FSU CHEER!

This weekend is FSU cheerleading try-outs and it hurts my heart that I am not there. I wouldn't give up my trip to Australia for anything but it sure is weird not being in Tallahassee for this weekend! It is weird to think my time is over but being an FSU cheerleader was one of the greatest highlights of my life thus far and I have met some of my best friends and made the best memories from this time in my life! I am dreading the first home game because I just know it will be bittersweet for me!

                           This is me in 2009 when I made the team for the first time ever.

               This is my amazing stunt group from this past year- aka the Barbies

Good luck to all my sweet friends trying out, I love you all and wish you the best of luck!

xoxoxox,
Libby

"I think we're finally here"- Dad

The title couldn't explain it any better! As we flew over Cairns and saw the beautiful blue water and the sunset over the mountains of the rain forest dad looked over at me and goes "boo- I think we're finally here" and boy was he right! Cairns is the Australia we have dreamed of going to! It is a quint little town with lots of character all focused around the water. You can walk everywhere and down every corner is a cute little beach cafe, surf shop, dive shop, or tourist shop! It reminds me of an Aussie style key west minus the bums and roosters....haha. The main drag is called "The Esplanade" and it is a boardwalk that runs along the water. On the esplanade there is what they call a "lagoon" which is a huge swimming pool right next to the water. This place is ALWAYS crowded. There are "barbies" aka BBQ's available for anyone to use, the pool is public, and there is usually live music from what I can tell! Both mornings we have been here thus far dad and I have gotten up early and walked through the esplanade to the marina to check out all the boats going out that day and scoping out which reef encounter we wanted to go on! We also found a fun little cafe called 12 bar cafe which is right next to what we call "the shroom" which is a huge bandshell looking mushroom thing that is a stage and sound area! Dad and I sat at the cafe and listened to live music for a few hours yesterday afternoon and we had a ball. Like me, Dad is a sucker for live music and local musicians so we bought the guys CD. He was pretty good but has nothin on Michael McCloud!! (for those of you who don't know who Michael McCloud is, he is dad and I's absolute favorite live entertainment in the Keys at a bar called The Schooner Wharf!!) Basically it has been a low key past few days for us! I have been by the pool, dad has been watching golf, and of course we walk down by the water a few times a day! I will leave you with some pictures but keep looking back because tomorrow we are diving the Great Barrier Reef!! I am SOOO excited, this is seriously going to be a dream come true!! Hope America is treatin y'all well!

                                       The view from the boat docks!

                                             The boat docks!

                             I will take this as a sign I am meant to be here....

                          Dad and I at 12 bar cafe just listenin' to some music!

                          "The shroom" with the live entertainment :)

                                       This is part of The Esplanade

                                       "The Lagoon" on The Esplanade

                         One of the many beautiful views from The Esplanade

                  We stopped to take a few pictures after our morning walk along the water! Low tide for sure.

xoxoxoxoxo,
Libby

Stuck at the Sydney Airport....

G'day Mates! Yesterday was the first day I actually heard that and I wanted to squeal! haha Well dad and I are now stuck at the Sydney airport :/. Our flight to Cairns which was scheduled for 7am got cancelled and so the next one out isn't until 3:30 so here we are for the next few hours! For those of you who don't know dad gets realllly cranky when there are airport issues so it was a very eventful morning for us but once we got him some coffee, me some breakfast (and a diet coke ;)) we are doing better. I just see it as the perfect time to catch up with everything and everyone in America and update my blog!

So yesterday, dad and I ate at the fish market!! This was our second time going here (the first was early in the morning and we didn't feel like eating) so we had to try the cuisine! It was very.... interesting! They call shrimp "prawns" and make lobster with this cheesy mix baked into it! It was all really good and I am glad I got to try it but I think I will stick with Florida fish prepared by dad with our secret tarter sauce. We decided to try the fish bites, fried prawns, the lobster with the mix, salmon, and fries. The salmon was soooo good as was the lobster! They had a sauce called "fish dip" instead of cocktail sauce and I don't think I even want to know what was in it but it was pretty good. It was just a really cool experience.

                                             Here is all the stuff we ordered to eat!

                                       One of the many fish counters

                         Another fish counter!
After lunch, I talked dad into doing some city exploring which really means shopping in my language. I am very proud to say that I only bought one thing, a pandora charm! Instead of buying lots of touristy stuff I decided I'm going to get a pandora charm for each different city we visit! I got my pandora bracelet from my parents for my 21st birthday and since then have received many meaningful charms such as one from my sister when she asked me to be her maid of honor as well as a garnet and gold one and a football on my last home game cheering! So I figured buying charms would be more meaningful than a t-shirt! Here is the one I got for Sydney:

I bought it in this beautiful shopping center called the Queen Victoria Building! It is an old victorian building (go figure) that they turned into a shopping mall. I don't know why I didn't think to take a picture of the place but the inside was just gorgeous. There were wrought iron spiral staircases, eclectic architecture, and beautiful crown molding detail everywhere! Luckily for me, Sydney has all their fall fashions out so I don't feel a need to shop for anything because it is all boots, sweaters and dark colors! 

After shopping, we went back to the hotel to rest. Dad isn't much of a shopper so I think the hour we were out did him in! Then, last night we went to see Sydney's rendition of the Broadway musical Jersey Boys!!!!! I have grown up LOVING musicals and my family and I go to them all the time! One of the ones I had never seen was Jersey Boys! My family got to go when we were all in New York city in Thanksgiving of 2006 when I was in the Macy's parade but I was in rehearsals when they all went and all I have heard about is how it was every ones favorite so seeing it last night was wonderful!! I absolutely love the music from the 50's, 60's, and 70's  and that's all this was! It was songs from Frankie Valli the 4 Seasons like "cant take my eyes off of you", "walk like a man", "sherry" and "bye, bye baby". It was the perfect way to end our leg of our trip in Sydney!

That's about it for now! Keep checking back because things are sure to get exciting because Cairns is not only the "gateway to the great barrier reef" but it is also a rain-forest and a high class fishing area!! 

xoxoxo,

Libby

SYDNEY!!!

Well, we have arrived!! After a full 27 hours of being in airports and on airplanes, we arrived in Sydney at 7 am on Monday the 8th (Sydney is 10 hours ahead of Tallahassee). The plane rides really weren't bad at all, dad and I made the best of them and I watched a bunch of movies. Planes are so advanced these days. We each had our own TV on the flight from LA to Sydney that had TV shows, movies, games, news, and even a web cam that was on the outside wing of the plane where you could watch the plane take off, land, and just cruise through the air!
As soon as we got here we headed to the hotel to check in then straight to the famous Sydney Harbour where the opera house and bridge are! Sydney is BEAUTIFUL! I kept telling dad that it reminds me of a mix between the big city feel of New York with the harbors of San Fransisco. There are so many different harbours and coves and areas of Sydney that are all so unique!

                                                                Me at Sydney Harbour

                                                               The Harbour Bridge!

The Opera House!!

We took a ferry around the harbour and then up to the Taronga Zoo! This was one of the coolest zoos I have ever been to! I love zoos so dad and I had a good time at this one. The reason this one was so cool is because they are so laid back about everything. There is one part called the "Outback walk through" where you literally are in the same "cage" with kangaroos, koalas, emus, wombats, and all sorts of birds! They also have just huge exotic birds just walking around everywhere and they come right up to you!
The next day, dad and I visited the Sydney Maritime Museum that had the history of the Australian Navy so we went through that and then got to tour an old Australian Navy battleship, submarine, and even the boat that made the first landing on the Australian coast called "Duyfken". Dad is big on museums and boats so it was fun to tour these with him! It always amazes me how much he knows about all sorts of boats. He was giving the tour guide a run for his money!!

                                                    This is the view from Taronga Zoo!!

                                                           Dad fighting a seal.... haha

              A sweet little Kangaroo and her little baby joey!! This is literally how close we were to them!

The Battleship and submarine we went on!

Our hotel is right on a different harbour called Darling Harbour which has a ton of restaurants, the largest IMAX screen in the world, and some shopping! This is where we have been coming alot because it is on the water and has so much to do! From here we walked to the Sydney Fish Market where they bring in all the seafood from the coast to get cleaned and sold! Dad and I are going there for lunch so I will keep you posted on how it compares to Florida seafood!

Darling Harbour

Overall, it has been a great transition! I think dad and I are finally caught up on sleep! The only complaint I have is what dad and I are calling "The diet coke issue". As some of you may know I drink ALOT of diet coke. I will stop my day just to drive to zaxby's or steak n shake to get a large fountain diet coke, sometimes even twice a day its that bad. Well here in Australia, it is not easy to get diet coke in large quantities! haha Every time I order one it costs an arm and a leg and they usually serve it in a little 8oz glass bottle. So luckily we are making due and I stop in just about every McDonald's we can find to satisfy my diet coke need!
So that's about it for now! We fly to Cairns tomorrow which is the tropical part of Australia and where the great barrier reef is!! I don't think I will Be able to sleep tonight I will be so excited! Keep checking back for updates!! Love and miss ya'll!
xoxox,
Libby

First Post!

Finally, I am a blogger! I have wanted to have a blog for the longest time but haven't really had the time or too many things to blog about but I thought now that I am graduated from college (WAHOO!),  it's summer, and I am traveling to Australia, I feel that now is the best time! I am still new to this so please bare with me as I try to get all technological on ya!

So to kick off my first post here is what I have done in the past week! First, I graduated college! A bunch of my family came into town and we had the best time celebrating at my favorite bar, Kens, the night after I graduated! 

Also, this past weekend one of my best friends, Shawn, came in town on a break from dental school! I love when Shawn comes to town because we are two peas in a pod and there is only one thing we think about: fishing. Luckily one of our good friends Taylor took us out on his boat! We got off to a rocky start at first seeing as the boat lift was having technical difficulties so Shawn and I had to work on out tan and our buzz while the boys cleaned and tried to fix the problem! Luckily Skip, Taylor's dad, saved the day and we got to go out on the water for a little bit to catch some bait fish! 

You would think just catchin bait fish would be safe and harmless right? WRONG! While Shawn was being a sleepy little bow bunny, she got woken up by getting nailed in the head with a pyramid weight on the end of a sabiki rig and ended up bleeding from her head! I am glad she is ok but it was quite funny to witness.... 

They went out again today but unfortunately I couldn't go this time because I am currently on a plane to AUSTRALIA!! For my graduation gift, I asked for a trip for just my dad and I to go to the land down under! This has been a trip we have both dreamed of doing and now was the perfect time!! For weeks Dad and I have been singing songs about Australia, talking the aussie lingo, and planning our trip and I cant believe it is finally here!! I hope to keep you all posted through this blog on our adventures so keep checking back!!

xoxoxo, Libby