No Class = Fun Day

March 11, 2014

Today started off very early in the morning with a thunderstorm ushering the in the season of fall. It consisted of only one clap of thunder that woke the whole city. Of course, me being a light sleeper, I woke up as the wind and rain rolled in and jumped even more at the thunder. I luckily got back to sleep after an hour. I woke up to a text a few hours later from Lachie asking if I was interested in going canoeing. I said yes especially since I knew we would be looking for platypuses. I got ready to go and we headed to his friend's house where the canoe was. Here is the view as we walked down the path...

It was beautiful view and a beautiful morning for canoeing.  Here is the lovely canoe we took out...

One of the first things we saw was a black swan. They are native to Australia. I had to take a picture for my sister since one of her favorite ballets is The Black Swan. I do have to say that they are not graceful when they take off from the water though. 

Here is the view from the bow of the canoe...

Couple of my favorite photos...

We didn't end up seeing any platypuses but we got a snack along the way 

 Blackberries!

And saw a lot of birds... 

Black Swans

Australian White Ibis

 Purple Swamphen

On the way back to Uni, Lachie took me to the Hopkins Falls. There wasn't a lot of water running over them because it is the dry season right now, but in a few weeks there should be a lot more. 

 In the middle of blinking... "Wayne Gene"

Lachie and Me

We checked out the ocean conditions quick before we headed back to Uni for free food. It was baked spuds today (aka baked potatoes). There was also a herpetologist that was showing off some native Australian species. He first had a salt water crock but I didn't get a good picture but then he pulled out these cute little and not so little guys...

After the lizards he brought out the snakes. I decided to get my food then. Some of my friends were eager to hold the snakes and I was perfectly happy being the photographer.

 Love Lauren's Face! It is Priceless! She did actually like holding the snake. She just made the face because it was hooking around her.

After all the snake fun I was ready to get in the water a go snorkeling. The ocean looked great, so Lachie and I asked a few other people if they wanted to join. No body was really interested, but we went anyway. The swell was a little too high for us to be by the breakwall, so we got in by Middle Island. 

Middle Island is where the Little Penguins live. The Penguins only come out at night time but there are trained guard dogs to keep the foxes away. They weren't busy so they were our lifeguards.

We got all suited up and we were off!

Here are some pictures I took on the snorkeling journey.

The water started to get rougher and Lachie got cold so we decided it was time to head to shore. I was so excited that I didn't get cold. My new wet suit and hood are AMAZING! We headed to shore and got our gear off. We ended up swimming a floating around for a little while longer though. The dogs were taken off duty for a little bit too. 

After we got out and dried off a little bit we headed over to Lachie house to hang out with his roommates who are in my classes and play ping pong. We got out of the water at the perfect time because shortly after we got to his house another thunderstorm rolled in. After a few games and proving myself to be a worthy ping pong opponent, I had to head back to uni for a house meeting. That luckily didn't last too long so I was able to get cleaned up and make dinner. 

I made tuscan chicken and carbonara pasta. I am not quite used to just cooking for myself yet. My eyes were much bigger than my stomach. At least I have leftovers :)

Today was probably one of the best days yet! The rest of the week I have classes so it was great to get out and enjoy nature before the work gets piled on.