Sore nipples, Limbo, and Surfing at Mojo Surf Camp

Hello my lovely followers. I sincerely apologize for the lack of blogging, but it has truly been a crazy couple of weeks. I want to bring you up to speed on my latest endeavors here in Australia.

• I had my first Australian exam.
• As I was up late studying for it, and came back late from studying, I almost overslept it and missed it. Luckily, I have a trust friend that came and woke me up for it, and I think I did fairly well.
• I got back my first real Australian assignment.
• And did FABULOUS!!! I got a mark of Distinction, border line High Distinction, and my tutorial leader (?) told me I was very close to that higher mark and would be there in no time.
• I learned how to surf!!!!
• Read below!

So as my Friday, February 18th, approached and I anticipated surf camp all day like a child waiting on Christmas, I didn't expect it to happen like this. A hot pink, Mojo bus pulled up and a guy named Linton jumped off yelling "Who's ready to get crazy!?!?" If that wasn't enough excitement to get me going, I don't know what else could have added to it. On our way to Spot X in New South Wales, we stopped at a convenience store and perused through the candy aisles to see what Australian wonders we could find. I got a Crunchie, which was absolutely AMAZING! and we should totally get in the states, and some other type of chocolatey wonder. Australia's main chocolate manufacturer is Cadbury, which in my opinion tastes like cheap chocolate. I guess that's what I get from having Gramma Carolyn's annual Christmas and Easter gifts of Fannie May Chocolates.
After reboarding the bus, and listening to some very interesting Australian Hip Hop and lame Australian jokes, we continued onward. We switched drivers to a very funny Mate named Al who told us "This is my first time ever driving one of these things. If anyone wants to try, come on up!" Al also told us we would be on our way, but we had to pick up his dog first. Thinking he was joking we continued to watch the very inspirational movie "Blue Crush" (Thanks Tierr and/or Julie Swigert for letting us borrow this back in the day!). Next thing we know we are in a small, quiet neighborhood when our bus stops and Al runs off. Next thing we know, Al's little puppy, which was actually quite fat, climbed on board and made his way to the back every now and then introducing himself.
After we arrived at Spot X, "Sexy Dan" got onboard to introduce himself and give us a tour of Camp Mojo. Camp Mojo is a small campground that has a mess hall where we got our meals, outdoor seating, a fire pit, a makeshift stage with a stripper pole, and a movie room. We were led around and shown to our cabins, which were actually trailer homes that had been gutted and filled with bunk beds. We all claimed a bed, headed down to the beach to see the absolutely astounding full moon, and then called it a night.
After a very early 7 a.m. wake up call, we went to a hearty breakfast and then went to our first surf lesson. We learned the "Love 'N Safety" of surfing, which included: Always look cool, Don't wee in your wetties, and Tickle your nipps for good hand placement.
Then we grabbed our boards and headed to the beach to continue our lesson and work on Pop Ups. You know when you see people learning to surf in the movies and they practice paddling and figuratively jumping up on their boards? Well, it is true! Except we did it like 15 times...after he was semi confident in our popping up skills, our instructor Fister (it's last name) sent us out in the water. Surfing is no easy feet. You paddle your little heart out, attempt to pop up and then forget everything you have been taught. This happened a few times, but once you got the hang of it you feel pretty cool!
Note to all the men out there...DO NOT WEAR A CUT OFF WHILE SURFING! My nips had a great deal of chafing and took a long while to recover. The salt, sand, foam board, and friction of a T-Shirt did quite the work on those boys.
After our first lesson, which had many failures and many successes, me and my mates took some kayaks out into the water and had a look at the estuary, and then messed around until our next surfing lesson. Same instructions as last time, except this time Fister wanted us to practice some tricks. He wantes us to try a "Switch Foot" which entailed completely switching directions on your surf board. Let's just say easier said than done. While I had some pretty good runs, I had my fair share of bad runs. Regardless, I was satisfied with my surfing debut.
After some relaxation, a much needed meal, and another trip to the beach as we watched the harvest moon rise, we decided to engage in some Mojo Surf Camp night activites. For some reason or another, this included me doing Limbo. Me, a 6' 3" white American, beat out heaps of people! Yes, I won the limbo contest, beating out short, skinny little girls. I guess Toohey's Dry has some limbering effects! We then met some very lovely Norwegians and fellow Americans and played drinking games (Learned a new one!). That night I went to the beach with a few lovely people and we sat by a fire, took shots of Smirnoff (don't ask why!), and then went swimming, for some...clothing optional. (Mother my clothes were on the whole time! I swear. It was only the crazy Irish guy that wanted to flaunt his goodies!)
Then I had one of the most amazing showers of my entire life! The next morning, slightly hungover, we braved the waves one more time. This time we tried paddling out, through, and under waves. This was so difficult! Trying to grab onto your board and flip over, an Eskimo Roll, under a wave and then come out on top of it was quite difficult.
Regardless of my once again sore nipples, my weekend was amazing and I can now scratch surfing off of my Bucket List. The photographer got amazing pictures and they will be posted very soon. Other than that, nothing new. We are planning a trip to New Zealand very soon, and we are going to Sydney for Mardis Gras this weekend. Hope all is well back home!

Until Then,

Wilson

A Classy Valentine's Day

Alright my trusted followers that are vicariously living wild and warm adventures through me...at the request of Miss Barbara Swigert, here is another post about my life Down Under.

Well, since my last excursion I have not done anything to incredibly wild. Who am I kidding? I'm always wild. Well the last 13 days since my previous blog post I have partied, met some really cool people, partied, eaten some really good Australian ice cream called Magnum, and various other things to immerse myself in the culture....(which basically means partied). Just kidding mom! I'm studying a lot!

Well as all of you love birds and single-ites know, just this week was the beloved Valentine's Day. Well, Australians hate Valentines Day just as much as most Americans, and acutally laugh when they see that all these American girls were waiting to receive their flowers, teddy bears, chocolates, and various packages at the mail room. One Australian girl even said "Well I know nothing back there is for me because we don't celebrate this crap!" Such a romantic!

After my few classes of Monday, me and some fellow American mates decided "Let's do Valentines Day like a very classy American!" So we got online and ordered Pizza Hut Pizza for the 5 of us, obviously doing the 3 for $13 meal DOUBLE! So we each would get our own pizza and have a community one to spare. (Do they have Hot & Spicy Pizza Mia's back home?) So we placed our order and started our walk (it costs $8.50 to deliver and we live 5 minutes away, plus it is 85 degrees here) to Pizza Hut when we got the great idea..."Let's be really classy and swing through Dan Murphy's and get beer or some sort of alcohol to go along with it. All 5 of us go into the store and begin our search for soemthing good. We ended up each buying something seperate for our individual selves, as a 24 pack of "cheap" beer is circa $45. (And Barbie, they don't have Miller Light! They have other forms of Miller but it is MUCHO expensive). Dan Reiss and myself each got 2, two, dos, du, boxes of Sunnyvale Fruity Lexia Wine (which costs approximately $19 for both and they are 4 liters a piece....What up Franzia!?!).
Now, my box of Goon had a ripped bottom. Being the American I am, I said "DISCOUNTTT!" thanks to my great friend Adam Sandler who taught me that in Big Daddy. So as we are walking to check out and I'm standing in line, in front of a mom and her son, my box breaks! The goon bag falls out and bounces on the ground and the little boy laughs hysterically and the mom slightly chuckles. The guy at the register goes "Oh, would you like me to tape up your box for you?" Yes please! What can make boxed wine even classier? Taped up boxed wine!

After leaving Dan Murphy's we went and picked up our pizzas and walked home (we were called very American by having 6 pizzas and tons of alcohol...we embraced it!) to enjoy our Valentine's Day feast. We illegally watched a movie on the internet and pigged out. A night well spent if you ask me. What did you do for your Valentines Day? Anything exciting? Barbara, did Julio put a ring on it?

Well this weekend I have Surf Camp Weekend to look forward to, so be prepared for pictures and a new blog post about my epic failure/domination. I'm going to hit the pool.....

Until Then,

Wilson

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

After recovering from scaling Mt. Everest, I mean Mt. Warning, with a day of shopping at Pacific Fair, the largest outlet mall I have ever seen, and a little beach action, we headed off to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary on Sunday to see some Aussie animals in relatively natural habitat.
As we arrived at Currumbin on Sunday morning, we didn't really know what to expect. We meandered through the first two gift shops before getting our park maps and starting our journey on what would end up being the best zoo experience of my life.
As we first started walking, we came across a small fenced in area that had some trees. We didn't think much of it, but then we spotted what was inside. Koalas! Yes, my first Australian animal to be documented on camera. It was very exciting to see, but not very exciting to watch. Koalas are the most chill animal ever and spend a majority of their time sleeping. After snapping some pictures, and trying to talk to them, we carried on our journey to the next adventure. Oh, and I got to hold a 7 year old Koala and got my picture taken with it! She was quite the chunk, but was unbelievably soft.
After continuing our walk we saw various other animals and sights, including a children's play area where we released our inner child. We made our way to this big, open fenced in area where we found...you guessed it, we found the Kangaroo area. You walk through a gate and our free to roam about the area and pet and take pictures as you feel. Obviously, I did just that!
While at first, the ones we were near were quite old and mainly just laid there or stood while we pet them, as they just wanted food from us. Then, out of nowhere, a stampede of Kangaroos comes dashing from the trees. It was quite impressive to see, and the little Asian boy next to me was very excited!
We continued petting and visitng the Kangaroos and the occasional Emu and then decided to partake in the Green Challenge. The Green Challenge is an obstacle course that includes zip lining, climbing ladders, suspended cables, and other obstacles along the way (it was great practice for my future Survivor days!). We got to wear these sweet 80s/space jump suits and a harness, but neither were comfortable for the weather.
After the obstacle course (which was very tough in some spots, especially with sore legs) we continued onward to find Dingos, Wombats, Cockatoos and other animals. We took a train ride through the park and wrapped up our day at Currumbin. We rode the bus to Burleigh Beach, where we enjoyed a late lunch of Kebabs and Gelato. Best way to end a day with Kangaroos, I'd say.

Well that was my latest wild activity, we shall see what this weekend has in store. I apologize that this post was quite lame too, I'll do better next time.

Until Then,

Wilson

The Test of Strength and Will at Mt. Warning

First off, thank you to my 16 followers! You guys are great and I hope you enjoy reading about my experiences here in Australia.
Secondly, I apologize it has been forever since my last blog. I'll try to be more consistent.

Well, I put my Nike Dual Fusions to the test last weekend as I hiked up the 3,973 ft mountain in New South Wales, Australia. Due to its proximity and height, Mt. Warning is the first place to receive sunlight on the mainland of Australia.
As we left Uni around midnight, we got on our Koala Coach bus and drove the hour long trip to Wollumbin National Park, arriving around 1:00am. After getting our 1.5 L water bottle, snack packs, torches (flashlights) and redbulls, we split up into groups based on ability and began the trek up. With the time change, it was 2:30am when we started.
At the beginning it was just some easy stairs that we were climbing, and I thought nothing of it at first. The humidity and night heat was relatively comfortable...at first. After we surpassed the steps, we hit the trails. Being the "athletic" people we are, we chose the fast group and kept a very, very quick pace. Looking back, it was like we were running up this mountain, which some people actually did do after daybreak (crazy, I know!).
Pitch black darkness and a small flashlight while climbing huge rocks and stepping into the unkown was quite the challenge (Mom, you would have hated it!). Along the way we spotted glow worms, toads the size of my foot (much fatter of course) and spiders. They were sights to see, but only to see. Also, a few people had leeches on their feet (I ended up with two on my ankles, but they did their deed and fell off before I even knew it had happened).
After almost 2 hours of hiking, we finally reached the top. The last 30 minutes or so we had to hold onto chains because it was so steep. Crazy in the dark navigating a torch and foot holds while holding on. You kind of just kept your feet moving constantly so you didn't fall down and hit the person behind you. Might I add, the kid behind me had a knee brace on because he re-tore his ACL while at the beach one day. Bad deal, I'd say.
After reaching the top, we ate our snack packs and waited on the sun and the rest of the hikers to come up. At the top it was almost 20 degrees colder, so being covered in sweat and water didn't help. After what seemed like forever, the sun finally started making its way out, but there was so much fog that we saw this:

YAYYY FOG!!!

It was truy exciting to see absolutely nothing! So, we decided to head down the hill and venture our way towards some brekkie. As we walked down the hill I did snap a few pictures of the sun FINALLY coming out.

It was absolutely lovely to see in real life. The hike down took about just as long, as we were fighting off tiredness, exhaustion, and the longest trek we have ever made (P.S. I didn't go to sleep the night before). After finally making it down, I kissed the flat ground and screamed "LAAANNNDDD!" and enjoyed a nice sausage sandwich and Lollies for breakfast (quite the combo, but I would have killed for some of Mama Cheryl's French Toast!). I relatively changed out of my sweaty, damp clothes and reboarded the bus for another hour drive back to Uni.
After arriving back I immediately showered, put on my trackies and jumper and went to sleep, as we returned at about 10:30am. After being awake for over 24hours and hiking for 4 hours, I was exhausted. Definitely worth the trip though, try it if you get the chance. And hey, maybe one day I'll go back and run it like those guys we saw....


In other news, I once again got published in UNews and you can read my article ==> here.

Thanks for your support and see you soon,

Until Then,

Wilson