Gold Coast Holiday

The last week Matt and I finally headed out for our holiday on the Gold Coast. This time we had friends Josie and Whitney join us for our holiday. Their flight got in earlier so once we arrived and picked up our rental we had to pick them up. We were surprised to find that they had travelled 30 minutes away from the airport, but luckily it was on the way to our resort. We stayed at Wyndham Surfers Paradise which was complete with a full kitchen, laundry room, and two balconies.

The first day we just relaxed, did some shopping, and sorted out our plans. Early Monday morning we got our surfboards that we rented for the week. Unfortunately the surf at Surfer's Paradise wasn't ideal so we took a tram and a bus to get to Currumbin where the surf was better. It was a blast hanging out in the sun and "attempting" to surf.

Later that evening we all discovered that we were all burned which we blamed on the Natural Sunscreen that Matt and I had bought. I don't know for sure if it was the sunscreen, but we all applied it twice and still burned.

That night we headed out to Springbrook National Park to see the glow worm caves. It was as awesome as I remembered, having been there years ago. The drive was beautiful as well, but I was slightly disappointed we didn't head out there earlier and could see the natural bridge waterfall in the daylight.

Tuesday we went to see Brisbane. That weekend was the G20 Summit where many political leaders were meeting from around the world. We decided to go early in the week to avoid the craziness. Little did we know that it was the perfect time to go! Many people had left on holiday to avoid being in the city for the week so it was emptier than usual and to impress the world leaders they had a special Colour Me Brisbane light show going on every night!

We first went to the Brisbane LDS Temple where a grounds keeper told us we could park there the whole day! From there we walked on a boardwalk along the Brisbane River (in the shade) to all the sites.

We visited the Street Beach in Southport

Matt and I got on the Wheel of Brisbane

Played around at a playground for a bit

We walked around the city and talked to a police woman who informed us the building they had blocked off was housing the Canadian Prime Minister and some other PM. Over seven other buildings were completely blocked off while housing other world leaders.

We went to the art museum

And toured the botanical gardens - where Matt had loads of fun with lizards.

Afterwards we finished our Brisbane tour by hiring City Cycle bikes where for $2 you can rent bikes all day for 30 min and park them at another station in the city. So we went from station to station in 30 minute increments throughout the city until we ended back at the Kangaroo Point Cliffs where the temple is located. What an awesome way to see the city!

The special light shows made the whole trip extra special!

Wednesday morning I met up with the surfboard rental guy to replace our surfboard that had a fin brake off with a body board for Josie. He told me the surf conditions were great that day in Currumbin so as a last minute decision Whitney and I rushed out to Currumbin for a surf. Although the conditions were great, we got tired quickly and didn't catch much. We also found out that Josie had left the room so when Matt woke up everyone was gone and he didn't see Josie's note explaining things. Oops!

Later we went to Dreamworld. It was actually a big disappointment for Matt and I having attended more impressive theme parks such as Disneyland, Disneyworld, Six Flags, Busch Gardens, and even Lagoon in Utah is better in my opinion. For Australia's biggest theme park I was really surprised! You can easily finish the whole park in a day. My favourite part was Tiger Island and the behavior shows they had. The tricks the tigers performed were amazing, but it was a lot smaller than I expected and I now know that I don't think I'd really want to work there.

We finished the day with a nice hearty meal at Hard Rock Cafe.  It was pricey, but well worth it! Matt ranked his burger a 9 with only TGIF beating it.

We had one more event that night...the markets. There were loads of shops with a little bit of everything from graffiti hats, magic tricks, beauty products, necklaces and more! Matt had one thing he wanted....to hold the crocodile.

Thursday was a cloudy misty day. I went for a walk early while everyone was sleeping and decided it wasn't too bad to surf. I learned that I was too weak and the board was too small because I really struggled to balance while paddling and couldn't ever get to the good waves. A ton of surfers would be just ahead of me catching the waves and yet I never could reach them so I gave up.

After everyone got up we went to Whitewater World which is the water park next to Dreamworld. I figured the water park would be better for the cloudy day so we could use the sunny following day for the beach. Unfortunately standing in line at the top of towers waiting to go on a water slide was not exactly where you wanted to be on a cloudy and windy day. We ended up quiting early and skipped the simple slides, but I really liked all of the water rides. My favourite was called the Green Room where all four of us got on a tube opposite each other and the kind of height you get is scary.

Early Friday morning Matt and I decided to try and get one last good surf. The conditions weren't too bad, but we lost all our energy paddling out to the other surfers. When we finally got to where others were there were hardly any waves. After trying to catch a few I quickly realised I had no energy to even try to stand up so we headed back pretty quick.

Afterwards we all went to the Skypoint Observation Deck which is the tallest residential building in the world. It was a great way to see the city! Matt and I also went back to see the city at night.

For the rest of Friday we spent most of the time hanging out by the pool at the resort. It was relaxing and fun and in the end I was glad we kept the nice sunny day for hanging out. That night we finished off with watching the movie The Tall Man.

Saturday we turned in the boards and had to say goodbye to Josie and Whitney who flew back that evening. Matt and I decided to make the most of our last day and drove to Mt Tamborine. We decided to do some of the hikes. We went to Witches Falls at first and it was a HOT day! Although we were in the shade I was sweating profusely and when we got to the falls we weren't sure we were in the right place. It was dry there was just a trickle of water going down the mountain.

We revitalised with some cold water and ice cream and decided to try the Curtis falls. Again not much water was flowing but the creek was still pretty fun to walk around and we found two eels in the small pools of water!

A local told us about the Cedar Creek rock pools to go swimming in and after melting on the first hike we thought that sounded amazing even if we would have to jump in with our hiking clothes. When we got there my swimming motivation was gone and there were a lot of people already there. Most were just watching this young teenage boy who was struggling to get the confidence to jump off the cliff into the pool. He never did, but we watched long enough to see if he would do it. The pool is deep, but in my opinion when the conditions are not ideal and the consequence could be paralysis or death it's not worth it.

We finished off our last night at Benihana's, an expensive Teppanyaki restaurant inside the Marriot hotel. For the price I expected better food and entertainment, but we had a good time.

It was a great holiday and I'm glad we got to spend some time with friends as well. I don't know if they were both into the same things as Matt and I, but I think everyone had a great time and good company. Brisbane was definitely the unexpected highlight of the trip and perhaps some day Matt and I will move up there. Nevertheless, I am more than happy to be back home in Sydney and get to cuddle with my kitty again!

Freedom!

I'm free! Well not technically, but as of October 17 I am officially done with all assignments and requirements for my Master of Research. Now I wait till late November to do revisions and for my supervisor to get back to me on my journal article draft. It is so nice to not HAVE to do anything!
There are still many things to do, but now I don't have loads of extra pressure and anxiety weighing me down. The last few days I have been significantly happier!

Here's some of my post-thesis activities:

We had a wonderful dinner at TGIF's with missionaries. One elder really struggled to shove a massive burger in his mouth. Normally we don't take them out to dinner, but this was a special occasion and well worth it.

Matt and I went with some other students to play laser tag! For $15 on Fridays you can go unlimited times all day and it is well worth it (click here for details). I'm typically terrible at laser tag because I'm more of a sniper, which doesn't get you very many points. My favourite game was actually when it was just three people because it's so intense and just when you find one person the other might shoot you from behind. In total I played 8 games, and ended on a high with the second highest score (Matt got first). Our friend Ryan who was with us till the end always beat everyone on accuracy (60% or above). To finish off the night Matt and I shared a salted caramel milkshake and chocolate shot at Max Brenner. Yumm! I think we have met our quota for going to Max Brenner for a while and will look for significantly cheaper dessert options.

The following Saturday we finally went to see Wicked, which we had booked months in advance! We had great seats and it was just as amazing as the first time I saw it. I wasn't sure if Matt would actually like it since he knew the music by heart and a live show doesn't sound the same, but of course he loved it. Afterwards we had a nice ritzy dinner on a dirty table at Costco. :)

We also went to a place called Boing Central with friends Ryan and Whitney where we had loads of fun on all the trampolines. There was no one there when we got there since it was on a week day, which made it nice. We practiced flips, did races, played dodgeball and a little volleyball before we crashed. After burning lots of calories we replaced them with fatty Chinese food! Trampoline places like this one are always awesome, but this one requires socks which were quite annoying. I kept slipping when doing a back handspring and the foam pit tried to steal my socks.

Later I went on my first bike ride with my new bike (I keep forgetting to take pics)! I rode to my rolfing appointment which is mostly uphill. Besides arriving all sweaty, it was awesome! I'm not stoked about the helmet requirement here, but I do miss bike riding. Rolfing was great too because the rolfer worked on my sore wrists (still not sure what was wrong with them, but it's not carpal tunnel or arthritis). Afterwards it looked like I had bruises all over my arms, but now my wrists aren't sore!

Another day we went and played miniature golf with Dean and Crystal. We played all three of their 18 hole courses and they were pretty basic. It was still a fun activity (especially because I won overall) and I think everyone got a few holes in one. I got a hole in one on a difficult hole so I got a voucher for a discounted game! Guess I'll be making another visit...

As a side note, I bought a sewing machine! I love sewing, but have never had the time or money to sew much. I've wanted to hem a certain dress for a long time, but there are many other clothing items I'd like to modify. It's not cheaper to make your own clothes, but it would be nice if I could make purchased items modest. This summer will be super hot and I hate having to wear layers to make something cover appropriately. Hopefully I'll remember to take pictures later on when I finish making something.

My other fun hobby is a large puzzle I have been working on. I just work on it when I am waiting for food to cook or watching a show so it is slow moving. This puzzle is interesting because it is a Photomosaic so each piece has about four tiny photos on it. It makes it easier and harder in different ways. This brings me back to the days when my roommate Laura and I used to work on puzzles together. Good times!

We had another huntsman scare! He randomly appeared as I was showing Matt something on my computer. When trying to move him he disappeared! After Matt removed part of the window we discovered he had slipped into the windowsill space! He was safely removed and taken outside, but it made us both paranoid for a bit.

I've mentioned previously that I had a lot of skin treatments done to help my acne. Well I volunteered to do a testimonial and have them use the footage for a commercial. If you really want to see the difference you can see my testimonial here. I was finishing my thesis at the time so my after pictures aren't as amazing as they could be. I get basically no acne now and my skin is really clear. I'm going to go back and get treatments for my sun damage and scarring though.

Other fun events include getting scammed when trying to buy a car. I'm going to make a long and embarrassing story short. A guy who was selling a car listed on a reputable car website stated he was in the military and could ship the car to us to test drive and we would use an escrow company to handle all the payment stuff. He provided a copy of his military ID, all info on the escrow company (which I checked out), and a receipt for the car shipment. After we paid the deposit to the escrow company I found a forum stating the escrow company we used (CBS solutions) was fake and how the car seller even claims they are with the military. We lost $1200 but were lucky we didn't lose anything else.

Alleged military ID from the car seller

I learned a lot of hard lessons from this: 1. Stick to the rules and not the exceptions such as don't send money to someone you don't know, don't pay for a car before seeing it, etc.  2. When making big decisions as a couple it is important to discuss feelings and spiritual impressions.  3. Just because a man seems to not be doing the "right" things all the time, if he has the priesthood he can still get spiritual promptings. 4. Scam artists are smarter and more elaborate than I had previously thought.

The background of that story is that when Matt took the car to be fixed so we could register it we were told it would be over $5000 and that the car should be scrapped! We were aware of the broken speedometer and odometer, brake light, brake issues, ABS light issues, unusual sounds and other quirks, but the car still runs fine. So the hunt for a new car began.

All lessons hopefully learned and more research done, we went out today to buy a car. It had to be an old used car because we can't get financing on our current visa and we need to save our money for getting permanent residency. Although this wasn't our original plan, we are lucky we have the time and money to take care of this now and extremely grateful our current vehicle lasted as long as it did. After looking at lots of cars we were about to walk away until one of the dealers pointed out a black 2005 Honda Civic that might be in our price range (that was after some serious work to not reveal our budget until I caved). We loved it, prayed about it, and decided to take it home! I know the Lord helped us to get a good deal and to find a car that we both felt good about it as soon as we got in it.

Another recent event was that my little sister got engaged! She is getting married in March so once they set the date I purchased a plane ticket!! I'm excited for her and glad that she is getting married in a month when flights were reasonable ($1300). I'll be there for just over a week so I can also be there for my Mom's birthday.

If you're wondering how Matt and I spent our Halloween, there is not much to say. It's not a holiday or tradition here so we had no trick or treaters, didn't watch scary movies, or even dressed up for anything. Matt played a game on his phone and I watched a recent Arrow episode and went to bed early. Totally boring, but at least for Young Women's mutual that week we carved pumpkins!

Well that's about it for now! I've been exercising and running a lot and it is wonderful! I'm so happy to be free (temporarily) from all the school stress and to focus on getting our permanent residency done and other fun hobbies. I still haven't figured out what career path to take, but I'm just taking one step at a time.

Magpie from my morning run

Shade eating grass on the back patio