New Zealand Trip woo

Last thursday Amanda and I left for Auckland, New Zealand. After being tested multiple times for explosives (do I look like a terrorist or what?) I finally received my third country stamp on my passport. Yay for traveling!! We arrived in Auckland around 7 pm and were starving so we ate dinner at a nice restaurant on the Viaduct harbor that had live music and good food. It was Amanda's birthday so we celebrated with a few drinks but called it an early night because of jet lag. 

Friday was a pretty great day because we got to go to Hobbiton, where parts of the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were filmed! It was so interesting to learn about the set and how much detail went in to perfecting it. Although I have never watched either of these movie series, I sure feel like an expert now :) And I will probably have to watch it because it would be pretty awesome to say I've been there during scenes! After the tour we got a free cider that is brewed only in Hobbiton and it was delicious. Overall Hobbiton was beautiful, we had delightful weather, and Amanda loved her birthday celebration.

Saturday, or should I say sunburn day, we climbed Mt. Rangitoto, which is a dormant volcano a ferry ride away from Auckland. It took about 45 minutes to climb to the summit and I enjoyed the uphill exercise. The views were spectacular as well! After we climbed to the summit there were a number of other trails to follow and naturally I had to follow the trial to Mckenzie Bay! It sure was a long hot walk on black dried up lava rock but it was worth it because at the end of the trail there was a blacksand beach! Sidenote: black sand beaches are really freakin hot on your feet! It was awesome to play in black sand because I had never seen it before and it felt wonderfully soft! We then laid out for a while and hopped on a ferry back home. The sun got the best of us this day as well because we both were rocking the lobster look throughout most of the rest of the trip.

Sunday WAS A MAGICAL DAY because I jumped off the Auckland Harbor Bridge. With a bungee of course :) As one of the last things on my down under bucket list, I felt obligated to do it, plus I am never one to say no to thrill. However, as most of you know I am TERRIFIED of bridges thanks to my dearest momma. The climb up my knees were shaking and I was hanging on to the sides for dear life as my heart had a mild heart attack. Once I reached the pod I was ready to jump off the dang bridge because that climb was just detrimental! But sadly they went by weight and I was one of the lightest and therefore last ones to go.  I decided I wanted to go all the way into to ocean but my guide said I may not weigh enough (and I wanted to be like but dude have you seen me eat) so in order to make it all the way into the ocean he said I was going to have to dive off the platform with force. I thought no problem as long as it means getting off the dang bridge! While it took most jumpers a few countdowns to jump off, I was ready to go while they were still at 5. Finally they got to one and off I went screaming my little lungs off until I plunged into the ocean (which was oh so salty but very refreshing) and then I swung from side to side upside down (highly entertaining and I didn't want to stop) until they pulled me back up. Its a shame I couldn't stay in the ocean because I would have preferred it over having to climb the bridge back down but I faced my fears and made it safely back to land. Overall an amazing experience and I would totally bungee jump again! After I jumped I met back up with Amanda and we went to the Farmer's Christmas Parade which is like our Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was crazy crowded but a lot of fun and it got me in the Christmas spirit ho ho ho

Monday we went to the Auckland Zoo which was subpar. Although we were blessed with hot sunny weather (side note: on every trip I went on the past 5 months it never rained once and I thank my angel Murphy for having my back because its Australia's wet season and it rains nearly every day when I'm not traveling...no joke literally every day) a lot of the animals were hiding in the shade..so we saw a lot of nothing. There were some cute animals here and there and I got to see the famous New Zealand KIWI bird but overall nothing special. We then sun bathed in a park for a few hours and then went back to Auckland, bought some souvenirs and crashed before heading home at 430 am this morning. Overall it was a great last trip down under and I am so thankful I got to go. Thanks family for the plane ticket I love you guys!

Hobbiton!

Mt. Rangitoto

Hobbit hole!

Tomorrow marks my last day down under (where the heck did time go) and I will conclude the day with my final blog. 

Xo,

Makenzie 

Melbourne Cup Week

This week was Melbourne Cup Week. The Melbourne Cup is a famous horse race that happens right outside the city of Melb. It's very similar to the Kentucky Derby, however much more popular throughout all of Australia! Tuesday--which was the day of the actual Melbourne Cup race, is considered the "race that stops the nation" because it is a public holiday. Crazy that a horse race gets you out of work/school/ect! I spent my Cup day running 6 miles in preparation for my upcoming half marathon :) I also have been studying a lot and had my first final today which went pretty well. I still can't believe that 52 multiple choice questions counts as 50% of my entire grade....what the heck! But back to the races, Wednesday night I went to a place called Pony Fish Island (a bar connected to the bride on the yarra river) with a friend to enjoy the beautiful weather. We met a jockey who was racing this week as well which was fun because I got to learn a lot about horse races and they learned a lot about America! Then on Thursday I was lucky enough to experience the races firsthand! Thursday was Crown Oaks Day, better known as Ladies Day during the Melbourne Cup. After taking a train to the race area we got to see the horses up close before they raced and then see the horses on the final stretch of the race! It was awesome to see them up close and personal. I sure do love horses and they really are beautiful animals. I also was a big fan of some of the jockey's outfits. Because it was ladies day, women were also dressed very eloquently and it was fun to see some of the dresses and hats! I saw some really ugly styles as well which was hilarious! I bet on one horse.....and lost 5 dollars so that ended quickly. The jockey I had met the night before was suppose to race as well but scratched so that was pretty disappointing ! But other than being minus 5 dollars it was a great day and I'm thankful for my chance to experience the infamous Melbourne Cup!  Time to get back to studying....three finals to go!

xx
Makenzie

Halloween in Sydney

I had a great halloweekend in Sydney! Thursday I finished up classes for the semester..which is crazy..then to celebrate nearly all of my good friends and I headed to Sydney with Extreme Adventures! We all had anxiously been awaiting this trip for months. The trip began with a painful overnight 10 hour bus trip which sadly turned into about 12 hours because our bus broke down...in a TUNNEL 20 minutes outside the city. Talk about scary. Finally a new bus came to the rescue and we went to the hostel to freshen up. Friday started with a walking tour around Sydney which started at town hall, and then went to Hyde Park which also had an Anzac memorial inside the park grounds, as well as a beautiful church called St. Mary's. We then walked through the botanical gardens which were pretty and finally made our way to the much anticipated Opera House. If y'all are my friends on Facebook you will see about 100 pictures of the opera house but hey don't hate the tourist in me. We then walked around the harbor and grabbed a quick lunch. After that we made our way to the Sydney Bridge Pylon Climb. For all of you who know me well, you know I am terrified of bridges so even though the Pylon Climb is only up a lookout on the bridge I was still sweating, shaking, and nearly crying hahaha but I did it! 300 steps later we were at the top and had a beautiful view of the harbor. After a long day of walking what seemed like miles we went back to the hostel and took a quick nap and then woke up to celebrate Halloween with a booze cruise around the Sydney Harbor! We decided to go as "high school stereotypes" so there was a geek, blonde bimbo, tree hugger, outcast, goth, and princess (me hehe). We spent the night sailing around the harbor which was beautiful, and had unlimited free alcohol which was a nice treat! It really was a great time and we met lots of new friends. After the cruise we went to the bar next to the hostel..but funny story before we knew it we were kicked out. Hahaha and no we did nothing illegal, Australian bars are just extremely strict and kick people out if they believe to be intoxicated at all..plus the manager was a dick. Anyways nothing could ruin our night and we went to bed happy campers.
Saturday began by a walk to a restaurant called Pancakes on the Rocks which was delicious. I had blueberry pancakes, hash browns, and eggs. We then walked around Sydney for the rest of the day shopping at street markets, on George St., and Paddy's markets. If you are looking for souvenirs in Sydney, Paddy's markets is where its at for cheap prices! Kelsey, Julie and I also luckily got to see a lady contortionist do a free show! It was amazing how flexible she was and even fit inside a tiny box! Check out the picture...and I can't forget to mention she was actually hilarious and a great performer! We then ate dinner at the hostel and got ready for our second night out in Sydney! We were brought to a nightclub called Home which was awesome!  It was three stories tall and had a rooftop bar that overlooked the harbor. We again danced the night away with good drinks and good friends. And we successfully were not kicked out anywhere :)
Sunday was beach day so you know I was happy! We took a ferry to Manly beach, where surfing originated in Australia! Although the water was cold it still felt amazingly refreshing because it was very hot and humid out. We spent a few hours catching some rays then headed to Bondi beach. We were blessed to be at the beach during an art festival called Sculptures by the Sea, and apparently people travel from all over the world to see the art that is spread throughout the famous Bronte to Bondi Beach walk. We saw some very interesting art and some very strange art too. Bronte beach was beautiful (see pictures below) but as we were walking toward Bondi winds started picking up, and all of the sudden we were stuck in a 40-50 mph wind storm that whipped sand and salt on us unforgivingly. Kinda put a damper on the walk but it still was one of my favorite parts of the trip! When we finally got to Bondi the beach was practically empty thanks to the wind! Apparently we saw Bondi at the deadest of dead because normally its so crowded you can't get a towel down because it is Sydney's most popular beach. To end the trip we ate at a cute german place that celebrated Octoberfest and enjoyed some big burgers and then ice cream at cold rock (basically our cold stone). We then faced another dreadful 10 hour ride back to Melbourne but before we knew it it was over...and luckily no malfunctions!
Overall a great trip..Sydney did not disappoint and I really enjoyed my time there!
Time to start studying for finals :(

xx Makenzie 

Group at Hyde Park

St. Mary's Cathedral 

Botanical Gardens

Opera House!

Julie, Kelsey, Vilde and I 

Ahh! Bucket list item!

View from Pylon Climb

Happy Halloween!

Crazy!

Bronte Beach

Melbourne Museum/ Lygon Street

After a long stressful week, I decided to venture to the Melbourne Museum, because well it was free. I had no idea what to expect but much to my surprise it was wonderful! This is probably because I am lucky enough to be in Melbourne while they have a HUGE interactive psychology exhibit. It was called Mind and Body. Basically it had psychologists I have learned about since I was a junior in high school and showed there experiments and had interactive activities within each different section. They even had some of the tools used from the actual experiments on display and being the psych nerd I am i absolutely loved it! My favorite was probably the display from Zimbardo's prison study. For those of you who don't know anything about this study-- basically he had participants take the role of either a prisoner or prison guard and prisoners became extremely depressed and stressed, while prison guards became very sadistic and these results show the effect of norms and roles on society and well as the effects of social expectations. (http://www.prisonexp.org)  You can go to this website to learn more..honestly one of my favorite experiments of all time. Anyways back to the museum, after the Mind and Body exhibit we went to the Human Body exhibit and learned some interesting things about different body parts. Then we went to an exhibit on human evolution, and a room FULL of preserved animals that were pretty cool to see. My least favorite exhibit was the spider/insect room which of course gave me the chilly willy's considering I've decided things like this only exisit to ensure you everything in Australia can kill you! Sadly we had to leave after this exhibit due to closing time, however in my remaining weeks here I surely will return and update you on what else I see and add some pictures because this blog doesn't do it justice! Hands down one of the best museums I've been to!

Saturday I went Halloween shopping around Melb for our upcoming Sydney Halloween trip with a group of friends and then went to Lygon Street for lunch. I'd heard great things about this street and heard it was a must do in Melbourne and my expectations were met! Want to talk about Italian paradise...which as many of you know I live breathe and die for carbs so Italian food was basically made for my belly. We at at Papa Gino's  and it was delicious! I had garlic bread, cheese/garlic/herb pizza, and we all shared some pasta. It was very very good and actually very cheap for Australia. A win win! We then ventured up and down the street. I will surely come back to Lygon street and try another Italian place soon :) 

Random Australian things to remember :)

Thought I'd make a list of some of the things I've learned in the past 3.5 months :)

1. Australia's weather 
Ohhh you think down under is full of sunshine sunshine shineshine? hahahha lolz bahah JOKES. sadly this is a huge misconception, especially for Americans...and sadly myself (the girl who lives and breathes for sun). It rains a lot here...more in Southern Aussie (where I am) than other places but everywhere has a wet and dry season. While winters are much more mild..it still gets cold and no you can't go to the beach every day 

2. Australia's English
While yes it is still the English language...it totally isn't American english! Some things you will learn real fast --> cheers= thank you,  I can't be bothered= I didn't feel like it, singlet=tank top, trackies=sweat pants, tea= lunch and dinner, thongs=flip flops, toilet=restrooms, car park= parking lot, I reckon=I think---- I could go on and on! 

3. Australia is Expensive
Now were not talking a dollar more....we are talking 5 plus dollars more for almost everything! Crazy right? Everyday things like a bottle of water is around 4 dollars, a bag of chips 3 dollars, coffee around 5 dollars...I could go on and on in amazement. Alcohol is even worse...around 30 dollars for a 6 pack of beer or 35-40 for liquor. Same with clothes/shoes/makeup. And if you go out to eat don't expect to spend less than 20 dollars...and thats still a relatively cheap dinner at a most likely cheap place.  Add a drink or two on there or maybe a dessert and you surely will spend 35 dollars per meal without blinking. However, Australians do make 20 plus dollars per hour MINIMUM even as teenagers so I guess it sort of evens out but for a college student with no job it is money sucking island.

4. Australian cities are far apart
While Australia may look small in comparison to most of the continents, all of the major cities are extremely spread out. Melbourne looks like it would be a 4 hour trip maximum to Sydney, however it is a 12 hour plus drive (which I will be experiencing next weekend ahhh). Therefore, if you are traveling throughout Aussie land I would highly suggest flying because luckily it is pretty affordable (unlike most other things here!).

5. Some random sidetones
You don't have to tip in Australia. They drive on the other side of the road and on the other side of the car...and after experiencing this for the past 4 months lord help me when I get in a car back home. You can't really tell if the toilets flush backwards because they are powerflushed. Lots and lots of people smoke. Melbourne, along with other big cities, are very cultured with lots of immigrants, especially of Asian decent. Australia has a Prime Minister. If you take American appliances and use a converter it will still blow up here (RIP hairdryer). School is much more laid back here along with the people. And finally the people are extremely nice regardless of where you are at. 

Hiking & D-Day

Ello!
Last weekend was a lot of fun. Friday night I went to the city and had a relaxing movie night with one of my girl friends here. Saturday morning Julie and I went for an adventure to Mt. Dandenog. We had been there once before and climbed the 1000 steps and looked at the city outlook of Melbourne, but this time we went to hike some trials and enjoy a beautiful sunny day. We had to take two buses and a train to get there but luckily they were enjoyable rides. On our first bus we actually met a guy who was on the Australian X-Factor and he was extraordinary. He originally was a Siamese twin who was going to die, but an Australian woman adopted him and his brother and Australian doctors were successfully able to separate them. Although his limbs are now extremely disformed, he has not let that stop it from being an outstanding person, a great singer (he was actually a finalist on X-factor) and soon will be going overseas to fulfill a music contract. People like that surely put your life in perspective. When we got to the mountains we hiked a couple of trails and went to a waterfall that sadly was not much of a waterfall which blew my mind considering it rains here all the dang time! Either way it was good exercise and I saw another wild kangaroo so I can't complain. We then went back to the city and went to this chocolate factory place called Max Brenner's and had chocolate fondue. Sooo yummy :) And then we went to dinner at a burger place called Grill'd (yes we ate dessert before dinner hehe) and it was delicious as well.
Sunday was D-Day at Glenn aka everyone is required to get up at 5 am (yes 5 am) and start drinking. I could barely keep my eyes open. The day was then full of drinking, a bouncy house, live music, and free pizza. I gladly passed out around 230 pm and didn't function until Monday. Never again will I get up that early and drink...Glenn was trying to kill my soul clearly.
This week so far has been full of finishing up my last assignment of the semester (hip hip hooray!), last full week of class, cleaning and catching up on some t.v shows. Can't believe my time is almost over in Australia! 

Xx cheers
Makenzie 

An amazing spring break!

Wow spring break was freaking wonderful! By far the highlight of my trip was going scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef but overall each day was great and full of exciting experiences.

Day 1: Took a flight to Mackay early in the morning and then had to take a 2 hour shuttle to Airlie beach. We finally got to the beach and laid out for a while then had dinner at bar like place thing and went to bed early because we had an early wake up call the next day

Day 2: Great Barrier Reef day! We sailed on a very large boat for about two hours out to the reef. The boat gave us a good breakfast and it felt great to be cruising on the sun. On the way I was asked if I wanted to scuba dive so naturally my adventurous self couldn't say no. I had to go to a meeting that talked about the correct ways to scuba dive and learned some important hand signals. Then when we got to the reef we went snorkeling first which was amazing. I have never seen such blue water in my life and the reef was full of fish and animals so it was beautiful to capture. It was then my turn to scuba dive so I got on all my equipment (that stuff weighs a freakin ton!) and did a little practice in a small pool like area but I didn't have much time to be nervous because before i knew it they were pushing me into the ocean! You have to continue to equalize your ears and at first my ears were not happy about what I was doing but eventually they accepted we were going down unda and stopped giving me a pounding headache! It is truly a different world under the sea. I got to pet a hugeeeeee fish (and I had an underwater camera so when I get the pictures I will post it on here) and my dive master showed me some awesome stuff. I would love to be certified some day and do other dives. After my dive I met back up with my friends, we enjoyed a great buffet lunch and then snorkeled some more and enjoyed a waterslide that went into the ocean. That night we went to a mexican restauraunt for dinner (rare find in Australia) but per usual no queso dip found. Why dont Australians eat queso dip dammit! We then went to this club like place called Africa, which was decked in animal print and was awesome, where we received 5 free drinks a piece which in Aussie land equals at least 55-60 dollars so you didn't see me complaining.

Day 3: Sailing trip!! This day was magical. I saw even bluer water in an area called the Whitsunday straight. First we snorkled and then were given a yummy bbq lunch and free alcohol the rest of the trip so needless to say we had some fun. We then got to go to one of the most treasured beaches in Australia called Whitehaven beach. Whitest sand you could ever picture (photo below) Overall it was a fun day of beaching and sailing. We then had the worst dinner of the trip at some shit restaurant but good thing I was too drunk to care right?

Day 4: Long Island Resort. We sailed to Long Island in the Whitsundays for a day of relaxation. The resort we were dropped at gave us free leis so that made me feel like I was in Hawaii or something haha. We did some hiking on some hiking trails and found a dead turtle. Sad day and he stunk....but yes we still took a picture with him and yes I did wash my hands you nasties. That night we had dinner at a nice restaurant but got shafted and waited for over an hour and the inner manager Kelly came out in me and I had to give them a piece of my mind because people literally sat down ate and left before we even were served.

Day 5: Off to Brisbane! After a long day of travel we made it to a fellow American friends apartment and found ourselves exhausted without much energy so it was an early night.
Day 6: We kayaked the Brisbane river. Pretty awesome minus the river is full of bullsharks. I also learned i SUCK at kayaking. Imagine my two friends in front of me at least half a mile....then theres me paddling as fast and hard as I could and going no where. My athletic abilities clearly do not carry into a kayak...or my method is flawed. Either way don't expect me to save your life in a kayak. We then went to this pool that is surrounded in sand to look like a beach. pretty cool! Overall, Brisbane was a lot like Melbourne.

Day 7: Off to the Gold Coast--SURFERS PARADISE. We took a two hour train...gotta a little lost...but eventually found our way. This was more or less the Panama City of Australia with less alcohol on the beach (because its a dry beach unlike PCB), but a heck of a lot more surfers. The water was still so blue and clear! Crazy! And the waves were literally huge. That night we went to dinner and met up with a friend from Uni for icecream yummmm.

Day 8: Laid at the beach all damn day like a champion followed by a three hour nap followed by dinner and a night at the top ranked club in Australia called Vanity and it was wild!

Day 9: Off to Byron Bay! Went to surfers paradise beach one more time then took a bus to Byron Bay. I love love loved Byron Bay...it was a small yet happy beach town. We were told it was very hippy and to not be surprised if we were offered drugs but luckily that did not happen because that would have been terrifying. But the place definitely  had plenty of scooby-doo hippy vans and some narley surfers.

Day 10: Woke up for the sunrise because it is suppose to be on of the best places in the world to see it! But we couldn't find the light house...sad realization at 5 am ugh. Spent the whole day at the beach again at Byron! We also went rock climbing on some rocks that stand as the most eastern point in Australia. Pretty freakin cool minus the poisonous baby jello fish we saw floating in some puddles and god knows what other deadly australian animals. Either way we survived. Then two Aussie guys asked us if we wanted to swim in the water there and I was like uh Im going to do these waves are way to big..this was no gulf coast of mexico waves we are talking like swells but fear not they taught me how to dive under a wave and it was a lot of fun and yes I was careful Mom and no I didn't really think I was going to die and fear not the guys were actually lifeguards so I was safe and sound and I probably won't swim in waves that big again so I just had to do it. YOLO.

Day 11: Attempt 2 of finding the lighthouse for sunrise was a success! And wow it really was beautiful! Spent the morning at the beach then had to ride back to Brisbane for our flight home....or so we thought. Our flight was cancelled......real cool tiger airlines real cool. So we then had to buy a new flight that is suppose to be refunded within the next fews weeks...and it better be considering I don't have 300 dollars to throw around. Or only other option was to stay in the airport until Wednesday night...no thank you!

All in All it was a great trip and I am so lucky to have experienced the whole east coast of Australia!!

Snorkeling Great Barrier Reef 

Sailing day! 

Forever a gymnast at heart :) Whitehaven Beach

Whitehaven Beach

Long Island Resort

Dead turtle frand :(

Whitsundays!

Surfers Paradise

Sunrise Day 1

Sunrise day 2!

Lighthouse at Byron Bay