June 4-6

June 4-6
Location: Jackson House- Hunter Valley NSW
We left Dubbo at around 8:30 am to make our way to the Hunter Valley. We saw a lot of dead animals (mostly kangaroos and foxes) on the road on the way and hardly any live animals which was disappointing. We went for tea to one of my host moms house, Felicity and then made our way to the Jacksons house were we are staying for a few days. After arriving at the Jacksons we went to our second rotary meeting in as many days in Cessnock, which was not the club that hosted me but I went to lots of their meetings because my host mom was a member there. The dinner at the Cessnock club has now set the standard for all rotary meals because we had lobster which was terrific!
The next day we did a trip to nearby Newcastle to have a look at the beach that I went to all the time when I lived here. We saw lots of dolphins and a playful seal, all having fun in the water. Later that night we went out to a local art show and then out for a fancy dinner.
Saturday we fulfilled another of my must-do items on my list by doing a Hunter Valley wine tour. Steve and Janette (my host parents) drove around to 5 of the better wineries in the area where I really liked both the champagnes and dessert wines (also known as butterfly pee). For dinner we made garlic prawns (at my request) as they are a favourite!
Favorite Moment:
Janette- Having sunshine today
Steve-Waking up and realizing that he’s still alive
Madison- Winery tour a nature walk lead by Sara
Sara- Winery tour and seeing the dolphins.

June 1-3

June 1-3
Location: Dubbo New South Whales
On June 1st Madison and I got the bus to Surfers which took about two hours and then got our rental car. We spent the next 12 hours driving to Dubbo. I drove the entire way while Madison played DJ, snack provider and most importantly, navigator. We stopped only 3 times, for lunch, and twice for petrol, we skipped dinner even!
Our first full day in Dubbo we went to the zoo with Michael, my host brother (who had been in Hungary when I was living with his family). We saw more types of animals than we had seen at the Australia Zoo and because it’s an open plains zoo (which means that the enclosures are huge and are quite natural environments) we could drive through the zoo instead of walking the entire thing.
That night we went for dinner at a pub with my whole host family, mom Jenny, Dad Peter, sister Louise and brother Michael.
The next day I went to school for a few hours with Louise who is a teacher and I answered questions about Canada for 2 of her classes. Some students had some pretty silly questions such as “Do you have Saturdays and Sundays in Canada?”
That night the four of us (Madison, Michael, Louise and I) went to the Rotary meeting for the club that sponsored us to all go on exchange, Louise went to Poland, Michael to Hungary and then me there. I was informed that I was to give a speech as we walked in which made me a little bit nervous but they all seemed very keen to hear what I have been up to since I left Australia 5 years ago.
Favorite Moments:
Sara- The zoo and seeing my host family and rotary people again.
Madison- Showering without flip flops on and the zoo.

May 28-June 1st
Location: Byron Bay
Entry by Madison
I was not sure how Byron Bay would be at first because as soon as we got off the bus our hostel picked us up and the girl didn’t say one word to us and drove crazy and yelled at other cars. Luckily she wasn’t a good indication of how our time was. We spent a lot of time suntanning and Sara did some swimming in the ocean and body boarding. There were lots of shops to walk around and one night we went to listen to some local music at a place called Train and then to The Beach hotel (which used to be owned by Crocodile Dundee!).
Our last day it poured rain all day so that really cut into our suntanning time, we are hoping for suntans in Thailand!. The hostel was nice and our room was a big 4 bed dorm so we weren’t bugged at all. My bug bites were still in full force by I’m fairly positive it wasn’t bed bugs. I’d wake up in the night every once in a while and have a bug bit scratch-a-thon which wasn’t enjoyable. We were up early on June 1st and took the greyhound at 7:30 am back to Surfers, it rained our whole walk to the bus station but only took 10 minutes so we survived.
Favorite Moments:
Madison: Laying on the beach tanning
Sara-All the good shopping and finding books at the book exchange shop.

May 27

May 27
Location: Surfers Paradise
Today was a great day as I got to connect with one of my Dubbo friends Kiera. Kiera picked me up in Surfers and drove me around to all of her favourite spots over about 6 hours. I saw the neighbourhood that she used to live in and also the one that she lives in now as well as some of the places she has worked. She caught me up on all of the gossip about our school mates in Dubbo. Kiera, her mom and brother moved to the Gold Coast after Kiera was accepted into aestheticians’ college, then she went back to school after that and is qualified to work for a plastic surgeon.
When I got back after my tour with Kiera, Steve and Jay were preparing to leave on their plane back to Brisbane and that was a bit of a sad goodbye because they had been so much fun!

May 26

May 26
Location: Surfers Paradise
What a day! Jay and Steve, our Australian roommates ended up being able to convince Madison to go out last night which was fantastic because I hadn’t been able to convince her to do it yet. There was a Scottish guy, Lee, and between the three of them us two girls were significantly outdanced! They all had some fantastic dance moves! Today the boys had several more items to accomplish on their lists so we joined them for most of those. These things included Jay getting his nipple pierced, Steve finishing a McDonalds Combo meal in under three minutes and completing a centurian (100 shots of beer in under 100 minutes) which Madison and I also took part in but were unsuccessful in completing. Later that night the boys decided that we couldn’t go to bed until we had experienced an Australian favourite—which is fairy bread. Fairy bread is white bread with butter on it with colored sprinkles put on top.
Favorite moment:
Madison- Hanging out with Steve and JaySara- Listening to Jay yell during the nipple piercing

May 24/25

May 24/25
Location: Surfers Paradise- Queensland
Yesterday we made the 3 hr trip from Mooloolaba to Surfers Paradise. We are a little bit concerned about getting any further south because of the floods that are washing out the roads. I was very sceptical of our hostel when we were picked up in a very old, tacky limo and then showed to our room where our beds seemed to be in the lounge and there was a condom on the table. Turns out its an apartment style hostel so we have a kitchen and bathroom that we share with 6 other backpackers in our apartment. Last night there were 4 Swiss people in the bedroom that were very loud and an American guy and tonight the Swiss people are still here but two Australian guys came who are really funny. They are filming a mockumentary where they are doing crazy things that are on their bucket lists (things to do before they kick the bucket)
Favorite Moments:
Madison: Sara getting mad at the man trying to sell us pubcrawl tickets
Sara: Talking to Andrea on skype!

May 23- Australia Zoo

May 23
Location: Mooloolaba/ Australia Zoo
Entry by Madison
Today was zoo day! I was up bright and early like usual and our hostel had a free breakfast, so we ate and then headed to the bus to go to the zoo! It was pouring rain but Sara wanted to keep a positive attitude and plus she ended up with a really cool poncho from the gift shop because of the rain. As soon as we walked in we got to feed elephants and were the zoo workers favourites because of our enthusiasm, it was a tough crowd! Next we went to the crocoseum and they put on quite the show. Sara won a poster for her amazing monkey impression (in reality she sounded like a seal/howling dog). After lunch we went and hung out with the kangaroos which was really cool and Sara got some quality bonding time with one. We went and watched the tigers play with their trainer in the water which was really cool to see. There were tons of crocodiles and koalas and it was really great to see what an amazing person Steve Irwin was and how much his family has done. It was a really good day and we saw some really cool animals. Just another couple of animals to add to the list of animals we’ve seen and touched!
Favorite Moment:
Madison- Petting the kangaroos and finally seeing a Cossawary
Sara- Petting the kangaroo