The girl next door

Book number 37 in the 100+ Reading Challenge

The Girl Next Door
by Elizabeth Noble

Outer back cover: What makes a house a home?
For Eve Gallagher, home is miles away in England since she and her husband relocated to an apartment building on New York's Upper East Side. And life isn't remotely coming up roses.
What makes a neighbour a friend?
Violet has lived in the building for decades but she's always kept herself apart, until Eve's loneliness touches her heart and friendship blossoms.
What makes a wife a lover?
Jason Kramer in Apartment 6A is no longer sure he loves his wife, but he's head-over-heals for Rachael Schulman in 6B.
What makes the girl next door the woman of your dreams?
Meeting Emily Mikanowski from 3A turns Trip Grayling's world upside down. It's love at first sight, but he needs help from Charlotte, the shy romance addict in 2A, if he's going to win the girl.
Dreams come true, hearts are broken and no one is left unchanged when the secrets and desires hidden behind closed doors are finally brought into the light.

An interesting book. I really liked reading about all the different characters, how they looked at themselves and their families, and how the other people in the building looked at them, how they interacted and all that. It's all very real, real emotions, feelings and thought. Well-written.

Because of how their particular story ended, I would have loved to read more about the Schulmans, and also how Charlotte got along. But at the same time I'm quite happy with  the ending.

I laughed and I cried reading this book.

There was a lot of advertisement for another one of Elizabeth Noble's books on the cover and in the front and back of the book "Things I Want My Daughters To Know", which I wouldn't mind reading if I get ever get the chance.

I walked around like a zombie today...

The Boy's birthday party was today, he turns 1 on Wednesday. The Father was sad he couldn't be here, since he works away, but I tried to help The Mother a little bit.

Although I'm afraid I wasn't much help though as I was really tired. I woke up at 4am this morning and couldn't manage to go back to sleep! Why does that have to happen on the days I'm off?? Even when I work I don't have to get up until 6am-6.15am!

I  was the photographer at the birthday party. Using The Mother's new digital SLR camera. I said to someone at the party I had taken about 500, but I said it in an exaggerating way and though that it was probably closer to 200 or something. When I came home I saw that I had actually taken over 400!

It was a nice party though, we held it at one of the local parks, so there was plenty of room for the kids to run around and play, and we didn't really have to worry about anything breaking.

I'm just happy I don't have to deal with that many kids at once every day. I can't believe I used to work in a kindergarten!

Now I'm going to see if I'll get any sleep tonight!

I would like to take it as a sign.....

The mother has got a new SLR camera. She got it for The Boy's birthday in a few days. And she's asked me to take the pictures on the day. She's also said I can borrow it while I'm here. (YAY!!!!) I've already had a play with it.

The Paramedic also has an SLR camera.

My dad has one, my sister has one.

Everybody seems to have one except me!!! I would love to take that as a sign that I should get one. I can afford one, but I should use that money for my travels. I will probably get one as soon as I get back to Norway though (or if I choose to stay....). I really, REALLY would like to get one right now, but I don't know what will happen when I finish as an au pair, and I need to have money to get by, just in case. I would also constantly worry about it getting stolen.

I love how much sharper and prettier the SLR pictures are compared to a compact camera. I also love how I can decide the focus myself instead of just having to be happy with what the camera chooses.

There are monsters in the house!

As The Mother and I was talking together tonight, she suddenly told me to into the other room. Because of the way she acted I guessed she had probably just seen a spider.

I was right.

She managed to kill it. Huntsman, eurgh! I know they're not poisonous, that doesn't matter!

I'm glad she didn't tell me what it was at first as I would have probably had a small freak-out, especially as she was looking directly behind me as she was telling me to get out. I'm also very happy that she isn't as scared of spiders as me and that she respects and understand how scared of them I am.

Not one hour later she told me to get out of the room again. Another huntsman!! That one got closer. It runs so quickly!! And The Mother even said that one was slow!!! I don't like the sound of that! After she killed that one I went into my room and checked it for spiders, also my bathroom. None, phew!

Most of my life people have just been telling me to deal with it, or saying that there's no need to be scared of spiders, it's just a small one, etc, etc.

Phobia, definition: A persistent, abnormal and irrational fear of a specific thing or situation that compels one to avoid it, despite the awareness and reassurance that it is not dangerous.

I think it seems silly when someone is scared of clowns or sand or whatever, but I try to respect it. IRRATIONAL FEAR!!! It's not like they can do anything about it. And I know a lot of people think I'm being silly for being as scared of spiders that I am, and although I can usually laugh about it later, I'm just as scared the next time I see one!

I've always been scared of spiders. For as long as I can remember anyway. My aunt's husband told me before I came to Australia: "At least in Australia you're allowed to be scared of them!" Very true I think, as poisonous ones does actually exist here.

I'm just glad I haven't seen a redback or anything yet, as since that is dangerous I would probably freak out even more than normal!

What have I done now?!

I went out to meet The Paramedic from last nights post tonight. He sent me a text earlier today asking if I wanted to meet him and his friends at a bar in town. I spent about an hour trying to decide whether I should or not. Just because I've got work in the morning. I have to get up at 6! And I was at a wine tasting earlier today, should be enough alcohol for one weekend!

In the end I decided to go.

I had to look up the bar on the map first as I had no idea where I was going. I found it and I managed to get there, even with the Sunday trains. I'm just glad I was getting off at Roma street because the train didn't go any further tonight because of some work on the lines or whatever.

So I got to the pub and his two best mates are there, as well as his housemate from last night and also his sister! I did have to tell myself to breathe for the first few minutes. They were all nice people though, the housemate didn't seem as jealous as she had yesterday, which was good of course.

The Paramedic also told me he liked me, so at least I won't have to wonder about that. (woho!!) We have also kind of planned to go out on Sunday, which will then be our first totally sober meeting, so that should be interesting.

We were having a nice night, just chatting, drinking, dancing and whatever, then suddenly someone stole his sunglasses! His $500 sunglasses! Which of course upset him. He was trying to see if he could find them for a while, but could't see them anywhere.

Anyway, I had to leave a little bit after that, I didn't want to stay up to late and The Father was picking me up so I didn't want to leave him waiting. The Paramedic and his friends were leaving as well and they were getting a lift from his sister back to his house and were planning to continue drinking, they invited me but I just wanted to get home and get some sleep (yeah, I should be sleeping now but I'm not tired enough).

After The Paramedic and I said goodbye to each other outside the pub, one of his mates came running after me and asked what happened. I told him nothing happened I just had to catch the train, so then he said that I should get The Paramedic to go on the train with me, because we were going the same way anyway. So I walked over to him and told him what his friend suggested and we walked to the train station together.

And BOY am I glad he came on the train with me!!!!

Getting to the train station was an effort in itself.... I was just going to go the same way I came, since that way I knew where I was going, but The Paramedic said there was an easier route. Since he's from Brisbane I trusted him..... It took us about twice as long to get there. He got lost!

We finally got on the train and I was going to call The Father and tell him, so that he would know when to pick me up. Only problem was: my battery was flat! And I don't know the number by heart! The Paramedic lent me his phone so I could go on Facebook and write The Father a message, as he didn't have his number saved on Facebook either. I didn't get a reply.

It was a quiet train ride home, The Paramedic was upset about his sunglasses and I was trying to figure out how to get home. The Paramedic offered to let me stay at his place for the night and then he would drive me home in the morning, but I didn't feel comfortable not coming home without telling The Mother and The Father. If I was the one waiting I would be worried sick!!!

In the end The Paramedic called a taxi for me that would be at my stop when I got there.

As you're reading this, obviously I got home. But whatever forces are out there did not want us to have a good night tonight, so I'm just kind of wondering what I have done to upset them!

I must be a charming drunk....

I went to a party with The Mother and The Father last night.

The party was at someone's house, and they had turtles in a tank. They were the cutest little things. There was one long-neck turtle, that looked really freaky, necks shouldn't be that long unless it's on a giraffe! And the other one was a short-neck turtle, I think it was anyway, the neck didn't seem quite as long, or maybe it just didn't extend it properly. And I got to hold the one with the shorter neck! It was so cute! I tried pushing itself off me with it's little legs a couple of times, but most of the time it seemed happy to be held by me.

I also met a few new people at the party, and there was some "excitement" before we left when two guys started fighting. I don't know what about though, but apparently someone called the police and got them to pick one of them up. As if that wasn't bad enough there was a little kid that saw the fight! The nephew to one of the guys I think someone said.... Not good.

I sat talking to one guy for most of the party, a paramedic (you know what that mean? A man in uniform!) his housemate seemed a bit jealous though, apparently she's got a thing for him... But he asked for my number and he Facebooked me so.... There was also another guy that I was talking to that after I left apparently asked a lot of questions about me to The Father's sister, and he also Facebooked me later that night. I must be very charming when I'm drunk...

It's a plane! No, its 20!

If you live in the Brisbane area you probably know about the Super Hornets that flew over the city today.

I went into the city to watch it. I had The Boy with me. I was a little worried about it being to loud for him, but The Mother said it should be okay.

The first thing I noticed when I got into the city today was the police. I've lived here for 4 months now and I've never seen a police officer on foot inside Brisbane. There were quite a few of them today though.

The other thing I noticed was the bridge being absolutely packed!

It's the same situation on the other side of the bridge.

Well, the planes came and went in about 15 seconds. It wasn't loud at all. The Boy was sleeping, and the planes didn't wake him up, didn't even make him stir. Which is probably because they flew so high. I'm kind of disappointed about that, but I guess maybe they couldn't fly lower because there were so many of them. It was a bit short and boring, but at the same time I'm glad I went and saw it as I'm not likely to ever see that again.

Sorry about the planes not being in focus in the video, I've only got a compact camera, not a proper video camera, and I can't choose what's in focus.

In Her Shoes

Book number 36 in the 100+ Reading Challenge.

In Her Shoes
by Jennifer Weiner

Outer back cover: Rose Feller is thirty; a successful lawyer with high hopes of a relationship with Jim, Mr Not-Quite-Right, a senior partner in her firm. The last thing she needs is her messed-up, only occasionally employed sister Maggie moving in: drinking, smoking, stealing her money - and her shoes - and spoiling her chance of romance. If only Maggie would grow up and settle down with a nice guy and a steady job.
Maggie is drop dead gorgeous and irresistible to men. She's going to make it big as a TV presenter, or a singer, or an actress. All she needs is a lucky break. What she doesn't need is her uptight sister Rose interfering in her life. If only Rose would lighten-up, have some fun - and learn how to use a pair of tweezers.
Rose and Maggie think they have nothing in common but a childhood tragedy, shared DNA and the same size feet, but they are about to find out that they're more alike than they'd ever believe.

A good book about sisters I think. I watched the movie a couple of years ago and I can remember I liked it, although I can't remember much else. It would be interesting to see it again now after I read the book and see what I think.

I could kind of relate more to Rose, I took her side of things in a way. Probably because of the whole older-sister thing. But Maggie was actually my favourite character.

I enjoyed reading about the changes in both of them, especially Maggie. And I wish I had Rose's shoes! I also liked Ella's story.

Cairns day 3 - Cape Tribulation

I thought we would just be going to Cape Tribulation and stay there all day, but we got to see a lot of other things as well.

Our first stop of the day was the Port Douglas Wildlife Habitat. They had mostly birds.

This owl was giving me the evil-eye!

It was divided into 3 parts. The two first ones had a net over them so that the birds couldn't escape, but the third one, where they had the animals like kangaroos and wallabies, was open so the birds could come and go as they pleased.

Most of the birds in the third part was wild one that go there to seek shelter and refuge. They also have water all year round at the Wildlife Habitat so the birds like that. I liked that part the best. It was nice to see everything in there though, they had some animals and birds that they didn't have in Australia Zoo. It's also smaller than Australia Zoo, so if you don't have a whole day to go to a zoo then it's a good option (if you're close to it of course!).

Our second stop of the day was Mossman Gorge. It was very pretty there. We just wandered around on our own for half an hour I think it was. I think it would have been nice to have a guide or something there so that I could have actually learnt something though.

We then took a cable ferry across the Daintree River. I've never taken a cable ferry, all the ferries I've takes has had a "normal" engine.

After all this we got to Cape Tribulation where we had lunch at Cape Trib Beach House and some extra time to do what we wanted. I had the vegetarian option for lunch, which was a huge portion of very nice pasta with vegetables. After lunch I walked down to the beach. It was beautiful! The sea was almost as warm as the air. I wouldn't have minded staying there longer. There was hardly any people on the beach so I could probably easily have found a spot with no people at all if I wanted to.

When our time was up at Cape Trib we turned our noses back towards Cairns. But we weren't finished!

We stopped and walked the Marrja botanical walk, or parts of it anyway as some of it was closed due to the cyclones a while back. This time the driver walked around with us and told us about the different trees and stuff.

A "strangler" where the tree inside has died.

We then made an unscheduled stop and got some yummy ice cream from the Daintree Ice Cream Company. They make their own ice cream and the flavours depend on which fruit they have growing that season. If you're ever in the Daintree Rainforest, this is a must-stop! This Sunday's flavours was Jackfruit, Black capote, Mango and Wattleseed.

Jackfruit is the big one, Black Capote the little one and in the cup there's wattleseed

They tasted different but very nice. The Black Capote tasted quite a lot like chocolate. YUM!

Brown=black sapote, light brown=wattleseed, yellow=mango, white at bottom=jackfruit

As we were eating out ice cream on the bus we drove to our next stop, which was Walu Wugirriga, or Mount Alexandra lookout. Very pretty view from up there.

Our last stop before going back to Cairns was a Daintree River Cruise. I thought we were just going to look at the river and the trees just to cross by something else than the ferry, but we were actually going to see if we could spot some crocodiles!

It turned out to be more of a river and tree looking cruise though as it was too hot for the crocodiles to come out! We saw one. A little baby one. It was only one year old and really cute.

We then went back to Cairns where I packed my stuff and made sure I would be ready to leave early Monday morning.

Monday:

I left my last two ReadItSwapIt books that I had prepared for someone to find on Monday.

The first one, To the moon and back, I left on my bed at the hostel. At least I'm sure someone will find it there.

The second one: The Vanishings, I left in my seat pocket on the plane. I wonder if someone has found it yet?

The landing in Brisbane was actually slightly scary. There was some turbulence as we were coming in for landing, not too bad really. But just after we touched down we all got "thrown" to one side. You know like when you take a sharp turn in your car? Everyone was okay, and as far as I could hear no one freaked out or anything, but it was a bit scary. We didn't go off the runway or anything. I have no idea what happened. It was just a bit: "Whoa!"

Cairns day 2 - Kuranda

The bus that picked me up from my hostel, Calypso, was a little bit late on Saturday so I was getting a bit worried. Just as I was about to call and enquirer about it, it arrived. And I was the first one on it! After I had been picked up the bus met up with another one and picked up a HUGE group of Americans (and some Canadians), all over 50... I was literally the only under 50 on the bus.

We then drove to the train station to get on the train to Kuranda. We still had to wait a while for the train, so I needn't have worried about the buss driver being late. There was also a small museum at the train station about the Kuranda track and a little cafe where we could get some food. Some more people also came to get on the train, so I was no longer the youngest as there were kids.

The train ride was really nice. Beautiful scenery (which I guess is why they call it the scenic route), and the train carriages were old as well. Apparently some of them were as old as 100 years or something! The train was fairly slow so that people could take pictures, and it slowed down even more when there was something special to take pictures of. I had started talking to one of the American couples in my group on the train station, and we also talked together for most of the train ride, they were from Austin, Texas. They were very nice, and we kept bumping into each other throughout the day.

Kuranda was a very nice little village. Kind of "hippey-y", but nice.

While I was there I went to the Butterfly Sanctuary. So many pretty butterflies! None of them landed on me though, but it was amazing to see them so close, and they didn't fly away as soon as I got my camera out, like normal wild ones do.

They also had a venomous animals zoo, but I was a bit too scared of the spiders to go in there. I kind of wish I had though, as I would have learned a lot about the many venomous animals here. But I probably would't have learned anything anyway as I would have been freaking out about the spiders! Would have been cool to have seen the snakes though...

When I left Kuranda I got to take the Skyrail. It had two stops: Barron Falls and Red Peak, and I disembarked (hihi, I know a big word!) on both of them. At Barron Falls I just wandered around on my own and looked at the pretty view and trees.

View from the Skyrail

Do you remember my ReadItSwapIt post? I left one of the books on the Skyrail between Barron Falls and Red Peak, I hid it a little bit so that the staff wouldn't tell me I forgot something as I stepped out. I think the Wood Angel book had a suitable title to be left in the Rainforest. I hope someone found it...

At Red Peak I took a guided tour, just to actually learn something. It only lasted about 15 minutes, but I did learn quite a bit, a lot more than if I had just wandered around on my own. It was free and the guide was really interesting.

One tree is being "strangled" by another.

When I arrived at the end station of the Skyrail I went to Tjapukai, which is an Aboriginal Cultural Park. I bumped into the American couple again there, and I also learned a lot about Aboriginees. I kind of wish I had come down from Kuranda earlier just so that I could have spent a bit more time at Tjapukai.

I got to throw a boomerang at Tjapukai, and I managed to throw it just as well as the Aboriginee that showed us how to do it! It didn't come back to me though, so I didn't manage to catch it.

I'm glad I didn't stay in Kuranda longer as when we were getting on the bus back to Cairns there was an evacuation situation at Kuranda. It was because of the thunderstorm coming. When there's electricity in the air they stop the Skyrail. Which is good of course so no one gets hurt or stuck. Although it wouldn't be all to bad having to look at that scenery for a bit longer.

I told the American couple I met that I want to go to America at some point, and as we were waiting or the bus back to Cairns the lady gave me their address back in Austin and told me if I was ever there to give them a call, and that they had a spare room I could borrow! Which I though was really nice. I might try and keep in touch with them. Write them a letter occasionally... They went to Darwin Saturday night. I hope they have a nice time up there. At least since they're from Texas they're fairly used to the heat and humidity!

When I got back to the hostel it was even worse than it was on Thursday! Seriously. Is it that hard to keep a room that you share fairly tidy? I mean, I can be messy in my own bedroom, but that's because I don't share it, every room that I know other people will see I always keep tidy! No, there were no lockers or anything to put your stuff in in the room, but I managed to keep my things away from the floor.... Oh well... I guess I'll see plenty more of those messy rooms when I start staying at hostels more often.

Cairns day 1 - Great Barrier Reef! (+day 0.5)

THURSDAY:

I wrote about the plane being late on Thursday because of the thunderstorm (here). We actually flew over thunderstorms most of the way to Cairns. Because it was dark outside we could see the flashes of light through the clouds, sometimes 5 at once all close to each other.  I think it would have been kind of fun to experience that weather on the ground. From somewhere where you could see it all. I love weather like that, especially if I'm sitting inside with a good book. It also makes really good pictures when you can catch it properly. It also looked like there was glitter in the clouds some places. I wonder what that was, if that was the molecules in the air crashing, but just not enough to make proper lightning?

When I landed in Cairns it was 9pm and it was 25 degrees outside!! It felt really strange. But it was also quite nice. I did worry about the temperature during the day though. Especially since the humidity was high as well.

The room at Calypso, where I was staying, was the messiest hostel room I've seen until now (okay, I've only been to two others, but still...). It wasn't dirty or anything, it was just the other girls staying in my room had kind of spread their things out. Maybe because there were no lockers like there was at the other two hostels I've stayed at, there is room for it though, so they should think about getting some. Another first at the hostel was that there was no one else in my room with a suitcase. Everyone had big backpackers-backpacks.

FRIDAY:

Cairns in the morning.

I went through Down Under Dive and Cruise. We stopped at two reefs. The first one was Saxon Reef, and the second one Hastings reef.

I could almost touch the reef! Even though I was just snorkeling!

It was the first time I snorkeled. It was fun, but my feet got really tired from wearing the flippers, which I have also never worn before. It was also nice just to be swimming again as I haven't done it in ages. And of course it helped that the reef was absolutely gorgeous! I could live in the water and just explore the reefs all day! It seemed like there was more fish at Hastings reef, a big fish, I think it was called Wally, came all the way up to the boat and the staff was feeding him.

I hired an underwater camera for $50 for the day. I also then got the pictures I took burned onto a CD, plus some of the company's own reef pictures. I thought it was a lot to pay at first, but then I though I'll probably only do this once, I might as well get some pictures of it. Although most of the pictures didn't turn out great I'm glad I at least got some underwater pictures.

The crew did tell us that we might see some sharks. I didn't get to see any, but a boy from Netherlands did! I wish I had been swimming with him, that would have been awesome to see! I think it's really cool that the fish in the reef isn't scared of us, one of them even started "nibbling" my arm! The sea was actually quite warm, although I was wearing a wet-suit, it only went to my thighs, I didn't think my legs were cold or anything.

We were served a really nice lunch. They also had an option for vegetarians: veggie burger, which tasted really nice! Up til now Australia doesn't seem very good with the vegetarian option, but at least some people think of the vegetarians.

On the way back to Cairns, Elvis sang for us! He didn't do any Elvis songs though, but he was really good at singing. It was a great day out, and for anyone that is ever going to Australia be sure to go to the Great Barrier Reef!!!!

Seriously! His name is Elvis!

When I got back to Calypso I met two Swedish girls. Which meant I could speak Norwegian. Norwegians and Swedes understand each other most of the time. The room also looked a lot tidier, so I guessed the messy ones had gone.

One thing I was surprised by the first time I saw it, was how low the planes was flying here in Cairns. But then I realized that the airport is so close to town (it's kind of IN town actually) that of course they were going in for landing. It still freaked me out a bit though. Good thing there's no skyscrapers!

Yay.

Boarding commencing shortly. Plane will "only" be about 45 minutes late. That's not as bad as it could have been i guess.

I SHOULD be on a plane...

The plane to cairns was supposed to leave at 5pm. It is now 5pm....

As we were driving to the airport I could see the storm coming. Yay, I'm leaving the storm! I thought. About 4pm they started announcing that all airport traffic has ceased momentarily because of the weather. They're still saying that.

At least they take passenger and staff's safety seriously.

I'm just glad I don't have to catch another plane or anything. For me it doesn't matter that the flight gets delayed. It's still boring to wait though.

See ya later!

I'm going up to Cairns this afternoon!

I just checked the forecast and it should be sunny tomorrow and Saturday and showers on Sunday, which is fine, great weather I think, I'm more worried about the temperature! It's over 30C! It's low 30's but still. I'll melt!

No, really, I'm looking forward to it. I'll just drink loads of water and be white with sun-cream (and still come back a lobster).

So unless I update with my mobile, like when I went to the Gold Coast (Surfing, Sighting and Stradbroke Island. Hah! I didn't realize they all started with S until now!), I'll let you know about everything on Monday.

Have a great weekend!

ReadItSwapIt

...Petty Witter over at Pen and Paper wrote in her October News post about the ReadItSwapIt scheme arranged by The Observer and The Guardian.

"Its easy to do and such fun. All you need to do is pick a book(s) you have read, download a sticky label (available HERE), stick it into the book along with a message if you so wish, and leave it in a place where someone will find it - the downloadable label has a segment which tells the new owner that the book is theirs to keep." - From Pen and Paper


I've joined in, by printing out the sticky labels (I just printed it out on normal paper and sticky-taped it on), and put them inside 3 books, the only 3 books I've bought since I left Norway. I'm going to take them with me up to Cairns and leave them at some random places. Instead of writing a message I've just added my twitter name: @theLillyWood. 

I don't think it should be just for the book season though, but all the time. I think it's a nice way to share books. I think it's also a good way for me to "get rid of" books now that I'm travelling, just so I don't need to bring them with me everywhere. I actually left a book at the hostel in Sydney, and that was in July before  even knew of this scheme! I just left it at the hostel for someone else to find and enjoy.


So go ahead and join in the fun!

Crazy... or awesome?

Right before I was going home from Brisbane today I saw a wedding couple getting their picture taken. Only it wasn't at a "normal" place like in the park or anything. It was in the middle of a busy intersection! They were running onto the middle every time the light was red for the cars. I thought maybe it was for a photo-shoot or something for a minute, but the way the bride and groom was interacting when they were waiting for the lights to change, so they could get their picture taken, was a bit too lovey-dovey for that. They are a very beautiful couple.

You can see one of the photographers in the background, I could see at least three photographers, but maybe there were more?

I wonder how long they had to run into the intersection like that?

Personally I think they will get some really awesome and kind of "urban" pictures.  What do you think? Awesome or crazy?

I also got a picture of the "palace". Probably one of the more iconic Brisbane buildings. I thought it was a hotel or something, but I looked it up when I got home and it's actually a backpackers place!

And I was glad I have learnt how to use my go-card properly today as they were doing checks on the train back from the city.

The first couple of times I used my go-card I touched it to the big top-up machine instead of the small touch-in touch-out machines. You would think they were linked together somehow, but they're not. I've learnt how to use it now though.

Storm season

The thing no one tells you about Australia; they have a storm season... Which is in summer.

That's something you don't read about on all the tourist websites. All they say is sun, sun and more sun! Apparently the storms doesn't last very long though, but still... At least they're good for people with rain water tanks, fills them up.

I don't really mind storms. I love sitting inside with a good book and maybe a hot drink while seeing the flashes of lightning and listening to the thunder. Pictures of lightning is also very beautiful, and of course you can't get those unless there is a storm.

But for any future travelers out there: just be aware that Australia isn't just sunshine, they do get bad weather as well! Although I don't really think you can complain when it's mostly sunshine!

That's what I don't get about Australians: They have a whole month of sunshine and then they complain the one day it rains! Do you know that some places in the world it's the other way around? A month of rain and finally a day of sunshine! Although people in those places still complain they day that it is sunny (it's too cold, it's too warm, it's too bright!). It seems no one can be happy with the weather all the time.

I will have to admit though that I do feel a bit disappointed on the days it's raining here. But then I just remind myself that without rain we couldn't survive, and the weather is still heaps better than it is in Norway!

It feels like I'm still on the boat!

My host family and I went to Moreton Island today.

On the way over to the island we saw a dolphin with her cub! I have never seen a dolphin with my own eyes before, not that I can remember anyway, and certainly not a wild one! It didn't come very close unfortunately, but I guess that was because of the cub. Hopefully I'll get another chance at seeing dolphins one day, I would really like to swim with one as well.

Some bunkers that were apparently built during WWI, but only used during WWII

We also saw some sea turtles when we got closer to the island, but since they were all under water we couldn't see them very well, and I couldn't get a very good photo.

We got to go ashore at Tangalooma, but only for about an hour, although I guess it's not much you could do on Moreton Island unless you've got a car anyway. There were some steep sand dunes there that people were walking up and sliding down (on a piece of cardboard etc.) The sand was really weird, it was the normal whitey colour, and then it was also black... Anybody know why it's that colour? Maybe it's because of the cars?

After our hour on shore was up, we went on the boat again to the Tangalooma Wrecks. I had signed up to go snorkeling but after seeing how the swells came over the wrecks I din't want to risk it, but some people still went and did it. I kind of wish I had as well just because I've never been snorkeling before, and it would kind of be some practice before I do it up in Cairns in a couple of weeks (!!!), and it would have been fun to see if I could have seen some more marine life.

When people came back from snorkeling we had some lunch. It was quite nice actually. Still not much for any vegetarians that might have been on the boat though, There was chicken and shrimp and some lovely bread rolls, and there was potato salad and also some normal salad. I like how they hadn't mixed the normal salad together so that you could just pick what you wanted o make your own, and there was no disgusting dressing or anything on it!

As we went against the swells on the way back to Redcliffe it was a wet and bumpy ride and some people got a bit sea-sick, although that might have had something to do with the sun and the salt water... It's still disgusting though! One boy threw up right in front of me! I feel sorry for him, but I'm also very glad none of it got on me or my bag!

We went through Dolphin Wild Island Cruises, we bought our tickets a few weeks ago on offer for $49, the crew was great and it was a really good trip. I would love to do something like that again, but when the ocean is still so that maybe I could see some more dolphins and go snorkeling and stuff.

As I am writing this I am sitting in bed and it feels like I'm still on the boat! It feels like my whole body is rocking. I guess I'm just not used to spending so much time on a boat!Oh! And I'm sunburned AGAIN! Evan after using 30+ sun cream! I think I will have to buy a new, different type of sun cream before I go up to Cairns, as the sun is probably slightly stronger there...