(Note: This is a continuation of my last journal entry from Sydney, so be sure to read that one as well.)

On Wednesday we arrived in Noosa for a few days at the Sunshine Coast. It was a bit of a traumatic adventure finding a hostel there. I had reserved one in Noosa Heads, but discovered from the bus driver that you could only access it by a barge, and the times for the barge to cross had ended for the day. You know, it's really hard to plan a vacation in a foreign country. Things just aren't always what they claim to be when you research online. We found that out several times.
So we checked into a hostel in a 12-person room, which was quite an adventure in itself. It was really hard for me to sleep in a hostel at first, because you don't know or trust anyone, and you're scared that someone's gona steal your stuff. So I slept with my passport tucked into my PJs and my wallet, camera, phone, and money all in a row beside me underneath my covers. I figured it'd be pretty hard for someone to steal those without waking me up. But still, I didn't sleep very well the first couple nights. The last night it was 9 guys and us 3 girls, and 5 of the guys were from the U.S.A., which was so cool! They were really nice and I actually slept the best that night out of the whole time I was there.

Thursday: We spent the day at the beach, soaking up sun, and shopping. It was funny because I love crocheting, and I was making Jenna a scarf, and while I was at the beach I was crocheting. So there I am, a young person tanning on the beach while crocheting! That must have been a funny sight. But hey, that's who I am, and one thing I've been learning during this semester in Australia is to embrace and accept who I am.
That night we tried to find something to do, but we couldn't find much of anything. It's crazy how early stuff closes! I was starving and wanted some dinner, but it was after 9pm, so we couldn't find one single restaurant that was serving dinner. We found a couple that were making pizza. I really wanted a salad, but I had to settle for a pizza, otherwise I might have died from starvation. (I know, I'm so dramatic.)

Friday: We spent the day at the Australian Zoo, home of Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter! After Steve died, his family took charge of running the zoo and keeping his dream alive. Reading and hearing about it really impressed me. It appears they are really family oriented, and the zoo came across that way. Every single staff member we met was wonderful and friendly, and they had free kids rides and a free bus tour of the park, etc. Some places like theme parks and zoos you find that EVERYTHING you want to do costs extra, but here that's not the case, which is really nice.
While at the zoo, I got to hold a baby crocodile and a koala! And I patted a wombat and kangaroo. How cool is that?? We also watched a crocodile show, where a guy was feeding a crocodile. They're scary, man!
There was a memorial set up in the zoo to remember Steve Irwin, which was really neat. One of the articles taped onto it said something like "in memory of a true Aussie icon." It's interesting how much Steve Irwin embodies so much of Aussie culture and spirit.

Friday we traveled on to the Great Barrier Reef... so read on to my next blog!