Mock Drop!

Division 5 Navigators: Holly and Christian 

I had a pretty low-key weekend in Canberra, which was much needed. Saturday night I had a mock drop for my Inward Bound competition, which was very exciting! I was pretty nervous all day Saturday because I was not sure what to expect. In the team of four there is a navigator, an assistant navigator and two scouts. As most of you know I am not the best with directions, so not to worry I am scout...my team now has a chance of finishing. The nav will survey the area we are dropped of at and send the scouts out in opposite directions. I run out for 20 minutes and take compass bearings of mountains, roads, streams or whatever it is I find interesting. As I am doing this I have to draw a map to give to the nav. I was nervous about getting lost since I was going to be running by myself, but luckily we are usually dropped off on a road instead of the middle of bush. The mock drop ended up being a lot of fun, and my team works really well together. We left Bruce Hall at around 6:30 and then were dropped off at around 9. We got back home at 1:30, so I was pretty tired after that.

We found the end-point! 

Sunday was a pretty relaxing day spent reading and hanging out with my doormates. At night, I went with one of my friends, Jaden, to Burton and Garren which is a self-catered dorm on campus. I met some of his friends from back home and we cooked a vegetable stir-fry for them. I missed cooking! One of his friends made this delicious pumpkin soup that I will have to try to make sometime. Now I am off to go do some reading at gods cafe which is supposed to serve all organic food. This could mean I will be concentrating more on the food then my Investments reading!

Fun in the Sun: Bondi Beach and Manly Beach

I spent another amazing weekend at the beach. Will I ever get sick of beach time? I think not. I went to Sydney with Holly, Emma and Pretty. Holly goes to USC with me and I met Emma and Pretty at Bruce Hall. We arrived in Sydney early Saturday morning. The weather was very humid, which reminded me of lovely Indiana summers. We stayed in a hostel in downtown Sydney, which to my surprise was pretty clean and exceeded my expectations. The trip began by exploring downtown and the Circular Quay area. On the way to the famous Sydney bridge, we stopped by the botanical gardens which were gorgeous. Although when I looked up in the trees there were hundreds of bats hanging out. I can't say I have ever seen a real bat before, so that was interesting to see them all just hanging from the tree limbs.  I was ready to take some lovely pictures when I realized I left my battery at home, so I had to rely on Emma for my weekend pictures. I bought a disposable camera, but I am not sure how those will turn out. After some sight seeing we decided to head down to Bondi Beach. Bondi Beach is the one of the most action packed beaches. It reminded me of where people would go for Spring Break. Blackberry was at the beach putting on different competitions to give away free merchandise. Watching people compete for a free Blackberry is always entertaining. I have noticed that the beaches are much smaller then they are in California, but they all have more personality. There is a beautiful 3.5km walk from Bondi Beach to Bronte Beach. On the way you get to see several different beaches. Something I found rather interesting is that Australians put swimming pools next to their more popular beaches, so that people can swim laps next to the ocean. Hopefully my disposable camera worked so I can show you this combo. We finished the day by having wood-fire pizza and then going to the bars for some cocktails. Sadly I was the only one asked for my proof of age card. Do I really not look 18? O well the night was still enjoyable.

On the walk from Bondi to Bronte Beach. 

Sunday was filled with more beach time! We took a morning ferry ride over to Manly Beach. Manly Beach is also very crowded, but you can find quieter beaches around it. Emma's family is from Manly, so we walked a little past Manly Cove and met up with them there. They let us use there snorkel gear, which I am so thankful for. We got to see all kinds of fish and the reefs were spectacular. The sea urchins were huge and I only saw a few jellyfish thank goodness!! Snorkeling was by far the highlight of my trip. We headed back to Canberra the next morning. Now I am starting to get a bit of a cold, but the weekend was worth it!

Beaches, Rugby, and Rogaining!

Look another post and its only been a week since the last one! This week was full of new adventures. During the week I had the usual class and at night I went on runs with the Inward Bound team. They are starting to get intense! The runs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday were all over 15km, which left my body very angry with me. I am having a blast doing it and I am getting to see some beautiful scenery while running.


Saturday morning I headed up to Batemans Bay with a few friends. It is about two hours south of Canberra. We hopped in the car around eight and reached Surf Beach (how original) around ten. The beach was nice, but nothing too special. I am not too sure how people surf there because there were no waves, but I won't pass too much judgement. We had lunch and than decided to try out a new beach. We could not decide where to go next and finally Tom picked a random beach named Lilly Pilly. We drove to Lilly Pilly Road and were laughing at how awful the beach must be since it was in the middle of nowhere, but we decided to give it a try anyway. We stepped out of the car and looked down the mountain where saw the most gorgeous beach. We had our own private beach for awhile and I was in heaven. The sand was soft and the water was clear. I got to do some exploring on the beach, which always makes me happy.

I thought my day could not get any better, but that night I went to my first rugby match. I actually think I understand the game. Rugby is much easier for me to watch because of how face paced the game is compared to football. I am surprised there are not more injuries because they don't wear any padding. The game was a union game and it was between the Canberra Brumbies and the Queensland Reds. Unfortunately the Brumbies lost by a couple of points, but the game was very exciting to say the least!

Now for Sunday's events...The Rogaine. Rogaining is an interesting sporting event. I had never heard of it before and I will probably not do it again until my muscles are no longer sore from all my running, but I am glad I had the experience. For the Rogaine, I was put in a team of four. Our team was given a map of the Roby Roy Park with different checkpoints marked. Each checkpoint is given a different point value. We had six hours to get to as many checkpoints as possible. Now these checkpoints were not along a road or on flat surface. For six hours, I was hiking up, down, and around mountains and through thistle patches. My legs are covered with bumps and scratches...so attractive. To be more positive, I did learn more navigational skills using a compass. The scenery was gorgeous and I got to see a couple of kangaroos along the way! I wish I had brought my camera, so I could share with everyone. I am exhausted now and am going to be falling asleep at nine tonight. Looks like I am back to my old sleeping habits!