Becky & Becca in Australia: Still Lovin' the Land of Oz!

Hello All!

Sorry we've been MIA in the blogging world lately. First of all, check out the post "videos galore" from February 18th. We added a few videos from Queenstown. They're pretty funny. :-) So much has been happening! We've been busy entertaining visitors. Becky had 3 friends from high school come visit over the course of two weeks for their spring breaks. Becca got to play with her madre and padre when they came to visit for a week as well. Highlights of both of the visits:

1. We both got to see Wicked! It was phenomenal! Becky had seen it in Tulsa and loved it, but the Sydney show was even better! Becca knows all the songs, but had never seen the show.
2. Lots of beach time building sand castles, burying Becca, avoiding blue bottle jellyfish, watching for sharks, attempting to learn to surf, and working on our beautiful tans
3. The Lautens discovered what they claim is the greatest pizza in the entire world. Loved it so much they had dinner there TWICE. It must be good!
4. Harbor cruises and ferry rides that let us see the opera house, harbor bridge, Luna Park, etc. from the water. Gorgeous!
5. Discovered the amazingness that is Pancakes on the Rocks. Becky loved it so much that she went 3 times in 1 week! They have perfected pancakes and serve them with ice cream. It's MAGICAL!
6. Everyone got to see all the cuddly animals they wanted to. Koalas, kangaroos, tasnamian devils, you name it!
7. Mama Lauten brought goodies galore from the States! Mac n cheese, Cheezits, and FREE WILLY ON DVD were some of the prizes we got especially excited about. They just don't know how to do cheese correctly in Australia. Hence the mac n cheese & cheezits. And Becca found Free Willy on DVD for $3 on amazon!!! What a bargain!
8. Went to our favorite night spot in Coogee Beach on our last night having visitors in town. Danced the night away and made it home sometime in the wee hours of the morning. The thing about Coogee is...by the time you get there, public transportation pretty much stops. So you have to wait to take the morning train home. This was just fine and dandy with us because we got to take a walk on the beach and enjoy some Pancakes on the Rocks (see #5)

Bottom line: we are now both experts on every tourist attraction in Sydney. We've got this town figured out! As of late, we've been busy working on that "school" thing. Within the first 2 days of this week, we had our first 3 Australian assignments due. A take home test (that was basically a 1500 word essay) and two esays. Not fun. But we're done! Now we have so much to look forward to. One more day of class tomorrow and then it's already our mid-semseter break! We get two weeks off from school so we've made some big travel plans...

April 3-9: Cairns with IES (our study abroad group)
We'll spend 2 days & 3 nights exploring the Great Barrier Reef on a private chartered boat. It's going to be really rough: snorkeling, sunbathing, eating constantly. Sounds like a hard life, but we're up to the challenge. We'll also get to see the Daintree (the oldes rainforest in the world) where we get to kayak, do a jungle ropes course, and hike through the forest with a guide. Sweet!
April 10-13: Brisbane
Brisbane is north of Sydney in Queensland. We're just going to explore the city and do some touristy things. We're most excited about hugging koala bears at the koala sanctuary!!! Ahhhhh! Holding koalas is illegal in New South Wales, but it isn't in Queensland! Score!
April 13-18: Hervey Bay & Fraser Island
Supposed to be a beautiful area. We'll stay on the mainland at Hervey Bay for a few days then take a ferry over to Fraser Island for our last part of the break. We have absolutely no plans except for being beach bums and playing lots of Bananagrams (our latest obsession; we play for at least an hour every day)

Now you're up to date! We can't wait to share stories about our trip! Hope all is well back home in the U.S.A. Glad to hear it seems to be warming up a bit! We leave you with some pics from the last 2 weeks to enjoy...