coolangatta

yesterday, my friend stephen and i went to coolangatta beach for the day. high 70s, slight breeze, not a cloud in the sky. it was marvelous. on the way home, we swung across the state border. it was pretty exciting, only because australia has very few state borders.

coolangatta beach--lots of surfers!

coolangatta beach

tweed's head coast-NSW-point danger

i'm in two places at once! NSW and QLD.

whitsunday islands

i just spent 3 days sailing through and around the whitsunday islands! there were 12 of us (plus a skipper and a crewmate) on the boat from the USA, poland, australia, mexico, france, norway, england, and sweden.

the catamaran and the water was beautiful... the weather was not. pouring rain, grey skies, freezing cold, 30-40 knot wind, and enormous swell. most of the time for the majority of the passengers was spent huddled inside. those of us who got violently seasick (moi) spent most of the trip hanging onto the back of the boat, puking in the pouring rain and trying not to get thrown overboard.

that being said, we got to see the iconic whitehaven beach and i had 2 awesome scuba dives. i was diving with our divemaster and 2 new divers, so it was very relaxed, good vis, great coral and lots of fishies! my favorite part of the entire trip was our first dive. we descended about 5-6 meters for the newbies to work on a couple skills. i just kneeled on the bottom of the ocean and proceeded to get absolutely swarmed by fish. there were so many that i could hardly even see the other divers! after they finished their skill set, we took off. after a couple minutes of swimming, i looked over and there was a GIANT fish less than a meter away from me!! it was a ~3 foot long napoleon wrasse (also called the humphead or maori wrasse). his name was george and he used to be a girl!! apparently, there can only be one dominant male in each school or group of the wrasse. once the male dies, a female turns into a dude to take the deceased's place. how cool is that!? anyway, he followed me the ENTIRE dive. i kept looking over and there he'd be. he was gentle and close enough that i could have reached over to pet him. but, beware folks: touching fish can give them skin cancer because of the foreign oils in our skin. so don't touch anything underwater!

even as we ascended, george followed me. he came all the way up to the side of the boat with me. it was amazing. it definitely made me wish i was still studying marine biology... and made me realize that i should probably get my divemaster and just spend my life teaching people how to scuba dive and seeing sweet fish. if i could live underwater, i would.

most of the group

a grey and stormy whitehaven beach

swarmed by fishies

george, my personal stalker

i found nemo! (see bottom left)

back on land in airlie beach. of course the sun came out about 2 minutes before we pulled into the marina...

best break ever

needless to say, my "summer break" was the best one ever. time in minnesota, florida, colorado, montana, and the netherlands, all in 2 months. i came back to australia a month before classes started to find a job (still unsuccessful) and get settled into the apartment. i miss summer already!

goodbye netherlands :(

our last night together was spent in amsterdam, wandering the city and going out to dinner.

we went to a restaurant where all of the waiters, waitresses, and bartenders walked around singing and serenading diners. they all studied at a local conservatory, so they were pretty impressive!

joost's mom bought me some dutch slippers to remember my time there :) joost's leg is slightly longer... and hairier... than mine.

even more holland

dinner at joost's apartment with timmy, oskar and toni

a typical breakfast for joost :) he's a big guy!... he needs a lot of nourishment.

eggs from joost's pet chickens

we tried making snickerdoodle cookies. it required a lot of translating/converting.

brunch at the euromast with joost's family

holland (part 2)

another picture from the concert

madurodam (a tourist attraction that is basically all of holland, but mini-sized)

impromptu trip to holland!

a couple days after i returned home from montana, i got an email alerting me to cheap amsterdam plane tickets! they had gone on sale for $600. obviously, that was a deal i couldn't turn down. i booked a ticket for the next week! joost and i hadn't anticipated on seeing each other until the end of june, so it was a very, VERY nice surprise.

joost, timmy (a friend who studied abroad in australia last year), and i exploring rotterdam.

dinner at timmy's house. it was so fun hanging out with friends from this year and last year!

joost and i in utrecht.

joost surprised me by taking me to a concert at wibi soerjadi's house. wibi is a famous pianist. it was beautiful. plus, wibi lives in a giant mansion adorned with disney characters.