Last week was an eventful one. It included a quintessential Aussie experience: I finally tasted vegemite! Vegemite is a dark brown, sticky, thick spread that's made from yeast extract along with vegetable and spice additives. Now, it's not that it tastes bad necessarily, I just don't get why someone would choose to eat it (though I am told it's an aquired taste). It's SUPER salty. People put it on lots of things, but mostly I've seen it on toast, sandwiches, and wraps (although one girl did put it on her pancakes last week...). I was instructed to put it on a quesadilla I had made, and they kept making me scrape the vegemite off until there was barely any left...I think they knew I wouldn't be a fan! It was definitely something I needed to do while I was here though!
On Thursday my afternoon class got cancelled, so I decided to treat myself to a trip into the Cultural Centre in South Bank. Instead of taking the bus I opted for the longer walk to the ferry since it was a beautiful day and the ride down the river is so pretty. In South Bank I took a quick walk through the State Library of Queensland and continued on to the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), intending to return to the library on my way back to the ferry. However, I got sidetracked at the GOMA by the Valentino Retrospective: Past/Present/Future exhibit (unfortunately, pictures weren't allowed). I ended up spending over an hour and a half marveling at the dozens of exquisite dresses that were on display, many of which have been worn by the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Julia Roberts, Cate Blanchett, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis; they honestly are like pieces of art.
By the time that was done I had to go straight back to the ferry to get back to college in time for dinner. It was such a treat to be by the river in the mild evening (winter!) air!
Saturday and Sunday comprised the main event of the past week: a farm stay an hour's train ride away down at the Gold Coast. Usually IFSA-Butler does a farm stay for the whole program, but they opted for other excursions this year. However, five of us still wanted to get a taste of life in country Australia, so we decided to go anyway. What a good decision! Our first stop was a wine tasting at a nearby winery, then we headed to Gum Nuts Farm. It's primarily a horse farm (they have 42 horses living outside all the time, mostly in huge pastures but they can pretty much roam wherever they want on the property), and we did a LOT of horseback riding!
The first afternoon we spent an hour or two riding around the property, then spent some time sitting on our cabin's porch watching the setting sun turn the surrounding hills red. For dinner we were served stew and rice, along with mugs of bush tea that was made in a bucket over the fire. The next morning we set out on another trail ride, this time heading off the property, down the street, and up and down all kinds of hills. That morning we were on our horses for three hours straight, and I have to admit we were all really feeling it afterwards! But the views from the top of the hill, as well as the wild wallabies we saw, were totally worth it!
The afternoon was spent on a variety of activities: milking a cow, whip cracking, boomerang throwing, skeet shooting, and feeding goats. This part of the weekend was pretty redneck, or "so bogan" as the Aussies would say! There was also, yes, more riding! This last ride lasted another two hours, and we went into the bush as our horses negotiated pretty steep hills scattered with rocks and sticks. I was quite impressed. We saw more wallabies and a GIANT kangaroo that hopped right across our path! Towards the end of this ride while everyone gave trotting a go, I got to play around and canter in a huge open field with one of the other staff members. Thankfully I still remembered how it's done, and it was SO much fun! Though I must say, my riding muscles have gotten super weak during the year I've spent out of the saddle, and my legs are still feeling the effects of this weekend!
That last one is us with some of the Japanese staff, they were so sweet and absolutely hysterical!
Sorry guys, that was a long one! If you've read this far, thanks for bearing with me! Miss ya!
Do NOT apologize for long posts. I la-la-love them! Love YOU! Lots of prayers your way!
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