Monday June 16, 2008

Breakfast today was at 7am. We got up at 6:40, so we had to rush to get dressed and ready. I packed as much as I could in those 15 minutes. We got to go down into the other peoples buffet again and they had just about the same things. Eggs, bacon, cereal, toast. Yep. It was our last meal at Club Croc which was kind of depressing because it was such a great hotel.

After breakfast, we had to go back to our rooms and wait for them to check us out. Alicia and I needed to get money from the ATM, so Ms. Lana said as long as we had a group of 4 we could. We each got $100 out of our accounts.

I ran back to my room because I still had to throw all of my stuff together. Somehow, I fit everything into my bags and was on the bus when it left. Ya! We had about a two hour drive to the sugarcane farm. When we got there, a lady whose name escapes me got onto the bus and told us where the bathrooms were and where to go.

I didn't have to go to the bathroom, so I went onto their trailor with picnic table seats. Bailey, Emily, Abby, and I sat in the last row, so furthest away from the tractor that was pulling the trailor. The driver passed around some raw sugarcane. They were probably 6 inches long. We had to bite into them to get the juice out. it was tough todo with braces, but I was able to get some out. I didn't finish it because I didn't want to put that much effort into it, so I chucked it out of the trailor.

The farmer showed us how he harvests the can and what he does it with. His harvesting tracter was pretty big and interesting. He also put some long canes through a small electronic crusher. It crushed the can which got the juice out. We got to try some of the juice, and it was kinda tangy.

They fed us lunch there. We had steak sandwiches (not as good as the hamburgers we were craving) and juice. There was also a souviner shop. I bought 5 postcards and Australian socks for only $8. I think it was a good deal. I also got a crunchie (like a sponge covered in chocolate) and water. We also got to try molases which is made from the cane.

After the juice is squeezed, the leftover cane is burned and used as the fuel for the sugarcane mills. I thought that was interesting.

We loaded the bus after everyone had gotton souviners and gone to the bathroom. Everyone sat in their same seats, so i was by Emily again. For the first 2 1/2 hours or so, we watched Crocadile Hunter films. I was in and out of conciousness during that part.

Then we stoped at a gas station for a 30 minute break. Most people took advantage of this and got ice cream since we would have time to eat it. I got a soda, chips, and ice cream. Yum! Time seemed to go by too fast, because soon it was time to load up again. This time there was no movies, but Troy did tell us a story about Ned Kelley:
Ned's family lived in Queensland and were outcasts in the city. The police would always twist their actions into something chargeable. One time, this police officer had a crush on Ned's sister. He came by their house and demanded to see her. He pulled a gun, so the brothers had to let him in.
He tried to take the sister, so the brothers hit him and threw him out. The officer blamed Ned even though he wasn't even there. A 2,000 pound reward was placed over him.

After the story, we just talked for the rest of the ride. We got to Rydges Capricorn Resort at 6:00 or so. I was roomed with Alyson, TeAnna and Braiden, so really good roomates. We all unpacked and I changed into jeans for dinner. The hotel was absolutely amazing. Our room had a full blown kitchen, full bed, tv, table, bathroom (of course), and a back room with 3 twin beds. I was really impressed. There was also a huge glass room with a sliding door leading out to a huge courtyard. Like I said, absoultely amazing.

Dinner was at 7:00 in the Billabong Cafe. They had french fried (!), and some pasta, or course, they had bread. We had dessert too (go figure) of ice cream. Afterwards, almost everybody wanted to go down to the ocean, so they took us. Bailey and Braiden and I went out into the water and got compleatly drenched. We got out to about cheast deep and rode the waves for 10 or 15 minutes. It was so much fun and the ocean was just sand, shells and water (no seewead), so it was really fun.

They made us all get out because they said the sharks feed at night. Troy said "I know i said that your 4 times more likely to be killed with a cork than a shark, but most Aussies know to not swim at night."

Since we were all drenched and couldn't swim anymore, we decided to go back to our rooms and dry off; get our clothes clean. We spent the rest of the night cleaning clothes with all of the resources that our room had to offer. This included tabels, irons, ironing boards, dishwashers. The whole 9 yards.

Our laundry station was still going strong at bedtime and past. Bill saw our light on and came and knocked on our door. We said we lost track of time and would go to bed. He obviously didn't believe us, because he said that he would wait until all of the lights were off. I ran around frantically turning the iron, dishwasher and everything else off. Once the last light was turned off and I was in bed, he left. I got back up, and Braiden and I turned the dishwasher back on. Then, we really were tired, so we went to bed. I think we fell asleep around 11 o'clock that night. We still had a load going and things drying.