EOS and Margaret River :)

Hello hello!

XOXΩ
First and foremost, happy little appreciation week to all the little sisters in Chi Omega! You don’t know just how much you mean to us. A very special shout out to my little Hannah! I miss you so much. I cannot wait to be reunited with you in January it is going to be whaley great! LOVE YOU!

all of the Currie Hall Exchanges

Classes ended last week and I think I’m still in shock. It feels like just yesterday I was saying my goodbyes to all my loves in America and way too soon I will have to say goodbye to all of my new friends here.

fam photo :)

We had our Currie Hall End of Semester Dinner last week Wednesday. It was Alice in Wonderland themed and lots of fun! I even participated in a game at the beginning, pin the smile on the Chesire Cat! I won. Obviously. The target was a moving person but I managed somehow ;). It was interesting to see how differently our seating arrangements were compared to the beginning of the semester dinner. A lot can change over 3 months. I sat with my favoritesss, and we took this adorable “family” photo. These boys of mine will be sorely missed.

ifsaaaa

The morning after the dinner I had to give a presentation on the economic depressions of Australia. Total snoozefest. When I arrived at my tutorial room at 9am there were only 3 people there. Only one other boy showed up and I ended up giving my presentation to 4 boys and the tutor. There are usually around 20 people in the class; it was definitely the last tutorial of the semester! Thursday night we had yet another End of Semester dinner, but this time it was for IFSA-Butler, our study abroad program. We went to Matilda Bay, this phenomenal restaurant. I ate duck; it was delicious! I am really going to miss the IFSA gang, but hopefully we can all meet up when we are back in the US!

the house

Matador/Rex

This past weekend was epic. Kiara, Amanda, Liz, Katrina and I rented an adorable little house down south for the weekend. It was only about a 3 hour drive and despite my self diagnoses restless leg syndrome we survived the journey. It took us a while to find our house because it was down a very long dirt road but at last we were successful. Our house was on a flower farm and it was super cozy and cute. The next-door neighbor who owned the rental house had an adorable dog who would come over and play with us every morning. Liz named him Matador but at the end of the trip we found out his real name was Rex. Regardless of his name he was super cute and helped ease my Monty&Jake withdrawal.

 On Friday when we arrived we went and explored the town and had lunch at the Settlers Tavern. Then we hit up IGA and the liquor store. On the way back to our house we stopped to explore the beach. It was really windy and cold so we didn’t go in but it was a really pretty beach! That was the only time we went to the beach down there because it was a pretty chilly weekend but at least we stopped in to check it out. 

the beach

steak and smileys

Friday night we had steaks and smiley potatoes for dinner. It was so delicious and so great to be in a house again and be able to cook and bake for ourselves. Currie Hall food has progressively been getting worse and this weekend was much needed. I even made brownies! After dinner we just hung out and drank while wearing crowns that Katrina had picked up at the grocery store. There really was no reason to wear crowns except that they were only $1.79 and it was really entertaining. We ended up not even making it til midnight and went to sleep.

crownz

:)

The next day we slept in pretty late, had breakfast and then piled back into the car. We went to a lighthouse, which wasn’t very thrilling in itself, but on the walk around the lighthouse we saw whales! It was the highlight of my trip. We could only see their tails and spouts popping out of the water but it was still incredible. It was also funny because we were standing up on a cliff and we would see their tails slapping the water but the sound was delayed by a few seconds because they were so far away. The walk around the lighthouse was only about 2km and it was super fun. We saw lots of plants and scenery and had a great time.

whale tail!

YUM.

After that Kiara took us to Simmo’s Ice Cream. I had a banana chip and chocolate sundae and it was the greatest thing I have ever consumed. So amazingly delicious. There was also a mini golf course there, but it was getting cold and late so we decided to bail on golf and headed into the town of Margaret River.

bangers and mashhh

 We  shopped for a bit and then went to the hotel for dinner. I had bangers and mash for the first time and it was also really delicious. We noticed it in Margaret River the most and I’m sure some other places in WA do it too, but at restaurants we had to go up to the counters and order our food and then they would bring it to us. Sort of different especially since it was a pretty nice establishment but we still got our food and it was amazing.

That night back at the house, we wore animal masks and did something called a power hour. Not going to lie, it was a disaster. It did not end well. Still it was an adventure and one, which I will never forget. That night we were all in bed by 11:30 just proving how disastrous the hour was.

masked power hour.

bah ram ewe.

The next day was Sunday and we really didn’t do much. I sat out in the backyard and read a book for a better part of the day. It was really relaxing until I kept hearing noises in the yard around me. At first I just thought it was the sheep in the nearby pasture but then I realized they were a little too far away for me to be hearing them. Upon closer inspection of the surrounding area I found the cause of the noise…Skinks! Or lizards that look like snakes. There were two of them basking in the sunlight and then whenever it would get cloudy they would scramble back into the brush. So strange but at least they were photogenic.

skinkkk

failed self timed photo...ya can't win 'em all

Monday was the best day of the whole trip. We went on the Bushtucker wine and brewery tour and had a phenomenal day. The bus picked us up at our house which was super convenient. There was a group of 13 of us in total and although most of the other couples were older than us we got along really well. After every stop George, our adorable guide, made us switch seats so we could meet someone new. I unfortunately was carsick so I rode in the very front seat the entire tour. 

Cape Naturaliste Winery

My favorite winery was the Cape Naturaliste Winery. It was a beautiful winery with lots of flowers and two dogs, one of which was named Monty! My favorite wine there was the Rose. It was delicious. They also had a port called Monty’s Musket and when I told the woman I also had a dog named Monty she gave me one of the labels! I’m sure Monty will love to see his name on a label. 

proper sniffing technique

We learned the proper way to drink wine at this winery as well. First you sniff it, and not a pansy sniff but a shove your whole nose in the glass and breathe it all in kind of sniff. Then you swirl it around, which was the most difficult step for me because my wrists just wouldn’t cooperate. Then you sniff it again, and I was amazed every time at how much stronger and more distinctive it smelled. Then you sip it, and fill your mouth with it because if you only taste it on the front of your tongue where your sweet taste buds are you won’t really get to taste the wine. The most important step is to taste it twice. You can’t really like or dislike a wine if you don’t taste it twice. We tried a lot of wines throughout the day and some were good and some were bad but everyone has different pallets so you can’t expect to like them all!

witchetty grub

not so good

After we tasted wine at the second winery we had lunch. It was a light lunch, which consisted of breads, roast beef, turkey and kangaroo, salad and chutneys. Before lunch however George pulled out a witchetty grub and asked five of us to try it. Liz, Katrina and I all volunteered. A witchetty grub is the large, white, wood-eating larva of a moth. It was pretty disgusting. It was crunchy and woody tasting and as you can see by the photo, not particularly enjoyed. 

Girls at the Fermoy Winery

so presh.

After lunch we went to the third winery. It wasn’t really anything special and by this point I was getting pretty drunk so I didn’t try all of the wines. The one I made sure to try was the Cabernet Sauvignon because that was the wine served at the wedding of Maria Donaldson, an Australian native, to the Prince of Denmark. It was definitely a wine “fit for a princess”.

chocolateeee

After this week took a break from the wineries and went to the chocolate factory. It was pretty cool. Nothing overly thrilling, and obviously the chocolate wasn’t as good as Hershey’s ;) but still a nice break from all the wine.

my drink vs the drink of australia
Our last “winery” stop was the Grove Vineyard. We tried more liqueurs than anything and they were all so yummy. The very sassy and grumpy old owner made one drink that was chocolate, macadamia nut and coconut liqueurs mixed with milk. Sadly my nut allergy prevented me from trying it but I had chocolate mixed with butterscotch and milk, also delicious. I bought a bottle of the butterscotch so VW fam get ready to try it over ice cream, its supposedly super delicious!

We stopped at a cheese factory, which was kind of lame. They did have really delicious feta but it wasn’t so much a factory as it was a room where you tried five types of cheeses and then had the option to purchase them…

so promising.

not so good.

The last stop on the tour was the Bootleg Brewery! It was on a huge piece of land and pretty nice. We tried a tray of 7 beers ranging from lights to darks. Again from the photo you can tell that drinking beer is not my favorite. They were all really strong and not so good. At least I tried them! We took a photo with our dear guide George and then packed it up and went home.  On the bus he gave us our purchases and then gave out prizes. He gave two bottles of wine to the two couples that we were late picking up and he gave me a beer coozie for being such a survivor. I mean I guess being motion sick and allergic to life is a struggle but I’m not sure a coozie is really going to change any of that.

the man, the myth, the legend

Back at the house we barbequed and enjoyed a bottle of the Rose which we had purchased from the first winery. We just hung out and played banagrams and enjoyed our last night in the house. The next day we had to be out by 12 so we packed up and drove on home. The trip was amazing and I had such a great time with the girls. I am really going to miss them so much, but I’m glad we got to have such an amazing weekend together!

the backyard

The rest of this week is going to be pretty unexciting. I need to study my butt off in order to pass my finals because I’m pretty sure if I don’t pass my Econ final I won’t pass the class. No pressure or anything!

i'm so funnyyyyy.

Hope everyone is doing well! Miss you all! xo