Todd's visit

Hard to believe another 3 weeks have passed since I last updated. Todd arrived the 2nd and spent his first few days in Sydney exploring the city mostly on his own unfortunately as I was cramming to finish 3 final papers and take an exam. I was lucky enough to get an extension on one paper and still finish much earlier than most of the other students who are still taking exams now. We flew to Cairns on the 6th and spent 4 days in the warm sunny weather of Queensland. The first day we were still tired from arriving late the night before and just explored the city a bit. A few of my friends and my housemate, Shereen, were also there so we hung out with them as well. Our "rainforest tour" that was suggested by a friend didn't turn out to be quite what we expected, a lot more driving the Australian countryside as opposed to walking through the Daintree rainforest but the scenery was nice and we stopped to swim in several waterfalls along the way. The next day we went snorkeling and scuba diving on the Reef and although it was beautiful in the Whitsundays and Magnetic Island, it was by far the best I've seen so far. The weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky so we were able to see everything really well. Shereen and her cousin went out on the same boat as us so the four of us had a lot of fun together. Since we extended our trip to Cairns a day we ended up deciding to hold off on New Zealand for this trip since Todd would have only had about 4 days, so we're hoping to come back together in December when it's summer here and see both the North and South Islands together. I think it will be a lot nicer then so it was probably a good decision to wait. That also gave Todd more time in Sydney to enjoy all the city has to offer. He left last Friday just in time to get back for the wedding, sad I'm missing it but glad he was able to make it at least.

I have about a week and a half left in the house before our lease ends and we have to move out. Simone and I haven't quite figured out what we're doing next but we have some other friends on exchange who will be staying around for another semester so we're trying to coordinate with them to try to figure out a place to spend a few more weeks in Sydney before we continue on with our travels. Not sure yet where we're headed, we're thinking at least Melbourne and Byron Bay before hopefully heading somewhere warmer. Although there is a lot of uncertainty right now it will be nice to have the flexibility to travel freely once Simone finishes up her exams. Lots going on now trying to say bye to everyone before people start heading home and also getting things figured out for the next part of the journey. All is well though and I am continuing to love Sydney. So glad I'm not going home right after the semester like a lot of exchange students are because I'm definitely not ready to leave Australia yet and there is still plenty left to explore. Still loving life and so thankful to be here!