Just joking - I was listening to that song by Zac Brown, that's all. But, I have "sailed away" as some may say...
A lot has happened since I last updated y'all way back a long time ago in March! I feel as though I have been on a near-permanent vacation since exams ended in late June, as my Mom flew out from the States for my graduation. We spent one lovely (if not very cold and windy) week in Tasmania soaking up the sights and the rain. A highlight of that trip was Freycinet National Park, where we had beautiful weather for our hike! We also enjoyed lots of scrumptious food while we were there, including some mulled wine.
After Tasmania, we embarked on a long road trip up to Exmouth, WA from Fremantle. After having some minor (major) car troubles only 5 hours into our trip (lucky for us we were close to our first night's accommodation), everything went smoothly and all kangaroos and emus on the road were avoided (the locusts, however, were not - they were MASSIVE). On our road trip we hit all the major spots - saw dolphins at Monkey Mia, floated with the current and swam in Ningaloo Reef in Coral Bay, and finally made it to Exmouth to swim with the whale sharks. The whale sharks decided not to swim with us that day, though, so it looks like we'll be making another trip up to Exmouth next June...we did see heaps of humpback whales putting on a show for us, which was awesome!
On our way back we stopped in Kalbarri National Park for a few days to do some hiking. We took an adventurous day trip with a guide who led us down the canyon to go canoeing in the river. To get back to the top we had to hike up a waterfall, which I found exciting, while Mom found it scary, perhaps (but she did awesome!)
We got back just in time for my graduation ceremony, which my Dad and Jackie flew out for. There was a lovely Mass in the morning and then the ceremony at noon which I am so thankful for the support of all who were there: Paul and Cheryl, my adopted Aussie parents; my Mom, Dad and Jackie; and of course my boyfriend Ollie. It was a perfect day and I can't believe that I've now graduated from university!
Mom and I embarked on one more short road trip to make the most of her time in Australia. We headed down south to see sights including the tree top walk and the windy Leeuwin Lighthouse, where we were nearly blown into the ocean!
After mom left I had about a month to sort things out before I headed off to Singapore until the New Year. I worked a bit, rock climbed a lot, and enjoyed my time with Ollie. And so, I packed up my belongings once more and headed off to Singapore with just a backpack (and a small duffel bag). Ollie joined me a week later and we headed off on our next adventure: rock climbing in Krabi, Thailand! We spent two weeks climbing the cliffs of Railay, Tonsai, and Phi Phi and enjoying our Pad Thais and coconut curries. Despite a lot of rain and some upset stomachs, we still managed to have a great time and see some stunning views from the top of the cliffs!
I came back from Thailand to head off immediately to Malaysia volunteering with the international school I was at last January. My role this time was to be a female assistant on the 5th grade class trips to Taman Negara National park. There are three weeks of trips, and that brings me to today! I have done two weeks, with my last trip leaving this Sunday. The trips have been great experience for my upcoming teaching degree (keep reading...) even though the kids are younger than I will teach. The trips have been a total blast! Activities for the kids include an overnight train ride, a 3 hour boat ride in small wooden boats, floating down the river, doing a canopy walk made of ropes, hiking up a hill, and doing cultural activities such as blowing darts and weaving palms. It has been lots of fun to help out and I hope that more opportunities present themselves while I am in Singapore!
For the next few months I will be chilling here in Singapore and in January it is back to the land down under and Notre Dame University for my Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education. It's a year long course, and after that I hope to teach for a few years in Australia and then see where my career goes from there. It's all very exciting stuff and I am so blessed that I am able to do all this traveling and "work" experience on my 6 months off with the ones I love. I can't wait to see what's in store while I am here in Singapore, but am mostly looking forward to being back in Aus in January!
I miss everyone heaps in the States and in Australia, so if you have some free time, you should come visit me ;) That's just a quick update of the past 6 months - perhaps it won't be so long until my next update...keep tuned for my next adventure (unless I get eaten by a panther in Malaysia first - no joking, they're out there where we are staying)!
