Monday, July 27, 2009

Final Countdown *dun nuh nuh nuh....dun nuh nah nah nuh....*

Kudos to those of you who got the song reference in the title. Bonus points if you started singing it to make sure I put the right number of syllables. ;-}

Well, I'm enjoying my final days here in Australia. Our "graduation" was good, but ended up going super long as most meetings at IBS do... ;-} We went out afterward and had our first official drinks in 6 months--very nice, even though the bartender was a little weak sauce with the shots... I stayed up that whole night packing and hanging out with friends to say our final goodbyes. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone, especially since I was the first one to leave.

I got up to Townsville on Saturday morning--slept the WHOLE flight, which is extremely abnormal for me. I guess I should stay up all night every time before I fly! One of the staffers from the Townsville base came and picked me up and gave me a tour of the town and the base. Their base is SUUUUUPER nice! I'm staying in a flat all by myself, which I'm enjoying to no end! I get to cook my own meals, chill out, watch movies, paint my toe nails, and sleep in the most peacefully silent room I have experienced in the last 6 months. ;-} Yesterday, I hung out on "The Strand", which is a long boardwalk in downtown Townsville. I went shopping at the markets, laid on the beach and read, and experienced hand-made Bailey's-flavored gelato for the first time--I don't think there has ever been a more amazing gelato flavor created in the history of mankind, just to let you know.

Today, I took the ferry over to Magnetic Island. On a whim, I decided to spend the night on the island because it looked pretty cool. I'm staying at a Backpacker's Hostel/Wildlife park. It's pretty nice, and a 5 minute walk from one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen in my entire life. Don't worry--there will be lots of pictures coming.

I'm trying to list all the good things to outweigh the incredibly sucky thing--I called to confirm that my reef/snorkeling tour for tomorrow is still going on, and they said they had to cancel because of a high wind warning! SO LAME! I called around to every snorkeling tour place in the area, and they all canceled except one. The place I found doesn't make their call until the morning of the tour, so I'm praying that they will still go out tomorrow! It's my last day to snorkel because I'm flying back to Sydney on Wednesday, and I will be supremely disappointed if I don't get to do the one thing I came up here for! Hopefully I'll get the hook up from the big Weather Man upstairs...

Other than that, I'm just thinking about how I'm going to get all my stuff home, and looking forward to the CRAAAAZY heat wave awaiting me in Puyallup when I get home! 3 days and counting!!!!

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