Wineglass Bay

The past couple weekends have been fantastic! Last Saturday I went with Courtney and a group of Austrians (not Australians) to Wineglass Bay (about three hours northeast of here). We rented a big 12 passenger van and had a ball!





Here's Courtney and I at the Wineglass Bay lookout. It was about an hour hike up to this point, and well worth the view! -It was a bit of a dreary day, but it was still beautiful!










Here we are on the beach. We didn't know you could go swimming there, so we didn't bring our bathing suits, but the Austrians were fully prepared (why didn't anyone tell us what this trip was about? I had NO idea what we were going to do. So, I wound up hiking 4 hours up/down a mountain in those darn rubber crock shoes... I ended up barefoot).






I was quite excited when I got my first real wallaby experience. They are so friendly! We petted them and played with them... AND since there is no rabies in Australia, there is nothing to worry about with them! YAY!






Here's Courtney and I with 'Santa Fe', the only other person on the trip who wasn't speaking German all day!
(No Dad, that is not alcohol being consumed in the van... while we're driving.)






The Austrian gang coming back from their swim.













But, trips with large groups are always a little more difficult, and you don't always get to do everything you want to do. So, Courtney and I decided to go back this weekend with Slim. It was AMAZING! The weather was FANTASTIC- warm, sunny- couldn't have been better!





We decided instead of hiking up to the lookout this weekend, that we would find an even better view from an even higher point. After an hour of serious rock climbing and lots of cuts and scrapes, we made it up to a beautiful peak and a wonderful view!

...and if Dad is reading this... uh, we totally had safety equipment, and no one got hurt...






Here's Slim and Courtney after hiking up... I don't think they were too keen on the idea, as I called to them from the top and made them come up after me... I think they were content just going to the beach... sorry guys, but wasn't it worth it once you got up there?











And here's the gang hiking away! (this was before we went six and a half hours without food and had to hike back to the car in the dark... once again, my apologies, Courtney.)



So after climbing we decided to hit the beach. We had a great time climbing/sliding back down the mountain to the trail... I need new jeans if you want to send a pair, Mom. But the beach was fantastic!!!! The waves were HUGE and the water was warm. We spent a few hours fighting with the incoming tide (I lost that battle pretty bad a couple times and came out with a terribly bruised tailbone... ouch- not fun in the softball game today!) Then we decided to take the flat trail back to the car park, but the trail that goes all the way around the mountains... and we left right when the sun set, so it was a bit of a sketchy last half to that hike since we were in the woods in the dark... oh well, we made it!

Today was our softball game against Jane Franklin College. The first inning was ok, we were only down two, but then they scored about 15 in the next inning, and I think we all just lost hope. But, in defense of the team (sorry to our pitcher) they did score 10 of those runs because we kept throwing 4 balls and filling up the bases and walking everyone home.

Well, it's time for our cricket match against Christ College... has anyone ever watched that sport? Apparently it's an all day event. And in the pros they play for, like, five days (no seriously, I'm not exaggerating, it's a five day game)! Thanks for keeping up with me! It's great to hear from everyone back home!