Hoi ta toi toi! Chip chip cheeerio! Merry Trentadue's all up in the UK ...watch out! Travel Journal

Photos: Cambridge, land of the bikes and castles

merryt32 — Thu, 4 Nov 2010 06:45:00 GMT

Photos: Norwich, a UK Halloween!

merryt32 — Thu, 4 Nov 2010 06:30:00 GMT

Photos: Norwich, around town with Ellen :)

merryt32 — Thu, 4 Nov 2010 06:14:00 GMT

Smashed up Cambridge!

merryt32 — Wed, 3 Nov 2010 19:48:00 GMT

With only one day of recruiting, and only 5 info meetings, I walked away with over 100 applications from the University I was at in Cambridge! Haha. Nuts!

I'm very sleepy, but time to storm another University.

Travel plans always changing... Off to LONDON next to smash up that town too! ;)

xoxo

Happy Birthday Dad and Deb!

merryt32 — Tue, 2 Nov 2010 08:13:00 GMT

No time for a recap - lots of journaling to catch up on, but I have lots to do tonight, and more info meetings tomorrow! (in Cambridge). So, I'll have to bag log sometime soon.

I.O.U... Norwich recap, Cambridge recap, and LOTS more Traveling to come! I have lots of Photos to upload too :)

Upcoming highlight: Off to London on the 5th!

Quick b-day shout outs:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEB!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

XOXO

Oct 28th: First Info Meeting, Off to England, Cambridge (the land of bikes), Norwich.

merryt32 — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 22:02:00 GMT

Oct 28th - My first day of Information Meetings for VESA. (Volunteer Eco Students Abroad). After a week of recruiting on campus, I hold Meetings from 10-4, starting a new meeting every hour. While on campus, I saw flyers for the old company I recruited for, ISV, and noted they were on campus the week prior. So, wasn't sure who was going to come. But recruiting for VESA is a lot less intense, and instead of screaming at the kids in the lecture halls to advertise, you just tell them. Results were good! I got 71 applications at my meetings, and already over 15 online from kids that didn't come to meetings! 71 is kind of a lot considering there were 2 recruiters there, doing the SAME exact thing as me, just 6 days before me. I think it's kinda funny actually. Take that ISV. Haha.

The students said they like me way better :) Fine with me!

Meetings ended at 5, had to run back to the hostel, grab my stuff and get a cab to the Belfast airport. Used my flight to london to organize all of the applications and complete my expense report. Land in London, get my bags, and follow signs for busses. I have to get to Cambridge, but unsure how. Trains and busses work, so I am lucky enough to hop on a bus that leaves for Cambridge in 10 mins. It's around 10pm i think. When I was looking for somewhere to stay, there weren't many options. The town was kinda booked up, so I had to stay in an actual HOTEL, not a backpackers. Didn't get there till after 1am, totally tired. The room is beautiful, velvet bed spreads, really old building, looked like it could have been haunted. But in a good way.

Oct 30th - I wake up in Cambridge and have the most lovely, most English breakfast I could have ever imagined. beans, toast, eggs, sausage, a pot of tea...they had beautiful pasteries out, cheeses....etc. I tried to eat a lot, but was too full! I had a lot of running around to do with a map in hand in cambridge for work for the next week. Made 2,000 copies of flyers, (find a place to do so), find a post office to mail off thursday's aps, find campus, check out the biggest lecture halls...etc. Managed to find a place to accomodate my last minute printing, find somewhere to store my bags while I'm running around, check out of my haunted hotel, check in to my next accomodation for sunday night, and to my delight, i was presented with another "skeleton key" for the room door! haha, yes! love those keys. I convinced them to hold my box of printing and work backback there while I jet out of town for the weekend.

I caught a train for Norwich, where my friend Ellen lives! She was a recuiter for ISV with me in Australia in 2008. She came through LAX a few times and I would pick her up, take her for bike rides in Venice beach, and pop her back to the airport. So I am totally excited to get to spend time with her! It's also totally werid to get reunited with all of my favortie backpacking buddies! I used my hour on the train to do the data entry from the 71 applications. I had my laptop out, typing as fast as I could! haha.

Ellen met me at the train station, and we walked through the city to get to her flat, which is in the heart of Norwich. I haven't seen much yet, going to explore today, but from what I saw, it is a lovely, very English town. Stone street, houses and businesses winding around the curved streets, cobble stones everywhere, 18th century churches on every corner, beautiful bells going off from the church towners every hour, store fronts lines with hanging flower baskets...arched walking bridges over rivers...very nice. We cooked in and sat in her apartment drinking wine on the floor in our pajamas catching up on life, it was perfect! It was so nice to sit in her home, chatting and relaxing, and actually sitting still. Bright fall sun woke us up today, which is great! Cambridge was very very clouded in, so the sun is welcome :)

thats all for now - can't wait to spend the rest of the weekend in Ellen's home town. I forgot how happy backpacking makes me! The weeks are so busy with all the logistics of the job, but everything seems to work out, and it's been great so far.

xoxo

Photos: Belfast buildings and things.

merryt32 — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Photos: County Kerry Ireland

merryt32 — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:49:00 GMT

Tralee, Gap of Dunloe, Ring of Kerry, Some castles... Southwest Ireland :)

Oct 24th-28th: Belfast, Northern Ireland "Oh, that's Grand!"

merryt32 — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 01:08:00 GMT

Belfast is Northern Ireland, UK. So they used the £ Pound here, not the Euro, and are a part of the UK.

Things I've noticed they say a lot here...

"Grand" - Grand is the American for good, or fine, or sure, but sounds weird to me. That's grand, I'm grand, it's grand...etc. Question: "Would you like a bag with that?" Response: "No, that's Grand."
"Wee" - Would you like a wee fork with that? Can i take a wee message for you? Do you have a wee bit of paper? They say is in every sentense.
"that's brilliant" - interchangeable for the American "yes/fine". Or meaning, they like something. Example: "Would you like some more milk?" Response: "No, that's brilliant".
"Ie"- Almost every sentence ends in Ie. Pronounced "eye".

Something silly about Belfast. (This is a very "American" complaint)They city closes at like, 4:30pm. Some stores in the downtown area stay open till 7pm, the latest. This made is VERY hard to work a full day at the university, and then get anything done after that. But talking to someone in the hostel, there are towns in Scottland where they don't even have a bank. They have a truck that drives around, which is the bank, and if you need to do any banking, you have to run up to the truck. So, I guess comparing it to Scottland, Belfast is NYC.

The accents in Belfast sound "less Irish" than the south of Ireland. Most harsh maybe? The weather was freezing like a Maryland winter the first day (had to buy gloves), rainy and hot the next day (was toally sweaty running around campus), and cold/hot/cold/hot/cold on Wednesday. My deduction: There is weather out there when you leave So Cal.

I spent a tired sunday walking dowtown to city centre. Had to buy a new camera, groceries...etc. Their department stores have grocery stores in the ground floor! It would be like the basment of Bloomingdales having a safeway. Except it wasn't Safeway, it was the Bloomingdales food dept. The buildings around Belfast are amazing! They all look so old, and beautiful!

My first day on campus recruiting again went well. Running all around, looking for the biggest lecture calls to make and announcemnet in. I ran out of all of my flyer for the whole week by Monday before noon. SO i guess that's awesome, but sucky..because now i need to get more printed! Rumor has it northern irish don't travel much. Also, it is "study week" so a lot of kids are off campus studying for exams next week. But I still had fun running around talking to all the classes. My boss said I have 10 online applications already, so that's cool. Tomorrow is my 1st information meeting day, where kids come to listen to the meeting, and then hand in an application. (My legs were kind sore from being on my feet all day, which made me laugh. Who knew walking all day was hard work?)

Funny things that happend my first week traveling:

My camera broke
I blew up my hairdryer and my travel converter (that obviously did not work)
I lost my debit card

Plans:

Tomorrow is 10/28, the first day of info meetings. After that, I have to catch a 7pm flight to London. When I get to London, I have to get a train to Cambridge. I work on Friday setting up campus, looking around, getting my printing done, and then I'm going to get on a train to Norwich to stay with my friend Ellen for the weekend! She was a recruiter with my in 2008 in Australia :) I have most of my accomodation sorted out, still waiting on where i'll be the last trip. Overall, having a good trip. They days are really busy and I'm super tired at night. But busy is good! No time to really explore the city, only on weekends. So kind of a bummer i have only seen the University of Belfast, but that's all part of the gig.

Fun Fact: Did you know near Belfast is where the Titanic was built?

Hostel life:

I met some interesting people in the hostel. After recruiting I go back and made myself dinner in the kitchen. The first night, this guy who was obviously nervous, sat next to me. He was from belgium. He appoligized for being nervous. Then he proceeded to tell me about how he got kicked out of a hostel in Irealand for bad conduct. He said a girl there reported him. He said he told her some things, but she also told him some things, so he didn't understand why she told on him. He also said he was staying there for free, and the hostel owner (male) was hitting on him. But then rambled on about the "bad situation", and having to leave in a hurry. I'm quietly listening, totally exhausted, wondering how on earth he thought this creepy story was appropriate to tell a total stranger/female/first impression.

I haven't seen him around again... hopefully he's not in another "bad sitution".

Oct 22-24th: Beautiful Southwest Ireland, land of 1,000 rainbows (i just made that up, i think)

merryt32 — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 00:29:00 GMT

The road trip was about an hour-ish from the Cork Airport. Sean, Leanne and I caught up, which was so fun! As we got closer, we drove through a town and I yelled something like: "Holy crap! A castle! Is that a Castle?! And why is it attached to a bank?!" It was a beatiful castle, but attached to a mini-mall typo set up. Totally normal to have extremly old castles in the middle of town. Sean parked so we could look around :)

I took a shower, and the we went out to dinner. I had steak and potatoes of course. Then off to my first REAL Irish bar in Tralee. The town of Tralee was beautiful and quaint. The roads are curvy, so when you look town the street you see beautifully colored "brownstown" type buildings, all attached and all different colors. Many of the steet lights and shops had flower baskets hanging from them. The irish pub felt like a theme bar...except it was not a theme bar, it was a real Irish pub. Live music, everyone happy to be there, and people of ALL ages enjoying themselves.

I had my first REAL Guiness. It was delicious! All the foam stuck to the side, so Sean reassured me it was a good one. I had my own room in a hostel in town, and when they handed me the key, I giggled. It was like a skeleton key. You know, the ones that open treasure chests. It was hard for me to believe it was real, and could actually lock a door. I loved it, and hoped all the keys would be like that.

10/23 - woke up 29 in Ireland! I slept great, woke up ready to explore County Kerry! As Bad luck would have it, My digital camera was not working. This happened when i went to Australia in 2008 too. So I bought one there. Get to Ireland, it breaks. So I grab some throw-away ones. Sean and Leanne gave me a birthday present, a much needed and beautiful scarf!

We headed off for the Ring of Kerry, and saw the most amazing things! The route we took was Tralee, Ross Castle, Killogrin, Killarney and Killarney National Park, Kenmare, Waterville, and back up to Tralee. It remided me of the scenery from "the Lord of the Rings". One of the things they say about Kerry is you might experiance every season in one day. And we did! It would go from bright and sunny, or pouring and windy, back to sunny, and so forth. We cracked ourselves up yelling out: "SUMMER!" "WINTER!" "SPRING!" Every time it flipped. I finally get the whole leprechan, gold at the end of the rainbow thing. Driving around for one day, I saw about 20 different rainbows. :) Total magic. The best part of exploring was The Gap of Dunloe. Its this teenie windy hilly road, that will only fit one car, that cut through what looked like a fairy tale! (It's closed in the summer to cars, we were super lucky it was autum and we could check it out. When a we met a car, someone had to reverse far enough to let the other pass. Sean is the best driver, ever.) Sheep on the hill sides (All spray painted a differnt color depending on the farmer), Stone bridges, rushing rivers, Colorful little story book irish houses tucked into the hillsides...it was amazing.

On our way back to Tralee, I made Sean and Leanne stop at this funny little tourist attraction, a Bog Village. It was thached roof village showing how they used to live way back in the day. It was funny, and totally worth the 5 Euro. Parts of the Ring Of Kerry passed though towns which only spoke Irish. So we'd see the sign "GHAELTACHT" which told us it was an irish only town. I found that really neat.

On 10/24 we left Tralee at 6am to head back to Dublin. We were all very sleepy, not because of the 6am call time, but because Tralee was rowdy last night...it was a bank holiday weekend, so everyone had a big one. (not us, we went to bed early, but that didn't matter b/c we all got kept all night by the fun-havers.) When we got to Sean's house, his family welcomed me into their home, where his dad, James was cooking dinner. A bunch of Sean's uncles and Aunts lived on the street too, so they came over, had tea and breakfast and chatted and laughed. When they spoke to me, I had no problem understanding them. But trying to overhear their words to eachother was like listening to another language. The breakfast was so yummy! Irish sausage, bacon (called hashers i think?) Toast and the most perfectly cooked fried egg, ever. Sean and Leanne had to run, so Sean's dad and mom were nice enough to take me to the Bus station to catch a ride to Belfast. Sean's dad took me on a diving tour of Dublin, complete with history lessons at every turn. I wish I could have hung out with them more! The warmest, most welcoming and friendly family ever. I was sad to leave Dublin, it looked liked such a neat place, and I wished I could spend time there.

I was dropped off at the Bus station, bought my ticket to Belfast, got on the bus, and ...quiet possibly slept though most of the 2.5hour ride to Belfast. I didn't know where the bus was going to drop me off, but I had an address to my next hostel, and figured that'd be enough.

Oct 21st - 22nd: London Customs vs Irish Customs. (can you guess where this is going?)

merryt32 — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 23:53:00 GMT

Appoligies ahead of time for the poor spelling and typos. The keyboards are a little different, and I'm going to be fast, as Internet doesn't flow free from the mountian tops as it does in the states. I finally found a free computer at Belfast Uni that doesn't require a code! whoo hoo! (small pleasures :)

The flight over the pond was great! It was a 10 hour flight, but I think I slept some. Although I didn't really want to... there were about, 2,000 movies to watch. And really good ones! I only watched one. Rats. I had an empty seat in between, so it was great!

LONDON CUSTOMS OFFICER: (Friday, October 22, 11am-ish) So I get off the plane, know I have to go though customs to get let in, run over to baggage claim, grab my bag, and check in for a flight to Belfast. I've never have a problem getting into a country before. Australia, Mexico, Indonesia...totally fine. London on the other hand. Ha. I was interrogated for about 10 minutes...not including the five minutes I was left alone in line, while the guy left, I think to go watch how I was acting on camera while he was gone. "what are you doing here, do you have proof you have any money? Oh, you don't have a job in America? So, you are coming here to look for work then yeaH? Do you have friends here? What do they do? " and On and On and On. He asked to see my return flight, which I showed him. Along with that he saw I was flying to Belfast, and then to Cork, Ireland. So that spraked his interest.

Officer:"what are you going to do in Ireland?"

Merry: "Well, it's my birthday tomorrow, so hopefully drink a Guiness."

He said it appeared to him I was hopping around the countries looking for work. I assured him this was not the case, and I am going to use my return flight. He finally let me in, I ran down to get my bag, found the next airline to check into, checked in, and got on my flight to Belfast. I had about 30 mins to try to freshen up and look more normal in the bathroom before boarding.

Flight from London to Belfast was fine as well. An English lady sat to my left and asked me every question or concern she had about America. I'm grateful is was only a one hour flight.

Lady: "What do you think is causing the obesity problem in America? The portions there are offensively large! Do you think it's the fast food? Or the Portions? you'd think with your current unemployment rates, it would get better no?

Merry: "yeah, I dont know."

Lady: "What is your countries plans with Obama? We are all terrified here that you are going to vote him out! What is it with these tea party people. Please tell me you won't elect Sarah Palin"

Merry: "yeah I dont know."

I did the best I could in my brain dead state of exhaustion. Plane landed, I have less that one hour to go to baggage claim, find another airline, re-check in, and board the flight to Cork, ireland. I got charged a million dollars to check a second bag, but I understood when I walked out to the plane. It was 7 rows, total. Teenie Tiny plane! It was windy and rainy, and I was nervous the flight would be rough. But it wasn't!

IRISH CUSTOMS OFFICER: I landed in Cork Ireland around 5:30pm 10/22. There was no line. The officer greeted me with a smile, took my passport, looked at it for a while, and then said something like...

Office: "Hoi ta toi, roses! A bit of Champagne! Aye, patty, we should have had flowers ready!"

...or something like that. I had a hard time understanding him. It turns out, he was referring for my brithday being the next day, and spen 5 mins chatting with me, and making sure my friends were going to show me a good time. He was so freindly and welcoming...a huge difference from London.

Mt Irish friends from Dublin who I met backpacking in Austalia in 2008, Sean and Leanne, were waiting for me as I got my bag! We all hopped in their car, and headed south for Tralee, in County Kerry.

Who can't find their ipod the day before a flight to England?

merryt32 — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 05:42:00 GMT

Spoiler alert: ME! Kind of a bummer, but I have my old Nano, so at least I'm not totally music less.

Packing catastrophe number two: I was SO excited to get to wear my gray wool pea coat in England! How perfect! Until I realized, I decided it's too hot in southern california for it, so it's at my mom and dad's house in Maryland.

The shuttle comes in about 25 mins, and I JUST finished packing. I didn't start until 9:15am though, so it was still pretty good hustle.

I'm not sure I'll ever be able to re-pack my back again. about 40% of the stuff i planned on taking didn't fit. I used interesting decision making... as I'm only bringing one light-ish jacket, and cut the others. But I'll just layer. :)I thought I was being funny when I said I didn't own any winter clothes, but as it turns out, I really dont. How many neon tank tops worn at once equal a sweater?

LAX shuttle guy comes at 12:10...but I dont take off until 4:30pm... lame-o. Maybe I'll find a cozy corner of the airport to take a nap in.

Well, here I go! Longest travel day ever, followed by the craziest job ever. Wish me luck!

xoxo,

making plans, still no packing

merryt32 — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 14:01:00 GMT

Funny things I'm thinking a lot about packing:

3 weeks worth of protein bars
hand weights
kick-boxing and yoga DVDs
almonds
a bikini
Starbucks instant coffee thingies

Funny thing I keep thinking about:

do they have Halloween in the UK? B/c, its like, my favorite holiday.
do I use some precious packing space with a costume?

Funny things I haven't thought about once:

maps, need some.
currency, what is it.
how I'm going to get around.
memorizing the 60 min meeting I need to present every Thursday, and memorizing the 2 minute announcement I have to yell at thousands of strangers every day.

But I did spend a very successful 3 hours at Kinkos today. Got all my printing done for week 1, and got $70 knocked off the bill. Skills yo, skills.

My itinerary is starting to unfold, getting excited.

10/21 4:30pm LAX-LHR
10/22 11am land in London.
1:25pm LHR-BHD
2:50pm land in Belfast
4:10pm BHD-Cork
5:20 Land in Cork, where 2 of my favorite east coast Australia backpackers from Ireland, will be picking me up, and taking me to Tralee!
10/23 Wake up, 29 for the first time, in Ireland.
10/24 road trip back with Sean and Leanne to Dublin. Once I get there, I take a train or a bus, or something else that moves to get the 2.5hrs back up to Belfast from Dublin. Check into hostel, practice the announcement?
10/25 6am, first day on the job, running around campus.

Side Note: If you care to see who I'm excited to see in Ireland, look back the the story from 2008 titled:

"Fraser Island, 8 irish guys, merry and a camper van"

I just reread it and it was totally surreal. I can't believe I get to see them on Friday!

That will definitely tip the scales for me as far as most flights ever in one day. Except maybe one time, my friend Stephanie and I flew to Port St. Lucie Florida, from San Diego. I think it took up at least 3 days and 6 flights. (j/k, but it felt like that).

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see Ireland via road trip with friends! Although, logic said... Merry, stay in Belfast, catch up on sleep, and prep for Monday work. I listened to logic Merry, and then I booked my ticket to Cork.

Things to do list currently on my mind:

buy a million things for work
memorize a million words for work
clean my room
do 100 loads of laundry
pack
what the hell am I going to pack?
moan about the 957 more errands I still have to run. I loathe thee.

I really should add these journal entries to my to-do list. Id be a lot more productive if I did.

xoxo

Photos: LAX-LHR

merryt32 — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 03:59:00 GMT

LAX-LHR - October 17, 2010, ticket booked. GULP!

merryt32 — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 03:30:00 GMT

Well, here we go again!

Sunday morning, Oct 17th, I get an email asking if I care for a trip for a few weeks. With only a day to think about it, I decided to accept the job offer to fly me to the UK until Nov 15th. My first instinct was "no, bad timing, I have to focus on getting a job as a nurse."... but turning down an all expense paid trip abroad wasn't sitting well. I've been pretty down and have been really lonely here for a few months, so after going back a forth and much mental anguish, I told my boss to book my ticket. When I got my ticket confirmation, I hyperventilated, like full fledge anxiety attack. I called my best buddy Ellen who lives in New Zealand who talked me down and slapped some sense into me. Took a deep breathe, then made a "to-do" list.

It's only 4 weeks, I'll be earning money while I am there, and getting to see a part of the word I haven't seen yet! I'll be doing the same kind of thing I did in Australia in 2008...running around college campuses making lots of announcements to gigantic lecture halls, then running meetings every Thursday informing them of a volunteer travel program. It's with a close friend who is working for another volunteer/travel company, not with the same company I worked for before.

On Oct 21st I'll fly to London from Lax. (10 hour flight, gag me) When I get there, I'll jump on a plane to Belfast, UK, northern IRELAND! I've ALWAYS wanted to go to Ireland! (I actually have an "Ireland for Dummies" book on my book shelf right now. I have no idea where it came from. I should probably open it.) Belfast is north Ireland, it's the UK... the whole separate countries from Ireland, but I have full intentions of exploring as much of Ireland as I can! Sadly, it probably wont be much...but still happy get to go! I'll be there for a week, then Back to London to work on 2 or 4 more Universities. I fly back to LAX on Nov 15th. Work is super intense Monday-Thursday/Friday, weekends off to explore and catch up with old travel buddies... as long as I have somewhere to sleep sorted out, and all of my printing done.

One of the fun parts of this is, I'll get to see a bunch of my old travel buddies that I met in 2008 while back packing around Australia! Even one of my old friends that I lived with in Australia in 2001, back in my University of Western Australia days! If I had to name the best part of my job with ISV, it was definitely meeting the amazing friends on the road. I have 5 Irish Lads/travel buddies in Ireland right now, and another Canadian kinda Irish Lad who is living there now, so I hope to get to see some of them my first weekend there.

There is A LOT to get sorted out before I leave, as you can imagine, it's all very last minute. I do not own any winter clothes, and have also learned in my many visits to San Francisco, that I forgot how to function in "weather". It's a constant source of amusement when they pick me up in San Fran... giggling as they pull up to my terminal..."Merry, really? Again? A neon floral sun dress?". So, this will be a test of survival skills!

I dont know where I'm staying, or how I'm getting around, but I guess that's the fun part. There are very few times in life when you can actually jet away for a month to foreign countries... not to mention a free trip, while getting paid! I am a bit terrified, but I think it's good for me. I need to get lots of printing done before I go, and still don't have the files...so I guess some things don't change. (ha). A tiny bit stressed, but I'm sure It'll be fine.

I'll try to update this as much as I can. Feel free to check this link to read new stories. I should be able to post photos up here while on the road. **(Dont get confused, You can see my old travel journal/photos from 2008- ISV Australia recruiting, and backpacking on this site too. I tried to make a whole new one, but I just added a New trip instead. Those all have a 2008 date, and are about Aussie, so I'm sure you can figure it out).

Off to my to-do list! This was not on the list, I think I'll add it so I can cross it off.

Deep breathes.

xoxo

merry

Scuba diving trip - Great Barrier Reef

merryt32 — Mon, 9 Jun 2008 07:17:00 GMT

It was SO FUN! THe first day the dive center picked me up and took me to the jetty where one of their boat took us 2 hours out to meet the livaboard dive boat called the kangaroo explorer. The KE stays out there forever, and the little boat brings new passengers every day. it's a 3 level massive boat. buffett dinners, pretty nice size cabins, and about 40 people! All i did was dive! therre was a 6am, 8am, 11am, 4pm and night dive every day. I have to pick which ones i wanted to do, b/c you can only do 4 a day. While there, i passed the advanced scuba coure, so now i am certified to dive up to 30 meters! (90 feet). Did 2 30 meter dives... and got to feel the nitrogen narcosis i learned about when i got my open water certs. to pass the class, i had to do a night dive, a deep dive, marnie ID dive, navagation dive (using a compass) a boat dive, and i think that's it. it was really tiring doing that much diving. there was really no time at all between the 6am and 8am dives. Saw some amazing things! did 10 dives with them, and 8 out of the 10 i got to swim with a turtle or two.

When i got back to cairns last night, i met up with Ellen... and Finnbar! he was a surprise! I was really happy to see him. We had a fin night, and I'm a tad hungover. Heading to cape tribulation now, possibly to do some more dives... mainly rainforest stuff.

I leave australia in 4 days. GASP! how did it come so fast?

all for now,
Merry

whit sundays sailling trip - airlie beach

merryt32 — Thu, 5 Jun 2008 10:49:00 GMT

The whit sundays sailling trip was great! went to white haven beach on the first day, it was REALLY pretty. google it :) it's one of the top 10 beaches in the world or something. really nice. did lots of scuba diving... i was planning on doing one dive, since i knew i already booked my cairns diveboat livaboard. but it's just so addictive and SO much fun! swam with some sea turtles, saw lots of fishies. a few reef sharkes... 2 MASSIVE groupers! this thing was huge! like, 6 feet long at least. Apparently that's small... they can grow as big as volkswagens. I'm going to think of that the next time i get into my car. we got to help put up the sails some times, it was hard work!

we had a bit of bad weather the 2nd morning, grey skys and some rain, but the last day was perfection! really hot and sunny and beautiful. everyone on the obat was fun! the after party with the crew was a mess. ha. we did a airlie beach pub crawl, and the crew kept getting free jugs of beer. so yeah, it was a fun night!

I'm in Cairns now. been here for 2 nights. Last night i met up with all my irish friends for a late night out of dirnking and dancing. Sean and leanne flew to singapore today :( it was really sad to see them go. They are the irish couple i met in Noosa, did the fraser island trip with, and have been back packing with every since. At least I have 8 really good excuses to visit irealand now!

Tomorrow I hop on a dive boat and head out to the outter great barrier reef for my dive trip!!!! can't wait!

hope all is well! i can't believe i have to leave soon. :(

:)
Merry

Fraser Island, 8 irish guys, merry and a camper van

merryt32 — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:51:00 GMT

This is going to be really short... sorry! internet is expensive, and I can't be bothered to sit infornt of a computer at all anymore. Reality is going to be awful when I have to leave this wonderful land of backpacking.

Fraser island was fun! 11 people in my landcruiser, 5 total... for 55 people jeeping around an island camping. it was great. 2 of the people in my car ended up being on my whit sundays boat. an irish couple, 22 years old, sean and leanne. they are fun! good thing, becuase some of the other people in out car were lame. One fo the other cars had 6 irish guys who were also heading up the coast. they rented a camper van. the night we got back from fraser, they convinced me to skip my stop in 1770, and just head up with them instead of on the greyhoud... and i did! Sean and Leanne did the same thing....it was a very fun road trip. 13 hours in a van with 8 new irish friends! The boys are so funny. They left on their whit sundays boat today. Me sean and leanne leave tomorrow night for a 3 day 3 night sail. Google Whit Sunday Islands if you are curious.

In airlie beach now, in a great hostle.

I keep running into the same backpackers I met in Byron... everyone does the same things. its fun.

having a GREAT time! can't belive it's almost time to go :(

love

merry

Noosa everglades canoe trip

merryt32 — Fri, 23 May 2008 15:05:00 GMT

So I hop on the grey hour bus at 6:45am in Byron... at 1:30pm I get to Noosa! It's a really pretty, warm sunny day.

The Gagaju Bush Camp van picks me up at 4:30 and we head to the supermarket so we can buy our food for camping. We rock up to the camp, and it's funny! It looks just like the camp from that old TV show "MASH". And some people live there all year round! (I'm so tired, that i'm sure I'm forgetting stuff)

I meet the other people that are going to be in out group. 4 scotish people, 2 boys and 2 girls that are traveling together, 2 frenchies, a girl and boy that are traveling together, and me! We had to get all our stuff in these plastic bins so they didn't get wet canoing. We went over the map so we knew where we were suposed to go, and the next day, they sent us off.

two 2 person canoes and one 3 person canoe. And that's what we did for 3 days! canoe! i think it was a total of 30 Ks by the end of it. We were really lucky with weather until today. It was BEAUTIFUL! We canoes up the upper noosa river to get to our camp ground. The water is really clean, but it's dark in color. So all the trees were reflecing on the river as though it was a mirror. It was so peacful and pretty! really sunny and hot too. it was great! we got to our camp site, set up our tents, and played card games. we also met the other canoe campers from Gagaju, and a different tour. Straight up bush camping... no showers... no nothing. Well, "toilets"... i guess you can call them that.

At night everyone at the camp was drinking goon (boxed wine... aussies college kids and backpackers love it here because it's so cheap. it's gross though, hang over in a bag. uhhh) and playing card games. Lots of blokes from the UK, a few canadians, germans, a guy from hollad who was hillarious, irish guys and girls... i'm always the only American...whcih is fun. I guess americans just arent travelers compared to the rest of the world.

The second day, we canoed about 8K to get to a trail head, where we hiked 12K to get to this massive sand dune in that one top of a mountian. it was so weird! everglades, lush forest... and then a massive sand dune! On the last day, which is today, we had to get up at 4:30am to pack up camp (in the dark, we had no flash lights or torches) and be on the river by 5:30am. Unforturnetly, it started raining last night around 10pm, so we woke up soaking wet, b/c i guess the tents arent very water proof. We had to pack up in the rain, and canoe in the rain. at 5:30am. BOOO! not ammused. ha. THe river was OK, we were all really tired and of hung over. One of the scottish girls puked over the canoe and while she was packing up. poor girl. The lake we had to cross was really hard though, lots and lots of rain. it killed the shoulders! took longer than it should have due to the choppiness.

It was fun! glad i did it.

Next: rainbow beach. Hopping on the greyhoud at 9am tomorrow to head to rainbow beach. (3 hour drive) from there, staying in a hostle one night, then off on another 2 night 3 day camping trip on fraser island. Will meet who i'm jeeping it up with tomorrow at the 1:30pm breifing. Google fraser island if you want to know where i'll be!

Might go for a walk now, just to keep from falling asleep. If i lay down, i won't wake up again. Noosa is really pretty, and has lots of pretty beaches. Wish I had a full day here to just check it out, and beach it up. Ah well, next time!

Love you all!
:)
Merry

PS - i checked my bank account and i got a random $600 from US Tax return. but i already got my tax return money back in Feb. Is this that "extra" money thing from the government to help the economy...thing??? I'm guessing that's what it is.

PPS- I really wish my brothers could have come on this trip with me! It would have been 300% more fun with them! Actully most of the things i'll be doing these next 3 weeks i wish my brother were here with me! We just have so much fun together ... even if it's in germantown, maryland. Imagine the possibilities if we were all together canoing for miles and miles in the australian outback, or camping on one massive sand doon, or on a sail boat around tropical islands for 3 days. Sigh. One day guys! We'll have to have a really fun sibling holiday! just tell Paul to stop having babies.

Byron Bay and my plan until jun 13th

merryt32 — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:44:00 GMT

Byron bay was amazing! I love it there! i definelty could have wasted my entire month holiday in that little beach town. Lots of drinking on sunny patios, surfing, a trip to Nimbin. ha. My prize for being the top recruiter this season was a $100 gift certificate to Roxy! yay! I got a total of 509 applications, which was 290 more than the person who was #2 recruiter.

This is going to be a very short entry - I'm about to hop on a bus to head to Noosa, my first adventure. going on a 3 day camping and canoe trip into the everglads of Noosa Heads national park.

After that, Staying in Noosa for a night , then a night in Rainbow beach, then off to Fraser Island for a jeep/camping trip. (google these things is you want to see how pretty they are!) Then another night in Rainbow... then heading to 1770 for a day and night, then taking an overnight bus to get up to Arlie Beach - where I leave for my 3 night sailing trip around the Whit Sundays and the the outter Great Barrier reef. Then, another night in Arlie, then taking a bus up to Cairns where I'll be from Jun 3rd-June 12. heading out on a 3 day dive boat on the g.b. reef there ...hanging out... then flying back to Syd on the 13th, and back to LAX from there!

i'll be landing in LAX at 9:45am on the 13th!

That was quick, but there's my plan. wont be around a phone or internet for m ost of this... catch up with you when i can.

:)
merry