last supper

may 17, 2008
hides hotel
10:30 PM

one of our last rides in our bus led us to the cock and bull pub for dinner tonight. after much deliberation, i ordered chicken schnitzel with chips and salad. as we waited for our food, jon taught us a new game: up jinkum. passing a coin under the table undetected is harder than it may seem. =) jon, bryan, megan and i were against jodi, jennee, josh and reneca. it took a few practice rounds for us to get the hang of having a nickel in our hands just right, but it was quit fun!
i had my second drink from a bar for this trip-coke! same as last time. =) it looked a little funny to see all of the fox students gathered around the bar deciding what the order.

the winners were announced for the australian cultural experience checklist-to my surprise i got 2nd prize! since several other people had the same score as me, jim randomly selected a name and it was me! eating donuts, petting dead snakes, eating weet bix and spaghetti for breakfast and trying vegemite really did pay off! i gladly accepted my prize of $10 american. reneca got first prize of $25 with a score of 33 (compared to my score of 31.)

carl was presented with a gift certificate and a t-shirt which appropriately read, "do not disturb: already disturbed." i'm not sure if he was "59 days excited" but he seemed happy. reneca and i shared a delicious dessert named "death by chocolate." it was chocolate mousse topped with chocolate brownie/cake topped with chocolate ice cream covered with whipped cream, nuts and a strawberry. wow.

our 2nd to the last ride in the bus was back to the hotel-this ride was short, included a re-enactment of spot-o for the camera and was full of instructions for the morning: most importantly, bags at the bus at 10 past 4, four ten, 4:10 in the morning...OR take a cab to the airport. =) and we were all given proper warning, so according to carl, whinging is not allowed.
"i have to wake up that early too-and i don't get to sleep on a plane." -carl

the rest of the evening was spent organizing our gift for jim and chris and sharing pictures.

it'll be a long day tomorrow. it only looks like 6 hours on paper, but over 25 hours will be spent in the airport or on a plane. i'm really sad to be leaving this wonderful country, but i am so thankful to have been on this trip. australia has been better than i ever hoped for. i'm quite in love with australia, but am glad to be going home to the states. living out of a suitcase and paying for every minute i spend on the internet will be nice to leave behind. but i think i will miss most everything else.

as carl would say, australia is awesome.
you'll love it. i love it. we all love it. it's exciting. 59 days exciting.