movie critic

So if anyone knows me they know I LOVE to go to the movies. Chels and I have had to pass the non-eventful times somehow so we have gone to several movies. Since we can't find jobs I have decided to become a movie critic. I'll go see movies and then post on my blog how awesome or terrible they were so people can be forewarned. However, it has not a cheap pastime like in College Station where it cost $4 to go to a movie. It is $13.50 and that is the student aged discount! So it normally is about $16.50 or so. Whoa! So I may end up losing money with this job but who cares. Oh, and another funny thing Australians watch all American movies. I mean I guess I expected them to have their own movies but No. So it was weird going to the movies because I felt like I was in America and I had to keep reminding myself where I was.


Anyways, Alice was dying to go see Hannah Montana a couple weeks ago so naturally Chels and I said we would be glad to accompany her to the movie. So for anyone who hasn't seen it...its AWESOME. Loved it. I would give it 8 out of 10.

Harry Potter also came out while I was here. I was a little nervous it wasn't going to come out at the same time as it did in the US but luckily it did. Its funny because it came out on the same day as in America but since Australia is 15 hours ahead it actually came out earlier! So I forced Chelsea to come see it with me. But I prepared her by making her watch the other ones before we went! So these pics are for you Lunsford, Effers, Thai Thai, and Lala....I wish I could have kept tradition and seen it with yall! This movie was super amazing. I was freaking out about it...you can ask Chelsea! I didn't want it to end and I think it was my favorite out of all the movies. Except not too accurate with the book. Oh well I give it a 9.9 out of 10.

The stairs in the movie theater!

Some angry Death Eater ripped off Harry in the cutout so I volunteered to replace him...

We also went to go see My Life in Ruins. Definitely not my fav. I really thought it was going to be great because of My Big Fat Greek Wedding but not so much. I mean it was cute but a little sketch. I would give it a 5 out of 10.

So, if you were behind on your movies hopefully I could fill you in on what's happening. If you are using my critique service don't hesitant to send me some money for all my efforts. Ok just kidding. Well thats all! Adios!

the City

Ok people. Here I am again. I know its been awhile but I have been semi without internet during the past week. I know....I'm sure you are thinking how did I survive. Well we found a library so that was interesting. I don't think I've ever just gone to the library to go. But anyways, we stayed in Brighton last week in the apartment that another family Chelsea knows is letting us stay in if we want. It is only about 15 min from the city so we decided to check it out last week. We walked all around Brighton trying to ask around for jobs and didn't have too much luck. We would tell people where we were staying and everyone was like "Ohhh Brighton it is so nice there." Apparently, it is a really swanky suburb but we honestly had no idea. Anyways, the flat doesn't have a dvd player but lucky us it had a VHS....holla back. So while we were at the library I looked over and saw a section of VHS so I had the amazing idea that we should rent some. Naturally we rented awesome movies like "She's All That" and some other terribly awesome 80s movies. But once we got back to the flat the VHS player was broken....I mean I should have known. So we resulted to reading and watching really bad television at nights. It gets dark at about 5:30pm here so we were in for the night pretty early. Since I am a person that can't sit still for very long and constantly has to be entertained last week was a little rough. Anyways, we traveled to the city a few times and I figured that yall would want to see how beautiful it was. The city is just really pretty and so clean. Everyone here has a respect for the places they live unlike the US. Anyways, here's some pics I snapped while walking around. The first couple are actually from the highest point in Melbourne. We went to the tallest building and it had a deck where you could look around the whole city. It was awesome!

This is the building that we went to the top of to see the amazing view...

This is downtown Melbourne looking down from the building....

I love this picture because you can see the Dandenong mountains in the background....which I will blog about later because we went out there the other day. The big round stadium is where they play Aussie Rules or Footy. Everyone is keen on taking us there so hopefully we can go to a footy game soon!
A few pictures that I shot while walking around. This is the Yarra River which runs along the city.


Notice the Australian flag on the boat!



When we went to the city we headed to this amazing chocolate cafe called KoKo Black. Bethers...you would have loved it. I must say these Australians are super crazy about their chocolate. They are turning us into Chocoholics. Cadbury is THE IT chocolate here, they have a factory somewhere nearby. Seriously after every meal they bring out the choc. Even after we have dessert we will normally have choc as well. Crazy! So this is Chelsea, Caitlin, Alice, Sophie, and me all enjoying our delicious chocolate desserts. Yum!

So, last week Chels and I headed back to the city to hunt for some jobs. Then, we saw this awesome looking building which so happens to be the library. Being the super studious young adults that we are we took a browse inside.

We now have a newfound appreciation for so many things like old art, philosophy, history, etc....


More pics of just around the city...


So that is just a little tour around the city. I hope everyone enjoyed it. Adios for now

Phillip Island

After we left Wilson's Prom last week we headed down to Phillip Island. We rented a really nice beach house and just relaxed for a few days. The first day we went to a Wildlife Park to see all the Australian animals. It was so much fun. They gave you a small package of food and then let you go around and feed all the animals. I seriously was freaking out because I love animals. The best part about it was feeding the Kangaroos. There were so many of them and they would just hop right on up to you and eat from your hand. As you can see from the pictures they were fearless. They just grabbed on to my hand and ate right out of it. Then their was the kangaroo with the joey in its pouch. I was seriously freaking out. It was the cutest thing you've ever seen. We also saw the cutest koalas ever. They were all sleeping but they were still really cute. We even found these two snuggling together!

Sunset on Phillip Island...

So I desperately tried to pet the little joey and this mom actually let me! The other ones were so protective of their babies!

Here's the kanga who seriously was attacking me to get food. He would just come right up and put his claws in my hand which hurt by the way.

Here's Chelsea's mom, Laura, feeding all the kangas.



This one just woke up from his little nap.

The two snuggly ones! I couldn't handle it!

Later that night we headed down to the beach for the world famous Penguin Parade. http://www.penguins.org.au/. Every night at sunset hundreds of penguins come up from the ocean and waddle ashore to their little burrows. They have stands set up outside for everyone to sit in while you wait for the penguins to come. Then all of the sudden they all start coming up from the water and forming little groups. Once their groups are big enough not to be hurt by predators they walk across the beach. The Park has sand dunes which all the little penguins make their burrows. So they built a boardwalk around the dunes so you can watch the penguins find their homes. The most amazing thing is that they always come back to the same place even after a few weeks hunting for food in the ocean. Then once they reach their burrows they stand outside of them and just socialize and mate. So they were really, really loud. It was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. I was definitely freaking out the most at this. It was so cute. The penguins are like 1 ft tall and weigh like 2lbs! We weren't allowed to take pictures so I found some on the internet so you could understand the cuteness of the penguins. To top that off the sky was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. There were thousands of stars in the sky and a milky dust going through it. Since there were not really any lights around it just magnified the light from the sky. It was breathtaking. I could not stop staring up at the sky because I had never seen anything on it. It was crazy to think that I was staring up at a different set of stars than I see in the U.S. So, that night was truly amazing. I just felt the Lord's presence and His Glory poured out into creation. I honestly couldn't look at those penguins and believe their wasn't a God. It was so crazy how they came back to the same spot every time and some even walked 1km to find their burrow. You know there just has to be a God for those penguins to be designed so intricately. I know I've said that so many times but I really am just seeing it over and over again. I feel like He is speaking directly to me through His creation. I just love it!

**Apologies for the ghetto pictures, I had to google some since I wasn't allowed to bring my camera**

Here's a picture of me trying to hug the penguins.....love them.
Here's me and my new family admiring the cuteness of the penguins

This is what they all look like when their headed to their burrows....

How cute are they? I can't handle it!

"O LORD, our Lord,
How majestic is Your name in all the earth,
Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens...
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;
What is man that You take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him?"
Psalm 8:1-4

The Hansen's

I wanted to introduce everyone to the Hansen Family. They are the family that we are currently staying with in Mt. Eliza. They turned their shed into a studio for Chelsea and me to stay in while we are here. They are absolutely wonderful! I don't know what we would do if they weren't here to help us. They have been taking us places, showing us things, and teaching us how to be Aussies. So in the picture we have Angie, Alison "Ali" who is 10, Sophie who is 13, and then Rob "Uncle Rob....as I like to call him". So, Bethers you can breathe now that you can actually see who we are staying with.

Wilson's Promontory

Hey everyone! So, last week we went camping out at Wilson's Prom National Park. We rented a cabin and went hiking and sightseeing. The weather here has been cold and rainy which is never fun. But, God was so great and the entire time we were there the weather was warm and sunny! We saw so many amazing things. We also saw lots of Australian animals.....so fun! A wombat was just hanging around our cabin and a kangaroo just hopped right by it. It was almost like it was staged. The entire trip was absolutely awesome. I was really reminded of how awesome the Lord is and shown His amazing love through His creation.

Chelsea and Me on the beach the first night.... .


The next day we hiked up Mt. Oberon and got to the top and saw this ridiculously amazing view. The last bit of the hike was hard but it was all worth it when we saw this!

"²⁰For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." Romans 1:20
I just kept thinking how great the Lord was and how he speaks to us through all of His creation. I had this moment where I just experienced the Lord and His glory when I was looking out on this view.


Everything was absolutely perfect!We conquered the mountain so of course we had to do my signature pose on the top of it!


We went back to the beach later that night and the way the sun was setting was beautiful!

Here's a picture I shot of Rob and Ali out by the water.

The way the sun was shining on just the mountain was breathtaking!
Signature pose again in the sunset...

The next morning we set off to go find Squeaky Beach.

This is on our way up the mountain to the beach. The water was so clear that it provided a perfect reflection!



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This is one of my favorite pictures I took because it looks so fake. I joked that it was so perfect it could be on a postcard. There was this huge boulder in the middle of the river so the Glen Morrison photographer in me saw this shot and had to take it!
We took a trail up to a point that overlooked everything. It was one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen. The water was so blue, the beach was white sand, the water was calm, and their were mountains in the background. I just could not get over how picturesque it was. It almost seemed unreal to have all those elements together.


The water was so calm it was almost weird.

Here's everyone staring at the Beach from the rocks. We climbed over all these huge boulders to get to Squeaky Beach. It was unreal how beautiful the view was!
We finally made it to Squeaky Beach! It was cold but the water was so tempting so we had to take off our shoes and run into it! I guess its given why they named it Squeaky Beach but its because the sand seriously squeaks like crazy when you walk on it.

"I will praise the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips....Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the main who takes refuge in Him!" Psalm 34