Only the log book could fit in there!

These trips must be wearing us out because it was yet another morning that we slept in. Luckily, Claire had the same idea and woke up even later than we did, but it wasn’t that bad since it gave us some time to pack up. Once Claire woke up, she informed us that she would take us to Cateract Gorge, but she would not be partaking in the hike since she has done it many times before. We were fine with this since it meant that we could do a little exploring on our own as well as search for more geocaches. As we made our way to the gorge, Claire also pointed out some other places that we could visit, so we definitely marked it down on our to do list. We finally arrived at the gorge and our exploring began. It was a pretty view from the start, with the suspension bridge spanning across the water.

After seeing the bridge, and knowing that’s the path our next geocache was on, we knew we were going in that direction. Soon enough we found ourselves on top of the bridge! Other couples wanted pictures on the bridge, so we quickly moved onward with our journey. Lauren wanted to take the path next to the water, so we got a few pictures and moved on. As we continued, we came across what could have been the tree of life!

Mama, remember the snake tree limb? Think I've found one better - the bear rock!

The gorge was turning out to be quite the journey with all the sights we were seeing, but now it was time for the real reason we were here – the geocache. Claire said she had never found this geocache, so this motivated us even more to find it! With the hint being, ‘The bench closest to the water’, we were wondering how hard it could be. As we approached the first set of benches, we searched and searched but nothing was found. We moved on and soon came across a couple of benches. Since the trail was about to end, Lauren and I both agreed that it had to be here. As we searched the benches, the closest one to the water first, we came across this tiny bullet size magnet that was attached to the underside of the bench. We both agreed that it couldn’t be it because nothing could fit in it. Yet, we pulled off the magnet, unscrewed the top, and sure enough there was a tiny scroll spun up inside. We were actually surprised at how tiny the scroll actually was!

Unfortunately we didn’t have a pencil, so we couldn’t sign our names saying we found it as well.  With our trail ending at the Gorge, we decided to head back to town and finish exploring. We ended up going to another museum, but this time it was more arts than science. With time zooming by, and knowing we had to get back soon, we started our journey back to Claire’s house. It didn’t take us long before we hit a McDonalds and decided that we needed some fries and ice cream to give us energy. Well deserved I would say. Once we got back to Claire’s house, we ended up doing some more geocaching in the park next to her house. We realized after finding the first geocache that people in Launceston don’t put great gifts inside their geocaches (except Claire, she puts jewelry inside of hers). The second geocache was just the same as we found a leaf, punch card for a hairdresser, an expired train ticket and already used lipstick. After finding that, we decided that we had enough and needed to get to the bus station to catch our ride to Hobart. Claire actually offered to drive us there which was super nice! We arrived and said our goodbyes as we hopped onto the bus. The ride wasn’t too terrible, slightly bumpy and dropping people off on the side of the road made for quite the journey. As we arrived in Hobart, one of Murray’s other surfer’s contacted us and told us to contact her when we arrived since she was planning to wait for us in town. With our stomach grumbling, we headed to the local wooly’s first to grab some pizzas for tonight; first time with an oven in a while! We contacted the other surfer and met up with her at the local bank. She took us up a long road where we finally made it to their house to shed all our warm clothes now sweaty from the long walk and cook our delicious Hawaiian pizzas. 

An old timey fire station for Lauren's dad

Monkey Business

Although we had gone to bed early the night before it didn’t mean that we were going to wake up early. Will had to be up early for work and had clunked around in the kitchen, slightly waking us up but we made no effort to actually get up. Soon we were up and moving, making toast and chatting when Claire joined us in the kitchen. We were planning to go to Will’s friend, Carlos’ house for a BBQ and Claire was messaging the friend to see when we could come up. That’s when Carlos told Claire he was in celebration mode which kinda worried us all. There is a story here but you’ll have to ask us about it when we get back to the US. We ended up changing our minds and not going to BBQ but staying around town and exploring the park and several museums in the city. We stopped by the art museum first which had a lot of hands on science gadgets to try out which amused Riley and myself for quite some time. We even had to see taxidermy Tasmanian devils!

We couldn’t stay for long since our parking meter would run out but we were alright with that since we got to move on other things. We drove into town and parked near the city park to check out the car museum. Riley had found out about the museum on the internet but with it costing over $12 he wasn’t sure if he wanted to go in or not. There was a gift shop that showed just about everything that was in the museum though, so we decided to opt out on actually going in. Instead we hopped across the street to the city park to play a lifesize game of chess and check out the monkeys! Claire beat Riley in the abbreviated game of best two out of three pieces in chess and the monkeys got the rest of our attention.

Apparently Launceston has a sister city in Japan that gave them Japanese monkeys and Launceston gave them wombats. We don’t know if that’s a fair trade or not, but we were definitely glad that we got the monkeys. They were very entertaining, especially the three baby monkeys that we running around and jumping and swinging off everything. The majority of the monkey’s day is spent looking for and picking off fleas from the other monkey’s fur. We don’t understand how they can really have that many fleas or insects or whatever they were looking for. We didn’t really know what to do after the monkeys since they were just so entertaining but Claire told us that there were a few geocaches hidden throughout the park and asked if we wanted to give it a go. We agreed since we’d never done it before and were lucky enough to find our first one with a lot of Claire’s hints. We weren’t so lucky with the second one, but Claire hasn’t found that one either. Afterwards we just shopped around town, got toasties for lunch and just wasted away the afternoon. It was approaching five o’clock and Claire had somewhere to be so we dropped by Will’s office to see when he would be going home. The second State of Origin game was on tonight and we were planning to go to a pub to catch the game. Will said he would be sticking around his office for a while and could give us a ride home later if we wanted to but we were more interested in just exploring the city a little and staying out until the game.

They warned us that everything would be closing up at 5 o’clock, and naïve us didn’t really believe them. However, they were right and our options were limited after 5, but Target stayed open and had tablets with wifi on them! We spent a long while surfing the internet and coloring some pictures for the photo contest (no we didn’t submit our perfectly colored ninja turtles). Soon it was time to head towards the Sports Bar in town and catch the game that we thought started at 8 PM. It turned out to start around 8:30 so we had quite a bit of time to wait again but we didn’t mind since we were inside and away from the cold. This pub was a lot quieter than the ones we’re used to in Sydney, but it made for a better viewing of the game since there weren’t any people in the way. We were really hoping that NSW would come out with a  second win, but unfortunately Queensland scored within the first 2 minutes and it just went downhill from there. At halftime NSW still hadn’t scored and we were just hoping it wouldn’t be a shutout. Right off the bat they scored but weren’t able to overcome the twenty points that Queensland had scored. That left the State of Origin score tied with one more game to go in another three weeks. It really is interesting how their ‘superbowls’ work.

We've already paid for that

Waking up today, we knew that the morning would be slightly easy -  all we had to do was put our luggage into our storage unit and head to the airport. It was easier said than done because with five suitcases, lugging them around was rather difficult! We were able to get two suitcases into the storage unit before it started raining. Yes, as you have read in the blog, it has been raining in Sydney for the last week it seems! Since we knew that we had to get all of our luggage into the unit, we decided we would take on the rain and carry the rest of the suitcases to the unit. If getting our luggage into the unit wasn’t exciting enough, today was the day we would get our bond back! We were super excited about this until our landlord tried shorting us out 50 bucks each saying that we hadn’t paid yet. We set her straight right needless to say. Since it was the last time at our place, we said bye to our house mates (the ones that were there) and headed off to the library, so I could print out my itinerary for the return flight back to the United States. As we stepped into the library, Lauren and I were both shocked to see that most of the computers were open (this is really exciting because usually there are no computers open). It seemed that everything was going just as planned with printing until we found out that all the printers were frozen! What are the chances? So, we’ll just put that off until we get back. Wondering where we are going? Well, we have set up a week trip to explore Tasmania and Melbourne and it was time to finally head to the airport for our first stop: Launceston! We got to the airport the same way we went to Cairns, making it seem like getting to the airport is a breeze! We actually consider ourselves airport pros because checking in and getting through security now comes so easy to us! As we made our way to the gate, we noticed that the gate number on our boarding pass and the gate number the attendant told us were different. Slightly confused, we just went with the one that was on our boarding pass. We should have listened to the attendant because they ended up changing our gate number! Once we found our right gate, we soon boarded the plane and were off on a 1 ½ hour flight to Launceston! We found that this was much more enjoyable than longer flights such as Cairns which was 3 hours! As we landed, we were told that we could not bring any outside fruit, which we thought was ridiculous, but apparently Tasmania doesn’t have crop disease like mainland Australia, so they are cautious on what they allow ing in. That being said, we had to do some grubbing because we brought 3 apples and two bananas! We stuffed our faces with delicious fruits, but were slightly sad since we would have no more fruit after that. Once we finally made our way through, we headed outside the airport to find a shuttle bus that would take us directly to our couch surfer’s house! With no other way of getting there, we thought that this would be the best way. The ride was rather crowded and again, we were one of the last ones off, but it was totally worth it. As we walked up to the door, Claire opened the door and greeted us, telling us to come in and set our stuff down. She later offered us some Milo (Australian hot chocolate), and you know Lauren, she couldn’t resist! For the rest of the night, we just sipped on our milo and told our stories. Will came back a little later and helped us plan out what to do throughout our two days in Launceston. Claire graciously offered to drive us to a few different places the next day and went to bed excited for what was to come in the morning.

We couldn't have fit it into four

Unknowingly we had both planned on skyping our parents today, just at different times so it all worked out. Riley woke up early to skype his mom which was a bit of a bust at first since skype wouldn’t show his image to his mom. After I woke up I decided to turn on my computer to see if I couldn’t connect to skype better, but I was having the same problem. I was planning to skpe with my family afterwards, and they hadn’t been able to see me last time on the webcam so I decided I was going to fix the problem. I googled how to fix it and found out I just had to download a windows fix and then redownload skype. I was so proud of myself that it actually worked since Riley is the one that usually fixes my computer problems! So his mom was finally able to see him, along with my family being able to see me which was even better since my Grandma was in town visiting. We were obviously putting off doing what we had to do today – pack. Long story short our renter had gotten in trouble with the landlord and was getting kick out of her apartment. This meant that she had to kick everyone out of the apartments that she owned, which included both of us. We would be able to stay until July 1^st, but that was right in the middle of our trip to Melbourne so we wouldn’t be back in time to move all of our stuff out. We made the decision to pack up our stuff early and just put it in storage until we left for the United States. This will actually save us money in the long run, but just puts a little extra stress on us before we leave for Tasmania. So the rest of the day was literally spent just packing, organizing and weighing all of our stuff into the five suitcases that we had. Hands down we both agreed that we had brought way too much stuff, but with this being our first trip overseas, we had no reference to go by. But either way, packing up is a lot easier than packing for Australia since everything had to go in the suitcases somehow, someway. We took many short breaks to eat pasta for lunch and pasta for dinner; obviously that’s our best source of energy. By nightfall we had almost everything packed and were ready to move into storage in the morning, plus we were proud of ourselves since we hadn’t gotten a short temper with each other all day. Riley usually gets pretty anxious whenever there’s a big mess and/or we have to pack so I was a worried about how it would go but it turned out to be a lot easier than we had thought. We ventured off to Victoria Park because we had another thing to check off our list – take a picture of the possums in the park. I happen to think that these possums are super cute because it’s a family of 3 that live in a tree near the side of the road. We have been able to see them outside their nest several times around dusk, just sitting there all together. There was only one out for us to take a picture of, but he was still really photogenic and even came down the tree for us.

It's exhausting being a live audience!

We were up a little later than we usually are on Saturday, so getting up for Sunday church was a little tougher than normal. It turned out to be even worse when we stepped outside, after getting ready, to see it down pouring. We had to rush back in to get Lauren’s red umbrella, which has holes and scrapes in it, so I would hardly call it an umbrella! Nonetheless, it did keep us out of some rain and managed to get us to the church dryer than we probably would have been without it. The new priest from last week was doing the mass again today which I liked because both of us could follow him a little better. Once church was over we headed back to the house to get some grub because we were both beyond starving! After lunch we checked outside to see if it was still raining, and sure enough it was, so we stayed inside and did a little bit of pre-packing since tomorrow we would be packing our bags for America. It wasn’t as hard as we both intended it to be, seeing as we were only doing little things, but the little things added up and soon enough our rooms were getting tidied up! We stopped a little early because we had to get ready to head to Parramatta for Australia’s Got Talent! Getting ready was super easy because we were both super excited to go see a televised show! It was still raining as we left our places, so we made a quick jog down to central station where we would catch the 3:30 train to Parramatta. Even though the show wasn’t until 6:30, we decided to get to Parramatta early to check out what the city had to offer. We arrived at Parramatta station, which was conveniently connected to a huge mall, so we decided to check it out. We weren’t disappointed when we found an ultra-cheap candy shop and bought a couple boxes of Mike & Ikes! It was only 5 o’ clock when we found that most of the stores were closing up for the day! This isn’t something new to us since a lot of places close early in Australia. That being said, we decided to leave and head toward the direction of Australia’s Got Talent. Since we had another hour to kill, we stopped at a few shops along the way and found the same souvenirs that you could find at the markets, only ten times more expensive! We left that shop quickly and decided to just hang out at the local Oporto, which kept us out of the rain for a good while. Since Claire (girl who had to AGT tickets) said she would meet us at 5:30 to exchange tickets, we left Oporto and arrived at the venue right at 5:30. Lauren and I thought that the place was about to open since the line was packed, but we soon found out that wasn’t the case. We waited and waited for Claire to arrive, but it didn’t happen for another hour! So at 6:30 we finally got our tickets and headed in the door! We met a couple of other couch surfers who had tagged along to see the show as well who were pretty cool! The whole gang was able to get seats on the second floor, which allowed for a great view! It was quite the sight to see since you only see this type of stuff on T.V.!

The somewhat funny host (left) and judge Kyle (right)

Everyone was waiting for the judges to come out, because apparently they were all big in Australia! The first judge that came out was Dawn, (no idea who she is)! The second was Timomatic, who we also didn’t know, but won on a previous season of Australia’s got talent. The third judge to come out was Geri, who was previously known as Ginger Spice from the Spice Girls, so of course we knew who she was. Lastly, Kyle came out, whom again, we had no clue who he was. It was cool to see everyone cheering and clapping as the judges came out because you could tell that everyone was excited! After all of the commotion ended, we finally had our first performance. It was a man who said he had been singing professionally for over 20 years, so apparently he had to be good. As he began to sing, there was not doubt in my mind that he would be getting to the next round because he was so good! Sure enough, after the judges made their decision to let him through to the next round, we had to sit for at least 15 minutes before the next person would come out. There was a guy named Dylan who would entertain the crowd in between acts, which was different than what we imagined since we were under the impression that it’d be act right after act. TV is quite different when you’re the live crowd! In between acts we had to do things such as: standing ovations, sitting ovations, cheers and boo’s, clapping while in our seats, just so they could have footage of different crowds doing different things. It was actually exhausting to be part of a live audience! Lauren and I were beginning to think that the judges were too nice since we were halfway through the show and no one had been buzzed yet (meaning their act was bad) including the dancing poodle! We were quite amazed by this because in America you can get buzzed off a show so easily! We had our first group not make it through when a couple of ballerina’s were doing an amazing routine on a floating ring in the air. It really looked like they had worked really hard of perfecting the routine and even just working out to have the strength to hold on to it in midair. But unfortunately they didn’t win the judges over and got the first no from the judges. From there the show took a turn and seemed to resemble more of a buck or hen party (bachelor or bachelorette) with all the male strippers that took the stage. I joked with Lauren saying she was getting a little flushed but I think she was more disgusted since there were even oompa loompa strippers at one point! And, they all got through to the next round. This is also around the time when we started to lose faith in the show because they seemed to be letting everyone through even if their talent was mediocre.  This show is obviously going to be overcrowded with acts. More and more people kept leaving through and we were thinking about doing it ourselves since it was already past 11 o’clock, but Lauren says she would have felt bad since there weren’t many people left. Turns out there weren’t that many acts left anyways so we decided to stick it out. Usually they save the best for last but that was not the case today; a Korean man took the stage dressed exactly like Psy the artist of Gangnum Style which was of course the song he was choosing to sing. Neither of us are a fan of this song since it’s so over played now and today was no different. We couldn’t believe that the judges actually let him through since he was claiming to have written another song titled “Color Men” which sounds oddly similar to Psy’s new song ‘Gentleman.’ We were definitely done watching the show after that and quickly made our way to the train station with the other couchsurfing, talking about our favorite acts the whole way. Soon enough we were back in Sydney and on our way to make some midnight sloppy joes. We always tell ourselves that we’ll eat before we go out and do things, but somehow always get caught in the trap with starving and eating much later than we would like. Those sloppy joes were delicious though! 

It was only meant to be that one time...

Today was the day – My final day at Sydney Uni, which also meant one final test.  I started the day out at 7:30 by enjoying a nice breakfast, although I was hoping for a breakfast from Lauren since she ever so nicely did it the first time, but unfortunately I made it myself.  After looking at my notes one last time, I came to a conclusion that I knew the material well enough and that I was ready to take the exam. As I left for school, dark clouds began to roll in, which I was hoping wasn’t going to be a sign on how today was going to play out. When I arrived at my building it started raining, so at least I was lucky enough not to get stuck in the rain! Right when I arrived I took my test, which didn’t turn out to be as tough as I thought it was going to be! At 11:30 exactly I finished my time at Sydney Uni and boy, was it a good feeling! I headed back and Lauren was still in her jammies, even though she had already taken a shower. I was about to take another shower because I was finally able to shave my beard today (superstition during exam time), which I was happy about. After this busy morning, we decided that we would head out and do some errands. By the time dinner time rolled around, we were both starving and craving chicken because we were planning to go to The Nest (place with delicious chicken) for our celebration dinner of being all done with our school semester in Australia! As we arrived to the Nest, our hearts were torn in half; there was a big sign that said ‘For Lease’ on the window. We were beyond sad because every time after the first time we came, the place has been closed. Now it’s shut down for good which is such a bummer since we hate when locally owned restaurants don’t make it! With our stomachs grumbling, we had to settle for another chicken place that was right up the road. Lauren ordered a chicken schnitzel sandwich which turned out to be a chicken strip sandwich, while I ordered the closest thing that resembled the sandwich that we had at the Nest, a mona troppe. All in all, the place wasn’t that bad, but no comparison to the Nest. We had also planned to go see the fireworks at Cockle Bay tonight, since it was the last Saturday that we would be in Sydney, which meant the last Saturday that we would be able to see the fireworks. It had been raining all day, like every other Saturday, so we figured that they wouldn’t have them, yet we went the harbor to try anyways. There were heaps of people waiting near the water when we arrived, so we figured that they still had to be on. At 8:30 on the dot the fireworks began to shoot off into the air. It was quite the show and Lauren even said that it was one of the best that she has seen since there were some different designs and it was a nonstop show! The show only lasted about 15 minutes, but it was the perfect amount of time. It felt good to finally check that off our list.

I hope they win

I told myself that I would get up early today, but only because I needed to study for my last exam that was just around the corner! Lauren doesn’t have any more exams, so she enjoyed her morning sleeping in just a little longer than I did. I studied for most of the morning, but since the NBA finals were on, I had a tough time keeping my focus. It was the Heat vs. Spurs in game 7 and they were already tied 3-3 in the series, so this was the game to see who would be the champions! I missed the first half of the game since it started while I was sleeping, but caught the second half over gamecast, which lets me watch it play by play. It wasn’t as exciting, but it was still exciting enough! After a neck and neck game, the Heat finally won, which made me pretty happy. Since Lauren had been doing some computer surfing, and I had been ‘studying’, we decided that a nice walk outside would do us good. I thought we would do a nice walk in the park, or maybe along the beach, but Lauren knew what should be on my mind so we took a walk to the library. She had to return some books that she had recently checked out, so the trip wasn’t completely wasted!  The rest of the day was filled with rain, so we just decided to relax and have our famous tuna and corn salads again tonight!