Easter Break Part I

Just overcame my first stint of being sick in a foreign country. I hope that doesn't happen again soon! I spent three days shut up in my dark room underneath my cozy covers--which was nice, but I was about to go stir crazy from lack of human contact!! My flatmate, Jack, made a delicious, wholesome, soup--Tummy Soup, as he calls it. The best cure for flu-like symptoms EVER! And now I'm all better.

(Thank you, Jack)

Now that I'm up and running again (despite a completely whonky sleep schedule), I figured it would be a good time to update everyone about Part I of the Easter Break trip I took with my good friend, Nicole. The first part (and it seemed to be the most bothersome part throughout our whole vacation) was figuring out the transportation system. We took the train from Newcastle to Sydney, only, in a moment of panic, we jumped on the wrong train.

Oops!

Her family friend came and rescued us after we doubled back, and later drove us down to Nicole's farm in central New South Wales. Bogan Gate is a sleepy little...um...town? I guess you could call it a town. I think she said the population is about 200, and I would feel safe betting that only 20 or so actually live in town. Now, for all of my American friends, the word 'Bogan' in Australia is similar to our 'Hillbilly', 'Redneck', or 'Hick'. So, poor Nicole, when she tells people where she's from it's a bit embarrassing for her to say she's from 'Bogan Gate'. Bless her heart! But it is what it is. Actually, the Bogan River runs near there, and there was once a gate that people would have to driver their herds or their carriages through to then get across the river (or so the story goes); so that's where the name of the town comes from.
Anyway, many adventures are to be found when living on a farm (most of them out of doors). I became well acquainted with their pet sheep, Fred; road a beast of a tractor; saw wild kangaroos and wild goats; drove an ATV (a little known favorite past-time of mine); and had a Bogan Gate Easter, complete with lamb chops and oodles of Cadbury Chocolate Eggs!

After our lovely stay in Bogan Gate, we headed up the coast to Noosa Heads. A quaint little, beachy, tourist town on the Sunshine Coast (not to be confused with Gold Coast, which as you'll remember from a previous post, is something entirely different). But that's getting into the second part of our trip...

****Part II coming soon***

In the mean-time, here's a picture of my friend Fred, a sheep who thinks he's a dog: