Home Sweet Home!

The few days leading up to the move were so bittersweet. As excited as I was to move in with Lauren and start a new adventure, it was really hard to leave Emma and Toby. As much as Emma smiled through it and joked about it, I think she was really sad that I was leaving, and it made the last few days together difficult. We were just starting to really bond and actually hangout together. Toby was gone for my last week living there, visiting his dad, so Emma and I had a lot of bonding time. Including all of our serious (and not so serious) life discussions, movie nights, and wine nights! Coming home from work and her asking if I wanted to practice my driving (in the torrential downpour) so that she could go get some more drinks, and we could watch girly movies, probably ended up being my favorite night :) 

But that final goodbye after her and Toby dropped me off at my new apartment with my last load of stuff was heart-wrenching. I am definitely going to miss them! But my apartment is right across the street from where Emma works, so hopefully she takes me up on my offer to come over and hangout on her lunch breaks :)

It didn’t take long though for Lauren and I to get pretty excited about our new place!! Once our stuff was in the door, we spent the first evening running around taking photos of everything, trying to figure out what all of the light switches and knobs on the walls do, and oohing and awing over the fact that my bathtub tap is like a waterfall!!! And yes, I got the master bedroom.... and I didn't even have to put up a fight! Lauren's room has the extra pullout bed, and she actually has people coming to visit *cough* ;) so she volunteered to take that room. Winning!!

Lauren admiring my giant bathtub! :)

Yep! Those would be bi-folding doors and windows all the way across my bedroom and bathroom.

"where does the water come out?"..... "uhh WHAT?!?!"

The rest of my bathroom :)

And my KING SIZE bed!!

Oh, you know, just my own private balcony, that looks out onto the marina :)

Just in case you were interested in the view from my balcony ;)

And my walk-in closet.

Lauren's room!

Or should I say, Lauren's miniature apartment?

This is our living room! Yep, that is another full wall of bi-folding doors that opens up onto our main balcony.

And our fancy kitchen!

 Our big balcony, with a good table for entertaining, and our BBQ :)

We already knew that we weren’t going to be prepared to cook on the first night, so we were set to order our Thai takeout for our first meal in our new place :) after we cheersed to our new adventures with our ciders out on our awesome balcony of course! 

 And our first round of friends from work that came over to check it out and help us break in the new spot!

Can't complain about getting up at 5:30am when I roll over in my king size bed and see this outside my window :)

Cheers to a GREAT 2015!

Well to start the year off with a bang, I had a very memorable New Years celebration!! Yes, there was sarcasm there ;) In anticipation for a very fun night of neon-themed drinking, dancing, fireworks and music with a bunch of friends at the Full Moon party at Xbase (yes the same kind of party as halloween), Lauren and I had quite the pre-funk together; getting ready, singing and dancing and having a few drinks beforehand. And boy did we have a good time!! Best friend status just leveled up.

To put it lightly, I won’t be drinking wine anytime soon. But it is quite a funny story when you wake up in bed at 4am to your friend walking in the front door, and you realize that you never made it out to the party.... glad I paid for that $54 ticket haha. So I had an early night. I definitely got some crap from people at work for that one. Although, on the bright side, I guess I did avoid the embarrassment of sprinting after the bus for no good reason, and showing up as a sweaty and hilarious drunken mess *cough* Lauren.... haha. Favorite part? Laying in bed listening to Lauren’s recap of the night as she swore to me that she remembered everything that happened.... and then looking through the photos that we took on her camera... and dying laughing at every hilarious one and admitting that neither one of us remembered taking them. Meh! We’re twenty-somethings, we’re supposed to have a story like that, right? Go ahead and make fun of me for not making it out to the party... I had an AWESOME night! And I have the photos to prove it ;) 

"We brought out the glow sticks?... Do you remember the glow sticks?" "haha nope!"

After a big New Years celebration for everyone on the island, I assumed everyone would still be recovering and not have much interest in going out again for my birthday, so I honestly just intended to keep it to myself. But thank goodness for all of these awesome people! Everyone at work found out it was my birthday and I was flooded with birthday wishes all day! Including a series of birthday songs that the receptionists would randomly BLAST over the walkie talkies in the middle of my tours! So funny! Since everyone was asking about my plans, I decided to do an impromptu dinner and throw out that we might go dancing after if anyone was keen. Low and behold, I ended up with a dinner group of 12! Including my coworkers as well as Jacob and a few of his friends that were still on the island from New Years. So I ended up having a birthday celebration with all of my favorite people :)

Disappointed that the restaurant only had burgers on their lunch menu and not the dinner menu, the chef made me a fancy birthday burger with everything on it. Add that with some cider and my fancy mango daiquiri, I was a happy girl! Not to mention Lauren also made me a birthday cake! Awesome birthday dinner, followed by none other than a night out dancing at Xbase!! And pretty much everyone came out! At this point, the Xbase and Bungalow staff are all starting to get to know each other, and for whatever reason, they all know Lauren and I (I guess that’s what happens when you are the two super smiley girls that are CONSTANTLY dancing and jumping around from group to group making friends). I got a special birthday callout from the Xbase staff, and tons of free drinks all night. 

Typical haha

Surrounded by friends and dancing like crazy, it was probably the best unplanned birthday I have ever had! But that is pretty obvious when you end the night walking home at 5am, barefoot, in a torrential downpour, carrying half of a birthday cake (so that you don’t lose your best friend’s plate haha). 

And then you sleep for half an hour and get up and work a 9 hour day in another rainstorm, running around rescuing drowning animals, hoping over the river that is flooding throughout the park, trudging through shin deep puddles, screaming animal facts at the people huddled under the teeny-tiny bit of shelter so they can hear you over the sound of the bullet raindrops hitting the tin roof, while you stand soaking wet and looking fabulous, wondering why the HECK they still allow tours to be run during this madness!?

I kind of feel like a super human after reading all of that... so ridiculous.

Oh, and to top off an awesome birthday? Lauren and I turned in our application for our fancy apartment, and should everything go smoothly, we will be moving in together in one week!! EEK!

So Much Fun! So Little Blogging!

So YES, it has been quite awhile since I have posted an update. A little intimidating to try and backtrack on everything that has gone on... so I am just going to sort through photos and see what I remember and what I can ramble on about :)

So going back probably about a month and a half ago now, the Richards family came over to Magnetic Island for a weekend getaway. They invited me to stay the weekend with them at their rental condo, which was really nice (and like a mini vacation for me as well). I got them into the Koala breakfast at Bungalow Bay for free (work perks ;) ) so it was fun for them to come see where I work, and try out my fancy breakfast that I cook!! 

Kerry, Jasmine and Jacob... Beach day!!

Kerry being brave and handling the snake at the koala breakfast.

Jacob, Ian and Kerry at the Koala breakfast :)

So in the last month or so, we have had quite the turnover of employees at Bungalow, which has been exciting, sad and kind of chaotic all at once. Our volunteer May, who we all LOVED, left us... She got a going away cake because we were all going to miss her so much!

Our most senior ranger, Kelly, also made a spur of the moment decision to leave earlier this month, which came as kind of a shock and made us a bit sad, because we were all just starting to bond really well. Fun fact, that now made ME the most senior park employee (at only 2 months into the job), besides Tony of course, and now meant that Lauren and I were the only two other rangers, and Kim, the only volunteer.

Saying goodbye to May, and welcoming Kim to the team (Tony, May, Me, Kim, Lauren)

Around the same time May was leaving, we also lost Rina, our receptionist from Vancouver, who would say "Go Seahawks!" to me every day :) Oh how I will miss her!!

As a going away party for them, as well as a few of the cleaners who were leaving as well, we had another staff campout on the beach at Radical Bay!! A big group of us this time! I think this is where we all REALLY started to bond. Especially Lauren and I. 

Some of the Bungalow Bay staff/family :) It may technically be illegal to camp on the beach overnight, but that didn't stop us from doing it, and having some beers, ciders, and brats on the beach around a bonfire. It's fun when you are friends with outgoing people, who are not afraid to walk around and join in with other camp groups, play some bongos, and make more friends!

For Rina and May's last night on the island, we went to the toad races at Arcadia Pub. It happens every Wednesday night. They auction off cane toads, and race them for the chance to win the prize money or toad racing t-shirts. Lauren and I REALLY want a toad racing shirt!! But refuse to buy one (for $15) because we want to EARN it by actually winning. Unfortunately, most of the toads sell for $45+... Though that didn't stop us from betting and bringing the cost up for other people ;) especially the group of guy backpackers sitting next to us.

Toad races!! So much fun!!

Kelly made a visit to the races as well :)

So then came the night of Kelly's going away party. A night out at Base (XBase is the only other hostel on the island, on the opposite side of the island from Bungalow, and one of the few places to go out at night, and the ONLY place that has dancing). Such a fun night out! So many funny photos! Also, the night that I decided to see how long it would take me to walk home.... which ended in a fat blister on the bottom of my foot. But what a funny 2 hour hike that was haha. #neveragain

As far as work has been going, it was a bit of an adjustment after May and Kelly both left, and Lauren and I were left to try and pick up the slack along with our new volunteer Kim. Lauren and I were having a great time working together and were just starting to figure everything out, when Tony randomly decided to split us up and have us work completely opposite days of each other. Needless to say we were not thrilled with the news, because we were just becoming good friends and were starting to make plans to hangout on our days off together. We even had a list of all the fun things we were going to do! We did our best to not sound desperate and beg Tony to change his mind, so instead, the newest and most crucial addition to our list was to go above and beyond at work, and do everything we could to prove to Tony that we were capable of handling everything on our own without supervision.

Maybe Tony thought we were having too much fun together, and thought it would start to affect our work?? Who knows where he got that impression from ;)...

Snorkeling at Arthur Bay in our awesome stinger suits!!

(lucky for us, Tony changes his mind about things ALL the time, so it only took about a week, before Lauren and I were back together at work)

Although we have lost quite a few coworkers over the last month and a half, we have gotten a few good ones as well :) It has become a lady dominant team, and lucky for us, we all get along really well! We had an impromptu ladies sunset picnic on the beach recently at West Point (the other side of the island, where the sun actually sets). 

Look at me being entertaining haha. Pretty sure this is proof that I am HILARIOUS! ;) 

And what better way to end a girls night out, then with another exciting round of TOAD RACING!?!

 Apparently Lauren and I are a lot more amused by this then everyone else, because the group scattered as the races went on, but this time, Lauren and I were prepared to make a bet, and finally bit the bullet and bought a toad!! A $40 toad. Our strategy? Skip betting on the small toads that always win, and sell for a lot of money, and wait for the race where they give the losers free t-shirts, and buy the biggest, fattest toad we possibly could! It was genius! and we did so well! Our toad hopped all the way to the line, and just sat.... and didn't move... along with the other 2 toads waiting at the line as well..... we all screamed for it to stay there! and just a SPLIT second too soon, he hopped over the line!! So we didn't lose :(.... But we were close!!

Our ALMOST losing toad!

I have still been making quite a few trips over to Townsville to hangout with the Richards family. I am pretty well integrated into their family. They pretty much expect me there on a weekly basis. A few of the notable trips over there... Jasmine had her high school prom, and we went to take photos and watch her fancy red carpet entrance.

I also finally met Ben (the other family member that I had replaced ;) ). Ben is Jacob's little brother, and Jasmine's older brother. The middle child. He came home from his first year of college to spend the holidays at home. We get along really really well! He is a lot of fun. So needless to say, Christmas was going to be AWESOME!

So then there was the night of our work Christmas party!!

Mexican Dinner and drinks at Man Fridays. I was REALLY excited about Mexican food. We were all quite impressed with the set-up and organization of it all (because we have all seen first hand just how "organized" our staff and management are ;) ) But it was very well done! It was a bit strange at first, drinking with our bosses.. but when you all end up at XBase at the end of the night, dancing on the tables (initiated by your boss), and having a great time, you know you work with/for some pretty awesome people :)

What better way to spend the night before Christmas eve, then spending the night in Lauren's teeny tiny studio apartment, eating your favorite Thai food takeout, watching Christmas movies on a laptop, and baking TONS of Christmas cookies... in a tiny microwave oven haha.

The much anticipated tropical Christmas WAS awesome! I Got woken up at 6:30am to the sound of Christmas music BLASTING throughout the house. Gave a round of Merry Christmas hugs to everyone, and went to open presents. So thankful for the thoughtfulness of the family getting me presents. Including my pajama's (so I would stop borrowing clothes to sleep in). And my football :) 

I was in charge of pancakes for our big breakfast feast at 7:30am with the Symons family. 

The champagne came out early! And the drinks just kept coming all day long! Mostly through games :)

Ben and I make a great team :) We dominated EVERYONE at beersby

Family Christmas photo :)

It was a really fun day out in the sun and in the pool. There were a lot of family and friends over, so there was a lot going on all day.  Unfortunately, I had to leave at 3pm because I had to catch the ferry back over to the island, so I missed out on the crab :( but the rest of the buffet lunch was fabulous! Wish I would have eaten more!!

After a mid-afternoon nap on the ferry, I then had my second Christmas with some of my work family. AKA the other homeless travelers :) More drinks, food, games and good times with them!

I'm hoping that pretty well summarizes my last month or so! And catches me up to the recent past, which has consisted mainly of little daily adventures with lauren. I can honestly say I have absolutely no idea how I have lived 25 years of my life without her in it. We are inseparable... Tony refers to us as the umbilical sisters, but then again, Tony is weird. Although, whenever anything is going on with our coworkers, I will get a call or text that is directed at both of us, because everyone assumes we are always together. Which, to be fair, we usually are... and if we are not, we are texting each other about how weird it is that we are NOT hanging out. I'm not really sure how it happened... but we bonded really quickly, over a short period of time, and Lauren's friendship has made this whole experience that much more exciting!! We are really fun :)

It has already been established that we are both going to bawl our eyes out when I have to move on to another city and a new job... it is actually a taboo topic to discuss because we are both so upset at the idea of it... so it has pretty much solidified the decision that we are going to move in together for my last couple of months here, despite the illogical increase in rent... because this whole adventure is about the experience right?! I don't think words could describe how much fun Lauren and I would have living together! So currently, we are looking into rental properties and plotting our move :) It's going to be our birthday presents to ourselves :) Hopefully we can find somewhere before we have our joint birthday celebration!!