Jenolan Caves

Facts: Jenolan Caves were known to the local Aboriginal population for many thousands of years as Binoomea, "Dark places". European involvement in the area began in 1838 with the first recorded discovery by a local pastoralist James Whalan. According to legend however, Whalan was not the first European to set eyes on the caves, with that honour going to James McKeown, an ex-convict and possibly an outlaw, reputed to have been using the caves as a hideout.

...


Jenolan is what an 'impounded' karst, as the limestone receives most of its water from the surrounding insoluble rocks. Caves, and other karst features, are produced because limestone is soluble in water containing dissolved carbon dioxide and organic acids. Rain picks up atmospheric carbon dioxide as it falls. On passing through the soil more carbon dioxide, from plant roots and decaying vegetable matter becomes dissolved in the water, along with complex organic acids called humic acids. This ground water is easily able to dissolve limestone.


...

So Bronwyn drove Caique and I to these amazing caves! It took ages in car to get there, we drove over the mountains which were full of fog, almost like a fairytale land. We had a little  stop at one of the many lookouts in the BlueMountains, and then continued out to the mittle of nowhere. I mean nowhere! we passed this 'town' which basically consisted of 3 houses. Drove on the longest and smallest road ever, -down hill and really steep. and then we where there.

First we went on a guided tour into one of the big caves. You almost walk in your own dream world in the dark, small lights and these amazing limestones, the glitter, water running, so BEAUTIFUL!

First trip took around 1½hrs with around 910+252 steps
Then lunch where I met my little naughty parrot friend so cute! -btw it was not me how fed it!!!

after lunch Caique and I went (only the 2 of us) on another guided tour -2hrs and 1298 steps! Working on the leg muscles haha

anyhow my conclusion is that the many caves just fasinates me, and Im so thankful Bronwyn took us on this adventure. Afterwards we had ice-cream and then headed home where a thicker layer of fog had arrived! Sad weather and impossible to understand that on the other side of the mountains (Jenolan Caves) It was an amazing blue sky and hot as! :)

Leeches!

Pooring rain on the roof top. A sunday morning where you just want to stay under your duna with a nice book and a cup of coffee! But no you can have too many pyjamas days, so today something eventful is going to happen. Bronwyn went to church and Coolman's (Andrew's) dad picked me up around 10.30am. We went to his house and straight after packing a little bag we walked to the bush in Valley Heights, to our spot -the waterfall. Even though it was a wet day, they rain had stopped so we wanted to go for a swim after crawling down to the edge of the water. Unfortuneatly the waterfall was not really big so I just stood in the water with my legs for a while (nice and cool) while we were chatting. Suddenly I noticed, -or rather Coolman did, a LEECH on my angle! FREAKING OUT, while he was removing it from me. . . ANOTHER LEECH BETWEEN MY TOES, this time I almost pulled all of Coolmans hair out of his head while he was removing that one as well. So out of 4 Leeches we saw 2 of them got stucked on me, non on Coolman -FAIL ha ha !

But I reckon that was 'The aussie experience of the day' and I found out that Leeches are slimy and creepy but they dont hurt, that's why I didnt even notice they were stuck on me :)

So no swimming in the the water, but heaps of convesations (weird ones as well) back at his house we went for a swim -rather a freezing swim in his pool! which was way more pleasent than the leeches. I still can believe how much you can bleed from those little creatures and even without hurting you !

Niiiiice day -around 5pm Bronwyn picked me up, we went to Glenbrook to see Kangaroos<3 aww
We didnt see many only 2- one of them with a Joey, cutes as ! :)
Right now just waiting and looking forward to some Pumpkin and cheese pie yummy

An aussie christmas

25-12-10

Yesterday Bronwyn drove me to Ivan and Margaret's in the late evening. They wanted to have me over for my first aussie christmas. In Australia that is celebrated the 25th December in the morning. So this morning 9am I woke up, put a dress on, did my hair and went in the living room so we could open up pressies. To my big surprise everybody was dressed in relaxed clothes or in pyjamas and morning hair haha! The girls Kelly and Gab was there and then Ivan, Margaret and the massive Swiss Schäfer Elvis!
Who got given his pressie first -what a spoiled dog. AND VERY HUGE BUT CUTE AS :)

I was very surprised like I've been given pressies from so many different people, totally unexpected when you consider Im on exchange but I ended up with this: Xmas cards, Xmas decorations, a calender, a funny ball, money, 3 necklaces, lollies, earrings, perfume, a habour bridge climb, a billabong top and wallet, a bag,, a SLR camera, a book about spiders and insects. -dont remember if I got given more, but i reckon it is HEAPS! Im so happy <3

Anyway Kelly and I watched teli and played Wii the whole day, and then we had a big lunch -chicken, potatoes, gravy, carrots, pudding and pavelova. Yummi.
In the afternoon Bronwyn came to pick me up, we had tea and coffee and then went home after the most amazing first aussie chrissy I've ever had (:

Christmas Eve aka Danish Style

Hold on! : My hostmum's sons wifes brothers girlfriend Malou is danish :)
So Im letting you know because she was being very nice to invite me and Bronwyn to her Danish christmas on the 24th December weee<3

It was a REAL christmas, Im glad I didnt miss out on that one. Malou had (for the first time I reckon) cooked duck, potatoes in sugar, normal potatoes, salad, ricepudding with hot cherry sauce etc. and I must say she managed pretty good! !

It was nice to talk some danish again I really enjoyed it and I found out that Malou took the IB course in England -the course I want to attend when I go back to Denmark. -she could only recommend it even though it means hard work . . so im pretty KEEN :)

Besides that she gave me Makrel in tomatoe and cod roes to bring 'home' yaaaay!
Anyway we had to explain the rules about eating the ricepudding and finding the one whole almond, which was pretty fun! Her boyfriend ended up winning it, how lucky.
We were Bronwyn, I, Malou, Her Boyfriend -his brother and girlfriend, mum and dad + sister (Kelly) who is married to Ben -Bronwyn's son + their new baby girl<3

After dinner we tried to teach them to dance around the christmastree -which ended up with running around in the whole house singing 'NU DET JUL IGEN, NU DET JUL IGEN OG JULEN VARER LIGE TIL PÅSKE . . . '
after that I reckon they must think that danes are just CRAZY people -but it was worth it and very funny.
Afterwards we sat down to open pressies -Malous boyfriend 'Bill' had created some pretty mad gifts. He gave me a book about spiders and insects where he had written and drawn small comments/photos like he heading: Insects and spiders, added text -THAT WILL DEFF. KILL YOU! and a T-shirt in the insect on the front of the book saying: I <3 Tourists!

BIGGEST LAUGH EVER! LOL
a nice evening, cuddled baby Genevie and then Bronwyn drove me to Ivan's where I would attend my first Aussie xmas the following day :) Uhm great

Pyjamas Day

23-12-10

Reckon it was the first day since I arrived (5months) where I pretty much stayed in my Pyjamas the whole day doing NOTHING! <3 just what I needed -it is holidays you know ;)

Rotary's End Of Year Dinner

Rotary had an End Of Year Rotary dinner at Bill's place. Quite nice evening with music, nice food and stuff. Wassa was there as well -guess he never grows up , but you cant help loving the poor man -he came with my crissy pressie a calender with photos of Australia and a ball that changes colour everytime you throw it! Niiiice<3
Lyn gave me and Caique a little chrissy decoration of a kangaroo to hang on the chrissy tree, Lynda and Peter some extra pocket money (: Loving!

Berriman's Christmas

19-12-10

Sunday! The Berriman's all came over to have christmas -all together around 25 people (children inklusive which is quite a lot haha) So practically we ate, played with the kiddoes, opened pressies in a massive chaos of people and then ate again yummy! -there is a reason why Bron is a foodtech teacher! :D

White Water Rafting

Lyn and Allan Caique and I went to White Water Rafting in Penrith with their workers, at the olympic stadium. I was so nervous, It looked wild, but still I was keen.
We were around 9 people in a boat and of course our instructor was Brasilian . . ! :)
Anyhow proud as, -I was the first to fall out of the boat, got a few bruces but it was fun. By the end of the day everybody had fell out of the boat several times except for Lyn whom was scared as! ha ha
It was so cool! lovin<3

Goodbye my Romeo :'(

The day where we all had to say goodbye to our dear Vickii had arrived.
Me, Paul, Paula and Caique went to the airport =Train, bus etc. to say goodbye.
As soon as I saw my romeo in the airport tears started showing!
I just couldnt control my emotions, and when she showed me that she wore the necklace I gave her, the tears started coming faster.

A great deal of people showed up to say goodbye.. .
It was hard and even worse to think about the next person to leave is Caique
-that only made me and Paul cry even more. As much as you hate him, just as much do you love him !

Afterwards the boys wanted to go to New Town . . They kept teasing me so I cheated them and went on another train than them. Think they got a bit grumsy, but I was so angry. Instead I went to Penrith to buy christmas present, so now I dont have to think about that anymore, what a relief!

Beach Bitch!

15-12-10

Most of the exchangers in the area all went to Manly beach with Vickii to spend one of her last days here in Australia with her, before she returned to Argentina )':

The day started out good but we lost poor little Yumi or actually we never saw her, apparently she didnt get on the train and after searching the train through like twice, we had to give up. But besides that most of us made it to Manly, where we had an amazing day with beautiful Vickii aka Romeo.
I got rolled in the sand by the boys, just their way of being mean, and I still find sand in my ears from that, annoying. Anyhow I guess Alice and I broke the reckord in getting sunburnt, dead set it hurt like hell and I was -still am red as a tomato is not more.

In the evening we all went to have dinner at Pancakes by the rocks, niiiiice. And then after hanging around the city for a bit we found our way home (:

God damn we're all gonna miss our mum<3

Friends

14-12-10

Had the day off school, just cleaning my room all day and watched movies. It was the day where I found out that when you really need friends they ll be there fore you any time of the day. Emma and Caique came by and realy supported me after some hard decisions to be made. But they made me feel heaps better, so we ended up having our own little gathering at my house, just listening to music, dancing, locking Caique out on the toilet while eating ice cream, visit from vampires, etc.

It was a really good night, and made me feel heaps better. Emma stayed overnight<3 I love that girl, just talking all night about everything in life ha ha

Richard & Christmas by Candle lights

12-12-10

Caique and I went with Richard Brymora (Rotary Club Member) to Wollongong and near by places. We saw amazing views on our way down, had amazing coffee on a cafe, lunch in a Golfclub and then we went to a Buddhist temple.

The temple is the most pieceful, amazing, beautiful, meaningful, relaxing  place I've ever seen. As soon as you walked in there your mind changed. Inside the temple it was covered with small statues on the whole wall, all of it in gold. All colours were happy and strong, and the strong smell from the incense surrounding us. The temple was placed in the mittle of an industrial area with a lot of pollution. The last place you would ever imagine a temple to be. But as Richard told us, the munks were happy about the spot the temple was placed on (:
It got to  be amazing people choosing a lifestyle like that, but on the other hand, what a colourful life they must have.

After our visit there we drove around a creek and then to a lookout where you could see the whole Wollongong area, we had an icecream there as well. On our way home we went to some of Richards family members who just had a 'baby shower' we picked his wife up and then they drove us to Penrith station where Caique and I + the other exchange students had a thing at Christmas by Candle lights.

The event is once a year arranged by Penrith Rotary Club. It is on the stadium with a little scene, performance, candles and heaps of people. It was funny as, met up with some friends and just chilling. Had these glowing sticks as bracelets in different colours haha, and then there was all our flags, unfortuneatly Caique and I came too late for walking with our flag, which was a shame. But a great great night and day (:

Christmas tree & BBQ

11-12-10

First thing in the morning was to drop my Jordbær Emma<3 Home. Straight after Bronwyn and I went to get a real christmas tree. One thing for sure is that it is not the same as in DK! The trees are different and not nearly as pretty. you dont have many to choose from, but look at the bright side, at least it is a real tree and not made out of plastic! (:

Afterwards we went to the Rotary BBQ. Caique, Paul and Jenna joined later on and it was a really nice day . The rotrian found the winner of the christmas 'tree' which was like a box full of money and different lotteries you could win from.

For once i didnt do much work at the BBQ, i just relaxed. Becca, Bronte and Cassie turned up to sing christmas carols. they are all amazing singers! :O

So afterwards when we came home Bron decorated the xmas tree, very cute n nice (:

Pat's street party

10-12-10
.
So tonight we went to Pat's street christmas party. Me, Caique, Paul and Emma<3
Stayed there for around 2hrs and santa came!! Surprisingly he brought all of us gifts, which was very unexpected! and appreciated (:
Afterwards we walked around in Springwood, wanted to rent a movie but afer 30mins without the ability to decide we gave up!. Emma and I went home to my place and we talked like the whole night, good times good times ily Emma !

Next day we had to wake up like heaps early. . . annoying we couldnt sleep in lol

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2106155&id=1220308898&l=83e335f357

 

Cherity

Today has been a good day!
Sophie and I moved bins, next to Caique -just to be weird but fun as!
you should have seen some peoples faces ha ha

I talked to Michael one of  the teachers who is in rotary as well, and we want to raise some money for his project. -builing schools in poor countries. The plan is that each person who anticipates have a sponser and per each kilometer the person bikes we recieve 10 dollars. but anyhow we ll see how we go in this. but exciting !! yaaaay LETS SAVE THE WORLD GUYS :)

Squash NERDS

Once upon a time ...

Julie and Caique

Ginger Bread Houses

07-12-10

Today I had the day off at school. Bronwyn went to work and picked me up around 11.30am.
We drove to Castle Hills where her mum lives, where we had coffee. Afterwards all 3 drove to the shopping center where I walked around by myself for like 3-2hrs while they were doing their shopping. I was supposed to buy christmas presents, but the truth is I always end up buying clothes instead ):

After my little shopping adventure, we drove back to 'grandma's house where we had dinner. 7pm Bronwyn and I arrived to the church where the ginger bread hous event was held. We were all together 140 people in a massive hall. Christmas music etc. it was great.

The Ginger bread house kit

This was actually one MY ginger bread house

But it turned out like this.

...and this

Bronwyn's house, she is pro

Mine -it's a pudel

different wraped houses

It was a fun  night! and my pudel got heaps of attention. The next day I went to Stephens house in the morning. I gave my pudel to his mum as a birthday present. -as a joke. It was so much fun!! But people just end up thinking im weird??

Melbourne

Easy day at school, went home early. Caique came by when he finished, hot as! very humid puhaaa!
As always Caique and I ate all my mangos, and afterward the funny thing fell asleep on my bed and woke up 5.10pm wtf??

anyhow meanwhile he slept I wrote 20 christmas cards, so  at least I got something useful out of the day. After Caique went home, Andrea and her mum/dad came by to talk about Melbourne! Keen as, its gonna be so so cool!

2nd sunday in advent

05.12.10

Today I got a Daim Chocolate in my advent calender MHHHM.
Anyhow Bronwyn and I went up early and drove to Valley Heights to catch a mini bus with 19 elderly women. The whole day we spend shopping at different places like DFO. It was nice but I always spend too much money!!
In the bus we had a draw, i won a massive basket full of makeup, creams, parfumes etc. yaaay lucky me :D

Brymora's christmas dinner

04.12.10

Richard picked me up in the morning. They were having a family christmas dinner, and I was invited. In Australia they often eat light food and seafood for christmas because it is summer and therefore very hot, so the traditional food that I know from back home was not on the table (:
Of course it is still about eating all day and being in good company which I were.
The day went fast and in early evening Richard drove me home. When we came to Singles Ridge Rd he drove me to Yellow rock lookout even though it was raining. But never mind it was pretty as!

When I came home there was a package from mummy<3 with christmas stuff!! CHEERING! YEEEW so it feels a bit more like christmas now, i got my candle, calender and advent (:

Finding the inner creativity

03.12.10
Straight after school, Caique, Paul and I went to the city. We wanted to watch Harry Potter on the Imax (Biggest screen in the world on sydney habour) When we arrived we had 1hr before the movie started so we walked around trying to find something eatable when we found a massive pile of paintings and people painting in the mittle of the city. Paul showed us his drawings from school and one of the ladies a volunteer saw it as well and asked us if we wanted to paint a painting and support this: American Express will donate $25 to Mission Australia for your heART contributions.

So we did! Even though we had way too little time. but it was fun and enjoyable even though Caique and I felt a bit humiliated standing next the the prof Paul :)

The Imax experience was great as well, really massive  and impressive you kinda feel that youre a part of the movie even though it wasnt 2 or 3D.

Afterwards we finally found something to eat and just sat and enjoyed the beautiful habour at night.

1st december

Rain. - i think that describes it very well.
A bit of a sad day, but good as well only 3 periods and then had to walk home. Met Bronte on my way, so just talking and yer My umbreally didnt really help me much, my shoes were soaked when I came home.

So I went shopping with Bronwyn. I bought a new phone and here comes the story why: Yesterday I got my phone taken in class because is was texting ups :S but nevermind when I finally got it back the buttons wouldnt react when I pushed them, so I 'smashed it into a wall' -it helped last time my phone froze, which it does often. but this time... the screen broke, it could only see half of it. grrrr

So I bought a 30 dollar phone, the cheapest I could find and guess what!? I think the phone is from the last century: No camera and No bluetooth. But the main thing is that it works for texting and calls. so i guss ill survive with this 'old' new phone :D

After dinner I went out on the street talking to Jesse and Khye, and yeh I tried to catch a baseball for the first time in my life ! Niiiice Boogie sugar!