it's been a long two weeks

this is from the camel ride in Broome!!
i know its hard to see but i am the 6th camel from the front!

this is lacey and i where the oceans meet!

this is the whole cleo's group in front of a very cool and very big tree!

this is our whole group at the leeuwin winery after the tasting!

i apologize for not updating this blog in that last two weeks, but they were quite the whirlwind. the thursday after easter we embarked on a 4 days road trip down south. our stops were the leeuwin estates winery in margaret river, pemberton where we stayed and explored for a while, and augusta which is the farthest south west we could go and that is where the indian ocean meets the southern ocean. we had quite the adventures down there and got to experience some wonderful things! i wouldn't even know where to begin! the winery did free shipping to certain states so i was lucky enough to be able to send a bottle home to my family, hope the enjoy it tomorrow night when they get to drink it! after the winery being able to go and see where two oceans meet was also pretty amazing. im so use to just the pacific ocean that seeing not only the indian ocean but the southern ocean was pretty sweet. we got to go to the valley of the giants which is a huge tree top walk where we got to walk as high as the trees on this suspended bridge type thing and that was cool! we also got to go to this really cool cave called the jewel cave and it was amazing in there! it was 250 steps down and 250 back up so it was a lot of walking but the sites inside were amazing!!

the down south trip was amazing and to tell you the rest would take me way to long so you are going to have to trust me that it was amazing! i loved every second of it! but when we got back we had one day to catch up on some homework and then it was off to Broome.

Broome and the Kimberley were amazing! when we got to Broome that night we were lucky enough to go on a one hour sunset camel ride, and it was amazing! it was so much fun to ride an animal like that. i never thought i would be able to. the next day we embarked on our 4 hour journey to where we would be camping for four nights. we got to drive on a REALLY bumpy and RED dirt road for about 1.5 hours of the trip and that was quite fun! we made many stops at some amazing and life changing aboriginal communities and we got to learn SO much about their culture. they are amazing people and to be given the opportunity we were given was so amazing. i could not have asked for anything better! we actually had some very interesting weather because 3 of the 4 nights we had cyclones! it was crazy! we were all in tents and with the crazy wind and the insane amounts of rain we were roughing it to the extreme, it was so intense! but to be given this amazing opportunity was so lucky. not everyone can go and camp with an amazing aboriginal family and learn all about their culture and see what it is like to live relying on the resources of the land! it was so cool! i do not have many pictures from that trip as we were only allowed to take certain pictures of places so i left my camera behind a lot to preserve the sacredness of the land.

the last two weeks have just been a whirlwind! it is amazing how fast the months of march and april have gone. i am really starting to miss home though and miss my family a lot. with univ. of portland getting out of school next week it is making me think a lot about if i hadn't come to Australia i would be getting to go home next week, but then i think about it again and i realize HOW LUCKY i am to be given this chance and i really wouldn't want to change it for anything. this opportunity is so special to me and i hope i can live out the next 58 days superbly. it will be an amazing 58 days. well friends i will talk to you soon! not much going on the next couple of weeks, just surf camp, and then school. it should be interesting! talk to you all soon!
love you!

An Aussie Easter ♥

on the top is a beautiful tree when you first walk into the park and on the bottom is the beautiful view from the park of the city of Perth. it was such a gorgeous day!

this is a really cool bridge as high as the trees where there were beautiful views of the ocean and city as well!

this is almost all of cleos. we had such a good time going with nic, our house mum, who showed us around!

So it was an Aussie Easter at its best this weekend. It all started with a great Good Friday off. We headed over to Kings Park and it was gorgeous! This is a park nestled high above the good city of Perth and it was beautiful! The trees were gorgeous and the beautiful national holiday of Good Friday brought everyone out to the park for some good old fashion fun. We walked around and finally managed to find a spot in the shade to sit and people watch and play some frisbee. This was such a gorgeous day!


Easter Sunday was pretty amazing as well. I was a little nervous has it approached because I knew that I was going to miss my family. But it went really well. We woke up to some heavy rain and by the time we showered and ready for 8 o clock mass the rain had stopped and we were able to walk to mass without a problem. The day also started with a nice little Easter Egg/Basket hunt that our house mum Nic put together for us. We had to find our chocolate egg which led us to our basket. My egg was upstairs on the balcony and the clue read 'Fall Down Stairs Much? Need A Band-aid?' and so I immediately ran to the first aid kit finding my basket and some band-aids. It was a lot of fun and a good way to start the morning!

After mass it was a busy busy day. I got back and was ready to bake! I was put in charge of desserts with Lacey, Jenny, and Jessi. It was so much fun! Lacey and I the day before went to the market and shopped galore! That night Lacey and I made strawberry shortcakes and the next morning we made a delicious Australian dessert called, Pavlova. It was SOO GOOD! and we were so proud of ourselves because all of our Australian guests thought it was so good! So after we baked away Sunday morning we were ready for the meal and all our guests! We had our 21 from Cleos and 11 guests who were family and friends that joined us, so 32 all together. For appetizers we had deviled eggs, cheese and crackers, fruit, 7 layer bean dip, and other goodies. For our main dish and side dishes we had lemon pepper chicken, ham, quiche, mashed potatoes, scalloped potatoes, a green salad, and more fruit! For dessert we ended up having strawberry shortcake, Pavlova, Keylime Pie (which more was like lime pie because they don't have keylime juice in Australia) and a cake shaped like a bunny. IT WAS SO GOOD.
We ate enough for a small army, but it was delicious! Best meal ever, well at least up there on the list. After wards we were all ready for bed. It was only 6:30 and I was already falling asleep. It was a long and busy day! But it ended up being a really great Easter and although I missed my family and Easter with them, I had a good time with my Cleo's family.

Easter Sunday with my Cleo's girls.

Heather, Lacey and Me.

This was a beautiful Easter table setting.
The tables are in an 'E'

This is Lacey and I with our really good Australian Dessert, Pavlova!!

This is our Bunny Cake!

I am having so much fun here! Thursday we leave for a great road trip adventure down south and come home Sunday and then the following Tuesday we leave for Broome (the outback) for our week long home-stay experience with an Aboriginal community. So many adventures that are coming our way, I am so excited! We are almost half way through our semester here in Freo, and the end is approaching quickly! I am excited to go home but I am going to miss Freo and Australia so much. But I am still here for awhile longer, so no need to be thinking about it now!
Till next time! I love you all!