Day 13 - 15: Friday, April 19 - Sunday, April 21, 2013

I WENT CAMPING!! Boom. Enough. Said. Oh you want proof you say ... well here it is.

Inside the Caravan. Look how Fancy!!

This weekend was seriously one of my all time favorite weekends. Friday morning I woke up very tired after my long shopping spree the night before. I quickly packed my things for the weekend and got ready to go to school. Friday's are very laid back in my cooperating teacher's classroom because she has the combined classroom of year 4/5 and the year 5's have sport afternoons so she loses about half of the class. The remainder of the students and I worked on some art projects and our ANZAC Day wreath. After school, I went home got my last few things packed and ready to go, had some tea - of course! and headed to Tallebudgera for the weekend. It was a long and slow drive seeing as we left right at rush hour but every thing was new and exciting to see so it wasn't so boring - to me any way. The picture to the left is an AMERICAN car - the steering wheel is on the "right" or left side like it is in America. When we got to the camp, we unpacked the cars, got things settled and the showed me around the caravan (aka camper). Can you say GLAMPING?

My bunk with a DVD player in it :)

After we got settled, we headed to Burliegh Heads - A city on the Gold Coast - for some fish and chips on the beach. We got grilled cod and hot chips - it was so good!! One thing this trip has given me an appreciation for is some good hot fish and chips! We then walked along the surf and enjoyed the sights and the ghost crabs.

My host family and I eating our Fish and Chips.

Crab Hunting! Yes I held one!!

 

In the morning we got up and went for a brisk walk through Burliegh Head National Park. The walk was up a mountain! Totally sounds like something I would do right??!! The views at the top made it all worth the effort. We could see all the way down the coast and down the Tellabudgera Creek which connects to the Ocean. It was a great way to start the morning off. But it sure mad me hungry!! When we got back, we had bacon, eggs, and toast. It was so good. Just as we were finishing up to head out to the markets, Caitlyn and Kelsey (two other American Students) showed up. We helped them pitch their camps then went off for some shopping. What?? Shopping and Camping in the same sentence - I guess that is what it takes for me to sleep in the great outdoors. These pictures below are the sights from the camp area where we stayed. Look how clear and calm the water is!

 After shopping we went swimming in the ocean and then got ready for our trip to Q1. Q1 is Australia's version of the empire state building. We went up at night which was cool to see! We could see for miles. Along the beach there was a convention happening so there were lots of vendors and even fire works being shot off while we were up there.

 The next morning we had to get up early for our surfing lessons. Surfing was a blast!! It was a ton of fun but also a work out. I am so sore from it. While we were surfing, there was a strong undercurrent so every step I took I was fighting to keep my board and myself from not being swept away.  It was hard at first to get all the steps down but after I got the hang of it, I was able to stand up and surf quite far. Who knew there was so much thinking involved in surfing. You have to time everything just right and get you back foot in the right spot or you will just tip over - which i did plenty of times too!! Here are some of the girls and I after our surfing trip with the beautiful city skyline in the background. After our surfing trip, we went back to camp and headed to the beach before packing up. While we were tanning at the beach, a man came up to us and told us that there were dolphins in the water. We sat up and looked at the creek (an inlet from the ocean) and sure enough just outside the swimming nets, were two dolphins jumping and flipping out of the water.
 It was the perfect way to end a great weekend!