Harbourfront, Halloween and Hiking

It has come to the end of the semester. Everyone has finished lectures, and there is a sense of relief in the atmosphere as people get their last assignments handed in. To celebrate, a posh three course meal was organised for the residents of Kooloobong at the harbourfront restaurant last Friday. It was a great chance for everyone to get dressed up and look nice for a change! There was no choice in what meal you had, it was kind of "pot luck"  because the waitresses just put random dishes in front of random people, and if you didn't like it you just had to find someone willing to swap with you. I feel I was lucky with my meals, and had calamari to start, chicken, ham, cheese, mashed potato for my main, and cheesecake for dessert (and also Tora's profiteroles because she wasn't hungry anymore - result!). After the meal, we took the party back to Kooloobong, and partied on until the early hours of Saturday morning.

So... It's that time of year again, where everyone paints their faces and looks like an idiot, but no one minds. There were birds, pumpkins, clowns, catholic school girls and Miss Norway. Halloween is barely ever celebrated in Australia, so we decided to show them how its done (even though it is my least favourite holiday of the year - mainly because I hate wearing face paint)

The boys hosted the party in their new house, and fun was had by all. The night started early (about 3pm for me) and everyone was sat outside to avoid overheating as there was a nice breeze, but this was soon ruined by a downpour of torrential rain and a quick lightning show. The party migrated inside, but we did let it ruin our spirits (or the goon punch). The table was used for beer pong, and in the lounge room, drinking games were being played - there were some decent games for the one of the first times since I got here! It's nice to not play ring of fire for once!

After a quick trip home to Skype my two favourite Stephs, I went back to rejoin the party, but I was so tired from a week of assignments and from the night before that it wasn't long until I passed out on the sofa! I decided it was probably a good idea for me to go home, so I did, but was apparently found a few hours later asleep on Noor's couch - no idea why, and no recollection of this haha

The next night, Halloween was celebrated with some of my course mates at the Outback Steakhouse. It was expensive, but bloody good. I donned my pumpkin outfit again (no face paint this time) and had a great meal with a nice, cold lager. After the meal, we went back to Thom's place (who has a sward, a bow and arrow, a library, and many many more cool things) and played card games into the night, and it was great to not be drunk (for once)!

The next day I made an effort to get up early and actually managed to make it to the top of Mt Keira! It was the first time I'd managed to get up there and the view was amazing. It just seemed magical as blue butterflies danced around my head. On the railings there were padlocks, where people had engraved their names and the names of their loved one. This must be something that happens all over the world, because I saw it in Ljubljana when I went, and there are definitely other places in Europe where this is done. I suppose it represents the never ending love that the two people have for each other, and its all very sweet.

Anyway, once I'd had enough of taking in the view, I was tempted to try and hitch a lift down with someone who'd driven up, but decided that I should just walk. It's a lot harder on the way down than it is on the way up - mainly because I can see how far I'm going to fall if I slip, and I'm not great with heights! I made it down in half the time it took for me to get up, with only a few minor scrapes.

That's all for now! Don't expect too many posts in the next few weeks... Exams will soon be upon us so all my time will be taken up with revision, but I'll try and blog before NZ since I don't think I'll be able to do one over there! x