Survival of a naive travel nurse.

Fun with my bestie and decision time

Once again, the nightlife in New Zealand does not disappoint. We have a fun night out with no further complications and now it's time to get out and show Dawn the sites.
Of course, we spend some much needed time at the spa cleansing our pours and detoxing.
Once we are done with the spa, it's time for a little shopping and taking in some culture. I introduce Dawn to my new favorite coffee obsession. She agrees that it is amazing and different from the coffee back home.
All to soon, it's time for us to head back to the airport, get Dawn's luggage, which finally arrived, and head to Australia. Claire is staying in New Zealand and Aina will go back to Sydney without us.
Although I'm sad to say goodbye to Claire and Aina, I'm super excited about the trips Dawn and I have planned in Australia.
We are planning on doing some sightseeing around Brisbane, taking a bus trip to the blue mountains, and heading to the Whitsundays with plans to stay on an island overnight. It's a lot to pack in with a short amount of time, but we are definitely up for the challenge.
The bus trip to the Blue Mountains is great because all the planning is done by someone else so there is no stress involved. I know this is my third time going to the mountains, but there is so much to see that I couldn't possibly see it all in one trip. This trip includes a train ride to Katoomba, which is really cool and goes down a steep decline. It's a bit scary but overall worth the trip. We don't have a ton of time in the Blue Mountains so after Katoomba, it's time to move on to the more beachy part of the trip.
The Whitsundays are beautiful. We start off at Airlie beach. Our first hostel is nothing to write home about, but again it's just a cheap place to sleep. Much more important on the agenda is our sailing trip where there is a bit of drinking involved, followed by dropping us off on Long Island for our overnight stay there.
The one thing I forgot to mention to Dawn is that the alcohol, if you're not Australian or at least have been living in Australia for a while, seems to be a bit stronger and it just hits you faster than normal.
By the time we're back on the boat trying to get to our island, Dawn and I are both pretty tipsy. We both sampled the free wine and other assorted beverages because as we all know, it's very hard to turn down free alcohol when you're a broke twenty-something.
I'm feeling pretty good and happy to be on the boat at this point, but Dawn is ready to get back to the island for some sleep. I'm handling the alcohol just fine since I have been enjoying Australia's alcohol for quite some time now and have gotten used to how strong it is and how fast it can hit you. I find that I need to keep reminding Dawn of which island we are going to in order to keep her from getting off on the wrong island. Every time the boat stops she jumps up and says let's go, and it's all I can do to keep her on the boat. If we get stuck on the wrong island, we will have nowhere to sleep and will suffer a very long and uncomfortable night. I can't let that happen as I'm supposed to be the responsible one who knows her way around Australia or at least attempts it.
One of us has to remain levelheaded so we don't end up sleeping on the beach overnight. I keep reminding Dawn of this every time she jumps up, but her memory is very short at the point.
It seems like hours later and we finally get to our island and get checked in. It's time for some much needed sleep and both of us definitely need to sleep it off for a little while.
The next day is a little more low-key. It's time to take in some magnificent scenery and do some scuba diving.
We are diving on the reef and it is mesmerizing. The water is crystal clear and I was even able to take a picture with a large Maurie fish. The reef on the Whitsundays is spectacular to say the least. I've never seen anything like it. Following a fun day of scuba diving, we take a nice little boat cruise and do some mild drinking. After the other night we are both keen on taking it slow on the alcohol. There's plenty of other things to do on the cruise besides drinking, especially people watching. On this cruise there are plenty of people to watch. There are three Irish boys with their loud accents excited about being out and about drinking and having a good time. From their conversation, I'd guess they are in for a long night of drinking and raucous behavior. That's the beauty of it though. There are the party types, the older crowds that are happy to sightsee, and everyone in between. Whitsundays is a backpacker paradise with something for everyone. Our accommodations on long island are of the backpacker variety.  They have the beautiful suites up front by the beach and then they have some backpacker accommodations a little further back. Amazingly, you can enjoy a beautiful island like this on a backpacker budget.
I love the island life and could sleep in the beach hammocks for days on end, but my budget doesn't allow for me to stay forever so we head back to reality and back to Brisbane.
Leaving the island and beauty of the Whitsundays makes me a little sad, but not for long because there is still plenty of adventures to be had. In Brisbane we are able to go to the koala park to see the kangaroos and koalas. They are amazing to see up close. We both took some great pictures and I'm having a good time, but one thing keeps sticking out in my mind. I keep thinking that I like hanging out with my friends and I am starting to miss America.
I have tried putting it out of my mind, but little things keep reminding me.
When we were back in New Zealand, my previous hospital in Arizona emailed me about a position there. I considered it briefly but wasn't ready to go home yet. I'm starting to think that now might be the right time to go back to either my home state of South Dakota or at least to some part of America so I can regather myself, get some money together, and then decide when I want to do with the rest of my life. Do I want to go to England, which is a possibility, or do I want to travel domestically in the United States? England was my dream before moving to Australia and I have been slowly completing paperwork if England becomes the next destination I'll need to be ready.  I'm not sure right now, but one thing I do know is that my adventure in Australia is coming to a close. I just have to figure out how to make the next move and where to go....

Six months later And I have met the man I'm going to marry and I've also spent three weeks in Honduras on a medical mission (that is another story,) but life has a way of working out the way it is supposed to.
The end for now!