11 days, 6 Hostels, 3 facebook Albums, and 10 pages...single spaced! SPRING BREAK DOWN UNDER!!!

Sad to say, even harder to write, but Spring Break 08 (2 of 2) is now officially over. I arrived back to my RMIT Village Flat around 8pm Australia time, much to the surprise of my Chinese roommate who was under the impression that I had moved to Cambodia, or perhaps just back home. Since my roommate is 100% Chinese and speaks broken English, the language barrier can be hard at times with his thick accent. Before I left, he seemed quite infatuated with the Olympics so he started up conversation with me whenever the opportunity arose, but almost 80% of the time, it was about his less than heterosexual infatuation with Michael Phelps. So I mentioned to him how he lives 45 miles away from me in Baltimore and how he used to swim at University of Maryland before strtaed training for the Olympics—he got REDICULOUSLY excited- I could see the seamen start to accumulate as he was getting ready to orgasm all over me. So one day I come back from class and here is the dialogue:

William- “ohhhh! You cousin win anoder gol medtal!”

Me- “William, WHAT are you talking about”

William- “Your cousin! Oh I mean you ney-bar”

Me- blank face

William- “Mikal phelpppp!”

Me- “Ohhhh- he lives in the same state…. He is not my neighbor, nor is he my cousin”

Either way, between our conversations me saying “I’ll see you in 2 weeks” probably sounded like “orange chicken with duck sauce” to him.

However I did get home safely after participating in some adventures along the way. Since I haven’t blogged in just over 2 weeks, this edition will contain some extra goodies. Now I know each and every patron of my site sit on the edge of their seat for my 7 page (single spaced) blog entries, so this will not fail to disappoint, nor unfulfilled from any kinky fetish you may have that circumvents around blogging.

So in the 6^th edition of the increasingly popular Mitchell Report, here are the topics that will be covered (just so I don’t miss anything along the way):

-Always miss the comfort (and inexpensive liquor at home), but have gotten to be so happy here

-Went out along the Docklands and then party in East Melbourne

-Footy game and then out before Spring Break w/ the Uni Melbourne LAX crew

-SPRING BREAK!

• Missed our flight
• Sydney at 6am
• Overnight to Coffs Harbor
• Day trip to Brisbane
• Day trip to Harvey Bay
• 2 nights on Frasier Island
• Overnight to Airlie Beach
• 3 day/2 night sailing trip along Whitsunday Islands
• 2 more nights on Airlie Beach
• Back to Melbourne and then off to Sydney

INTRO INTO BLOG

So lets start this eventful blog off (btw I’m currently in the middle of an all-nighter, so you might be able to hear me slurr my words as I type this because I am falling asleep at the computer). Last time I wrote I was just getting back from Brisbane and the Gold Coast and sharing all my thoughts and gushy feelings about home and away (that’s a pun but I guess no one really gets it since its like ‘The OC’ of Australia and is the only famous Australian Drama on TV)- but yes, home and away—missing home and the cheap drinks and the comfort of commons and my drunken, degenerate, amazing friends, but I am also having a blast here, so I was having a little pit fall in the middle getting over my love of college park. However I decided to can my longing and do what I do- dominate at beer pong and get fucked up. But one night after I got back I went out this one night with 20 other people for a friends birthday, got to the bar hung out until 2 or so, and then came back and was like ‘What the hell am I doing here.’ However missing CP and home is only worthwhile when you can in fact… go home/cp. So just as I mentioned in my last report, I talked it out and got myself up and realized that this is not about getting drunk every night at the fraternity house, or playing pong every night back in commons, or even spooning snickers as I watch Elf at home, it was about experiencing a whole new city all alone. Didn’t come w/ any friends, didn’t come to a popular city like London or Barcelona, or Rome, but I wanted to push myself to the social and independent limit and see how tough I actually am- and I’m a bull baby.

INSIGHT ABOUT MY LIFE

I spoke with another friend a while back who went abroad last semester and he told me to be warey of the 2-week honey moon stage, where after the first few weeks of pure bliss, you begin to reminisce of all the fonder things in like; but not to let that inhibit my experience here. However I was having trouble letting go of what I loved so much, and what I spent 3 years building back home. I anticipate I will be reading this post 5 years down the road and I will look at myself as a huge, for lack of a better word, pussy. Thinking that I can’t man up for 5 months and live life away from home with only the company of people I meet- so future Mitch, don’t worry, it took me a solid 4 days to see the big picture. I keep on repeating this message in all of my posts, but it becomes more and more clear every time I sit down at my computer to share them with all of you. Now I had a bunch of cliché lines in here like “Life is only what you make of it,” “attitude is everything,” etc—and they are all true, but sometimes when shits got you down and you know that you could be havin a good time, all you gotta say is “fuck it.” I’m not gonna die, I’m not about to hurt anyone around me, I’m studying abroad for 5 months, and getting ready for the next 50 years. Calm down, don’t stress and enjoy yourself. A mindset like that will make you rather lazy, but very happy. I’d rather be a 400 lb happy camel than a depressed CEO. You can be as depressed as you want, and you can look over to the green side of the fence all day long, but until you stop caring, your just gonna drain youself. I have never been happier than when I am aloof- so don’t give a shit and have a blast- that’s my advice to the world. However “attitude is everything” dad, so I’ll take your advice and have a blast – not because I’m in Melbourne and I have to be having a blast because I’m abroad, but just because I like having fun. I could be anywhere in the world, but College Park has 95% of my friends, so that’s where I’m happiest, but the city life is good times. But about 2 weeks ago I sat down and thought, I can either spend the next 11 weeks in a separated state enjoying the scenery but just going through the motions of a 20 year old in a foreign nation, or I can seize the day and just enjoy myself.—the big picture doesn’t have to be pretty, it just has to be fun to look at. So instead of caring when I get homesick every now and then, I think I’ll just stop caring and live it up—maybe not the healthiest therapeutic method, but I think it works. And yea trust me, after shrinking my social circle from: the Jews, the fraternity, commons, business school, images, football/basketball, family, HS friends, and snickers and beauty, to my core group here, it is not the easiest thing, but shit—I’m in Australia, how and I love it.

STILL IN MELBOURNE

Ok so back to the daily activities. After my epiphany of loving life, Brianna, Joy’s friend was heading back home to ASU so on her last night we took her to the Docklands where Joy was working and e had a few drinks and then walked around the harbor. We ran into some Aussies and they were also very impressed with US Americans, because again foreigners are obsessed w/ Michael Phelps. Later that week we went to a friend of ours, Valerie’s, boyfriends birthday party in East Melbourne. Thomas thought it would be a good idea to get his face drawn on with blue sharpie and walk around town all night like a cat-it didn’t seem to look as interesting as originally hoped, at least not the next morning it didn’t. That night after the party we spent a solid 45 minutes making grilled cheese and cleared out Veronica and Brianne’s fridge. And then I tried to make some cheesy potatoes out of very raw potato…not my best strategic cooking. The next day, after sleeping in and missing Joy’s 5K, Veronica, Brianne and I went to the Telstra dome and saw St. Kilda vs. Adelie Footy match. St. Kilda the victor and on our way out we ran into an actual USA AFL team. Apparently they have Aussie Rules Football back in the states. We followed them around like teenage girls stalking a boy band but they could appreciate the attention, and after getting lost from following them we headed back and chilled for the rest of the day. Later that week after prepping for spring break and taking care of other activities, Joy myself and the Lax crew went to Melbourne Central Station to Lion’s Pub, and then to The Golden Monkey where I ordered a $14 cocktail because it was called ‘the bronx’ and I was proud of the USA, and then got good and messed up before coming back here, doing laundry at 3 AM and yet again oversleeping my Thursday morning class. Good times, but here comes the Spring Break section:

SPRING BREAK! WAHOOO

Spring Break! Wahoooooo—gotta love dumb college kids spending $1500 to travel around and get drunk. However this spring break was much different than any other in the states will ever be. People here don’t really go on spring break, they go on a 2 week Holiday, aka vacation, after gradutating from High School, and then spring break is just for studying for them. Pretty fucking lame if you ask the foreigners, but we had a blast so that’s all that matters. The spring break crew was Joy, Thomas and myself. We booked the hostles and food vouchers + 3 day 2 night on Frasier island + 2 day 2 night sailing trip on the Whitsunday islands all for $300 + $300 for all the bus transports + $300 for the flights to Sydney and back from airlie beach + skydiving + souvenirs and activities so it was prolly around 1700 or so (skydiving is expensive as shit-but totally worth it) and was a really great time.

SYDNEY

So to start out we have a Thursday night flight at 8pm, we catch a cab to the Melbourne airport, get to the desk, give them our IDs, and they just look at us and say “you’re going to Sydney aren’t you….” Of COURSE JetStar, the equivalent of AirTran in the states, only flies to Sydney from this whole in the wall outdoor airport called Avalon. So we just paid $50 for a cab, and have 45 minuts to drive an hour…. Looks like were leaving tomorrow! So thankfully they give us a free transfer, so it only coasty us an extra $100 divided by 3 people for cab far to get to the other airport—however our flight left at 6am, so we had to leave by 330, so we had 3 choices; stay up for 6 hrs and sleep on the plane, go to sleep so we’re rested for Sydney, or drink heavily and pass out and maybe miss our 2^nd flight…..honestly what do you think we chose? We stayed up until 1am POUNDING the goon while playing a drinking game to Anchorman-we drank every time someone said Ron Burgendy, we drank a lot. Passed out, got up 2 hrs later hungover/still drunk/pissed off b/c Thomas was DEFINITELY still drunk and humming in my ear. This was the first time I was legit pissed at Thomas, and then when he ate “a whole mess of nachos” aka sour cream and guacamole with bread crumbs at the airport at 5am…. with a milkshake I was not feelin it. However after having the entire row of the plane open ahead of me, I slept for 2 straight hours from gate to gate and was a new person. The Thomas was on his low of the day, and joy was giddy along w/ me.

We had to meet with our travel agent in Sydney, who btw wouldn’t give us a drop of information until I called and bitched her out and threatened to call the better business bureau on her ass (there is no better business bureau) if she didn’t give me an itinerary for a trip I already paid for—she eventually did (but not to Thomas or joy, I guess I’m the only angry consumer). However we still had our “1 night voucher” for a Sydney hostel, and since it was 8am when we laded and did not need the night, we just used it to eat breakfast and take a nice Sydney dump. We got packed for the day, stored our luggage, and were off to see Laura, the bitch travel agent. We gor there after a nice 45 minute walk of exploring the city and joy jumping at every boston fan she saw 13,000 miles away from boston, and Laura actually was a cool irish girl w/ a nice ass. We talked for a while and then took our vouchers and some pamphlets on New Zealand and then hit the floor. We then walked around the historic Sydney rocks insearch for this crazy german beer garden place- got there after being lost for an hr and starving, but its ok since I found some amazing challah at Coles, and then met up w/ Joy’s friend who is studying outside of the city. Thomas called steph patton to see what bar she worked at while in Sydney and it turned out it was in bondi junction, a 30 minute ride outside of the city—not gonna happen. We walked around, went to the harbor, stopped at my best friend the Sydney harbor Marriott, and then Joy lost her camera at a Chinese food court, she was really pissed and sad and bitter, but I am a huge camera whore so I can share all my pics w/ her- no worries. Then we went to darling harbor, got drunk at happy hr, went back to the hostel said good-bye to joys friend and hit the other bar for cherry bombs and chicken parm- caught the over night bus, put on elf on the Bus TV and fell the fuck asleep. Next day … Coffs Harbour!

COFFS HARBOR

Ok that was way too long, so Coffs harbor will be immensely shortened, mostly b.c this place sucks. Coff’s Harbor is, I can only assume to be, a lovely town in the summer w/ an outdoor mall, pleanty of bars, and a marina w/ some dolphin swimming and boating, however…. We got off the greyhound at 5 am, strolled around town to realize nothing was open that early, so we wandered around the town for 30 minutes searching for our hostel until a man walking around gave us some better direction than the ones supplied to us in Joy’s Frommers Australia book.

We checked into our hostel after waking the groggy manager who was recently awoken by other drunken house guests just 3 minutes prior to our arrival. We took a much needed 5 hr cat nap and awoke, much to my surprise, before noon. After incorrectly thinking that there was more to do in this town than sleep and eat, we woke up and got dressed in search for some daily activities. After reading “things to do” in the guide book and realizing that the best thing to do, a dolphin encounter, was $240, we kept looking for activities. Then we heard about “The Big Bannana,” a banana factory in town where most of the bananas of New South Whales are made, however only 10% of bananas are made here, the rest are made in Queensland-so the biggest banana factory still isn’t very large. So we trekked the 3 mile long walk (or 5.2 Kilometers) along the costal highway to the scene to any banana related horror movie. We watched them make candy, went on a banana tour where I learned that a banana is shaped to fit is someone’s hand and mouth- how very useful. The video was some weird hologram out of a futuristic Alfred Hitchcock movie oriented around banana manufacturing. Well I did get 3 bananas and a $4 shot glass out of it, and of course this paragraph in my blog, so it wasn’t all bad. On our way back we encounter a very nice old man with a 3 lb dog who out of nowhere he offered to let me hold him. Of course with my love and affection for Dog’s, I immedalty accepted this offer. The man then put the dog down out of my arms and let the dog roam around this sidewalk next to the highway for about 5 mintues. He then started talking to us about the weather in Washington DC and offered me insight inot getting free postcards from the post office….Creepy old person #1 of many of this trip.

Once we got back we tried walking around the town, but everything was closed….at 4PM on a SATURDAY…. Okkk- so then we watched a movie, got dinner, got a bottle of vodka, listened to my ipod thru my bose headphones and then went to chill at the bar. It was Jim Beam night so in order to get a picture of the jim beam girls you had to buy a $9 Jim beam and cola…. Sorry ladies, sexy sexy ladies, but im not shelving out $9 for a can of coke w/ a splash of jim beam-however Thomas was adamant so he shelved out $18 for him and I to get some photos w/ the ladies. Then I walked around w/ my proud picture, hit on an aussie girl w/ a boy friend (she didn’t TELL me she had a boy friend for over an hour), then found joy, got drunker, went next door to the fallafal place and asked for a huge one w/ lots of hummus b/c “im jewsih and I like hummus.” Went to bed, but not before being nearly raped by a bachelor party/footy team/w/e they were they wanted to get into our room, and I was not opening that door w/ them around. There were 15 of them, but for whatever reason in my drunken confidence I stood my ground and would not let them steal all my shit, and all that stood between them and the room was me and the key. Then again at 5am we caught the early bus to Brisbane and slept once again.

BRISBANE

Once on the bus I immediately fell asleep and then ½ way through, we stopped at the big prawn house for lunch, Thomas ate his weight in sodium and then we peaced out.

In Brisbane we walked around the waterfront, Thomas ate bug infested fallafal, I got some delicious subway, then we went on the overly priced 1 day old ferris wheel. It was cool, I guess. Then we went back on the ferry, met up w/ Corey, my friend at RMIT that I met back at UMD. We hung out in the hostel for a few and then grabbed some beers at the bar downstairs called elephant and wheelbarrow (they have them everywhere in Australia), and then we continued to drink excessively. After a few beers, Corey asked me how I was doing w/ the aussie ladies, I told him about the girl w/ the boyfriend but other than that, just American girls. So hes like man you gotta get laid by an aussie! So I said “fine, ill have sex w/ an aussie before my 21^st” (I don’t surcome to peer pressure btw, but when an Australian man tells you to sleep w/ an Australian lady, its only polite to agree, so thanks Corey). Anyways, 5 minutes passes and a 40 yr old and her drunk ft stumbling friends come over and she says “I’m sorry but I couldn’t help but over hear….when is your 21^st birthday?” I’m like wow. I quickly responded with the 26^th, but thought to myself, I could either have a great story and regret my actions for several years to come, or I could have a decent story, and continue on my marry way searching for something better looking with less grandchildren. Also if I wasn’t staying in a 22 person hostel and10 more beers in me, this would be cool. But since I was slightly sober, I told her that I was on my way out to meet some friends but not before she asked me how long I’d be in town for, and I said just the night, so she said “well ill be here later tonight.” Very nice old lady who could have been my mother….

So after that, I put on some decent clothes and we go to a bar outside the city which is HUGE- outdoor/indoor/3 levels and plenty of girls…. with boyfriends- I hit on drunk girls, girls w/ braces, and plenty of girls w/ boyfriends, I had some interesting opening lines including “I really, really like your braces” and “looks like YOU could use another beer,” this girl was literally falling down as I said this. End result, a few cops come to bust up a fight and I buy a cranberry vodka and some chicken strips (selling greasy food AT the bar is an AMAZING idea)- great night tho.

Next day we wake up at like 10am in Brisbane, walk around for a little, then catch the bus to Harvey bay. It was like a 5 hr bus ride and slept most of the way. Got there and the hostel was the BIGGEST dump from the outside, but it wasn’t bad on the inside.

HARVEY BAY

So we get to the hostel, and as I say, it is a huge DUMP. But for whatever reason, they decided to take us in through the back (that’s what she said) and inside is actually pretty nice. 4 person hostel rooms, by far the smallest thus far, a 6 person internet room, a decent TV room, and a sweet pool that smelled like cat urine, oh, and a disgusting cat, of which I am very allergic to. So after the long bus ride, we jump right into the pool, forget that it is a mild 70 degrees outside, the pool being no higher than 50, we braved it for a solid 2 minutes then got out and took a warm as hell shower. After the shower I sat down with these two British girls, Komal and Chan, they were traveling around from Southesat asia all the way to New Zealand for 3 months. We started watching “The Castle” when Thomas and the manager of the Hostel joined in. “The Castle” is the equivalent of the Australian Napoleon Dynamite – all I gotta say is “straight to the pool room.” It was g’d awful the first 1.5 hrs, but after that it was surprisingly stupid and witty. A high recommendation to anyone whose in a mood for a movie that doesn’t know its funny until it is. Believe me, it’ll make sense once you see it.

We then met the rest of our crew, A finish guy named Yarri who was weird and got weirder, but then 2 cool other brits who were dating, one form Newcastle, Phil, and one form London, Nicola. They have been backpacking around since December, 2007 and have been all over picking up jobs on a month by month basis. Then 4 Canadians came in- usually I’m an instant hater of Canadians, and this was nothing different. However as the night progressed I found out that 2 of the guys were there for about 6 weeks visiting another friend of theirs who was living out here for a year. He worked at a bar right near my place in Melbourne and can out drink most people back home pretty easily-good work Collin. He told us the story of how the other guy who was there was dragged out to sea in Byron, one of the world’s tamest beaches. So they nicknamed him “I love lamp” and bought him the shirt to correlate. The other two, Matt and Kira, were dating and the girl was a jew from long island, lots to talk about. We then had a lengthy intro session about the dangers of dingos and camping, and also driving our 4X4 on the beachy raods. It was insane, but the roads there were straight sand with one one small town. The entire island, about the size of one of the Florida keys, very tiny but full of amazing coasts. We finish the intro session, then I shower once more to get rid of all the cat fur and hit up some video games and TV before bed around 2. The guy Collin was telling me how this was his 7^th night off in about 3 months…what a champ.

In the morning we pack up, get our goon, and head over to the site to rent out the 4x4s. We get them from a chain smoking old guy who looks like he is covered in canvas with the sleeves of tattoos across his wrinkled body. However the cars seem to be in solid condition, well they are in some sort of condition, but they look sturdy as an elephant on a tight rope so we play along. In truck 1, its Thomas, joy, finish guy, Nicola, phil and myself and the rest in car 2. After some inventory check ups and sleeping bag rentals (aka ‘hires’ down under) we hit the road. Get ‘fake lost’ the way but eventually find the barge that takes us to the island. Basically Harvey bay is the Florida Mainland, and Frasier Island is the dingo infested, tiger shark breading, Florida keys w/ no town and beautiful views. We meet some cool girls in a hot pink car on the way over, and then drive off. The roads are like driving in 3 feet of snow, but its not snow, its fluffy sand. However those are just the side roads, the regular roads are just plain beaches with massive pot holes where water flows.

We get into the main part of the island and do a 2 hour walk around the rainforest and snap some picture-esc snap shots. Me and the brits walk back, as the Canadians- matt and kira, and Thomas and joy walk another 4 hours. We spend the time drinving through the actual town, with actual raods, and then explore the beach. I grabbed a post card to send to the soon to be, and now current, 21 year old Sarah Weislther. Happy 21^st Sarah! Then we meet up with the trailblazers and grab some pre packed food. Its glorified salad and some bread, but enough o fill me up, so I’ll take it. The we finish our drawings in the sand and head to the famous shipwreck that I cannot remember the name to, so I guess you’ll have to google it yourself (wait I’ll just do it: Maheno Ship Wreck)….We then head to the camp site to set up for the night. Kira, Matt and I get the wood, as the ladies get the dinner started and the other men work on the tents. As many of you back home know, my area of expertise may include s’mores, but definitely not setting up a tent. We decided to sleep under the roof incase it rained, but this meant we were sleeping on pure wooden floors. With no pillows and a shitty sleeping bag, this would take a lot of goon to get used to. So that’s what we did, pounded the goon til it was good and dry and we were good and drunk. Played ‘ring of fire’ and had beans (I love lamp aka greg) do a dare where he was in his boxers and invited some hot girls to join us. He did, and it was good times. Invited some others to drink w/ us from neighboring camp sights and then continued boozing. Bed around midnight, and then up at 7 for breakfast and out for the day.

Day 2: I wake up and CANNOT find my camera. There was one shady dude who was drinking last night who kept going on and on about the horrors of the American system not allowing a 20 year old to drink, and while I agreed with him, I did not agree with his firecrotch bushy pube filled beard or 2 ft long rat tail- so he was suspect #1, but as you can see from my 3 albums on facebook, after much searching, Thomas came to the rescue and found it by the car-amazing. We then hit the road, and do some picture taking by the cliff and walked on up. Watched a tour bus get wrecked by the deep sand and found a few sand crabs. Then Thomas and I climb the bluff, run into the girls from the pink car, and overlook this sick view on top of the island. Climb it back down, search for the rest of the crew and walk over to the beach. We then walk along the beach to the champagne pools. A naturally rock enclosed pool in the water, and the only salt water that is safe from tiger sharks and buoyant dingos. We walk back, see a few whales, and discuss the intricate Canadian Indian system w/ beans and then drive to lunch. Right before lunch our car stalls out so we call the guy back on land and he gives us some instructions, so down my water goes to cool off the car and our car goes off to the lunch site. Grab some lunch by the kookaburras and the lizards and chill for a while. Then we headed over to this creek that was about ¼ mile long and no more than 2 feet deep. Very cool to walk through and snap some good pictures. Then finally back to camp to finish off the goon and play the AMERICAN kings and finish off the goon. We all get to see Collins nuts when Beans falls asleep and gets tea bagged and then were off for sleep on our last night on the island.

Next day we wake up, cant find my camera AGAIN, but soon after its discovered and I grab a showered which is no more than a trickling down continuous rain slightly above room temperature. However we packed up the tents and food and headed back to the beach for one more day of excitement. Before leaving we grabbed the aboriginal that runs the camp site and for some abo style pictures. On the road we take a nasty bump and Thomas nails his head on the roof and THANK G’d I captured this on camera and we watched it over and over and over. It was nuts. We get to the site for the day, walk around the beach, and opt not to jump in the freezing water, but instead just hang out on the beach and watch the idots and topless girls who decided to brace the water. Get back to the barge and head back to Harvey bay. We dropped off the car, and headed back to the hostel to chill, unpack and watch some tv and grab some pizza and beer. Then its off to the bus stop for another 13 hr treck up the coast to get to arlie beach and the 5^th stop of our vacation.

AIRLIE BEACH

Damn! It is nice to arrive at the beach. Absolutely beautiful weather, great scenery, and good company. We check into our hostel, drop our bags off, meet up with Komal and Chan and then check into our boat. We also picked up some goon, hang out with the Canadians, repacked our bags, and grabbed some happy hour boozing and headed to the Whitsunday islands tour! It was absolutely amazing! A barefoot excursion on a motor boat through a chain of islands more beautiful than anything else I’ve seen. After checking into our bunk we meet the crew- Waza the crazy 22 yr old spirit with a 50 yr old body and bald head, and donna the crazy irish cook, mika—the young good lookin Austrian dish girl, and, shit, I cant remember the other dudes name, but he was sick ½ the time so I guess I’ll take a pardon on my sub par short term memory. So anyways we load the boat, meet the crew and bunk our beds. We start off with a game of “name, hometown, and crazy sexual experience…” too many to choose from so I just stairwell of a Marriott in ocean city-if you were there you knew what happened, and if you weren’t you’ll never know if I made it up—but not even ME is that open. So we pop sail the seas take some pictures and drink some goon. We played a game called horse race as Thomas and Joy hung out in the cabin doin whatever they were doin. At this point they were coupling off for a little bit at a time, which was slightly weird, but they were such good friends at this point, after a good nights sleep and some tasty white goon, I got over it. I actually passed out on the deck that night w/ a pillow and blanket just staring into the stars. I have never seen so many stars, nor felt so at peace with my life than that one moment. I remember feeling that no matter what was going on, it all just took a back seat to how incredible, at that very moment, my life was. I don’t care about the grammar of that statement, its exactly how I felt, this life, this world is way to complicated to let every little thing let you down, and if I had an article in a magazine and could highlight just one line to put on the cover, that would be it.

The next day we docked by some beach, did some whale watching and bird feeding and went to 2 different dive zones. We snorkeled around, chilled on the beach, did a semi-dive experience where I wasn’t submerged but I was breathing out of a oxygen tank, and then we went back to lunch. Had some lunch, sailed around again, and then went to the 2^nd dive site. Again had some sweet snorkel dives, chilled w/ the Israeli on the beach, and then came back, took more pictures, and just chilled and sunbathed for a nice long while. I got gooooood and burnt on my legs and while most of it is now faded to a calm olive, it was really sweet to be out on that boat. After the 2^nd dive we all docked at some cool beach motel type place. I got a $12 and 5 shot pina colada, played beach volleyball and got RAPED by 2 Austrians- typical Austrians taken over the jewish athletics—and then headed back to the boat for some relaxin times. I changed and put on some real clothes and komal, chan, Thomas joy and I watched eurotrip on my portable dvd player, and enjoyed some good ol fashioned tv time. After that and dinner we headed up for some more drinking games where joy got naked, but so did the hot French girl. BTW, this boat was filled w/. 2 british girls that we knew, 2 isralei soldiers, 2 austrians, us 3 americnas, and then about 15 french people. Mixing pot on the Whitsundays. I again crashed under the stars that night, but it was a bit overcast so I just hung out w/ people, drank some more goon, and relaxed until I could feel nothing at all. If I were to live my life one way, it would be to grab a girl, head to the Whitsundays, buy a boat and a shit load of food, and just float around for months at a time. The most peaceful and amazing place on earth.

The final day aboard was full of one dive, and the rest relaxin times. We did dive however on an island the size of the McKeldin Mall…perhaps smaller. It was no wider, and certainly no longer. It was unbelievable, and please refer to my pictures online for evidence. We did board the boat shortly after I could perfect my tan line and then we headed back on the rocky seas to the main land. It was sad to say good bye to the crew, and even sadder to leave the island. That day before we checked into our hostel I swung by this one travel place w/ joy to explore some ideas about what to do the following day, basically our only day off besides coffs harbour… and while she was looking I decided, what the hell, I’m going skydiving! I was beyond excited, so that day I drank with enthusiasm and grabbed some food w/ the gang from the boat and then the following day woke up bright and early to go skydiving at 8am. However it was overcast, cloudy, and rainy. So I was on hold the entire day. After calling 4 times, at 11am I decided this was enough and im going into town. So I walk around town, make some calls back home as Thomas and Joy do some shopping, and I grab lunch. FINALLY at around 1 pm, I get the call- they’re taking off! However I get there and we are just sitting for over an hour, the overcast comes back and I’m thinking, ok so I got my hopes up for nothing. Then I thought ok so I’ll save my money and do it another time in November, get excited for it or something. However I was watching the video on the TV in thee lounge and I get too excited. My heart starts pumping and I NEED to go! Literally within 5 minutes of that feeling, the clouds open up and the plane takes off! I am fired up, ready to go!!! The first two people jump before me at 10,000 feet, but I put out the extra $150 to go from 14,000….and man was it worth it! I see them jump and I just thought to myself, wow, omg wow, that is amazing. I was a little nervous but overall just excited. Then as I am sitting on the edge of the plane, I am thinking wow, what a crazy son of a bitch I am for doing this! Believe me, it was by far worthwhile and the best 2 mintues of my life. My legs were crazy sore when the parchute opened, but during that free fall….. omg I was literally and figuratively on cloud 9. I get back with the biggest smile on my face EVER and then we watch the DVD, meet up with the Canadians, get some booze, get drunk, and then crash.

And that’s the vacation folks. We flew out the next day, I pulled an all nighter that night because I did NO studying over the vacation and I had an econ exam the next day, and then I took my exam, wrote an assignment, and that Thursday I was off to Sydney with an organized trip. But that will have to wait for another day.

This vacation was amazing. It took me 11days of traveling, 10+ Microsoft word pages, 3 facebook albums, over a dozen new friends, and 4 days of writing just to get through it all. Live, Learn, and Grow is what a shirt my dad gave me says in reference to study abroad. Livin life on the east coast, learning the culture of a new global region, and growing into a more mature healthy person. That’s the meaning of this blog. Seriously one of the best experiences of my life, in just those 11 days.

Thanks for reading and I am definitely missing you guys more than you are missing me. 2 months and counting.

Cheers,

Mitch