isn't a part of our gospel say that. The missionaries read a few scriptures and then they gave her a Chinese Book of Mormon (Sherry is from China FYI). They simplified it so perfectly! I couldn't believe how they explained it so perfectly so she could know what that book means to this gospel. Then they taught her how to pray. Man it was such an amazing experience to be there for that!! This gospel is the COOLEST!! She was beyond stoked to get her own Book of Mormon. She couldn't believe they were just going to give it to her! She's definitely gonna become a member. It's just a matter of time. So cool. 

After FHE, everyone left and we watched Fool's Gold. Shanice made us cookie dough during the movie and I was the only one that finished my bowl so Shanice and Kins handed their bowls to me. I looked like I was in a cookie dough coma during the night I bet, with three bowls of cookie dough by the couch haha 

July 8, 2014

We needed to take our bikes back so we got up and got ready and rode them to the bike shop. The guy wasn't there so we took them around back and one of the workers from the shop next store said to just lock them up to the back gate and throw our keys through the gate. Kinda sketchy but we didn't know what else to do so we did it ha then we walked to the Rainbow Inn and I got to FaceTime A-A-Ron!! Man I miss him. And then Jeff! What a good day :) then Caitlin came and picked us up and took us to Trinity Beach! We walked to some cliffs and then walked along the beach. It was nice azz. Then Caitlin remembered that she had to work so we had to rush back to her place and we ate while she showered and then she took us to the night markets on her way to work. The night markets were great! So many things to look at! I got some souvenirs and then we walked to the sand volleyball courts and met up with JJ! Played a few games and watched him play and talked and then we went home. 

We had nachos. Mmmm. Brilliant azz. Then cookie dough again! Then did laundry. Then bed :) 

July 9, 2014

You'll notice that throughout my posts I spell things differently. Well that's because I completely guess on how to spell everything and then I slowly find out how to actually spell it. So good luck following haha 

Christine, Luke's girlfriend, picked us up at 10:30 and took us to Mareeba! During the drive, we talked about the gospel and dating ha she drove us to her new house that she is currently moving in to! It's adorable. There wasnt furniture yet or anything and her stuff hadn't come yet! Luke met us there and then we went and picked up lunch. We got kebabs, Turkish delight, and baklava. We ate on Christine's floor ha I made a mess. Mine was suuuuuuper drippy. When we were done, her couch showed up!! She was stoked!! So we set her couch up. There was styrofoam in the box and I HATE styrofoam. I hate the sounds it makes, I hate the feel of it, ugh. I hate it. Just typing it up makes me shudder. So Kins had to take everything out of the box for me. Ha after we got her couches set up, we left to go support Luke at his police basketball game! It was our goal to embarrass the crap out of him. So as we walked up we started yelling, Luke Pennington! Greatest basketball star the world has ever known!! Ha he haaaaated it. He was so embarrassed! Mission accomplished. The police that were off duty were playing some aboriginal children and it was super fun to watch them! Before we left Christine's house, the couches had two stickers on them so Luke and I took them off and I put one on Kins and he put one on Christine. Christine found hers before we left and she snuck it on Luke and he didn't notice. So he had his on when we got to basketball. Everyone started patting him on the back so it would stay on. Eventually he noticed ha so this lady took it off for him and as they were laughing she slapped his butt and put it back on him haha he found it a little later. It was good while it lasted. Ha after the game we ran to Luke's and he picked up his stuff for the hot springs and then we went and dropped Christine off so she could go hang out with her mom and then we headed to the hot springs! 

On the drive, we stopped at the Crater. We had our eyes peeled for cassowaries on the walk there. The Crater was crazy cool! It was way down below the platform and there was a layer of duckweed over the top. We threw rocks into it and you could hear the plop echo up to us haha it was great! We wanted to throw one of the wild turkeys into the Crater and see what it would do but... We couldn't catch it. And that would be rude... Oh well. So then we drove the rest of the way to Innot Hot Springs. It was out in the middle of nowhere. There was just a pub and a campground. We went to the pub and ordered food. Kins ordered first so she said chicken Parma and then the bartender asked for her name. She spelled it out for her and the bartender heard K-I-N-S-U-Y. I really wanted chicken Parma one more time before we left Australia so that's what I ordered. After we all ordered, we went and sat outside and it was awesome out there! A fireplace, Christmas lights were everywhere, those Chinese laterns were everywhere, I felt like I was in a cabin in the woods and I loved it! And the rose in the middle of our table smelled INCREDIBLE. ha we were out there for a while. Then Luke and Kins went to the car and while they were there, this guy came out and was calling out, Kinsuy? Kinsuy? It wasn't any of our names so I was just sitting there haha then everyone outside pointed at me and he came over and said they were out of chicken Parma. I was devastated. So we had to go inside and order again. Crumbed steak. Then it got super cold while we were waiting even longer outside. We were all in shorts and sandals. Ha so we went inside. We were there for forever and then it got to be 8:30 and the State of Origin game was starting so we relocated to the bar. 

The State of Origin is a series of 3 games between New South Wales and Queensland. It's like the biggest rivalry ever!! And the winner of the most games gets a trophy that they hand back and forth each time they play. It's a HUGE series. Oh and it's rugby league. Sorry. Forgot to mention the sport. So the game came on and our food came! Win win. This was game 3 and New South Wales had already won the series because they won the first two games so it wasn't a big game but there were heaps of people there watching still! Kins and I sat by the fireplace while we watched the game. It was nice! At halftime we went and checked in to our room and put our stuff in it. We got our swimmers on and went back to the pub to finish the game. We wanted to camp but we didn't have the proper equipment so we had to stay in a room! Queensland killed New South Wales! After the game we went to the hot springs. They had varying temperatures in different pools so we started out HOT and made our way down through the temperatures because we had been freezing ha we ended up stopping in the medium pool because it was the perfect temperature! In the pool we talked about how different dating is in Utah versus Australia. There are no games in Australia! You ask a girl out, if you had a good time you go on a second date and kiss and then you're in a relationship! No DTR's, no games. The only catch is... There aren't as many options here. Ha it was interesting to talk about though! 

After being in the pools for forever, we went to our room, showered, and went to bed! Solid night. 

July 10, 2014

We woke up to Luke trying to rip our blankets off of us. Rude awakening that's for sure. The night before he said, we can sleep until we wake up! Then he wakes us up at 9. Rude. Haha so we got up, checked out, and drove for like 20 minutes in one direction just to get water and chocolate. Ha then we drove back the way we came and past the hot springs. We got to Ravenshoe and got meat lovers pizza and fudge again! We ate at this lookout point. It was looking over the windmills and the hills. It was gorgeous. And we had Bundaberg. Man oh man I love that stuff. Then we drove more and went to Millstream Falls! A volcano created this one! Pretty. Yet again. Then we went to Luke's and watched Raising Hope while Luke went and played tennis with Christine. When they were done playing, he came back and then Christine came over and we went to dinner! The first place we went was freakin crowded so we left and walked Main Street until we got to another bar. We got chicken Parma! And this place was awesome because it was buy one meal get the second for only $10! Perfect. And it was delicious!!! Mmmm. After dinner we went to the store and secretly got stuff for Luke's birthday then went back to Luke's and we attempted to blow up his new air mattress but to no avail. Luke even tried to blow it up with a steamer. Embarrassing. Eventually his roommate Boyd came out of his room and was like, why don't you guys just sleep in Morgans bed? She doesn't use it. Ha we were like, thanks Luke why wasn't that an option earlier?? Ha so then we watched more Raising Hope haha we are useless. Then bed! 

July 11, 2014 Luke's birthday!! 

Luke had to work 6-2 so we slept in and watched some Raising Hope and then we walked to Main Street to the thrift shop to buy flannel for the rodeo. Kins got a short sleeved blue plaid shirt and I found a brown long sleeved one but we thought there was another thrift shop down the road so I hid mine and Kins bought hers and then we left. We walked the whole Main Street and there wasn't another thrift shop but we found Mackers so we stopped and ate. After we ate we headed back to the first thrift shop and I bought my shirt! Then we walked back to Luke's. 

At Luke's, we decorated his room with the balloons and sign that we bought and then we just hung out until Luke got home. When he got home we got ready and picked up Christine and then we headed to Cairns for Luke's birthday BBQ! It was at his friend Barnsey's house! She's great!! All of his copper friends were there! Barnsey has the coolest pets ever. Her dog JJ hunts for geckos. She got him a gecko costume so he could use it as "camo" hahaha he looks adorable in it!! When you say, where are they?! To him he freaks out and starts running around searching for them. He also does a fashion show with all of his outfits. He has a police jumpsuit, a life jacket, and the gecko one. He walks out of the house like he's all that and walks around the table and then sits until she says to go inside and get the next one on ha then she goes in and changes him. Haha it's hilarious. 

She also has a bird named Laurie. Laurie is one of those beautiful colorful birds that I love!! Green body, purple head, and splashes of yellow and orange. Ah she's seriously beautiful! And she's hilarious because Barnsey's brother taught her how to say f-ing A hole by screaming it at her. And she uses it in context. Like when she's mad, she will call you an f-ing A hole. She hated Luke so he would get close and she would say it over and over again haha she let me hold her though! She sat on my shoulder and I fed her cheese. She loved me! She loved going right in front of my face and having me blow on her neck. You could straight up see her getting the chills she loved it so much. She would coo while I did it and then she would chirp at me and kiss me haha man we were best friends. She definitely proved it to me as well. By pooping on me three times. But I forgave her pretty quick. 

While we were at the BBQ, we talked about funny and strange copper stories. Crazy stuff happens in police work!! But it seems like they enjoy what they do. We were there for a while and then it was getting late so we headed back to Mareeba. We went straight to bed. 

July 12, 2014

Luke had to work from 6-2 again. We were up at 9 and Kins went running and I tried to FaceTime Anna and Jeff but Anna didn't answer and Jeff was watching a movie. Lameos. So we ended up turning on Raising Hope when Kins got back. While we were watching it, Luke's neighbor came to the door and we weren't sure what was happening because he was just yelling outside, Boyd! Boyd! Are you home?! So we went to the door and apparently Max had jumped the fence into his yard. The neighbor was not happy. So we tied Max up. Then Kins was in the kitchen and she saw that he had tangled up his leash so she went out and unclipped the leash and he bolted and jumped the fence and was outa there! So we chased him down and I carried him back. We tied him up again and then a little while later, Kins looked out the window and he was almost over the fence again! So she took him for a walk to get rid of his energy. I waited at Luke's because he was about to come home. When he got home, he laid down on the air mattress and passed out. Then Kins got back and we started cutting up our flannel to get ready for the rodeo! 

We cut them into vest lookin things and then Boyd gave me an old pair of his jean shorts and I turned them into girl shorts!! I'm a seamstress!! I sewed them in so they fit around the waist and I cut them to look like girl shorts. I was so proud of myself, I'll be honest. I also cut my wolf shirt into a tank top. I was scissor happy. Then Caitlin and JJ showed up and we got our outfits on, which included our safari hats, and we headed to the rodeo! Luke was so embarrassed of us. Haha we were told we looked like the rodeo clowns. My outfit got worse when I got cold because I put leggings on underneath my shorts and I wore socks with my sandals. Whoops.... When we got there, Kins and I HAD to eat. We hadn't eaten anything all day. So we got Dagwood dogs (their form of corn dogs, but corn dogs are better) and a box of chips (fries). Man it felt good to eat. After we found seats and finished eating, Caitlin, Kins, and I went to walk around the carnival. We walked through all of the shops and the food and we got drinks because I was gonna die I was so thirsty. Then we went back to our seats and Caitlin and JJ went out walking. 

When they came back, the rodeo started. It was split into two sections. The first one had a cowboy MCing and he had a clown as his assistant and they showed how talented their horses and cattle were. They had full grown bulls climb up onto a diesel truck. It was pretty cool. Then the next part was the bull riding, horse riding, and barrel races. The whole night was New South Wales vs Queensland. Every rider was from one or the other and they got points for their state if they won. New South Wales killed Queensland. But it was so fun!! I love rodeos. It was cool to see how an Australian rodeo was. After the rodeo, we walked through the carnival rides and games and Luke even played a couple! He played a shooting one where you shoot the target through a big tube and one of his shots was halfway in the center of the bullseye and halfway not and he still didn't get a prize! Jipped. It was a way fun night :) 

After we left, we went back to Luke's and got our stuff together and said our final goodbyes to him and then went back to cairns with Caitlin and JJ. It was so sad saying goodbye to him!! When we got to Caitlin and JJ's Kobe was sleeping on the couches, she had pushed them together to make a bed, so we had to kick her out so we could pass out. 

July 13, 2014

We got up, had pasta, and got ready for church and walked to the church so I could FaceTime my mother but she didn't answer so we just hung out until sacrament started. After church, Shanice took us home and we ate the rest of our leftover pasta. And we watched The Wedding Singer. After the movie, Tara (who we called Tyra for the majority of our stay in Cairns) showed up with some people and she said we were headed to the bonfire Thom-o had invited us to at church! So we went downstairs and Shanice drove us to Palm Cove. The whole way we blasted music and had a grand ol time. When we got to Palm Cove, we walked out on that pier that Luke had taken us to before and on our way to the end, a man walked up holding a big as catfish!!! It was HUGE. Kobe and I grabbed each other so hard when he threw it on the ground and it started flopping everywhere! After our minor freak out, we got to the end of the pier and everyone was just standing there. Getting Australians to follow through with a plan is nearly impossible. So I walked over and I was like what are we doing, what happened to the fire?? They all just mumbled so a small group of us just said let's go build one then and walked off. Eventually everyone started following us. We were going to go to another beach and I was so confused. I just kept saying, well then why did we come to this beach? Ha so FINALLY someone suggested we just go to the beach off to the side of the pier and I said great lets go. And started walking over there. Mostly everyone followed. Ha we had to cross a small river-ish thing that went from the ocean to a small pond and it was sketch as crap because there were warning signs for crocs. So I full on sprinted across it ha once I was on the other side, I started gathering wood and people followed me. We dug a small hole and I started building the fire. Thom-o helped me but basically no one there had ever started a fire before. It had started sprinkling rain so the rain and the wind were not helping when it came to starting a fire. I had Shanice run and grab paper from her car and FINALLY I got a small fire started. In the process, I burnt both of my thumbs. But I didn't even flinch because I wanted to look like I knew what I was doing haha dumb, I know but it happened. Thom-o told me that he was impressed by me so I'll take it. Kins was on croc lookout. Finally we got a pretty decent fire going and then it started raining, so of course everyone left and ran to the cars. We put the fire out and we had to cross back over the river thing but it had grown because the tide was coming in so basically, I got soaked. 

It was a blast though! Loved having a fire on the beach surrounded by potential crocs. :) we headed to Thom-o's after and played games. We played Balderdash and Spoons. I'm not gonna brag or anything but.... I won in Spoons :) I sure showed them! Ha at midnight we had to leave. So we went home and you guessed it. We went to BED. 

July 14, 2014

JJ was up freaking early as this day and he was loud so I was up at like 8 ha so I walked to the chapel and used the wifi to call my mother! We had a good chat. Then I spoke with Anna! I was stoked to talk to her. It had been too long. Then after I talked to Anna, I called Jeff! It was a pretty successful day for FaceTime. After I was able to talk to everyone, I walked back to Caitlin's and Kins was up so we ate. After we ate, we hung out with Shanice and Kobe for a while and listened to music and cleaned the apartment and then Thom-o came over and we went down by the pool to play ultimate spoons! 

The spoons ended up all in the pool so when someone got their four cards, we had to jump in. None of us were in swim suits ha and the pool is pretty cold. But it was a blast! At one point, we had people watching us play haha they loved it. Shanice, Kobe, and Thom-o had never played that before and they loved it so much! They wanted to play for forever haha eventually we had to end it though because we had to head to Daintree. So we went upstairs and showered and got all of our crap together and headed out with Thom-o. We drove to Mossman and went to the supermarket and got some food for the camping trip. We got like 18 sausage franks and buns ha and of course, Bundaberg. 

On the way to the campsite, we got slightly lost but we quickly found our way and found a good spot and campfires weren't allowed so we had to cook our food in the kitchen. The franks were covered in this red, balloon looking stuff. It seriously looked like a condom was on every sausage haha but apparently the Australians cook and eat their sausages with the red stuff on them. Weird. So we cooked all of them up and Kins and Thom-o tried to see who could eat the most. They each had five. I settled with two. Yeah I'm a real winner. Then we went and set up Thom-o's hammocks between these two trees. It took us a while to get them up haha but eventually, we got all three hammocks up. When Thom-o got in his, mine would raise up and vice versa ha we know we done good. Then we just laid there and talked until we fell asleep. It was beautiful. The moon was bright as and we were right on the beach. Loving life. 

July 15, 2014

We were all up with the sun. So we got the cheese, crackers, and apples we bought out and just enjoyed some snacks while we relaxed in the hammocks. At 8:30 we paid for our campsite and booked it to Daintree. We had to be there at 9:45 for our jungle surfing tour. On the way, you have to take a ferry. It was pretty fun! You just drive your car onto the ferry and it takes you over. I don't understand why they don't just build a bridge but what do I know! 

After the ferry, the road twists and turns through the rainforest. We were in a hurry, so Thom-o was passing everyone he could. At one point there were like five cars in front of us that were all pretty close to each other and Thom-o thought he could pass them all. So he goes for it and right as we are about to pass the last car, the road bends. But he goes for it. And a car was RIGHT there coming towards us. He swerved over and luckily the car we were trying to pass let us in. But man it was a close call. My heart fell out of my body. It was pretty scary. But we made it out alive. I had a map out and I thought we were lost at one point but then I got my directions out and we headed to PK's Jungle Village. The directions said the Snake House was right next door. So I went inside and asked and they said to go up the road further. But we made it to the Snake House at 9:50. And they were just loading up the van. Perfect timing! So we hopped in the van and filled out medical waivers and took the bumpiest ride ever up to the jungle surfing place. On the waiver, it asked for the date and I thought it was the 14th because I knew that we flew out on the 15th but we checked and it was the 15th that day but I didn't pay much attention (this will be explained in the July 16th section). When we got there, they put our harnesses on and gave us helmets with nicknames on them. My nickname was Pippi Longstocking which was hilarious because that was my nickname growing up! Anyway, then we went on a short hike through the rainforest and reached our first platform. In order to get to the platform, they paired us off and two people would get connected to the zip line and then two others would have to run in this giant hamster wheel in order for them to get to the platform. Kins and I were partners and Thom-o went with this guy from the States. 

On the way up to the first platform, Kins and I were flipping upside down ha it was awesome. Then on the next zip line, we flipped upside down again and were doing random poses ha on the next one we just chilled and looked around and then we were at the fastest line so I just laid out spread eagle with no hands on my harness ha on the last line, we hung upside down and had to scream as loud as we could haha it was a blast and the workers were pretty funny. We learned all about the different trees in the rainforest at each platform. The rainforest was gorgeous. After jungle surfing, we headed back. We stopped at one lookout and took pictures and then we drove back to Cairns. On the drive, Thom-o did some dream interpretation thing to us and it was super accurate!! He had us pretend we were in a desert and we happened upon a box. He wanted us to describe the box to him. The box symbolized our ego. I said mine was a smaller box and it was empty ha guess I need a bigger ego. Ha then he had us describe the bridge in our dream and the bridge symbolized our friends. Then we described a horse from our dream and that symbolized our future spouse. Ha mine was a wild black horse. I guess I'll be marrying a wild black guy. Haha then we described another dream. This one was in a forest and how we viewed the forest was how we view the world and we had to describe a path in the forest and that symbolized where we were going in life and if we had any plans for our future. Then we had to describe an animal that we ran in to and that symbolized our relationship with our fathers and then we had to describe a teapot that we happened upon and that symbolized how we see our mothers. (Don't worry mom, you were Mrs. Pots from Beauty and the Beast!) then we had to describe a building or house or some form of a fixture that we ran into and that symbolized our brain. And then the last thing we had to describe was a waterfall. That symbolized our love life. Overall, mine was pretty accurate!! A few things were wrong but for the most part I was impressed ha 

Once we got to Cairns, we got pizzas from Dominos because it was cheap Tuesday and pizza is like $5 each! So we got pizza and took it to the Esplanade and ate while discussing how we would kidnap Shanice and Kobe haha it was pretty entertaining. Then we headed back to Caitlin's and no one was home and we were locked out so we went down by the pool and completely passed out. All three of us. Gone. For like an hour. I woke up because it was starting to get dark and it was cold ha finally Shanice showed up and we went upstairs. Shanice and Kobe had to go somewhere so Thom-o, Kins, and I played cards for a bit and then we watched Gladiator. After the Gladiator, Thom-o left and we watched Aladdin. Shanice and Kobe showed up in the middle of the movie and I did their hair. We were exhausted though so we wanted to go to bed so hard. Finally, they went to bed so we could. Before we laid down, we got our stuff all washed and folded and into our bags and ready for our travels the next day. 

July 16, 2014

So we woke up at 8 so we could go to the store and get food for our flights. When I woke up, I had this overwhelming feeling to check my flight itinerary. So... I did. And guess what? We had missed literally all of our flights. Our flight from Cairns to Sydney left July 15. JULY 15. I KNEW that we left that day and it STILL didn't register the day before. Our flight from Sydney to Phuket... Left July 15 as well. As we sat in Caitlin's apartment, we should've been on our last flight to Bangkok. I was completely pissed. I couldn't even talk to anyone. Caitlin and JJ came out and we told them what had happened and they helped us look for new flights. I couldn't believe we had missed our flights. When you're traveling, days blend together and you never know what the date is. I was so furious with myself because I knew we left the 15th. I had looked at our itinerary on Sunday. And I knew. But it just didn't connect in my stupid brain that it was Tuesday and not Wednesday. I was livid. So we looked up flights and I got our flight from Cairns to Sydney for later in the day and when we tried to get tickets from Sydney to Phuket, it wouldn't accept our card. So JJ drove us to the chapel so we could actually have wifi and we could FaceTime our moms if we needed to. I'm sorry mother, I didn't call you because I didn't want to stress you out. So... I'm sorry. But I called Jeff so he could calm me down. 

As I rang Jeff, I didn't think he would answer. He never answers when he's in the middle of selling. But he answered! He asked me how I was doing and I told him what had happened and he asked if I was ok and I just broke. I started crying and being a baby and all that jazz but he was so great. He just put the whole situation into perspective for me and I felt so much better after talking to him. After all, money is seriously just money. I can earn back what I spend. But these memories are worth the money. So after I spoke with him, I felt much better. So then we spent the next 3 hours trying to book tickets. July 16 was not our day. The websites either wouldn't work, the seats would get taken, our cards wouldn't work, or the times didn't line up. It was frustrating as. Holy crap. But we got all of our tickets booked eventually. But for our flight to Sydney, I never received an email but I checked online and it said we were booked and it took the money from my account so I thought we were golden. After we got it all set, JJ took us back to his and we ran to the store to get food. We had a big BBQ down by the pool and just talked with JJ and Caitlin and their friend. Then we went inside and talked to Caitlin until it was time to go to the airport. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 5:20pm. We showed up at 4:40pm. On the way to the airport, Caitlin said we had booked our flight from Sydney to Phuket too close to our flight from Cairns to Sydney so she told us to talk to someone about it and make sure we could make it. 

So we went into the Cairns Domestic Airport and talked to the supervisor of Qantas. He said we would be fine and he told us what we needed to do once we got to Sydney. Then an issue with this lady came up so he passed us down to this other lady so we could check in. When we told her my last name, she said that our names were coming up but tickets weren't attached to our name and she didn't have the authorization to do anything about it. So she sent us back to the original man. So we had to wait for him to take care of that lady and the THIRTEEN people traveling with her and then he had to take care of a few others because they were all heading to Brisbane and their flight was scheduled to leave at 5:10. It was currently 5:05. So the supervisor had to delay their flight so that all of those passengers could make it. Then it was our flight's turn. There were three of us trying to make it. So the supervisor had to call like five people just to get them to open up check in again for us and then we had no tickets to our name so at 5:20 he just printed some out and said I'll take care of them later and then he delayed our flight so that we could make it on. So we SPRINTED through the airport. The stupid lady at security checked me for bombs so that took some time, but we made it! We got on our flight and we told the flight attendant about our next flight and we asked her if we could sit up near the front when we were about to land and she said that would be fine and that we would make it. I didn't believe her. Everything else had gone wrong, why not this? Ha but I was grateful for that supervisor. God was definitely looking out for us on that one. And that wasn't the only time. So of course our seats were at the very back of the plane. So we sat down and we both watched Divergent but we were still so anxious! The flight was three hours long but I was anxious the whole time. They fed us teriyaki beef and gave us Popsicles as well so that definitely helped! When there was 20 minutes left on the flight, we went up to the front and asked the flight attendant where we could sit and she showed us two empty seats right behind first class. So we grabbed our backpacks and I had to ask a lady if I could sit on the aisle and she could sit in the middle and she wasn't too happy about it but she did it. Ha she was like, well I'm watching a movie... I just wanted to be like, we're landing! You'll LIVE lady! I just wasn't in the mood. Haha but we ended up chatting for a little bit ha 

As soon as we landed and the seat belt light turned off, we were up and ready. We got some friendly advice from the people around us and then we booked it. The flight attendants all yelled good luck to us haha such great humans. For real. So we went to gate 15 where the bus transfer from the domestic airport to the international airport was and the lady was kinda rude. We told her we weren't on a transfer, we had booked our flights separately and she was just like, I can't help you. I can't check you in. But we begged. And we told her how much we needed to rush because we landed at 8:25pm and our flight to Phuket left at 9:25pm. So she conceded and let us on the transfer bus. It took us to the international airport and we ran around searching for AirAsia check in. We ran to check in A thinking A for AirAsia, that makes sense. But the lady told us they weren't AirAsia and she referred us to a board. So we found our flight and check in was at check in G. Of course. It was on the other side of the building. So we sprinted. And we asked this lady at check in G and she said AirAsia was closed and it was on the backside of where she was. So we ran around the desks and there was ONE LADY left at the AirAsia check in. We ran to her and explained our situation and she made a few calls but she was able to check us in. She gave us the express pass so we could get through customs and security quickly. And then we sprinted to customs. The man let us under the rope and we got our passports checked and then we were able to butt everyone at security. When we got through security, we took off sprinting to gate 31. We had to run through a small mall to get there. I felt like I was in a maze. But we MADE IT!!!!!!! They took our boarding pass and led us to our seats. I was sweating profusely. We even got to sit by each other! We made it. God sure helped us. And we made it. Incredible. I had lost faith. I really didn't think we would make it. 

So we sat on the 9 hour flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and finally got to relax. We were so relieved. Man this day sucked so hard. To be continued in the next post!