Brisbane Bucket List

Throughout our stay in Brisbane, we created a bucket list of places we wanted to go during our stay.

(Thanks to Deanna for this very detailed bucket list!!! haha!)

Here is the list:

1. Nandos- Ate dinner at the popular chicken joint... it's good but it's no Chick-fil-a
2. Baskin Robbins- We went to get some ice cream during our lunch break

3. Carindale-  Hitched a ride from Deanna's teacher and experienced 'the cool place' to shop according to all of our students, malls in Australia close by 5:30pm weekdays. Late night is on Thursdays when the mall is open until 9pm.
4. Botanical gardens- FAIL... but we did make it to the Botanical Gardens in Sydney!
5. JoJos- Ate here  in the Queen St. mall area, wide menu selection

6. City Cat- Took the city catamaran back from school one day, scenic and speedy ride

7. South Bank- Went over to the Cultural Center to see West Side Story
8. Canteen/Tuck Shop - Bought an Anzac biscuit at the school tuck shop during tea time. Tea time is more like a 20 minute recess and snack time for the students as the teachers grab a bite to eat and relax in the staff room. 
9. Bowling- Played two games at the StrikeBowl bar in Queen St, $8 for the first game, $5 for the second...plus some free, good ole greasy popcorn...
10. Cheesecake shop- Took an Aussie's advice and walked to the local shop after school, I got some the American Style Cheesecake and it was soooo good...

11. Hold a Koala- Went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, held a koala, played around with the kangaroos and saw several other native animals
12. Queen St. mall- Took several walks along the streets of Queen St. Mall, full of 4 shopping malls, food courts, restaurants, souvenir shops, etc. 
13. Brisbane Hillsong- Long bus ride, 2km walk, made it just twenty minutes late for a Sunday morning service. Attending the Christmas concert at the church Friday night

14. Play tennis on Medina's grass court-  I borrowed tennis rackets and tennis balls from a student, forgot the rackets at school, Deanna went back up and down the hills to get the bag, the courts were locked, Pauly unlocked them for us, and finally we relived our high school days and played some tennis overlooking the Story Bridge and city skyline!

15. Learn some Aussie lingo and eat their food- Heaps and no worries are our favorite lines. Ate some Vegemite, Anzac biscuits, mangos and TimTams. No kangaroo meat for us!

We did a good job of completing our bucket list during our stay in Brisbane. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone at Whites Hill State College. We had a wonderful time getting to know the staff and students and will miss the fun times in the teacher's lounge. I made sure to video my students doing a sic 'em bears!! Here they are!

Although we were sad to leave Brisbane and Whites Hill, we were excited to start our independent travel in Sydney.  Time of departure: 3:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.

Hollywood in Brisbane

I thought it was going to be sunny and hot here in Australia. Instead, the weather has been very inconsistent and the rain seems to be following us wherever we go. The rain came down hard at school today. The students have already received their "final marks" for the year. During the last couple of weeks of school the teachers are wrapping up the end of the school year. Today, the students created treasure maps and then watched a national geographic video on crocodiles. The students also helped set up and decorate for the movie night they are presenting to their parents. The students have been creating, filming and editing these movies for about 8 weeks. They have worked very hard and I personally think Mr. Seipel's class has the best movies ;) We also went to the pool and the brave students swam while the rain was pouring!

Deanna and I planned on returning to the school to attend the movie night tonight. In between school and the movie night, we killed some time at the mall. Deanna's teacher was nice enough to give us a "lift." The store times here just blow my mind. At 4:30 p.m., the malls are packed with people. By 5:00, the mall is clearing out and by 5:30 it is deserted. We went to grab some dinner at the food court and the  restaurants were closing one by one. Hurry! I thought it was ironic that of all the restaurants available, the only ones that were still open by 5:30 were KFC, McDonald's, and Subway!!! The U.S. fast food joints dominate!

We were so proud of our transportation skills tonight. We got on the correct bus and got off at Whites Hill. The students were not in their uniforms. Instead, the girls wore dresses and the boys wore suits and ties. It was fun getting to see them in regular clothing. The teachers dress very casual at school but tonight they dressed up as well!

Mr. Horstman, Deanna, me and my teacher, Mr. Seipel

Caitlyn, me, Nelson, Phoebe, and Katherine

Waiting for the movies to begin!

I feel like such a world traveler when I bum rides off of people. We were a bit concerned about how we would get back to our apartment all the way across town. So I asked one of my students if her parents could drive us and her dad said yes! Much better than having to wait on the bus in the pouring rain or pay for a taxi! We were so thankful!!!

I Found Nemo in the Reef!

This weekend we traveled to Cairnes (sounds like cans). On Friday, we were slightly stressed about finding transportation to the airport. Fortunately, Kelsey's teacher, Robyn (our Aussie mum), arranged for a taxi to pick us up from the school and Whites Hill paid for the charge which was $60! The teachers at Whites Hill have been very thoughtful and considerate throughout our stay here.

Our flight from Brisbane to Cairnes was at 6:40 p.m.. The security at the airport was much different from the United States. Not once did they ask for identification! We also did not have to take off jewelry or shoes when going through security.

When we arrived in Cairnes, the hotel transportation picked us up at the airport. Our hotel was very unique. We literally had to walk through a rainforest to get to our room. At times, we were asking ourselves, "Where the heck are we?" It was raining when we arrived so we sat by the pool for a bit before going to bed.

On Saturday, bright and early, the Reef tour bus drove us to Port Douglas where we hopped on a boat to drive to the Great Barrier Reef site. There are 50 tour boats that you can take to see the reef. While we were at the reef, we did not see another single tour boat. This tells you how big the reef is... REALLY BIG!

On the boat, they served coffee and biscuits. The trip from the shore to the reef was about an hour. Lunch was immediately served upon arrival which included chicken, potato salad, beef stir fry, seafood pasta and fruits. We ate and changed into our snorkel gear quickly.

I have never snorkeled before so it took some getting used to but after a while I was an old pro (with a noodle, haha). A guy working on the boat gave five of us a discount on a tour farther out into the reef. This time I had to leave my noodle behind. We swam for several hours. Let me just say one thing... the Great Barrier Reef absolutely deserves to be one of the 7 wonders of the world! It was incredible and so surreal. Millions of fish are swimming everywhere. There is a whole new world beneath the water that we don't even realize.

We were able to touch a blue starfish, a sea cucumber, a giant clam and learn about many fish and creatures as well. For example, the butterfly fish only swim in pairs, one male and one female. Once they find each other, they are meant to be together for the rest of their lives. If one dies, the other soon dies as well.

Here are a few other interesting facts about the Great Barrier Reef:

-2,300 km long

-Started forming half a million years ago

-Current state of the reef is 8,000-10,000 years old

-Reef grows 3cm every 100 years
-350 hard coral species, 100-200 soft coral species

My trip to the Great Barrier Reef was the best experience in Australia so far!

We arrived back at the hotel around 6:30 p.m. Deanna, Kelsey and I sat on the dock at the pool. Then we ordered pizza from Dominoes (yay, somewhere we actually know!) and relaxed in the hotel. It was a long and exhausting day of fun!

On Sunday, we explored the harbor, casino, mall, market, and shops in the city of Cairnes. We ate lunch along the harbor. Then we went back to the hotel and bought internet for a while before we had to pack up and head to the airport for some more sitting and waiting. We arrived back in Brisbane at 10:15 p.m.. Overall, the weekend was a great success!!!

The Didgeridoo

The didgeridoo is a wind instrument developed by Indigenous Australians of northern Australia at least 1, 500 years ago and is still in widespread usage today both in Australia and around the world. It is sometimes described as a natural wooden trumpet or "drone pipe."

Thanksgiving in Australia

When Deanna, Kelsey and I walked into the teacher's lounge this morning with our backpacks and hands full of groceries, the teachers asked us if we have a special greeting, dance or handshake for Thanksgiving. Deanna responded with "gobble, gobble!" It's weird to think that right now Thanksgiving day is practically over in Aussie Land, while the holiday is just beginning in the United States.

Kelsey's teacher, Robyn, is the home economics teacher at Whites Hill. Since we do not have ovens at our apartment and we did not want to have to haul all the dishes to Whites Hill on the bus, she let us cook our 3  dishes including scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole, and cream of corn in the home economics room.

We prepared the dishes very quickly and had time to go to the classroom and present a Thanksgiving PowerPoint to my class. The students enjoyed learning about a holiday that their country does not celebrate. One of the girls in my class even baked cupcakes for the three of us and decorated them as turkeys!

All the teachers pitched in and helped make the Thanksgiving dinner a success! The men bought the chicken and rolls, a lady made the stuffing, another lady made a moose cake and Kelsey's teacher made the pumpkin pie and gravy. At 12:45 p.m., our food was prepared and the teachers were ready to dig in. The one thing that felt the most like home was the fact that the men teachers were glued to the television during the feast. Instead of the traditional football, the men were watching cricket. At this time, Australia is competing in what is known as the Ashes, which is a cricket tournament against England. It cracked me up to see these men acting the same way the men at my Thanksgiving in Texas act. Everyone enjoyed the meal and many went back for seconds of our dishes.





The students in my class have been creating movies for about 8 weeks now. In the afternoon, we watched several of these movies. Parents will be able to view these movies next Wednesday night. I am very impressed by their technology skills and the freedom these students have to be able to complete assignments like this.

Kelsey, Deanna, Ms. Baker and I

At the end of the school day, all the students said "happy thanksgiving!" as they were leaving the classroom.

Kelsey's teacher kindly offered to take us to the Scholastic bookstore sale after school. We were able to get a free ride and tour of another part of the city... and we didn't waste time getting lost, which was a plus! We all got really cool Australian children's books including My Aussie Mum and The Night Before Christmas Aussie Style. Once we spent way too much time and money at the store, her teacher dropped us off at the CityCat (the boat transportation) so we could ride back to our apartment. We felt very accomplished today because we were able to cross off some things on our To Do List :)

Tomorrow we head to Cairns for the Great Barrier Reef tour! Yippee!!!!

The West Side Story

Last night, we went downtown to the Culture Centre to watch the Broadway musical, West Side Story. A little ironic that we travel all the way to Australia to watch a musical about New York. During one part of the play, the men begin to whistle "Our country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty..." I felt we were the only viewers in the audience that actually knew what song they were whistling. The entire show was played by 33 Australian members. I was very impressed by their ability to disguise their Australian accents and speak like New Yorkers and Latinos. The show was excellent and we enjoyed it very much.

Today, the entire Year 8 class, about 60 students total, came into our classroom to vote on the student council members for next year. Each candidate was required to make a speech and persuade the students to vote for them. Some were more prepared than others, but for the most part, all the candidates spoke well in front of their classmates.

Afterwards, Mr. Seipel introduced me to the students that we do not have in our class. Then I presented my Baylor PowerPoint to the entire 8th grade. I was not expecting to present to such a large group of students but it went well, and they were all interested in asking questions about the university. I told the students about the school system, the activities at Baylor, the locations on campus, the fight song, the school song, the Baylor line, etc. I wore my Baylor Line jersey and taught the students a Baylor Sic 'em! Now all the students want to come to Baylor! Ha!

When the students went to swimming class today, I went to Kelsey's room to sit in on a Year 9 sexual education class. Man, was it different than sex ed. classes in the States! They are so laid back and relaxed when talking about this topic. By year 12, 50% of students in Queensland are sexually active. The teachers focus more on safe sex rather than abstinence.

After our 1 hour lunch break, we went down to the pool for the rest of the afternoon. What a wonderful way to end the school day! Wish we could do that in America! Ha!

Be Safe and Watch Your Mates

The 10 of us went to the Gold Coast for the weekend. We packed all of our things in a backpack and carried to school on Friday morning. Immediately after school we road the bus to the train station. For $11.20, we bought a bus ticket to the Gold Coast. The train ride was about an hour long. When we got dropped off at the train station in the Gold Coast, we caught a bus to our hotel that was located a block from the beach. By the time we arrived, it was about 7 'o clock. The hotel was very nice and we ended up getting an upgraded room.

We were all ready for a good meal so we rode in a taxi to a restaurant called Sage. The food was very expensive but it was so worth it. Kelsey and I, the two small town girls, needed our meat so we both ordered steak and mashed potatoes. The other girls ordered chicken or pasta as well as a bottle of wine.

The expectations of a waitress in Australia are so different than in the States. The tip is included in the bill so this leaves no reason for the waitress to be very courteous or overly helpful at your table. Also, restaurants cannot split the bill for you. So when our bill was given to us at Sage we all had to pay in cash. How hard is it to split the bill!? Gosh! Nevertheless, the meal was excellent and it was definitely worth it.

Then we went to a club to hangout. Deanna did not bring her ID so she had to stay outside while we all went inside. After a while, Kelsey and I went to find Deanna and we caught a taxi back to the hotel. By this time it was about 12:30 a.m. and we were exhausted! What a long day of traveling!

On Saturday, we had to be checked out of our room by 10:00 a.m.. The hotel held our bags while we walked to the beach. We were hungry so we stopped at the McDonald's on the beach and had breakfast. There were "heaps" (as an Australian would say) of shops near the beach so we walked along and shopped for clothes and souvenirs. We also did a lot of people watching. The fashion here is so interesting and different from the U.S..

Eventually, with our luck, a storm came along so we hurried back to the beach to take pictures of the water before it started to pour!

We ate lunch at a restaurant near the mall and left the Gold Coast at around 4 'o clock. We needed to have time to get back to the train station and go home to Brisbane. Also, we wanted to get out of the Gold Coast before the crazy Schoolies took over the beach!!!!