Australia Bucket List

Wednesday, September 4: If you could take three months off from your current life and do anything in the world, what would you do?

 

When thinking of what I would do if I could do anything in the world, the first thing that comes to mind is travel.  Hands down. 

 

Truthfully, I actually already kind of feel like I'm getting to take an extended period of time off from "real life" to do and see some pretty amazing things.  While there are admittedly more things than I'd like to admit that I can find to complain about living here, about the challenging aspects of being an expat, and about living so far away from home, I do realize how lucky I am to be here and to have this opportunity of living and travelling abroad.  The pros absolutely outweigh the cons, and when I really get to thinking about it, I can't believe how blessed I am to, in a lot of ways, be practically living the life/situation described in the prompt. 

 

So I guess if I could take three months off from our life here, I would continue to do what we've been able to do so much of already this past year.  Travel!  Of course, this would be three work-free, budget-free months of travel :-)  I always have a running list in my head of places I'd love to see in the world... Egypt, South America, Greece, visit all seven continents, and on and on.  But lately, I've been thinking a lot about how much more there still is to see and do right here in Australia.  As much as I hate to admit it, the truth is that once David and I leave here, the chances of us returning to Australia are pretty slim.  Because of that, I really want to make the most of our time here and experience as much of Oz as we can!  So without further ado, here is my always growing "Australia Bucket List."

 

~The Whitsunday Islands~

...Whitehaven Beach, Hamilton Island, Airlie Beach, Hayman Island, Daydream Island...

http://pinterest.com/pin/567735096746706885/

~Humpback Whale Watching - Hervey Bay~

 

http://pinterest.com/pin/36451078204697314/

 

~Cairns~

 

http://pinterest.com/pin/182888434837616273/

  

~Swimming With Whale Sharks~

 

http://pinterest.com/pin/5277724536937863/

 

~Take A Surfing Lesson~

 

http://pinterest.com/pin/104779128803498092/

 

~Great Keppel Island~

...Sailboat from Yeppoon...

http://pinterest.com/pin/36451078206644448/

 

 ~Port Douglas and the Daintree Rainforest~

 

http://pinterest.com/pin/420171840204940342/

 

~Tasmania~



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~Uluru and Ayer's Rock~

 

http://pinterest.com/pin/74872412528357737/ 

 

~Blue Mountains~

 

http://pinterest.com/pin/169799848420970312/

 

 

8K Pride

This past weekend, I ran in Gladstone's own "Botanic to Bridge" 8K race. 

I should emphasize that I am not, by any means, a runner.  Some people enjoy running- saying that they love the "runner's high" and that it clears their minds.  I am not one of those people.  I've never experienced this so-called "runner's-high," and you better believe that my head is not clear when I run.  In fact, it's pretty much just the opposite- I am hyper aware the entire time I am running that I am indeed running, that it hurts, and basically reasoning with myself the entire time not to stop.  However, all that aside, I know what a great workout running is, so I'd been trying to run just once a week over the past few months and ever so gradually increasing my mileage. 

I've known about this race for several months and had the idea in the back of my head that it really would be fun to participate.  There isn't really much in the way of community events like this in Gladstone, so I really thought it would be a good experience.  However, as much as I hate to admit it, I didn't sign up until the last minute or even mention it to anyone, basically because I wanted a way out.  Isn't that terrible? 

At any rate, I signed up exactly one week before the race, and off I went on Sunday morning.  I was pretty nervous, as the furthest I had ever run was 4 miles... once... ever.  And the 8K race is approximately 5 miles.  I had just two goals for the race:
1.) No walking
2.) Finish under one hour

Sunday morning I met up with my friend, Jackie, and her husband.  It was fun to have someone to participate with even though we all ran separately at our own paces. 

How cruel is it to start a race with a giant hill?!

Jackie and I: BEFORE

 

 

Sea of blue

Aside from the giant hill to start off the race, and a couple other pretty steep hills, the race went surprisingly well!  I met my two goals (!), and I was so proud of that!  And of course, I'm really glad I decided to run the race.  It's crazy to think that I ran the farthest I had ever run before! 

Not that I was counting down or anything...

Pounding pavement

8K Finisher!

Jackie and I: AFTER - We did it!

Letting Go {Literally}

Day 30, Thursday: React to this term: Letting Go

Second to last post in this challenge- phew!  Almost there!

I'm going to take a very literal approach in responding to the term "letting go" and use a pair of photos to provide a visual representation of a time when I had to let go.  

Don't let my smile fool you, my teeth were chattering and my knuckles were white. 

 

 
"Letting go" of something whether it be literally, physically, or emotionally is something that is difficult for most people- myself included.  I think it is difficult because it is scary.  It leaves you vulnerable. It might hurt. It involves taking a risk that has no guarantee to end in your favor. 

While showing photos of the time I threw myself off a perfectly good bridge isn't exactly the "deepest" or most insightful route I could have taken with this prompt, I still think it is very symbolic of what letting go can feel like sometimes.  As I wrote about here, I never ever had wanted to bungy jump, but there I found myself with my toes hanging over the ledge nearly 50 meters in the air.  As you can see in the first photo, my right hand was hanging onto that pole for dear life.  What you can't see is that seconds after this photo was taken, they had to send an employee up there to literally pry my fingers off from around that pole.  He probably had to do this at least five times before I finally let go.  But I did.  Finally.  I needed a little extra help.  But I did let go.  And I'm glad I did.  I could have been hurt in this process of letting go, but I survived unscathed.  And I came out of it with more courage.  More confidence.  And while I don't feel the need to ever repeat this experience, I'm glad I did it.  And I can only hope that this physical experience of letting go might make letting go of other things in my life now and in the future a little easier and a little less scary. 
 

Catch up with my "Blog Every Day in May" challenge here:
Day 1

Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5 (Oops! :-/ I did blog on day 5, just not following the prompt...)
Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14

Day 15

Day 16

Day 17

Day 18

Day 19

Day 20 (I broke my streak- I missed this day...)

Day 21

Day 22

Day 23

Day 24

Day 25

Day 26

Day 27 (So mad that I missed another one... and SO close to the end)

Day 28

Day 29

Jen and Tim's Aussie Adventure - Part II

In my last recap of Jen and Tim's visit to Australia, I left out our day trip to the Great Barrier Reef since it is deserving of its own post.  So, here goes!

We left early Wednesday morning to drive 1.5 hours to the town of 1770 (yes, that is the name of a city) where we would leave for our day trip to the Great Barrier Reef.  This was my second trip to the GBR (you can read about my first experience here).  It is so amazing to be so close to this reef that is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.  It really is incredible when you realize just how large it is and that it can actually be seen from space. 

Shortly after we arrived, we boarded the boat and set out for Lady Musgrave Island.  We had perfect weather that day and smooth water, which we were thankful for since we had heard the water can sometimes be quite rough and the cause of extreme sea-sickness.  Phew! 

The way our tour worked was that the boat docked on a pontoon in the open water, a short distance from the island itself.  From the pontoon you can snorkel, go on a glass bottom boat ride to the island for an island walk/tour, and/or ride a semi-submersible boat for more viewing of the reef.  It was a great setup! 

Left: view of the pontoon - Right: Lady Musgrave Island in the distance

 

As expected, everything you see in the reef is just beautiful.  I'll let the photos speak for themselves. 

 

 

 

SO excited to see sea tortoises!  You can't tell from this photo, but this one was HUGE- it's shell was probably at least 2 feet in diameter.

 

Me breaking one of the rules and touching one of the sea tortoises

Lady Musgrave Island tour

 

 

The island is referred to as a coral cay (what we call keys).  Basically this means that the entire island is a giant coral mass.  The sand itself is very finely ground coral.  Here you can see some of the old pieces of coral that will eventually be sand. 

 

Tide pool with tons of sea cucumbers

 

 

Jen and Tim!

I put in a good effort to try to convince them to stay, but alas, I was unsuccessful and I had to let them return to the motherland.  Thanks Jen and Tim for coming all this way!  We miss you already! 

The Time I Decided to Hurl Myself Off a Bridge

Bungy jumping.  Never have I ever had any desire to participate in this activity.  I always asserted that I would much rather skydive (if that even), than bungy jump.  To me, it just seemed absolutely terrifying.  Oh, and dangerous.  I couldn't imagine why anyone would willingly throw oneself off a perfectly good bridge (or any other structure for that matter).  Nope, not for me. 

When planning our New Zealand trip, it was clear from the beginning that bungy jumping would be one of the activities.  For one, Queenstown is home to  one of the best known bungy sites in the world- the Kawarau Bridge Bungy.  This bridge is also considered to be the first "official" bungy site in the world.  Also, our friend who lives in Queenstown (the one whose wedding we attended in NZ), happens to work in marketing for AJ Hackett Bungy Company, so she had agreed to come along and "host" bungy-ing for her friends who wanted to jump.  From the beginning, I said I wanted to go watch, but I knew I would not be jumping. 

AJ Hackett Kawarau Bungy Centre (too bad the Bungy Bar was closed)

Fast forward to Monday, March 25, 2013. 

I know, right?!  No idea how this happened!! That morning, I had unofficially signed myself up to be the photographer for the other girls who would be jumping.  However, we got to the site, and something came over me and I started to think...

What if I regret not jumping?...
If there would ever be a place to bungy, this would be it...
I know one of the employees here, and she knows all the operators, so it kind of feels comfortable...
They have a perfect safety record, and this place seems legit...

And next thing I knew, my cousin Lee Anne had set the form in front of me to jump tandem with her and then handed me a pen.  And there I was, signing my life away.  And off I went to the bridge.  Honestly, I think it actually helped quite a bit that I hadn't planned on jumping.  That way, I hadn't been worrying about it the night before or that morning.  I wasn't even nervous when they were strapping my legs in.  I must have been in denial/shock.  I truly did not get scared until I was standing at the edge of the platform.  And at that moment, I really did freak out.  I told the guy to untie me and that I didn't want to jump anymore.  I tried to sit back down.  I kept grabbing onto the railing next to me (so much so that an employee had to come and peel hold my hand off of it). 

This is the bridge from which I was about to hurl myself

 

Eek- the view from above!  Somehow I have to make it down there.

 

How we really felt |  Hiding fear with smiles

 

Believe it or not, I wasn't yet nervous at this point

 

I do not remember making the decision to actually leave that platform.  I must have either blacked out or (more likely) I think we may have gotten a gentle push.  All I know is that before I knew it, we were bouncing around at the end of our bungy frighteningly near the river below.  And no, that bounce/snap at the bottom point of your jump does not hurt- it's very smooth.  I didn't even open my eyes, until I felt that bounce.  But when I did, I just remember feeling a mix of excitement, relief, and disbelief.  We were quickly and smoothly lowered down into the boat below.  It took a few minutes before the craziness of what I did hit me- oddly, I started tearing up a little bit.  The adrenaline rush that everyone talks about is real.  And intense. (The photos below are the professional photos taken by the bungy company- they have an amazing camera system set up, and I'm SO glad I have these photos.) 

See my death grip on the rail?

 

Our friend Katie cheering us on

 

 

I love the perspective of this shot

 

 

 

 

 

 

Smiling!

 

Safe!  We did it!

I am really glad that I decided to jump.  I am normally such a wimp and very rarely, if ever do I take big risks.  But, I am really really proud that I did it!  Was it terrifying?  Absolutely.  But, even still, it was such a fun, amazing, thirlling, and unforgettable experience!  I definitely do not regret jumping.  Am I addicted now?  Am I an adrenaline junky?  Do I feel the need to jump again?  Nope.  Not in the least.  I honestly feel no desire whatsoever to bungy again- once is enough for me.  But.  I am so so so glad that I did! 

Watching this video still makes my stomach drop and my heart beat faster.  Oh, and side note- the only reason I would maybe consider jumping again is because as you'll see in this video, we did a wimpy feet first jump/drop- I totally wish I had been brave enough to dive.  Oh, and thanks to Lee Anne who was able to convince the bungy operators to play our requested jump song- "Sail" by AWOLNATION. 

*Well, I can't seem to get the video to upload correctly. :-(  I'll update with the video as soon as I get it figured out.