Margaret River.
Basics:
We planned this trip on our own, so it had nothing to do with the school. We tried to keep it cheap and stay in hostels and rent a van... but it didn't quite turn out that way.
12 US students went - 6 from Elon, 2 from SMU, and 4 from Trinity
We picked up 1 18 year old aussie boy that lives with a girl from Elon, Jarred... he's a life saver.
We were suppossed to drive down in a big van... that didn't happen so we took 3 cars instead and thank god I rode with Jarred, the aussie.
We went down on a Thursday and ate in town that night and then went back to hang out at the hostel. We had 2 rooms that each had 1 double bed and 4 bunk beds so space was tight, but we made due.
Friday was our beach day and we went to 2 different beaches. The first beach we went to for the surfers and boogie boarders because the waves were better. This is where we got in trouble with the lifeguard because the people that went in the water (not me this time) didn't pay attention to the rip tide signs where they weren't suppossed to swim because the water gets trapped and heads back to sea in this one particular place right where all of my friends went in the water. They learned the hard way and had to swim themselves out of it while me and a few others just listened to the leather tanned lifeguard. After a bit there we went back to the hostel, made lunch, and headed to another beach. After the 15 minute walk to the actual beach we realized we were the only ones there and it was gorgeous. There was a cove to go snorkeling in and a ton of rocks to climb on. There was also a huge rock that we could climb up on and out toward the ocean with little pools of water, creatures, and splashing waves. That was the best part! I went all the way out to the edge, but went when the tide was coming in (not so smart) and so on my way back up the rocks I got soaked by a pretty big wave coming in and almost fell but thank god didn't or I would have been in trouble... So we went back up the rocks and took some pictures and hung out a bit on higher ground then back for the night.
Saturday was for 3 of my favorite things... wine, chocolate, and cheese. We had a driver come pick all 13 of us up in a van and drive us around all day. That was the best idea anyone ever thought of. We went to 2 small wineries, then the chocolate factory, then the cheese factory, and finished out with 2 larger scale wineries. We each had about a bottle and a half of wine and the samples weren't stingy at all! Especially since we downed about 14 wine samples in 30 mins. at one winery because they had a wedding about to take place. Usually we had about 8 samples in a span of 40 minutes, so that was fun. The first 2 smaller places were a lot more informative than the larger scale places, but overall we enjoyed it and I tasted some excellent wine! I've ruled out Pinot Noir from my list though... I didn't like a single one of those that I tasted or the dessert wine... that I could have spit out. Most of the whites I liked and one was really good that had a limey taste to it at one of the smaller wineries, different than a lot I had tasted before. As for the reds... well none of us were huge fans but I did find a couple milder ones that I liked.
Overall it was a fun trip but I did learn a few lessons...
1. Never travel with 13 people. Too many differing opinions and strong personalities don't work well together.
2. Even though I already know this... your mother is not on this trip with you to remind you to do things like take your jewelry off before you get into the ocean...
3. Don't wear rings into the ocean. (I was about waist deep and not planning to even get my hair wet when we didn't see a fairly large wave come in and of course it caught me off guard and crashed over me only so that I could stand up and realize that I was missing a ring... very frustrating)
4. Don't assume that you have something if you are unsure where you put it. (Again realizing someone isn't around to remind you that you left something somewhere) I go to pull my pillow out of the suitcase, where I would have bet my life that it was, and realize it's not there meaning it got left in the hotel back when I first arrived... again even more frustrating.
5. Plan your own trip if you want to have any say in what you are doing!
What I'm realizing most is not the fact that my mom isn't here to tell me to grab something or be smart about this or that... but just the fact that even though I know people here on the trip does not mean that they are going to look out for me. I've always valued my friends and appreciated them a lot, but nothing compares to how much I wish I had a good friend here with me on this trip. It's nice to have someone around that will look out for you in a hotel room and be like, "Ok... did 'we' get everything?" and not just look out for themselves. It's not that I'm not capable of doing things by myself because I've always been fairly independent, but you don't realize how much you genuinely appreciate the little things like a friend saying, "maybe we better take off our rings so we don't lose them just incase..." Those are the things that I miss. I can deal with not having my own bed, and not having Olive Garden salad dressing or breadsticks, and even not having my car. But not having someone that you can count on or trust is a million times worse than missing anything else from home.
So I'm working on it. It's kind of reverting back to how I felt freshman year at college (which isn't the best experience looking back). Then I knew I had to look out for myself no matter what. I had to get home safe from the bar, I needed to know the bus schedule, and I had to have a phone and ID and cash on me at all times just in case. Not to mention, I have to be open to meeting new people in a foreign world where everyone is not always nice. Not to mention, I'm only going to be here for 5 months, and you don't exactly make great friends in that amount of time when they know that you are going to be leaving.
But I'm realizing all of these things and working with it. I can look after myself, it's not a problem... it just takes being more aware and doing things to ensure that I'm safe even if everyone else isn't doing it. I think I'm the only person that carried my bag along the beach when we went for a walk because my passport and money was in there... everyone else left theirs sitting on the beach (passport and money included) saying that they "trusted it"... and somehow I'm the one with the bad luck?! So hopefully karma will come around and keep me on the lucky side from now on... but most importantly I'm just learning how to prepare for anything when we head out for a weekend, a day trip, or even a night in Perth. So life goes on, I live and learn, and can only try to do better next time and not wear my rings in the ocean!
Love and miss everyone at home and would love to hear from you!! My email is athomas8@elon.edu
xoxox
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