Not too much happened towards the beginning of the week. I have the same professor for two of my classes, and so it will be easier to get to know him, and vice versa. I like him so far- even if my sensation&perception class appears to be difficult. A lot of graphs and experiments to explain the senses and such. I find myself wanting to pay attention; I hope it lasts and is not one of those "oh beginning of school things". I have already been given weekly assignments for Love, Sex and Relationships. Not very hard, but interesting nonetheless. My school week officially ends on Wednesdays, so four day weekends are pretty marvelous.

Thursday was spent on and off buses trying to organize our bank accounts at the various branches around Robina and Broadbeach. Lindsey forgot her passport for her deposit so we had to come back to campus to grab it and went to Pacific Fair. I finally settled mine and we got our debit cards. Once we finally got back, we dropped off our papers for the Australia Zoo trip and a Dracula's Cabaret Theatre Dinner Show- which Kyra and I are pretty excited about. The weirder the better. Plus food! oh yeah! Hopefully Tuesday we will be finalizing our two other major trips for the semester, as well as Seaworld and Dreamworld.

Friday we went on our Winery tour with Cork'n Fork. Haha. A very nice man named Peter picked us up in a gigantic van at 9am by the bus roundabout (they LOVE rotaries here, but call them roundabouts). Anywho, we made the hour treck up to Tambourine Mountains where the major wineries/vineyards are. Lindsey said it reminded her of Martha's Vineyard; tons of cute arts shops, restaurants, and other crafty and such places. The whole street (Gallery Walk) was so amazing, I wanted to wander into all of them. They reminded me of Raspberry Junction. Most stuff was still closed by the time we got up there, but on the way back we were able to observe the bustle about. We got to our first winery right on time and met up with another couple who were going to join us. It was called Witches Falls. We tasted 2 white wines, 2 reds and a dessert wine. Lindsey and I split on a bottle of lighter red wine called Saignee. Smooth and fruity while not being too dry or too sweet. I'm sipping on some right now. Our next stop was Aussie Wines. We tried about 3 of each, including one called Piper Rose (rosay, pronounced) and a Cab Sem Blanc (quite delicious). All of the main dessert wines are made from a fungus that grows on the grapes called Botrytis. Very delicious, super sweet, only meant to have a little with a dessert that isn't overly sweet (like cake...more like fruit). From there we travelled over to another winery Cedar...something or another. There we tried the traditional wines to the territory and a cream liquer that was sort of like Baileys but about 100x better. Kyra and Lindsey split on that bottle and we tried it last night. The final place, Heritage Wines, was our stop for lunch and final tasting along with dessert. For lunch I had Salmon (with a spinach, sweet cream glaze..and I think peppercorn...either way it was the best salmon I have ever had) with salad (balsamic vinagrette, love that here) and traditional chips (best battered french fries ever). For dessert we had sticky date pudding. Which isn't really pudding...more like a cake/bread texture. Whipped cream, butterscotch and raspberry syrups to accompany it. The fanciest and most delicious I have ever had. $80 USD well spent. I was so pleased, but exhausted by the time we got back. Nevermind to say we were all relatively wobbly on our feet.

Yesterday we ventured over to Robina Town Centre (gigantic mall, 3+ floors) that is the life of most of the suburb. There are grocery stores, clothing stores, cafes, restaurants, banks...etc. We did some shopping (I found my dad a nice polo, and I got myself some spartan sandal shoes and a tank top) and came back spent from all the walking. We were lucky and caught the bus straight away back. A quick 10 minute ride. It was Saturday so we had to have a classy dinner night out. We got into our dresses (so pretty) and walked over to Krish. It is a fancy, yet relaxed Indian restaurant. I ordered the Beef Madras and a side of plain Basmati Rice. To go: Garlic and Herb Naan. I absolutely LOVE trying new foods now. It has definitely grown on me and everything was so delicious. I am very excited to go back: next stop is Roberto's Italian...claiming to have the best Italian on the Gold Coast.  http://www.diningout.com.au/menu.aspx?id=277

Today was a day to just chill out, go to the gym, and do some homework. This coming weekend is an island trip so you can bet on tons of pictures to come. I don't have very many from the winery because my batteries died at the very first place. Kyra has most of them on her phone so when we can figure out how to transfer, there will be plenty more!

(the two that I can remember)

http://www.heritagewines.com.au/HeritageWines-Stanthorpe.aspx

http://www.witchesfalls.com.au/