A whirlwind of emotions

As the new school year looms ever closer I find myself pondering about it more and more. Today it really got to me because after I get home to BKK tomorrow I only have 11 days before I head back to the USA again. That isn't much time. This whole year is a lot of uncertainty for me. Pretty much all my close friends left on their missions and I'm feeling a bit lonely and lost. Hopefully I'll be able to adjust without much trouble. That is all...

Random Fact: The surface area of the Earth is 197,000,000 square miles.

Nothing to Hide

This is the Air Flight Safety video for Air New Zealand. Watch it carefully and you may notice something. It's a brilliant twist on words. You definitely wouldn't see anything like this in the US. Then again you probably wouldn't see a lot of the TV shows that they broadcast here on regular television in the states. For instance, this evening we were watching this New Zealand channel and they dropped the F bomb like it was nothing. Guess they have a bit of different rules here.

Random Fact: Table salt is the only commodity that hasn’t risen dramatically in price in the last 150 years.

New Zealand? Or Chinatown?

Since being in Kiwiland I must say we have seen more Asians and tour groups than any Kiwis (people from New Zealand). It is really strange from me. We must be in “Chinatown” because we have an Asian supermarket down the street from us and a Chinese newspaper across the street. Now I’m not racist at all I just wasn’t expecting it coming to New Zealand. Apparently there is a very large Korean and Japanese population here. The other night when we were walking down the street and looking around near our hotel and some Asian girls were walking in front of us. It is mind boggling to me to hear a New Zealand accent coming from someone of Asian decent. Auckland is definitely a very diverse city. We saw people from all walks of life. It seems though that it is a young city. The majority of its inhabitants are roughly college age. It is a fairly clean city and has beautiful parks, very different from Bangkok. There is a lot of hills and two large harbors because Auckland is located on an isthmus with two mountain ranges within the city limits. This creates picturesque landscapes and a city skyline that is to die for. Every where I look in this city I feel like it is a movie set. It may not be Lord of the Rings with the rolling hills of the south island but Auckland is definitely a must see stop if you want to see a bit of the city life in New Zealand.

Random Fact: Between 25% to 33% of the population sneeze when they are exposed to light.

Meeting ALL the local wildlife

Australia is home to a wide variety of species from both land and sea. We were in awe as we walked through the Kangaroo exhibit. They were so tame! The kangaroos would come right up to you and if you put your hand out with some feed in it then they would eat it. My mom would scratch their necks and they would throw their heads back. I guess they really liked it. I was pretty surprised that they weren’t bigger but the ones in the enclosure were all females. Some of the kangaroos had joeys in their pouches. They were so cute! Some of them had barely any hair on them while another one that we saw was quite furry. Kangaroos are amazingly soft and we had a lot of fun scratching their ears and petting them

Now when you think of Pelicans you probably don’t realize just how big they are. The Australian pelican is the largest species and very common in the land down under. We had fun watching them and the large male pelican named Perry was particularly friendly. The zookeeper came and we were able to feed them. Their beaks are so huge! A few turtles and a fresh water eel or two were trying to eat the fish that we were feeding the pelicans. Random fact about these pelicans… when they lay eggs they may lay 3 or 4 but only one baby survives because they will eat the others or push them out of the nest. So sad!

My friend the wombat... soooo cute!

Everyone knows that Australia is land of the marsupials. If you don’t know what a marsupial is it is a mammal with a pouch where their babies stay for several months and develop instead of inside their bodies. We learned that there are two species of koala and three different species of wombat. I fell in love with wombats. These furry marsupials only have a gestation period of 22 days! Man I’d kill to have that. But then their babies stay in the pouch for up to 7 months so it kinda evens out I suppose. While we were at the zoo we got to pose with a koala and actually hold it. They are so soft and cute but their claws are pretty sharp and it scratched me a little  but it was so worth it. I mean when would I ever get to do that again? Never…

Sultan the 16 foot long saltwater Crocodile

Not all of these critters are very friendly though. Australia is famous for its poisonous snakes and spiders. We got to see a snake show with the coastal taipan (one of the world’s top 10 most poisonous snakes) along with a few other reptile friends. There was even a crocodile show but because it is “winter” in Cairns the crocs weren’t very active. The biggest crocodile there was Sultan and he was about 5 meters long or 16 feet in length. Crocodiles have a massive bite and it is a supercharged one at that. They are able to bite down with a force of 3500 pounds per square inch on average. To put that in perspective, humans have an average of about 120 psi and lions have around 900 psi. Talk about a powerful set of chompers.

The favorite attraction at Cairns Zoo is definitely the Bird Show. We all had our different reasons for liking it. I loved the birds and how smart they are. Jared liked the fails and the jokes. Then there is Mina. Mina was there for the Trainer, Chad. She was all smitten with his Aussie accent and Beiber hair. Maybe it was the way he charmed the birds that had her wishing she could grow feathers and fly into his arms. We were even joking around that instead of holding a koala she would ask if she could hold him. For the longest time we didn’t even know his name but then it was all we could talk about. I suppose that you could say Aussies are quite SPICAAAY indeed. ;-) Not going to lie there. Yes, I can say with assurance that my whole family loved our experience at the zoo and in the land down under.

Random Fact: Hot water is heavier than cold water.

The Rack Workout Station

 

This commercial made me laugh. I saw it on TV in New Zealand. I couldn’t help but laugh because it looks like a walker. Sometimes I really have to stop and wonder how well these magical workout programs work. Do you think this would work for you? Definitely not my type of workout. I think I'll stick to my two feet and a pair of running shoes.

Random Fact: The longest Monopoly game ever played was 1,680 hours long, that's 70 straight days!

I Can't Stop LAUGHING!

This video has had me laughing so much. I have replayed it so many times. It really needs to go viral! It is simply cute, fail, and a win at the same time. Who knew a Manatee was so squishy. Anyway, enjoy my silly little video.

Random Fact: An elephant trunk has no bone but 40,000 muscles.

Team Rugby Safety Video

On our flight from Cairns Australia to Auckland New Zealand we flew on New Zealand air. Most safety videos that they show you on the plane are soooo boring and lame. But wait… what’s this? A rugby team? An old granny with a picture of a SPICAAAAY man in a Speedo? Is this really a safety video? I must say this was the first airplane safety video that has really captured my entire attention in a very long time. It was really great so I even found it on YouTube so you all can enjoy it as well.

Random Fact: Kiwis are the only known bird to have nostrils located at the tip of their beak.

Don’t Rock the Boat

Ever since I was a little girl I have wanted to go to Australia. I got my diving certification with my dad when I was just 12 years old. Put both of those together and there you have my dream, to dive in the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is not only the largest natural reef but also boasts the most biodiversity of nearly anywhere in the world. We got on the boat quite early at 7:30 am and set sail shortly after that. They gave us a safety briefing and passed around sea sickness tablets. Knowing myself, and the fact that I was not born with an iron stomach, I graciously accepted some. Lindsey was only able to do snorkeling because you had to be 12 to do an intro dive. Mina and Jared were able to do the intro dive program though and they loved it! They did 3 different dives but were not allowed to be down as deep or as long as my mom, dad and I.

Now for the fun stuff… and the not so fun. The wind was pretty bad and it was causing some massive waves. We had a really large boat but it was still rocking pretty good. I swear we all should have started singing “Don’t rock the boat baby”. It was really bad. Mina was the first to lose it. Before long over half the boat was praising the great porcelain gods. Lindsey and I were the only two from our family who survived the trip without sharing our food with the fish. Once we got out to the reef though it was really calm but those 40 minutes to the reef were a built in roller coaster ride. One awesome thing that made those 40 minutes worth it was that we saw a humpback whale! He was so cute! He kept slapping the water with his flippers so it looked like he was waving at us. He also would jump and fluke in front of the boat. A couple of dolphins even joined in the fun. We watched him for a while before we got to the reef. All the humpback whales are in Australia giving birth to their calves and enjoying the warmer waters. 

A Giant Moray Eel we saw

Time to dive below the water. We slid into our freezing cold wetsuits, put on our gear, and descended below the ocean waves. My mom had a bit of trouble getting down at first but then it all worked out. I could not believe how many fish there were! There was a huge variety of fish, coral, and sea slugs. Tucked away in a crevice I was lucky enough to see an octopus. The parrotfish were swimming around picking at the coral and I got a picture taken with some clownfish. My dad took tons of photos so I’ll be sure to put those up on Facebook later. It was so tranquil down there that I didn’t want to return to the surface. After nearly freezing to death one of the crew members gave me an extra wetsuit to put on. We had a mandatory 30 minute wait time before we could go back down again. That passed quickly and we suited up and dove down but went a different way along Milne’s reef. It is amazing how just a few feet away you can see completely different fish. 

White Tipped Reef Shark that was sleeping in the sand.

After this dive it was back into the boat to grab some grub and we went to the next reef for our last dive. It was great to get some warm food and hot cocoa in our systems. This boat also had WARM showers. I kid you not they were almost too hot at times. It felt amazing and I was so glad they had them. The crew was very helpful and friendly which made it fun to talk to them about their various adventures on the Great Barrier Reef. When we descended the waves for our last dive I was shocked at first… ummm where was the reef? There was nothing but sand below us but we soon spotted some shadows off in front of us. That is where we went. Giant coral landscapes and channels were there. It was breathtaking. We swam through some and saw the largest turtle I have ever seen in my life. It must have been about 5 feet long and about 4 feet across on its shell alone. Talk about an amazing specimen. (yes the nerd in me coming out again) We also so a couple of white tipped reef sharks sleeping on the sandy bottom and a small ray. The variety was stunning. It was so different from the other place we went it blew my mind away. I would definitely recommend this to anyone. It is a MUST SEE if you go to Australia. 

This turtle was huge! Seriously the biggest one I have ever seen.

The trip back was even bumpier than the way out there but for some reason or another we didn’t get sick at all, which was a huge relief. It was actually really fun! Mina went out on the front of the boat and got a bit of the ocean spray in her face. The waves were really big and the boat sometimes caught them just right so that it was almost like we were flying. It was bittersweet when we saw the mountains looming in the distance. It wasn’t far until shore now and that meant bye bye boat. It was definitely a chance of a lifetime and I loved every second of it. Guess I can check that one off my bucket list.

Random Fact: A ball of glass will bounce higher than a ball made of rubber.