Moreton island Team X-Treme!!

Scuba T

Ferry ride back from Moreton Island

Team X-Treme:

Zoe, Emily, T & Christine

Moreton Island Shipwrecks

Me sandboarding

I finally got a chance to enjoy my holiday break, I mean I had enjoyed it but I was suppose to go a week long road trip with some friends up the North Queensland coast to the Great Barrier Reef but at the last minute those plans didn't work out so instead I just pretty much hung around the Gold Coast. Me, Emily, Zoe and Christine took at day trip to Moreton Island which is right off of Brisbane and you can only access it via boat or ferry and there are not "roads" just an island full of sand of which is 98 % national park. Feel free to google it and read up some more on it. There are shipwrecks in which you can snorkel around and see heaps of fish. Also on the island we got a chance to sand board, which is pretty much like sledding on sand instead of snow. Very fun but boy it was exhausting walking up the steep hills once you get to the bottom but it was sure fun!! It was one of the most beautiful places I have seen here in Australia. I wish we could have done an overnight trip but oh well we made the most of the day as Team X-Treme!!

I am currently living at a friends house for the meantime until I leave for a 2 1/2 week trip to New Zealand, I am going a tour for 18-35 years and they have planned sightseeing, food and hotels all booked so I don't have to worry about it and I can see as much of both the South and North Island in a short time. I am looking forward to getting another stamp on my passport and to exploring what NZ has to offer. Once I get back I will have about 10 days until the big my graduation, I look forward to it but at the same time once it happens it just means my journey in Australia will coming to an end. It will both a happy and sad time for me but I am so happy I got a chance to do it and I will remember this for life.

I am not sure if I will be able to post while on the move but once I get back I will give a brief of my trip along with pics.

Take care and enjoy my blog!!

Theresa

It's Whale Watching Season on the Gold Coast

Self-Pic

Two whale close by the boat

More whales

Breached Whale..

So I went whale watching during my junior year in high school in Washington and the only thing I could remember was that is was very cold outside and that I am pretty sure I saw whales but I am not 100% sure, this time I thought I would try it out in Australia where the weather was much warmer. When I meant warmer I meant the sun was out and it was nice when the boat wasn't moving but getting from one point to the other made it a little bit chilly. The tour took place in Southport right next to Seaworld and they offered a full refund shall we not see any whales, being that it was whale season I figured we would see some, which did happen but I didn't expect to see them so close to our boat as well as Dolphins, that was pure bonus. I went sea kayaking in Byron Bay in February and got sea sick so this time I was prepared with all the drugs I was able to take!! They work but I am not sure if it was the drugs that made my sick or if I was just tired? Overall it was a successful whale watching trip in which I captured a great pic of a whale in breach position and got the see them ride next the boat!!

Until next time!!

Cheers,

Theresa

Full House...but full of fun

It's me...

Me, Chuck and Chris @ End

of Semester Bash at Bond Uni

Byron Bay lighthouse

Christine, Chuck and Chris

CAL grads

Me at the Eastern Point of Australia

in Byron Bay

So at the end of the semester my apartment turned into a hotel minus the rooms and the room service. My friend Christine was suppose to move into her beach house in Broadbeach the last weekend of the semester at the same time she had two of her friends from Cali coming to visit. Well those plans fell through as far as the moving to the beach so lucky I still had my place on campus so Christine, Chuck, Chris and myself crashed at my place for a week until she was able to move into her beach house. So for the week in which I was going to clean, pack up and just chilled turned into a fun adventure at my apartment. Finally by the end of the week Christine was able to move all her stuff into her beach house so for two days I was all alone, in a way it was sort of strange, but that didn't last to long as my other friend Emily came back from spending a week in the Northern Territory with one of her friends, then it was out turn to move out of my place and into Christine's beach house until I jet off to NZ for 2 1/2 weeks. I was very glad I got the chance to hang out with Christine's friends Chuck and Chris and give them as well as Christine a place to stay and in return she is doing the same for me. Oh ya we did get the chance to do some fun things as well. Took a day trip down to Byron Bay on a really nice day, Byron Bay is about an hour from the Gold Coast in NSW but its one of my favorite places to hang out on the beach, I was also able to take Chuck and Chris to the end of the semester bash (on campus party at the on campus bar). We had fun enjoyed playing host to Christine's friends.

Up next read about my adventure in watching the whale off the Gold Coast!!

Cheers,

Theresa

End of Semester 102..

Well the end of the semester has come and gone, please feel free to start calling me Master Theresa, ha ha just kidding!! I can't believe that I have been in Australia for a whole year and that I actually finished my Masters degree. I still wake up in the middle of the night thinking to myself I can't believe I am in Australia, it has been one of the most amazing times in my life and I am so happy I got a chance to do it. As most of you know once I put my mind forward into doing something I do it and well I did it even though at one point I wasn't really sure if it was going to happen. I officially don't graduate until Oct. 9th so I am enjoying the fact that I don't have to start school up next week like the rest of the people. I am going to use this time to see some more of Australia and explore what New Zealand has to offer before having to reenter the real world and start paying back my 1 years worth of education and vacation.

I would like to thank all of my friends and family for the wonderful support I have received why I have been over here, I can't wait to come back and share all these wonderful memories with everyone, I am not looking forward to being cold and having to wear shoes and jacket!!

More adventures still to come...Will post again.

Cheers,

Theresa

EKKA and The Beautiful Girls Concert

Me with Mat, lead singer of The Beautiful Girls at the EKKA in Brissy

Mat rocking out!!

Motor bike stunts at the EKKA

Each August in Brisbane is this event called the EKKA, for those who live in Washington I would compare it to the Puyallup Fair except way bigger!! There is heaps of food, farm animals, monster trucks, concerts and showbags...So the first four sound normal but you may ask what the heck is a showbag, well lets just say they have a whole warehouse full of these things that range for $1 to $50 that include various items such as candy, magazines, t-shirts, toys etc. Pretty much people attend the EKKA just for the showbags, I myself was overwhelmed with showsbags that I had to walk around a couple of times before making my choice, I went with the candy bag because it was the best deal for my money and I got to eat lots of candy, ha ha!! Besides the showbags, the main reason for going to the EKKA was to see this very cool band called The Beautiful Girls, my friend Emily introduced them to me and after seeing them live, I download pretty much all of there stuff. If you are looking for new music google them, they are currently on tour in the USA playing some small venues. Pretty much a fun night in Brissy at the EKKA with showbags, The Beautiful Girls and Emily!!

Well until next time, Rock on!!

Theresa

All Black Game in Melbourne

Scrum feed

Action shot!!

Docklands

All Black Game!!

First trip of my last semester didn't come until almost the end of the semester but I was super busy with assignments. I went to Melbourne with my friend Christine to go watch the All Black (NZ Rugby Union) play the Wallabies (Australia Rugby Union) at Etihad Stadium, for any sports nut like myself living in the Southern Hemisphere you have to see an All Blacks game. So when I found out that they were playing in Australia I had to go even if it met pulling all nighters so I could turn in an assignment before I left for the weekend. The plan worked as I was able to finish up the assignment, do a presentation and catch a red to Melbourne for a weekend full of adventures. The All Blacks game was not until Saturday evening so we used our free time to explore around Melbourne, we checked out Luna Park in St. Kilda, Federation Square, Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Melbourne Olympic Park to name a few. If I could live in any city it would be Melbourne, they are pretty much known for there sports with everything from AFL, Rugby League, Basketball, Tennis and Soccer just to name a few, the only draw back for me is that is that it get very cold during the winter months and they are not close to the beaches like the Gold Coast. Not to mention if Australia would let me work here I would do it in a heartbeat!! On to Saturday, The All Blacks game was in the only retractable stadium in the Southern Hemisphere so it wasn't as cold as it could have been which was really nice, we got really good seats in the "end zone" and were around a lot All Black fans which made the atmosphere even better. This was the first time I didn't cheer for Australia as I jumped on the bandwagon of the All Blacks. Well the weekend was nice but I was looking forward to coming back to the Gold Coast were it was much warmer. On a side note, I somehow managed to lose my camera so I had to purchase one just before the All Blacks game but good thing my friend Christine had hers cause I lost a lot of really good pics :(

More adventures to come!!

Cheers,

Theresa

Hoe Down...Gold Coast Style @ Bond Uni

Don't mess with me...ha ha

Sarah, Me and Jana

Andrew and Me

Ride'em Cowboy!!!

Country theme is Australia? Yep that is what happened...The Health Science & Medicine Association sponsored a country themed party called "Hoe Down". To me it was an excuse to dress up like a cowgirl and have a little fun with my fellow HSM students...Yes Sports Management falls under this...Don't understand why, it just does!!

Well back to the "Hoe Down", there was $2 beer or mixed drinks, mechanical bull, hay bales and country music...then they bussed us an after party in Broadbeach at EAST nightclub. My friends convinced me to take a ride on the mechanical bull...then I ran into some issue, first I was too short to get on myself so I need to assistance of the guy in charge of running the mechanical bull, second of all I lasted all of 8 seconds but it was super fun and I am glad I got a chance to do it. I will say I felt as if I was back in San Antonio when I put on my outfit but it was all part of the theme...I was able to score a sweet flannel shirt, a sheriff badge, handuffs and two play guns...I was a hit at the party...well me and friends were!! I had a blast with my friends, Sarah, Emily, Jana and Andrew....It was a nice break from school but its getting towards the end and I can't wait to be done!!

Up next I am taking a weekend trip with my friend Christine to Melbourne to watch the Wallabies (Australia's national rugby union team) vs The All Blacks (New Zealand's national rugby union team) this is going to be the biggest sporting event I have ever attended..If you don't anything about The All Blacks please check out this link...http://www.allblacks.com/...they are know world wide and I am super pumped I get a chance to see them in person!! Don't worry I will take heaps of pictures and give you a full review once I get back.

On another note I want to say Happy 1st Birthday my nephew Benjamin Alan Griffin....He is my sister Erin's youngest boy. I hope you have a wonderful birthday at the park with all the entire family and I can't wait to see you when I get home in October. I love you!!

I will be officially done with classes on Friday, August 6th with a Sports Marketing final on Monday, August 9th, a International Sports Business paper and a Strategic Sports Management plan due on Friday, August 20th before I am officially done!! Then I am on an 8 week break to travel, enjoy what Australia and New Zealand has to offer before the big day arrives on Saturday, October 9th when I will attend graduation. I will say I never could have dreamed of this when I embarked on this journey last September but I will say I will remember it forever!!

Until next time...Enjoy and look out for more to come!!

Cheers!!

Theresa

AFL Game #3 Brisbane Lions vs St Kilda Saints

Emily, Jana. Zoe and Pepe

Meat Pie...gross...

Me kickin' on the footy @ The Gabba

St Kilda vs Brisbane...quarter time fight...aw boys...

Bond AFL club sponsored another opportunity to attend an AFL game up in Brisbane. This was my 3rd time attending and 2nd time going with Bond Uni. Being a sports nut that I am any opportunity to watch a sporting I take that opportunity. This time I got to experience it with some new friends so it is always nice to introduce friends to a new sport. For $30 we got transportation to the game, a ticket close to the field, free food and drinks, an after party and transportation back to Uni. Pretty sweet deal since everything is expensive in Australia.

The Brisbane Lions have not been playing very well the second half of the season and it showed against a really good team in St Kilda. I will say this time around it was more about the experience with friends then about the game. Brisbane Lions lost which ended my winning streak at 2 games but I had a blast with my friends, Jana, Emily, Zoe and Pepe.

On sad note, the after party was at a local bar close the stadium called The Hotel Bar caught on fire around 2:30am it did a lot of damage and hopefully it will get restored. Good thing we left 2 hours earlier or else we could have been there when it caught on fire.

Cheers,

Theresa

Basketball...Aussie Style

Funny sign at the gym...too bad all the boys were dunking..

My friend Travis at the free-throw line...Go Bandits!!

G'Day friends and family!! I hope everyone is enjoying summer because I can't wait for it to start again here in Australia.

I got a chance to watch my friend play basketball in Brisbane. It was my first basketball game here in Australia and it was a interesting site to see. To start out the journey it required a bus from campus, a train to Brisbane and another bus just to get to the basketball arena. This required an hour of travel time for a game that didn't start until 7pm. Good thing I brought along my friend (Jana) from the sports management program who was interested in seeing a basketball game. I told her she needs to come to the USA to see a real basketball game..ha ha!! I wouldn't say the game was anything special as its a semi-pro winter league in Australia, but it reminded me a lot of a pick up basketball game at your local YMCA. Most importantly, it was nice to see a familiar face here in Australia. See my friend played college basketball at UTSA the two years I worked down so when I found out he was coming to Australia to play basketball I was super excited to see him. Travis' team hasn't been playing very well this season but you can't really complain about it to much as you are in Australia. Travis' is by far the best player on his team but he sure can't do it alone. The night was a success but victory was not to happen.

Cheers,

Theresa

World Cup 2010 South Africa

Pride in your country...I may live in Australia and the USA may not be the bigger lover of Soccer AKA Futbol but the World Cup is the most exciting month long sporting event to watch. I have so much pride in my country had I held a small watch party at 4am so that me and my fellow americans Emily (Ohio) and Christine (Cali) could watch USA take on power house England in the first game of group play. I will say I was happy with the outcome, 1-1 for those not living on planet Earth but deep down inside I would have love to smell victory and steal 3 points for them as we did with our goal. I look forward to their next game on Friday night against Slovenia where I will predict a 2-0 win for the Red, White and Blue!! I know our chance will be slim but I will be wavin my flag proud all the way in Australia!!

As the saying goes..Don't Tread on Me...

If you get a chance to watch the game..look out for an up and coming super star in Edson Buddle...he is named after the one and only Pele (world best soccer player) and he just happens to share the same birthday as me May 21, 1981!! Doesn't get any better then that :)

Happy World Cup soccer watching!!

Cheers,

Theresa

Semester 102...Third and final semester of Grad school

As I am writing this blog I am about to start Week 5 of my third and final semester of grad school..Which means that it is going to be over before I know it. I will say it is going to be bitter sweet when I get on a plane back to the USA and know that I am not going to back to Australia at least for awhile!! But I am happy to get back to something that I love which is working in college athletics and to be happy to be closer in time zone, drive a car and attend all those wonderful american holidays that I have missed out on!!

This semester I am taking my last four classes: Strategic Sports Management, International Sports Business, Sports Marketing and Sports Econ and Finance. So far all of the subject have overlapped each other a little bit so its like taking one BIG class throughout the week. I will say it has been really hard trying to get back into the swing of things but I really need to focus as the rest of the semester is going to be super busy with assignments, papers and projects.

I am going to try my hardest to enjoy my time here in Australia as well as focus on the task at hand which is the reason behind this journey..Get my masters degree!!! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel but just wish it would come faster!!

On a side note, this weekend in the states will be fathers day and I just wanted to let my father know that he is the most wonderful father one daughter could ever ask for. I just wish that I could have told him my plan of going to Australia to get my masters degree. I know he is looking down on me and he would be very proud of me as he has been with everything I have done in my life. If someone could pass along this note for me to him (for those living in WA) I would greatly appreciate it. I love you Dad :) miss you each and everyday.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my blogs as I plan to do at least a couple more before my journey is over!!

Cheers,

Theresa

Fiji and my 29th Birthday

My friend/dance partner in the village

Island dancers

Fire dancer on the island

Sunset...amazing!!

Waterfall...

Village dancers

Lunch time...Fiji Style

Sunset from the resort

My Fijian hut

For my 29th birthday I decided that I wanted to spend it somewhere exotic because Australia wasn't exotic enough for me ha ha!! After spending 3 weeks in states I need a vacation from my vacation so I decided that I would go to Fiji for 5 days. The whole point of going on this is trip is to explore another country and cross that off my bucket list. Well I don't really have a bucket list but if and when I get a chance to visit another I do. Fiji is only a quick 3 hours and 30 minutes from Australia so it actually quicker to fly there as opposed to fly within Australia from Brisbane to Perth..just to show how big Australia actually is!!

I really didn't have any expectations about Fiji so I really didn't plan anything until I arrived. My first day in Fiji was just spent relaxing on the beach and getting to bed super early since I have been traveling none stop for around 3 days or so. The next day I checked out the local town of Nadi..nothing real exciting but I was able to find a tour company where I was able to book two full day tours to keep me busy for the rest of my vacation. The following day I was picked up bright and early for a 3 hours bus trip to a local town where we got to see how the Fijian people live in the villages. They preformed a local Kava ceremony, served us a wonderful lunch and sang me a wonderful birthday song. Even though I wasn't with the ones I loved the most I felt very loved by the local community as well as the people in my tour. Overall I would say it was a wonderful 29th birthday. My last full day as spent on another tour to a place called Robinson Crusoe Island. Once again there was a Kava ceremony, a wonderful feast, fire dancing and just a good old time. Overall Fiji was a nice place to visit and I was glad I was able to support the local economy as it is very important to them. The people were very friendly and I would say everyone should plan a trip out there!! BULA FIJI!!!

Cheers,

Theresa

2 weeks in Washington State...not DC!!

Cousins Lisa and Theresa

Benny and Olivia

Me, Benny and Erin at Farmers Market

Olivia ridding on Auntie Theresa's shoulders

Auntie Theresa and Benny!!

After spending a wonderful time in Cali with the Van Houten, I headed up north to spend some quality time with the rest of my family for two weeks. The two weeks were filled with a lot of time with Olivia and Benny!! Oh how I missed them so much...

During my time spent in Washington I was able to once again celebrate my birthday with my mom, Erin, Gary, Olivia, Benny, cousin Lisa, cousin Darice, Scott and Baby Brody!! Nothing like a good drink and steak dinner!! I also the the chance to become a "mom" for a week watching Olivia and Benny while Gary and Erin took off for a week in the DR...I my niece and nephew but man it was hard work!! I would rather be an Auntie then a mom...sorry!!

I was also able to fly over to Spokane to see some old co-worker and friends. I was so happy to see Judy, Troy, Lisa, Wes and Krysta from EWU as well as Lisa's family Mark, Mason and Maria. Thanks to the Westlake family for housing me for a couple of days and the wonderful food :) was kindy sad I missed out on the pool but I will come visit again next summer. I can' t wait to see how it all turned out.

The 2 weeks in Washington was well spent and just what I needed a whole lot of loving from my family!!

Miss everyone so much and soon I will be done and back in the states :)

Cheers!

Theresa

Visiting the Van Houten Family in Cali

Me and Kris...Sisters

Surprise b-day cake for me!!

Clara and Andrew playing in the water

Auntie Theresa with Clara and Andrew at Chuck E Cheese

Andrew and Clara...

I was very fortunate to be able to come home while on school holiday this semester. My first stop was to Modesto to visit with Kris, Mike, Andrew, Clara and of course Cooper!! I really didn't care what was going on I just wanted to be around everyone, playing, laughing and enjoying the moments. It is surely amazing how much you miss when you are halfway around the world. The week I was in Cali was spent playing with Andrew and Clara outside playing tennis, the new water table I bought the kids, attending Andrew's basketball class and having family dinners. Kris and I were able to spend some quality sister time together getting pedicures, watching a movie and having lunch. I was also able to take Kris Starbucks everyday to work. This may sound silly to a lot of people but to be able to drive a car was something I was really excited to do since I depend on my bike, my feet or the bus.

The biggest surprise of the week was the birthday cake that they surprised me with. I didn't really expect anything for my birthday I was just happy to spend it with my family.

Overall my time in Cali was just what I needed...quality time with spent with Kris, Mike, Andrew, Clara and Cooper!!

I look forward to seeing them again very soon..

Theresa