Susan in Australia: The Massive Post

Hey,

so I have soooo much to tell, especially since I haven't written for a while, but I will try to keep it short. As always I'll be writing in paragraphs that will be titled, so read the paragraphs you want to and leave out the rest, I won't be insulted :D

Young Adults Retreat:
So on my second week here in Australia I went on a Young Adults Retreat from the church I've been going to, called Calvary. Altogether it was really great. The camping part of it was horrid, especially since I hate camping, but it was worth it because I was able to get to know so many new people. The young adults group from the church is so great, they are really considerate, helpfull and selfless (or at least the majority of the ones I have gotten to know). I already know that I will really miss them all when I go back to Germany in almost 9 months. I leaned a lot of new ausi words (I'll have to dedicate a blog post just to that sometime) and experienced ausi things, some fun (tim-tam-slam) and some not fun (4 wheel drive on the beach).
And here are some pictures:

this was at the restaurant closest to the camping site, it was so weird to see it

they even decorated it with german and bavarian flags and there was German music later on

these kinds of birds are everywhere, so beautiful

view from my tent :)

this was on saturday at rainbow bay

to get there you had to drive in a four-wheel-drive car, thus there are tracks on the beach

I thought the hills looked so cool, with the mix of sand, orangish rock and trees

they were playing tag football on the beach

a cute little crab, theoretically there were thousands there, but I only found one

the view from the sanddune

some guys had the genius idea of taking a canoe to slide down the dune, it acutally worked better than I thought

back at the camp

the view to the south

the view to the north

this is where we camped, as one can see, exactly at the beach, which at the first thought is nice, second thought should remind you though that beach=sand. Need I say more?

Brisbane:
So on the Friday after that I was in Brisbane for a doctor's appointment. The appointment itsself was only an hour long, but because I had to use public transportation it took 4 hours to get there and 4 hours to get back. The trip wasn't acutally too bad, especially since I was able to see quite a bit of the landscape between Buddina and Brisbane during the train ride. It was also cool to be able to see Brisbane. It's a really nice city, as far as I could see. Pictures follow:

this was in Fortitude Valley, the station where I had to wait for an hour (the inside of the station looked nicer). I was nicely informed on the day before I went to Brisbane that Fortitude Valley is one of the more dangerous areas of Brisbane, the best thing being that the train conductor wished people a SAFE and nice day right before the stop, that's never a good sign, but I survived :)

such a cool mix to have trees growing right before that modern office building

a view at the skyline of Brisbane

you may have noticed by now that there are a lot of pictures of buildings, that is because I always find buildings quite fascinating

luckily the light was just red, so I was able to get some good pictures of this square. So weird to have a little european-looking church right next to all these modern skyscrapers

all of the people walking to the central station in brisbane

buildings that one can see from the central station

Saturday Barbecue:
So on Saturday I finally went to my first Ausi barbecue. It actually wasn't that special of one, thus it can't be counted really as one, but I was able to sample typical things eaten at an ausi barbecue.

so there are barbecues right along the beach in mooloolaba

my plate, the thing on the left is called something that starts with a "r"

mine was especially formed to resemble Australia, the ketchup being Tasmania

Sushi Sunday:
Last Sunday was so great (as some may already know through facebook). After the morning service I went with a group of young adults for coffee, sushi and then the beach. It finally was warm enough to go into the water, so I that Sunday can be marked as the first day I went swimming in Australia :)
The not so good thing about the beach was that it was really windy so if you laid on the beach you couldn't open your eyes, otherwise you would have sand in your eyes. After only being at the beach for an hour I was totally covered in sand (there was even sand on my eyelashes) and it took me a few days to get all of the sand out of my hair (washing it did help, but didn't get all of it out).
I got to church really early since the person I drove with was doing the camera (yep the church has two cameras for the service, one in the back and one handheld on the stage, so awesome :D ) and had to be there early. But it was fine, I just hung out with the people that were also there early to help out. At 5 there was food and at 6 the service started. After the service I went to Mooloolaba again (it's the tradition of the young adults group) and stayed there till 10:30pm. It was a long, but amazing day and I came home happy and totally hyper active :D

So this is Maroochydore/Cotton Tree (it's really confusing here, cause all towns just kind of melt together, there's no real space in between, so it's hard to say where you really are at the moment :D

to my defense why there are a lot of pictures of me: my camera was kidnapped

a very cool shell I just found on the way

I know I have my eyes closed, but it's the only picture of the sunshine plaza and that is the biggest shopping centre on the sunshine coast

at the sushi restaurant

trying to explain sushi to me, in the end he just picked two different kind out for me

I was starting to get nervous about all the pictures being taken, especially since their goal was to take "natural pictures" of me, so pictures where I'm not staring at the camera. Turns out I have this sick urge to always look at the camera when I know someone's taking a picture of me. And not only that, I also have a 6th sense that notices when a picture is being taken of me. I know, I'm weird :)

they were all staring at me, just waiting for me to take my first bite (only two other people ordered something) and since this was my fist time eating sushi I served as their entertainment. Sushi is meant to be eaten in one bite, which is not easy for someone with a small mouth like mine. Anyways they were all staring at me and I was getting really nervous and was giggling the whole time and after gathering up my courage I managed to stuff the sushi roll in my mouth without making a mess, which I am very proud of :D

Bowling:

Yesterday I went bowling at a typical, cut-out-of-a-movie bowling centre. The bowling itsself wasn't so special, but it was the first time I had been to a place like that, thus I HAD to take pictures :)