A Couple of Posts!

March 4, Thursday

Hello weekend!!! J I got to sleep in today because I’m done with my classes for the week!

At 11:30 Julian came to pick me up to go scuba diving! We had to go and pick up the tanks and equipment from the shop that they store all of their gear at. Then we headed out to a beach a little past Kingston. On the way we stopped at another place that Julian likes to dive at. It had a lot of rocks and cliffs. He said there was a lot of cool stuff to see down there but it wasn’t an ideal spot for me to learn in so we headed off to the other place.

The place where we went is a beach/marine reservation. When we got there we realized that only one of the tanks had been filled. Julian said he would just snorkel alongside me as a scuba dove. Because my lesson had kind of been thrown together I didn’t have a lot of the right gear. The vest, goggles and flippers were way too big and I didn’t have enough weights to pull me down. So, we tried real hard but it just wasn’t working for me. I kept swimming to the side because the tank would always shift to my right. It was pretty funny…I felt a little bit like how Nemo must have felt with his little gimp fin. I decided that I would rather just snorkel so I told Jules he could use the scuba tank. He is fixing to start giving lessons in town and is going to take his students to that spot for their first marine dive. There is an underwater trail that you can follow that will lead you to a bunch of cool things to see so he wanted to try and scope that out.
While I was snorkeling I saw a lot of huge fish. I also saw a sting ray!!! It was pretty big! I really wanted to touch it but I wasn’t willing to risk being Steve Irwin-ed so I decided that that wasn’t the greatest idea. I found someone’s lost diving flipper and I tried to go down and get it because it reminded me of Finding Nemo (“P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way Sydney…”). But I wasn’t able to dive down and get it because my wet suit kept me pretty buoyant.

We finished up around 4 and then headed off to get some lunch at Subway in Kingston. We took our food down to eat on the beach. There was quite the breeze though so we ate quick and then headed off towards home.

When I got home Natalie was over watching a movie. I ended up falling asleep for a little “Nanna Nap.” Marina came home and cooked us supper at 6. It was so tasty. I love having home cooked meals after having oh so many sandwiches!!!

After dinner, Stacey, Natalie and I went up to use the internet at the Library. While we were there I went and checked out the movie selections that they have. I rented “Chocolate” because, after buying chocolate-chili flavored fudge, Natalie kept telling us how great that movie is. We then had to go over to Amy and Jeff’s so Stacey could pick up her back packet for their camping trip tomorrow. After that we did the one thing that had been missing from our day…we went to Cole’s. J Then over to Natalie’s to watch the movie! Stacey has been working on a photo book for her boyfriend’s birthday. While the rest of us watched the movie, she used Natalie’s internet to finish it up so that she can get it ordered and shipped so that it will make it in time for his birthday. It took a long time for that to get finished. We didn’t leave Natalie’s until around 3 AM. It’s a good thing I don’t have class tomorrow!!! J

Tomorrow I am going to go up to the library and use the internet. I’m thinking that I am going to go ahead and start working on a photo book of my trip here. If I work on it now I think it will be easier for me to put captions and remember what was going on during each photo.

We worked out that this weekend Natalie, Joey and I are going to go to Launceston and stay with my friend Abdel. We are leaving Saturday morning and then coming home on Monday. There is some festival going on Sunday…I’m pretty excited about it!!!

Thanks for your all of your thoughts and prayers! Cheers.

P.S. I would like nothing more right now than a fourth meal from Taco Bell!!!

March 5, Friday

This morning Stacey, Amy, April and Jeff all headed off to Wineglass Bay. Marina went to Bay of Fires.

I woke up when Natalie came over and we went up to the library for the internet (what else?). I decided I should go ahead and start working on a snapfish book of my Aussie adventures. If I work on it now then it will be easier in the end. J I unfortunately didn’t get much done on it.

I went over to chat with our neighbors for a bit when I got home. I wanted to borrow a broom but I figured it’d be good to make from friendly banter first. In the house to the right there is a kind old man, Allen, and his tiny Asian wife, Aurora, living there. We talked for a little bit about the States and what I was studying here. Allen started singing “All My Exes Live in Texas” when I told him that’s where I’m from. Haha. I told them that we would all be out of town this weekend and that we would appreciate it if they kept an eye on the house for us. They had no clue what I was talking about. I told them just to keep an eye open for any suspicious activity. Allen asked what he was supposed to do if something did happen. Haha, hmm…maybe call 000 (their equivalent to 911). But I didn’t want to freak him out by saying that anything bad could possibly happen in the cute little neighborhood so I just gave them my phone number and told them to contact me if they ever needed anything.
I don’t think that I have mentioned that we named our house “The Cottage of Nelson Road.” We thought it was a cute named for a white picket fence home. J

Someone had told Natalie about this cool place to go and listen to music called Alley Cats. Natalie, Joey and I headed down to Hobart about 9. We walked into town because we didn’t want to wait on the bus. Can we say LONGEST WALK EVER!?!?! We had looked up that the bar was on Elizabeth Street. Unfortunately it was something like 385 Elizabeth so it was way out in North Hobart. It felt like it took four years to make it out there. Once we finally arrived it looked relatively lame. And it had a cover charge. That is never a good combination. I’m not so sure I’m okay with paying a cover to listen to a band that I don’t know at a place that could quite possibly suck. So, we ditched that plan. We started our journey back into Hobart.

On the way home we went to La Bella’s Pizza place, it is so yum! We made friends with a guy Danny, who works there.

After the most delicious pizza ever we went back home. I packed, updated Steve Wonder and then watched 10 Things I Hate About You.

Off to Launceston in the morning!