Day 11!

Today was Natalie's birthday! She turned 16. We went to the Great Barrier Reef. In the morning, we went on a semi-submersible. That was sweet! We were under water but not wet at all. Kind of like a submarine. We were on that for like 30 minutes. We saw giant clams, coral, and loads of fish. Then we went and put on a wet suit- it covered your ENTIRE body. Your feet to your head. We had a hood that zipped up to your chin- mask, fins, and snorkel. I had to have a child's mask and fins. So we got in the water and our marine biologist showed us all kinds of neat stuff. like a sea cucumber. That felt really gross. It doesn't have a face, just a mouth. So we snorkeled and saw fish and coral then went and ate lunch. After lunch, we went back out to the water and snorkeled some more. Once that ended, we changed and got back on the boat. Oh ya, There was this one guy (who started talking to me first).... For Mr. Jeff's sake, I won't say how old he was. Haha ;) We got off the boat, drove back to Cairns, ate dinner, went shopping, and then bed.

Day 10!

Today we flew to Cairns! But on the bus ride, I got to call my mom and talk to her. I also talked to Kinsey. I miss that little girl. She said she is having fun in the ocean. I can't wait to see her. After our bus ride and flight, we went straight to RainForeStation. We watched 6 Aboriginals do some aboriginal dances. I have a video to show everyone the dances. After we watched those, we ate lunch. Then we learned how to throw a boomerang, throw a spear, and play a didgeridoo. Then we went to take our koala picture! We got to hold him. He was so lazy and stunk but he was cute. I really like the picture. After that, we got to go in where all the kangaroos and wallabees are! We fed Bob the kangaroo and then just walked around and fed all the other ones. Then the kangaroos freaked out and like stampeded. It was funny. Then we shopped in the gift shop and had a barbeque. There was a man playing his guitar for us. He played fun music then we bush danced. This is how you do a bush dance: you get in a huge circle. One inside the other and you have a partner. You grab their elbows and skip to the left 8 times and then back the other way 8 times. Then the outside circle walks one way and the inside circle, the opposite way. The singer yells, "back" randomly and you have to turn around and go the other way. Then he yells, "Ok! Find a partner!" It's chaos trying to find a partner. Then.. There's always that one person who doesn't have a partner. They are stuck in the middle. They are called a "drongo". So the next time you dance, you skip with your partner then the inside circle holds hands, sticks out their tongue out, and runs toward the drongo. Then they hold their arms up and the outside circle runs under and toward the drongo. Then you go back to your partners and the outside circle walks on way, the inside the other way. The drongo sneaks in so next time there will be another one. Did that make any sense? Haha. I wanna teach it to the youth group. After dancing, we rode the bus back to our hotel, unpacked, hot tubbed, showered, and bed.

Day 9!

Today was awesome! We ate breakfast, rode the ferry back to land, then rode in the bus for a few hours and went to the beach! We went body boarding and surfing. First was body boarding. That was so awesome! Me and Matt got really good at it. We rode the waves all the way to the beach like 4 times. The waves were crazy. We would be riding then screaming each others names. Haha. It was such like an adrenaline rush. After that we went surfing! What you do is, lay on your board and wait for a wave. Then when it comes, pull your back leg up and when you get stable enough, twist and stand up. It's ridiculously hard. I actually stood up though! I got to a squatting position like 2 or 3 times but actually stood up at least once. After that we had lunch then went to our hotel. It was beautiful! It had a living room, kitchen, master bedroom, bedroom with 2 twin beds, mast bath, regular bath, 2 balconies, and a flat screen. It was huge! I would have liked to loive there. Then we just had free time til dinner. I washed my clothes. Then dinner was at an Italian place. The waitress had me talk to the chef. Haha. The chef didn't want just plain pasta because she said that was too boring. But eventually she said ok. After dinner, me, Natalie, and a bunch of others went to McDonald's for a McFlurray. Then we went back to our hotel, packed, then went to bed.

Day 8!

Today, we woke up late because our alarm didn't go off. But we got ready in time and went to breakfast. After breakfast, we headed to the bus. Once we were on the bus, we were driving through like the forest. Then we drove ON the beach. That was really cool! After a little while of driving, we got out and walked on the beach. The sand is INCREDIBLY soft! It's beautiful. We ate some muffins, cookies, and drank milk while tehre. Then we hopped back on the "coach" and as we were driving, we saw a dingo! It looks so cute and innocent but it isn't! Haha. So after stopping to see the dingo, we went back through the forest. We saw these trees that have little squiggly lines that look like little kids drew on them with brown markers. They are called the scribble gum trees. There were also trees that looked like they were bleeding. That was used by aboriginals as numbing stuff. So if you had a toothache, they would rub that stuff on your tooth to numb it. While riding, we saw a ship that had wrecked on the beach since the 1800s!! Whatever they do, no one can move that ship! They have tried to tie wires to it and move it.. They have tried so many ways. So finally they just left it there. After seeing that, we went on a walk through the rainforest. It was cold and rainy. But it was cool. Me and Danielk had a good conversation under our umbrella. A little heart to heart :) Then, we met the bus at the end of our trail and headed to Lake Mckenzie. The water was gorgeous! Too bad the water was freezing! So me and a few others went to search for turtles. We didn't see any though :( After an hour there, we got back on the bus, headed back to the resort, chilled, had dinner, hit the hot tub, packed, then bed!

Day 7!

Today was another driving day. We drove for a long time then finally got to a ferry. We loaded our suitcases onto it and got on it. We rode for about 45 minutes. It was really cool. We went up to the front of the boat and me and Daniel took picature with our arms up like a roller coaster because it was EXTREMELY windy up there. That was funny. Once the ferry ride ended, we got our luggage then went into this room and got our rooms assigned. We got settled in our room and went to dinner. After dinner, we did team building games. One was kind of like the knot game but 2 people from the other team had to come untangle you. The next games was we had to build the tallest tower ourt of popsicle sticks and rubberbands. Our group didn't win. We failed miserably.(sp*) The last game was outside. We all stood on this log (our teams of 8) and stood in a line then had to completely reverse our line. Like get the front guy to the back and the back girl to the front. After the games, we came to our rooms and went to bed.

Day 6!

G'day Mate! This morning Johannah woke us up at 5:30! Audrey slept in my bunk and we just kept laying there then I go, "What time is it?" and Johannah says, "6:15!" Me and Audrey bolted out of bed about to sprint to the bathroom but Johannah says, "Just kidding! It's 5:45" Ha. So then, our power goes out! And first of all, we didn't even have a working heater the entire night! So it was pitch black (because the sun wasn't even awake yet) and cold!! But then Brian found the switch and turned it on. Today was another long day in the bus. We got to Surfers' Paradise! It's warmer! We went to the Hard Rock for dinner, then went shopping, then packed, and bed.

Day 5!

Today was an adventure! After we ate breakfast, we went up to the barn. James showed us all this sheep wool. Then we went outside and all the guys chased the sheep around. It was really funny. They herded the sheep into the barn. Once the sheep were in the barn, James let us have a go at wrestling a sheep to its back. I did it!! Everybody was laughing at me because I was saying, "Excuse me" to the sheep. Then I said, "Are you ready?" and flipped that sheep on its back!! Haha :) After that, we went up to this dam and had a little picnic. Next, we went back to the barn and James had a man come and show us how to shear a sheep. That was so cool! I didn't get to do it but he let some people. He says they get cut sometimes but it is just like a knick when shaving your own legs (girls). After we shaved a sheep, we went outside and I got to milk a cow! That was real weird! Then we just kind of chilled 'til dinner. James grilled. After dinner, we went back to the barn again and had a dance party! Me and Matt were skipping on our way there and I tripped in the mud. Haha. At the party, we danced to the Cha Cha Slide, Electric Slide, Mocerana (sp*) and the Hokie Pokie. Then I took a shower and went to bed!

Day 4!

Today was another wearly day.I had a bowl of coco crisps and part of a hashbrown for breakfast. We had to get on the bus for a longg time to get to our farm stay. We will be there for 2 nights. When we got to the farm stay, we unpacked and just sort of chilled 'tiul dinner. We played soccer, threw boomerangs, and danced. Oh ya, before we got there, on the bus we played coach olympics. Jara (our tour guide) called out an object and you would have to find it, pass it all the way back, then touch the back wall with it, then pass it all the way up. It was a good way to pass the time. We won! We were the shaved wombats. Ok so back to the farm stay. Then we ate dinner. After that, James (the man who lives there) took us outside to show us some of their constellations. That was really neat! There are 3 corsses. There are 2 fake ones and one real one. After we looked at the stars, we went to bed.

Day 3!

Today, 6.17.09, we had to get up at 6:00. We had to eat at 6:30 and leave by 7:15. Bright and early we went to "Full On" We went absailing (sp*). I went absailing down a cliff that was equal to 18 stories!! It was so scary!! My leader said I giggled the whole way down. As I was dangling there, I could hear the leaders at the bottom saying, "Which Jesse is that?" (We have two Jesses.) And one leader said, "The vegetarian one?" And I said, "Ya! That one!" They all bust out laughing because they didn't think I could hear them. There were motivational speakers there talking about your state of mind, body, and emotions. And controlling those to get the results you want out of life. Better results. At the top of the cliff, they had signs saying, "I am safe" & "I can do it." Haha. Well, off to our farm stay! I will touch base with you guys again in a couple of days! Love you all!

Day 2!

Today we woke up and at breakfast at our hotel, Breakfree on George. Then we got on the "coach", which kind of smells like grape tootsie pops. We went to the Sydney Opera House. It was amazing! There is an organ that has a pipe that is equal to a three story building! There are 900 rooms in that place. It's such a neat looking place from the outside. After that we went on a cruise and ate lunch on it. I had rolls. Haha :) Dad- I have been eating well. I eat my peanut butter crackers and there is a like grocery store across from our hotel and it has MOUNDS of fruit- you would love it- me and my leaders.. I mean.. My leaders and I went over there and got some really yummy grapes and some apples. Ha. Next we went to the Opal Museum. They showed us how to cut, sand, and polish opals. They had a black opal that was $5,000!!!! Ha. There was some really pretty jewelry. Next.. Day 3!

Day 1!

Woah.. That flight was EXTREMELY long! Ha. We had to fly 4 hours to LA and then 14 hours to Sydney. We finally landed in Sydney at about 5:40 in the morning and we just went off and started our day! We were all really jet lagged, tired, and hungry but that didn't stop us from having a crazy day! First we went to the Crickett grounds. It's such a big deal here! Did you know that a crickett game could go on for 25 days?? And people actually sit there and watch it!!!! Haha. I don't think my attention span is that long. Then they let us try crickett. Throwing, or "bowling" is so hard! You have to keep your arm straight as you bring it over your head. Then hitting it is kind of hard, too. The bat is heavy. After we went to the crickett grounds, we went to the Sydney Tower. It was really neat to see all the things down below. We could see the airport. I have some really cool pictures from up there. Well.. I think that's all for the first day.. Onto the next one....

I'm Here!!!!

Ok, so we're finally in Australia! Sorry I haven't gotten on yet. Well, my voice is almost completely gone! I sound like a horse is in my throat. I have made a LOT of new friends! And me and my girl friends take pictures with a lot of the hot guys we see :) I am going to do each day as a different post just all at one time. If that made any sense. Tomorrow we are going to our farm stay. Haha. We will be there for two nights without internet or phones, so we'll see how that goes. But I will try to get on at the next hotel we are at. I am going to do my first day as a different post now.

Last Minute!

Hey guys! I'm almost done packing! I leave tomorrow at 3:30. We are flying out of Nashville. I get back the 27th. I just have last minute stuff to pack. Thank you all of you who contributed! I can't wait!! Everyone in my group is so excited!! Like I said before, I'm not sure how often I will be able to get on, but hopefully enough to keep you guys thoroughly updated! :) Remember how I said I was sure how I could fit everything into my suitcase? Well.. I did! And.. I even put a duffle bag in there, so on the way back I can just throw all my dirty clothes in there then put all the things that I'm gonna buy in my suitcase! Ha :) I'm not nervous yet. Just very very excited! The only thing I am nervous about at this point is, on the plane, they just gave everyone random seats! I may have to sit by strangers for 59834759 hours. Haha :) Hopefully I'll make some new friends! :) Please pray that God gets us there safely and just helps me to learn more about myself and serve Him, even in Australia. Just pray that He would open doors for me to be a light to everyone I come in contact with. Thank you guys! I'll see you in a few weeks! :)

- jess

Almost Ready to Leave!

Hey guys!

I am just learning how to "blog" so give me a little slack. I leave in 3 days for Australia!! I will be a student ambassador with People to People. I might post my itinerary up on facebook as a picture. Let me know if you want me to. I am almost packed! I can only bring 6 shirts. I have a limited amount of space in my suitcase! It's been hard. Haha. Mom thinks it is funny to see me screaming about not being able to bring as many outfits as I want :) I'm not sure how often I will be able to get on a computer there, but I will try to blog about every day. If I can't get on the computer, I will write it down and blog later. Well, let me know if you're reading this so I can know to continue blogging or not :)