TRAVELOGUE.jesswrites.com

It’s been quite a week and I must say, I’m not ready to go back to school on Monday at all. We had a really good time in Bowen. The party was a lot of fun and I met more of Lana’s cousins and their mates. I also met Will, Gordon and Tricia’s oldest kid, for the first time. He’s 23 and lives in Brisbane. But anyways, most of Bowen is pretty much a hole except the beaches. We spend most of Saturday at the beach and it was sunny and the weather was perfect. It was one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen, as well, and I took more than half a roll of film of just the scenery plus a lot of digi pics. When I was standing on the beach looking out at the sand, mountains, palm trees, and incrediably blue water, it looked fake–like a picture you would see in a magazine or at a post card. All I can say is wow. I’ll show you all pictures but I’m positive that they won’t do it justice.
Well sorry this was so short but I gotta get some sleep because I haven’t had much of it this weekend. I want everyone who went to prom to email me and tell me all about it because I’m dying to hear how it went! Have a great day everyone.

Happy Birthday Jen!!! I know I already told you but I thought I would announce it to everyone else who reads this journal as well. I hope you have a FANTASTIC day!
And since I’m leaving tomorrow morning at 5:00 am for Bowen, I won’t be able to update over the weekend so to all my friends, I hope you have a great time at prom!!! Take LOTS of pictures for me to see when I get back and have a really fun time. I wish I could be there!
But anyways, camping was a lot of fun. The first day we got there there weather was beautiful, but for 3 days after that it was drizzling on and off and we didn’t see much sun. It was okay though because we still had fun and I enjoyed “roughing it” despite the fact that no one thought I could. (Haha, I proved them wrong!) We were camping out in the bush on a river/water hole. It was really nice place. The river went on and on and we never did end up finding the end of it in our canoes. We went fishing several times and we made a rope swing that went into the water. The area was a mild version of the Australian Outback, so it was really cool. Good fun. I didn’t take as many pictures as I should have but I did take a few so you’ll see those eventually… haha.
The day we got back Lana and I took a spa in Tricia’s hot tub and just soaked until the water was brown. Then we got in our pj’s, rented some movies, and camped out on the couch all evening. Some of our friends wanted us to go to the movies with them but we couldn’t be bothered because we were so cozy!
Last night my friend Adam had a get-together and about 15 of us hung out at his house til about midnight when Lana, Sam, and I called a cab home. His house was HUGE…. I forgot to take my camera though. *stupid me*
But we’re gonna be in Bowen for the weekend, like I already said, so I’ll write about that when I get back. As far as today goes, I think I’ll take Lana down to the beach to do a photo shoot since it’s nice outside. Have a great day everyone, especially you Jen, and I miss you all!

Happy Birthday Tiffany!!!! I sent you a card on the 4th but I wasn’t sure if you had gotten it yet so just in case you hadn’t I wanted you to know I didn’t forget! I hope you have a great day and don’t get corrupted by those R-rated movies that you can see now that you’ve reached the very mature age of 17. haha.
Only 1 1/2 days left of school before Easter Break and I am so glad because I really need a vacation from school. (I know you’re all probably all thinking, “shut up Jess” but I’m serious!) Anyways, the bells gonna go any minute now so I’m gonna go. Have a great day everyone. (especially you, Tiffany!)

Hey all- Sorry about the lack of updates. There hasn’t been much to say. I was sick for a good portion of the week with a very sore throat and swollen glands… it hurt. But now I’m better except my voice is a bit raspy. Oh well, I’ll live. The weekend has been alright. I went to the footy game on Friday night but didn’t end up watching it cuz Tia, Chelsea and I left to go get pizza. yum yum. I was lazy all day Saturday which was allowed cuz I was still recovering. Last night I went to Jeffery’s with Lana cuz he had a bunch of people over. I wasn’t gonna go originally but I somehow got suckered into it. It was okay though… not as bad as I thought it would be. I feel like going to the beach now… I need some thinking time, so I’m gonna go. I’m gonna try to upload those pictures later on today, so we’ll see. Bye for now.

Oi everyone! How did your spring break go? Mine starts in a week from tomorrow and I’m very glad. Everything has been going great though. I just spent the weekend with friends. On Thursday I saw the movie ‘What a Girl Wants’ and thought it was really cute. Friday, Lana and I went and saw Bringing Down the House. Then On Saturday I bummed around Central with Becca and then went over to Brendan’s in the evening and just hung out with everyonet here. And as usual, Sunday was spent catching up on my sleep. Monday at school went by extrememely fast. Aaron and Jordan came home with me and Lana. It was Aaron’s birthday so I made him the best triple chocolate fudge brownies that anyone has ever tasted in their lives. (That’s what everyone told me, anyways… I was proud.) Then at 6:00 we went to the movie premier in town for ‘How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days.’ (Lana didn’t go cuz she had dance class and she was pretty bummed.) But I don’t think I want to go see another movie for a long time cuz I’ve seen 3 in about 5 days. (We never usually go to the movies very often so this was kind of abnormal.) But anyways, now it’s Tuesday and I’m in school right now. I have my modern history exam tomorrow so tonight will be spent studying… fun fun. Well, I hope everyone has a great week and please email me and tell me all about your spring break cuz I wanna know what ya all did! Ciao, Jess

G’day everyone! I’m on my lunch period right now so I’m gonna make this fast so I can go and do my daily socializing. The weekend was pretty good. We had sunny and warm weather and the temp was perfect. Saturday was the grand opening of the Cairns Esplanade Lagoon which is a huge pool and park that they built right on the esplanade. It’s pretty neat and they even made it so one side of the pool is like a beach and has sand descending right into the water. Hard to explain so I’ll show you pictures later. (My famous last words.) But anyways, we were in town all day for the big opening and there was live music, games, and fireworks going on all day. Lana and I also did some shopping and then met the family and we all went out for dinner. So it was a pretty relaxed weekend.
Easter break is in about 2 and a half weeks and I’m looking forward to it. We’re going camping (with everyone–family and friends) for 3 nights and then later going to a city called Bohen for another 2 nights. But now that I think about it, I think I’ve already told you about it.
But anyways, everything is good as usual. I will admit, theres been a couple of days lately where I’ve felt just a tad bit homesick. Mostly just for my bedroom, my family, and my close friends, oh and being able to drive whenever and wherever… but on most days I absolutely love it here and don’t even wanna think about going home YET. (I will probably be ready to come home my July, though.)
Well I’m gonna go cuz I’ve already used up 10 minutes of lunch. I’ve been taking a bunch of pics in the last few days so just as soon as I have a chance I’ll upload them and post them up so stay tuned. Hope everyone is having a great spring break with lots of warm sunshine! Take care and have a wonderful day. Love Jess

Hey all- so I never got a chance to get back online the other day, but I’m here now. My weekend was fun. On Friday night Lauren Jodner (she’s in year 12… last weekend I was with Lauren Balyntine from year 11) stayed the night and we went to a football game. It was Australian Rules Football and nothing like our good old American football, so I didn’t understand what was going on. Then we went into down to this hall called the Jampit. There’s about five guys from Cairns High that have spent the last year and a half making this video with skating tricks and stupid pranks. (trying to be like the guys in Jackass) Well the finally finished it and made this big deal about having a ‘premier’ for it. Well I’m good friends with a couple of the guys who made it so I went because they begged me too all week, and Lauren and Lana just went for fun. A lot of my friends ended up going so it was kinda fun and the video was actually really funny. I was quite impressed. I was surprised at how they went all out for it though. They rented the hall, hired a band, had a table full of free food, and they even made very professional looking movie posters and stuff which were hung up all over. On Saturday Lauren and I ventured over to Smithfield Shopping Centre to buy hair dye. When we got home she dyed my hair blonde again (cuz my roots were getting long) and then we put orange/red steaks in it and it looks really cool. Then we took a taxi over to Machan’s Beach where my friend Sam was having her birthday gathering. Tons of our friends were there and we all had a lot of fun hanging out all night. Lauren stayed over again and on Sunday morning I went to church with her and then spent the rest of the afternoon killing time in town.
This week has gone pretty well, but I’m really glad that Wednesday is over because the rest of the week is easy. I’m going to school tomorrow even though it’s senior day off cuz my friend Sarah and I are going to develop a bunch of pictures that we took at school today. It’s actually really fun going to school on Thursdays because you don’t have any classes so you can just walk around campus and do whatever you want… and a lot of my friends go everyweek for art and digital media and stuff.
But anyways… a lot of you have been asking me about the war. Well in case you haven’t heard, Australia is in the war as well. (Britian and Australia declared war along with USA.) So yes, I hear about war constantly. Everyone at school is constantly discussing it and I have some friends who are active in peace marches and protests. It’s all over the tv all day everyday and a lot of people are quite freaked out about the whole thing. It is scary… especially being so far from home because we don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m not really too worried about it at the moment. So that’s that I guess.
I hope everyone has a GREAT spring break!!! Send me postcards! Hope to hear from everyone soon. Love ya! -Jess

Hey! Just a quick note to let you all know that I’m alive and well! I guess some of the emails I’ve sent recently haven’t gone through and I don’t know why, but I’ve been so busy that I really haven’t had time to get online at all in the last week. Everything is going good. I had a fun weekend, but I’ll write about that later cuz the bell just rang. So check back tomorrow cuz I’ll try to get back online tonight. See ya!

Hey ya all! I just wanted to say hi since it’s been a few days. Everything is going great and the wet season has come to an end so we are enjoying sunny warm days once again!
My weekend went pretty well. I spent Friday night at home with Lana watching ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ and eating popcorn and chocolate. (what a life!) Actually, we weren’t at home, we were at the neighbors babysitting for their baby who was sleeping most of the time that we were there. (3 hours) We each got paid $10 for doing exactly what we were gonna do anyways except in a different house.
Saturday was spent with Lauren (yr 11) in Redlynch and were at a party/open house thing for a friend of the family’s birthday. While I was there I met and became friends with this girl named Isabelle Lucas who just recently got a part on one Australia’s most popular Soap Operas–Home and Away. I can’t wait to watch it in a few months and be able to say, “I know her!” On Sunday Lauren and I pretty much just sat around all morning listening to music and chatting online because it was too hot to go outside. I didn’t get a ride home until about 3:00. After that, Lana and I just hung out for the rest of the day.
I hope everyone had a great St. Patrick’s Day! We didn’t really do anything to celebrate it over here. They just acknowledged the holiday on the radio and that was about the last I heard about it. I did think of all you though and Clare’s parade, and bed races, and green beer. It always cracks me up what a big deal Clare makes of St. Patty’s Day.
Well I gotta go cuz I’m in tourism class right now. I’ll write again soon! I hope everyone is enjoying the spring weather! Have a great day and I’ll post pics soon! (I just scanned some last night.) <3 Jess

Today I spent most of the afternoon at the Dept. of Transportation to see about getting a Queensland drivers license. After about an hour and a half of reading through their rules booklet I was about to take the written test when they told me I could just drive on my American license with no restrictions. So yay… now I am allowed to drive but I don’t have anything to drive at the moment. I don’t have insurance either so if I drive something, it will have to be wreckable. (Kita’s old car for instance–if I crash that it won’t make any difference.)
But anyways… it’s raining again today and I’m getting really sick of it. The only good thing about it is it’s starting to cool off. I’m actually at an internet cafe right now killing time before the bus comes. I really don’t have anything exciting to say at the moment, though so I will write again after the weekend. Have a good day everyone!!