Crikey!

This weekend was a lot of fun, packed full of things to do, which is wonderful, but makes for an exhausting Monday. The week ended well and one of my co-ops organized a little celebration dinner for my new job. Seven of us teachers went out for dinner on Friday at the local pub, the Carrollee Hotel. I just love seeing local establishments like that, the townees always get me. It is funny to see the difference between country townees at home and those here in Kingaroy. The biggest difference? The men have a habit of wearing entirely too short rugby shorts. Eck. Dinner was nice though, great to get out and get to know my coworkers a bit better. 
Saturday was a long day as well. Sonya and I went to the Australia Zoo, home of Steve Irwin. I would say a zoo is a zoo, but it was really neat to see all of the native Australian animals. I got to feed kangaroos again, and pet another koala. I just cannot get enough of them:) I saw a wild one on the way home as well. I got to see the Croc show in the Crocseum and I can only imagine what it used to be like when Steve Irwin was still alive and doing the show. 
Sunday I made it to the Lutheran Church with my principal and her husband. After that we went out for lunch at Captain's Paddock, a local winery. It was so gorgeous up there; it is on the top of a hill looking over the vineyard and the Bunya Mountains. I don't know how many times I have to say it is gorgeous. 
I have another busy week to look forward to, and I don't mind because it keeps me on my toes. I will update you as things come up. 


Oh, I will just leave you from my favorite student quote from last week that I heard as I was picking up my year 1s from the library. (said in a whisper) "Mr. Brauer.....someone keeps fluffing and it smells really baad" haha, gotta love kids. 


Cheers and hope all is well stateside. 

Sweaty as a cactus

Hello all- not too much to report. School has started up again after the two week term break we just had, and it is already back to the grind. I was teaching a distance lesson this morning in math and so I was using Google earth (I could spend all day on there- nerd alert) But figured out that I am over 14,000 km from home, your fun fact for the day. 
Just a couple of funny happenings today that I will just relay to you. I had a few PE classes today and the year 2s  were just after lunch. I was giving the directions at the beginning of class and while I was talking one of the boys in the back looked over to Mr. Mo (my co-op) and says in just a classic voice "Is that our American teacher?" ha, well yes I am, glad you have finally noticed.  The year threes were my last class for the day. I was walking them back to their classroom and one of the kids stopped to take his sweatshirt off. His next words- "I am sweaty as a cactus!!" Hahaha, yes I did laugh out loud at him, hilarious, that is going to be my new expression. Gotta love kids. 


Cheers- hope all is well stateside. Lots of love

A backpack, a loaf of bread, and peanut butter

I made it. Back in Kingaroy. It is the end of the holidays, and so naturally I am at school planning, I mean blogging. I cannot believe how fast these last two weeks went, it is the middle of April already!! My adventures were awesome though. I survived two weeks with only a backpack. (truly amazing if you have ever seen me pack).  Here is my backpack with some of the things taken out, but you get the idea. 

Now travelling on a budget is another thing, so I am trying to spend as little money as I can and if you know me you know how annoying I can be over-analyzing stupid little details, money being one of them so your probably glad you were not here at the beginning of the trip, lol. I was cutting costs where I could, and for me food got the cut. I decided that since most meals are pretty expensive I was only going to eat out for dinner. So I went to the grocery store and this is what I bought for the rest of my meals, plus a couple granola bars. Mind over matter, and I won:)

You may think it looks terrible, but it really was not that bad. I was hiking most days anyway so I just threw a sandwich in my bag and went. Let me tell you, I saved a lot of money (and wasn't bad for the waistline, haha). My dinners were good though. I found a great little pub on the corner in the Junction that I went to twice while I was there. 

I took surf lessons in Noosa too, so fun! Surf's up dude. 

(PS the surf school mad us wear the red, not my color of choice, just had to let you know)

Moving away from my frugality, I really enjoyed myself. If you have been reading you heard about some of my adventures in Noosa and then the beginning of my trip to Sydney. I really do not know which stories to tell because most of them are fairly insignificant, but I will just ramble about the happenings of the last week. 

On Easter Monday Sloan and her friends took me to Bondi Beach which was beautiful. We swam a little, played a little, and then explored on the rocks which was the best part. But a great day all around. 

Tuesday Sloan and I went into the city to see the famous sights like the Opera House, Sydeny Harbor Bridge, and Manly Beach. I am going to go ahead and say this because I get my jokes from my dad and I know at least he and Ben will laugh, but; We looked for Nemo and couldn't find him...haha...I know sorry. Moving on. The harbor was gorgeous, and it was fun to see such iconic things. While we were in the city there is this famous chocolate bar chain that is called Max Brenner's (spelling?) well we had to stop. I got probably about the best chocolate soufle I have ever had in my life. It was so rich it made my stomach hurt, and usually it would take upwards of a whole chocolate cake to do that. I was in heaven, a painful one, but a happy one. 

No words

A huge thank you to Sloan for giving me a place to stay and having a very fun few days in Sydney! It was nice to be in a college sort of environment again too. I miss my friends, and yes, I miss Seward. 

After Sydney I hopped back on a plane to Brisbane, stayed at Meg's house (my supervisor) a big thank you to her as well, and then took the train up to Hervey Bay where Sonya picked me up. I was planning on snorkeling while I was there for the last couple of days, but the weather had other plans. Can't have everything right? So I read instead. Yes.....I read. Also for those of you that know me, know that this is a little unusual too, just because it is not my first activity of choice. What I am going to tell you next is about to blow your socks off too. I finished three books over the holiday. Yes thats right, 3!! The Hunger Games got me. I finally had the chance to sit down and read, and I got through all three of them, the last two in four days. I am so proud of myself, ha. :) If you have not read them. Do it. 

 The pier at Hervey Bay

OH! one of the most spectacular things I have seen in my life. Just breathtaking was on Thursday night when we were walking along the beach. It had been raining and the clouds were still dark, but out of this cloud a rainbow started to form. I love rainbows. This rainbow just got darker and darker. At its peak, I could see the whole thing from one end to the other stretching over the water, just magnificent. God certainly has wonderful ways of reminding us of his promises and presence doesn't he? The first thing that I saw when I flew into the Brisbane airport was a rainbow, and he reassured me of his presence once more. I just could not stop staring at it. I have pictures on my phone that do not do it justice, but I will try and upload one later. 

So I know that I have left out so many stories of the in between, but there is only so much I can write, and I should probably get to some planning for Monday. Cheers and I hope all is well stateside. 

Psalm 139:1-3 "You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways."

He is Risen.........He is risen indeed Alleluia!

Hello all!! 


Sorry that it has been a few days since I have written, just not enough time in places where there has been internet until now. I will just give you a recap of my last day in Noosa and then where my adventures have taken me next. On Thursday morning in Noosa I made another checkmark on my bucket list by taking surfing lessons. They were awesome, and the swells were perfect that day. I stood up on the first try and I rode all the way in a few times. It made for a fantastic, and tiring morning. But there were still some trails I wanted to hit in the National Park, so I grabbed my backpack and headed for the Park. Another beautiful trail that dumped me out at Hell's Gate halfway through. It is truly a place that you can see the magnificence of God and the might of his creation. I was headed back to sit on the beach for a while so I decided to walk along the rocks on the shoreline. Well I guess I am still not a very good judge of the tides, or wave patterns, because I was turning a corner and thought I would be fine when the wave came in and before I knew it I was waist deep in a wave trying to keep my stuff above water..oops:) The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent laying on the sand reading a book, so relaxing. I went to dinner with a couple of girls who had just moved into my room. They were on holiday from Holland, it is so interesting to compare cultures and lifestyles. Friday morning I went for an early morning run on the beach before I packed up and caught the bus to Brisbane. One of the teachers from Kingaroy was in town with her family so I was able to stay there for the night which was very generous of her and her family. 


Saturday was a fun day. I navigated my way through the airport, the train station, and the bus station (that was the most interesting one just because I have zero experience with buses) to arrive at Hillsong Church so that Sloan could pick me up. It was great to see her! All we did for about the next hour was talk nonstop, and then went to the pool. Sunday morning, Easter. I love Easter, but this is my first Easter aways from my family and so I knew it was going to be different from the get go. Sloan had to volunteer all day at other churches so I was with her friends all day. We went to Hillsong Church in the morning and it was amazing, the service was definitely something I was not used to, but still a huge celebration that our Lord and Savior rose again, defeating death and the grave. That night we went to downtown Sydney to another service where there was a guest evangelist preaching. All in all it was a great day. One thing that I did not hear all day however, was the good ole Lutheran response. He is Risen!.............He is Risen indeed, Alleluia! 


Hope everyone is having an amazing Easter. What a joy we have as we look toward the cross and the empty grave. 

Hell's Gate and a Rude Awakening

Hello all. Just a quick update from down under and a couple of stories. I have really been enjoying myself andbi think more so after I was able to talk to home for a bit and I got over having to fall asleep in a room full of people that I do not know and half of which come in when I am already asleep. Interesting feeling.

Yesterday was a beautiful day so I went for a hike in Noosa National Park, the whole track was about 10.5k. What amazing views!! I came up to one part of these cliffs that were called hell's gates, I hiked down closer to the edge and found a nice rock to take a break on. I decided this would be a lovely place for lunch. I got out my sandwich and literally on my first bite this bird came out of nowhere aimed straight for my face. AHHH. I swallows the bite whole and threw my sandwich in the bag. Then I figured out it landed directly behind me, brave little booger. So this was the point I started flailing by bag around me trying to get it to fly away. It was not so easy. So I threw everything in my backpack and looked at it and said out loud "fine! I won't eat here then" I didn't eat for another hour and a half. Hahaha. My heart was racing so fast!

So I continued on my hike down to this bay area. I was getting really hot so I was excited to get down by the water again. I got the the edge of the trees and Alexandria Bay was gorgeous! Except I was in for a very nude...I mean rude awakening. Yup that's right a nude bech. I mean ok that's fine, but when youre not expecting it and there is a man sunbathing right at the bottom of the path it kind of throws you for a loop. It was one of those times you're like "woah!was not prepared for that" and then you look to your right and there is another, and the man jumping in the waves...mmhmmm him too, and then your eyes widen as you realize that stretching the expanse of this bay there was probably fewer clothes to be found than in the playboy mansion. Talk about a rude awakening, I always find it weird when I feel out of place because I am the one wearing clothes. My pace picked up a bit and I ended up not sticking around for a swim in Alexandria Bay.

Hope all is well stateside! Cheers.

Noosa Heads

Just a quick update on my whereabouts. I am in Noosa Heads on the Sunshine coast of Australia. It was a gorgeous day today, just took a little bit longer to get here with a flat tire on the way. Adds to the adventure right? I am currently sitting on a sidewalk outside of the only building that has free wifi:) me and all of the other very interesting type of crowd that the coastal towns attract. Lol. I plan to explore the beach a bit more tomorrow and maybe the national park. Until then, cheers and I hope all is well stateside. if anyone would like to Skype or anything this week jut drip me an email an am more flexible and can walk down here whenever.