TRAVELOGUE.jesswrites.com

Oi everyone! I finished my last exam today so I’m pretty much completely done with school now. I still might go on Wednesday and Friday just to see people and say goodbye, but its not mandatory. It feels good to be done. I can’t believe I’ll be home in less than 2 weeks now… it’s a little strange to think about. I’ve already said goodbye to some of my good friends that are leaving for the holidays and won’t get back until I’m gone. The strange thing is, I’m looking so forward to coming home that I don’t really get sad when I say goodbye. I had a great weekend though. It was Grace’s birthday Friday so we spent most of the night celebrating. I’m at Becca’s house right now though so I don’t wanna spend the entire time on the computer. But I’ll write again soon. Can’t wait to see you all! Much love, Jess

Hello from Brisbane! I’m at my friend Cindy’s house right now and thought I would tell you about my trip which has been GREAT! I got here on Thursday morning and we spent most of the day shopping–downtown in the morning, and at a big shopping center in the evening. On Friday I went to school with Cindy’s younger sister (she’s 16) for a couple of hours. She goes to an all girls Catholic school so I thought it would be interesting to visit. It was, kinda… I’ve never been to an all girls school before. But around noon my friend Edan, whom I met in Cairns back in February, came and picked me up and we spent most of the day seeing the city. First he took me to South Bank which is the man-made beach and esplanade area. It was very pretty and had a fantastic view of the city. We also went to some markets. We went on quite a long scenic walk though the city, and then went and got lunch and saw a movie. It was really good seeing him again even though I’ll probably never see him again. But anyways… I met up with Cindy and Jess (one of Cindy’s friends) in town in the evening and we went to some massive night markets. Then on Saturday Cindy and I went to a suburb called Stones Corner because they had all these warehouse shops with really cheap clothes and stuff. In the evening everyone (Cindy, Paul, Tom, Jess, Brad, and I) all went to a lookout point to see the city at night. You probably didn’t know this, but Brisbane is the worlds largest city in area. The population is only about 2 million, but it takes up more area than any other city in the world including New York and Tokyo. So at the lookout point all you see it miles and miles and miles of lights. It was an incrediable view. Today we went to Surfers Paradise Beach in the Gold Coast which is GORGEOUS!!! And we had the perfect day for it as well cuz there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. We also went to Tamborine Mountain which had some amazing views and a big water hole and stuff. Fun stuff. Now I’m at Cindy’s house for the night and tomorrow we are going to a big theme park called Dreamworld. It will be fun, I’m sure, but I then I have to fly home tomorrow which I’m not really looking forward to cuz I have school the next day. Well I’m gonna go for now cuz I need some sleep. So have a great day everyone and I’ll see ya all in 3 weeks!!!!!

On Monday morning I was sitting on the top of a mountain staring down at miles and miles of the Australian outback. I realized then how lucky I was because not many people ever have that experience.

Since it was the Queen’s Birthday public holiday on Monday, we spent Saturday and Sunday night camping. This time it was just Gordon, Tricia, Lana, and myself instead of the entire Scoville/Hattin/Zipperer clan. We had a good time though. On Saturday night we went to a tiny tiny town called Hot Springs. The only thing that the town had was a pancake restaurant, a pub, and the little camping and caravan park which we stayed at. It’s a popular vacation destination though because the river that runs through the town is hot. I don’t really understand why, but the spring naturally produces almost boiling hot water. People go there to soak in the hot water because it’s filled with minerals and very good for your skin. The park had several natural and mand-made hot tubs to sit in as well as a decent size pool to cool off in. It was pretty cool.
On Sunday night we went to a town called Einasleigh which was even smaller than Hot Springs. But we camped out in the bush on a small river. We were right on the river bank and had a nice sandy beach all to ourselves. It was a very beautiful area. And then, like I said earlier, we went on a hike up a mountain on Monday morning.
We also made a stop at the Herbert River which was the river that ‘Survivor II - Australian Outback’ was filmed on. If you watched the show you might remember that one of the tribes names was ‘Jabaru’ after a native bird. Well, I saw one of those birds while we were there and they are very cool looking. But yea, our camping trip was really nice and we all had a pretty good time.

Friday was Mark’s 18th birthday so Lana and I went to his party and I also took my friend Alice. (from Switzerland) That was pretty fun and I met some really cool people but left earlier than planned because I was too tired. On Saturday morning Lana went to Palm Cove Beach to film a chewing gum commercial which she got a part in. She wore my togs, my sarong, my jewelry, and my belt in it so if anyone ever sees the commercial (which isn’t likely since it is a Scandanavian ad) then you’ll see all of MY clothes. So if I can’t be famous, at least my clothes are. haha… okay, that was lame. But I oughta go for now. I’m leaving for Brisbane on Thursday and I’m not sure if I’ll update before then. Probably not so it might be a few days before you hear from me again. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer! Can’t wait to join ya in a few weeks. Have a great day. Love Jess

Hey everyone-
Less than 5 weeks to go and I’m so excited! The musical that I went to on Friday was fantastic! That’s an understatement, actually… it was by far the best production I have ever seen put on by high school students. On Saturday we had the Relay for Life and although I wasn’t on the team, I ended up staying their all night with some friends and even went 28 laps! We had a good time but I was really tired the next day and then yesterday at school I had to take a nap in the sick bay because I was getting a headache from a lack of sleep. Well I’m really getting down to the nitty gritty as far as school goes. I only have 8 days left after today. (That’s because I only have 2 days per week for the last 3 weeks of school because of exams and my brisbane trip and a long weekend…) I’ll be so glad to have a summer break. I’m jealous of all of you who start summer break tomorrow!!! I’m leaving for Brisbane next week and I’m really really excited for that cuz I’m sure it will be a blast. We are going camping in the bush this weekend but I’m not sure where yet. I better go cuz I’m in class but I hope to hear from you all soon! (And since there was some confusion, jvandrick@australia.edu is the ONLY email I check regularily so please don’t email me at any of my other email addresses!) Have a fantastic week everyone, and NO water balloons on the last day of school! Haha, j/k. Buh-bye.