Townsville

Hello!

After being gone for a weekend in Canberra and spending a total of 4 days in Sydney, I packed my bags yet again and headed on another weekend getaway. This time, I went to Townsville to visit my dear friend, Emma, with Gabi and Ben. Townsville is located in northern Queensland and is about 1,000 miles away from Sydney (so obviously we choose to fly for 3 hours rather than forcing Ben to drive us 12 hours). Though Emma wouldn't allow us to tell people we went to Townsville since it sounds lame, so Gabi, Ben, and I traveled to "Tropical Queensland."

Once we arrived in Tropical Queensland (and after I jumped on Emma and screamed with excitement to see her), Emma made us a nice little lunch and we all hung out and talked for a little while. Ben was feeling pretty sleepy, so he went to go take a nap while Emma took Gabi and I on a campus tour. I thought the campus was super cute! I'm not sure if I could study there since I'm too much of a city girl, but I really did enjoy it. The buildings and classrooms are sort of hidden in the bush; you have to walk along a path that leads into the forest for a second and then you are suddenly on campus. It's very much "Australia-esque," wild turkeys running around, rainforest all around, pic-nic tables in the grass, and mountains in the background. Emma also took us to see the different on-campus housing. Some of them looked pretty normal and cute, but there was one that I thought was hilarious and would die if I had to live in it. They're called Western Courts...sounds lovely doesn't it? It's actually a trailer park on top of an old outdoor basketball court. When we walked by, there were college kids sitting on their porch playing card games in rocking chairs, it was quite the site.

After we walked around campus, we went back to Emma's (her apartment is very nice...comfy cozy with great neighbors and a nice community kitchen area) to find Ben missing. Apparently he accidentally locked himself out of Emma's room and decided he was going to go on a walk and explore campus. He came back about a half an hour later with no shoes on and no phone. We all made fun of him. Later on that night, Emma took us over to her friend's place to participate in a beer pong tournament. Emma and I were on a team (we named ourselves 1,2,3 Triple D! Mighty Ducks anyone?) going against Gabi and Emma's friend, Norm (their team name was Purple Monkey something...it was weird). Our glorious 1,2,3 Triple D team suffered a terrible defeat by the Purple Monkeys...it was upsetting. After the tourney ended, we all went out to one of the bars called Mad Cow, which was a lot of fun. Gabi started talking to the manager of the bar, who then gave us vouchers for free drinks all night. Hooray for a free night!

On Saturday, we went down to the Strand and walked along the beach. It was a lovely day (despite it being rather cloudy...it was still warm), so it was nice to go walking along the beach, playing on the playgrounds, and running knee deep in the ocean. While we were walking, we came across a little event promoting fire safety. We noticed a fireman passing out bright pink stickers, so naturally, we all ran up to him to get our bright pink sticker promoting the stop, drop, and roll saying. The fireman then gave us a bunch of temporary tattoos, key chains, and balloons. We all immediately blew up our balloons and had a balloon fight; we were all very excited. After our nice little walk, we went back to campus to start preparing food for the International Dinner held by the apartment complex Emma lives in. It was a very nice event and looked like a mini-prom. Everyone got dressed up (luckily Gabi and I packed dresses), there were lights hanging everywhere, balloons and confetti on the tables, and sparkling wine being served (okay, so maybe that isn't so prom-ish..but it's still classy). After the dinner was over, we all decided to enjoy a low-key night and watch a movie. It was 5 girls and 1 guy in the room, so guess what kind of movie we got to watch. That's right, we forced Ben to watch a chick flick - He's Just Not That Into You...surprise surprise. As it turned out, all 5 of the girls fell asleep half way through and Ben was the only one who stayed up to watch it. He claims he didn't enjoy it, but I think he was lying. Why else would he be the only one to stay awake for it?

On Sunday Emma took us on a hike up a mountain. And by hike...I mean hike. It was pretty intense and made me realize that I should probably start working out a little more regularly. Once we got to the top of the mountain, though, it was breathtaking. The ocean shore was right below us, so we could look out over the ocean and see all of Townsville at the same time. After our wonderful hike, we went back to the apartment to prepare dinner - marinated kangaroo, broccoli, and potatoes. I was a little hesitant about eating kangaroo at first, but it was actually very very delicious! I don't really know how to describe it, it was a little tough (but not too tough), juicy, and delicious. Once we were done devouring this scrumptious meal, we decided to crack open a bottle of champagne (we're not as classy as we sound...it was $5. We're poor) and play some cards.

Gabi and Ben left to go back to Sydney on Monday morning while I stayed an extra day to spend more time with Emma. Emma and I had a very typical day for us. We made some oatmeal, sat on the bed, and watched the Sex and the City movie. Once we had our fill of Sex and the City, we went for a walk down by the river and talked nonstop for a couple of hours. We later met up with some of Emma's friends at a restaurant, had some pizza and beer to celebrate my last night/them being done with papers (wish I could say the same). It was a very nice last day with Emma - just hanging out, talking, and watching girlie movies all day. It was perfect. Then I sadly had to say goodbye to Emma and go back to Sydney just in time for my class. I really enjoyed Tropical Queensland. It was warm, it was beautiful, it was remote, and it was just overall nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of Sydney to relax with good friends.

I hope everything is going well with everyone back home!
Whit