Cairns Tropical Zoo (feeding the kangaroos)!!!

This was the coolest day ever! I will continue to post more from the zoo in the next few days!

Cairns

While Tyler was at his conference, I spent my days exploring the city, swimming in the lagoon, and walking down the Esplanade. The Esplanade Lagoon is a free saltwater swimming pool with sandy edges overlooking the ocean inlet. 

lagoon

random sign

watch out for the locals

water playground for the babes

view from the Esplanade

don't worry, I wore sunscreen

My Birthday!

I woke up in a beautiful hotel room, in a beautiful town, and went swimming in a beautiful pool... what more could I ask for!!! Tyler skipped the conference and took me to breakfast, a sweet mall (with a TARGET!!!) and even let me pick out a new tank-top before taking me to a lovely dinner at Outback Jacks... all in all it was an extraordinary day! 

the uni

here are some pictures we have taken around campus! 

Cairns

We are off to Cairns! It looks like a beautiful part of the country and already have lots of adventures to look forward to!!! We have a few things set in stone such as: I am going to go to the zoo that lets you hold Koalas and hand feed Kangaroos! We also have booked a hot air ballon ride at sunrise!!! Some of the other things we would like to do include: viewing the great barrier reef, taking a sky-tram up to a local village, taking a train past amazing waterfalls, and walking through the rainforest! I am also looking forward to laying at the beach and soaking up the 80 degree temperatures! Oh yeah, and Tyler has a conference to go to all week ending with a presentation on friday....

this is for Melanie!

early birthday!

I was going to wait to open it but then I saw the contents written on the box and got too excited so I just had to have an early birthday! 

"I am so excited, I love birthdays!!!"

the box was completely taped...

it took at least 5 minutes to open it

"yummm soup!"

YES! I have been looking for a one of these (heating bag) since we landed!!! Now, I can be toasty warm while sitting on the couch... or sleeping in bed... I seriously have been wanting one of these in a bad way!

ohhh my mom thinks of everything....

"awww"

"YEAH"

I saw this on Martha around easter and I thought that it was the coolest little project I had ever seen. And the best part of all is that I never even told my mom that I wanted it... she just knew!

"um, excuse me, they opened my package... I wondered why it seemed disheveled in the box."

Thanks Mom and Papa!!! 

the treasure hunt

my mother sent me a package for my upcoming birthday. she told me that it was going to come on a certain day and i was to wait for it because it needed my signature. so the day came and i got up early. i waited and waited. around noon, i went outside to see if the mail had come... it was a rainy day. i found a note in my mailbox. it said that my package came and i was not home. the note said that they came at 7:30am. not only was i home, but tyler was home as well. I KNOW THAT THEY DID NOT KNOCK ON MY DOOR. so when it says "sorry we missed you" on the top of the note, they really must mean... "sorry you were not standing in front of your mail box on a rainy day, when we brought your birthday surprise". so as quick as i could i showered and got ready and marched as fast as i could to my post (they don't call them post offices... only posts) which was a 30 min walk. i was so proud as i walked up and handed my ticket to the post lady. "where do you live," she said "middle street" I replied. she shook her head with disappointment... "you are in Randwick, you need to go to the shopping center in Kingsford". i did not know there was a shopping center in kingsford, but i had seen a post near the university from the bus, so i walked to that post. it was not the right one. i was lost. i went back to the uni and got tyler. we looked on the map. we walked to kingsford. we found a shopping center. it was not the correct one. it was 4:10 and I was about to cry, because i was sure they must close at 4 because all the shops close at 4 here. BUT, i was not going to give up.  i found a lady in the parking lot and asked, she pointed us in the correct direction... and we found it! it was open until 5:00 and we made it!!! I AM SO GLAD THAT THERE WAS A TREASURE AT THE END OF MY HUNT!!! the most annoying thing was that there was a space on the card that was for indicating what post to pick up your package at, and it was blank. 

Finding Nemo!!!

I was so excited to go to the aquarium and find nemo... I was told that they had an exhibit featuring all of the characters from the movie. I was not happy when I realized that it was spongebob square pants instead...

sydney aquarium

With our year pass to the wildlife world we were also granted a year pass to the aquarium, so we went to check it out! 

koala video

How cute is this! 

Koalas!!!

This was the best ever! You can get so close to the Koalas and even feel them if you ask! We were so lucky as well because there were two babies out with their mums! I only wish that I would have brought my big camera so that the photos would have turned out better. However, I got a year long pass, so visiting the animals may become a weekly event!