Well, my phone is being a little weird and not letting me write anything above the pictures... So we'll roll with it :)

Hello! Sorry (again) for not updating this blog very often. Things are grand here, little chilly being winter but generally if the sun comes out the afternoons are very pleasant! And with those nice afternoons I've been able to do a little exploring :)

Few weeks back I got a couple days off in a row so went waterfall hunting and whale watching in Kangaroo Valley and Jervis Bay respectively.

 First day was spent galavanting through the woods finding some great views!

 Hehe

 And there's my first glimpse of the ocean.

 Made it by sunrise, without hitting any kangaroos woot woot

 Claimed to be the whitest sand on earth. Haha it looks like snow!

 I jumped on a whale watching cruise, didn't get many good pictures but we did find some humpback whales!

 Crawled through a cave in the side of a cliff and...

 This is the view from the end of the cave!

 My perch looking for more whales :)

 Mini-vacation complete :)

 I've started longboarding! The second one is mine. Hahaha and funny story, I've gotten kicked out a McDonalds now! My friends and I must have looked like naughty little hooligans carrying our longboards into the McDonalds haha

 And I've done a few maternity shifts too, getting lots of calves through!

 Some more local exploring :)

 Isn't he so fluffy and cute!

And I've got a bike now too. Elyse, one of y coworkers, and I have been able to go for a few rides together after work :)

And I've put in my 2 weeks notice to Moxey Farms :(
Which means I'm coming home!! :D
I'll be back in Iowa on September 9

I told my wonderful Aunt that I'd write a blog post today so here we go!
I'm back in Australia, back to working with Moxey Farms, taking care of lots of baby calves. I've got a great church family here and some pretty grand coworkers and friends. Haven't done much local exploring (which will be changing in the next couple days 😏) but have started kickboxing and longboarding with a couple friends after work! And I've got a sister engaged to be married so I've got that to be excited for!! As per usual, here's a pile of pictures...

 Hehe this is Buggsie

 Nicest view on the farm

 Redback spiders! They're pretty poisonous, but what Australian animal isn't deadly?

 This is Alex, she found the spiders with me, and we survived woot woot!

 Gussy, she loves scratches and cuddles

 Was trying to get a photo of another calf but this little photo bomber had other ideas

 New babies contemplating how to come down the step

My longboard!!! No, it's not taller than me, I'm sitting beside it haha, probably about 3 feet long

Right, I last put up a blog post 10 days ago while cruising along the Great Ocean Road. I have since wrapped up my big road trip and am counting down the hours to boarding the plane home. But pictures tell the story best so here we go!

 Plenty of neat lighthouses along the Great Ocean Road, unfortunately this one was closed due to bull ants calling the balcony home and wreaking havoc on visitors haha

 Watched some surfing

 Then I drove up to the Snowy Mountains and back into New South Wales

 I did a rock climbing course while in the Snowies! It was a ton of fun and quite humbling as my instructor was 81 years old and easily showing me up, even with me being a foot taller than him too yet! Sorry no pictures as many of my instructor's past student had dropped their phones from the top of the cliffs

 Camped one night here in the mountains alongside a river and man was it cold sleeping in my car! I wimped out after that and stayed in a hostel the rest of my time there

 Left on a frosty morning to conquer the great Mount Kosciuszko

 Some very rocky ridgelines along the hike

And made it to the top!

 View from the summit

 Mandatory selfie from the summit haha

 Some lovely glacial lakes along the hike too that are full of snowy river trout, or so I'm told. I'm not much of a fisherman, give me a good steak

 See that giant mountain in the middle? That's Mount Kosciuszko, not exactly Everest but still great! And now I can say I've climbed Australia's highest mountain

 Spent an afternoon in Canberra and did another quick visit to the War Memorial there

 Quite a pretty view of the city, much better than the view from the car, not a super fun city to drive through.

 After WWII, Australia built a monument to commemorate the Americans who came to their aid, it's an eagle with the wings in the shape of a V for victory, but the locals just call the monument Bugs Bunny haha

 Spent the weekend in Cowra, this area feels like my second home and I'm excited to start work again. Walked through the park and saw plenty of kangaroos

 And I feel very silly because I rode the train to Sydney on Monday, spent the night in the airport, and went to check in before finally realizing I had come a day early! So rather than sleep in the airport again I found myself a hostel in the city. This is the view from the balcony

And this is the view from my dormitory window.

And now I'm going to go enjoy sleeping in a nice bed before boarding the plane!