Oh the beauty!

North Stradbroke Island, the second largest sand island in the world. "Sand island?"you ask. Yes, sand island. Island made entirely of sand. And it was big. It's sister island is Moreton Island, just off of Moreton Bay (who would have thought?!) where I was last time I was in Australia.

I just realized, I have sandboarded on the largest

and second largest sand islands in the world.

Back to reality. So, we hopped the ferry, with our sweet busses, over to Straddie. The way over was a battle against the wind; there were times I thought I would fly off the top deck, but alas this did not happen. We got to Straddie just in time for a beautiful sunset at Amity Point (don't snorkel there... I will e

laborate later). After the fantastic sunset we went to Seashells, a wonderful restaurant run by a wonderful man willing to cater to 65 college students. After we ate dinner, we celebrated Cat's birthday (Woo!) with the most delicious cake. Then we sat with Shane Coghill, a local Aboriginal man who experienced a lot of crazy things in his life. He told us about the lifestyle of the Aborigines on Stradbroke Island, and of his childhood and the stolen generation. It was all incredibly interesting. The Aborigines are very spiritually connected to the land and the animals, and the stories he told were unreal.

After listening to Shane, we got back on the bus, and went to our accommodation, a sweet apartment style resort, and there were 12 people in our apartment. Well, I think ours had 13. I met a bunch of new people from the program, so it was really sweet.

Today we went snorkeling and kayaking and boomerang painting and throwing. We went to snorkel first, it was a good time, even if the water was murky (and I could hardly see my fluorescent fins). Erica and I ended up just hanging out in the shallow water talking. After snorkeling began mine and Erica's kayaking failure. We went out second place, and ended up last place. We turned around to go back before the rest of the group, and they still managed to catch up to us.

After kayaking and a quick snack we went to go paint our very own boomerangs. It was so much fun. Since I have no artistic talent whatsoever, I ended up just putting dots all over my boomerang to make it look semi aboriginal. It kind of worked. Sadly, it didn't dry in time for me to learn how to throw it (although, I already know how, I just can't actually do it properly). While we were painting Shane's nephew, Brendan told us how a few years ago, at Amity point a tourist was snorkeling, and ATTACKED by a SCHOOL of BULL SHARKS! Yes, that IS where we were snorkeling, in murky water, where bull sharks love to hide and maul you.

Boomeranging was over, so now it was lunch time! After lunch we went on a coastal hike on the other side of the island. It was so beautiful!

Most of my pictures on Facebook are from the hike. I've never seen such a gorgeous and wild coast. After our little hike, we went for gelato. It was so delicious. So de

licious. (I haven't had gelato in ages.)

When we got back to the hotel from the hike Erica and I got the makings for ANZAC biscuits from Mazz. ANZACs are delicious! That night, we also went to the beach twice, and discovered the true wonders of North Stradbroke Island: glowing sand. Yes, you read right, glowing freaking sand! It was easily the highlight of my night.

We had to be on the bust by 6:45AM today in order to eat delicious pancakes, surf, and sandboard before we had to catch the ferry back. Well, as you can see, the pancakes were delicious- I mean who doesn't love pancakes on the beach? No one, that's who. The water was really rough today, so I didn't end up surfing (by personal choice... that and I'm terrified of drowning) (and sharks). Instead, I sat up on the rocks and enjoyed the gorgeous view! Sandboarding was next, and boy was it an adventure. I tried it all three ways: on your stomach, on your butt, and on your feet. The first two worked. The third didn't. I crashed hardcore,

and got whiplash. Although, I feel it's a great reason to get whiplash.

It was now time to clean the apartment, which happened quite quickly and without complaining! After cleaning up, we went to Brown Lake, a rain-water lake in the middle of the island infused with tea-tree oil. It supposedly has healing powers, and it makes your skin super soft!

After Brown Lake, we had to go back. It was so disappointing, as I'd made new friends and gotten closer to already-friends. I didn't feel like going back to Griffith, but alas, I had to.

Tomorrow, I am going to Lamington National Park, a rainforest. I'll be sure to tell you all about it... Approximately a week from now.

♥ caitlin