The adventure is coming to an end

Well yeah again, it's been a while since the last update, but, a lot of stuff to do. And I guess it might be the last update, since I leave in five days *sob*. This time there's some pictures from the Nan Tien Buddhist Temple in Wollongong. And it's one of the largest Buddhist temples in the southern hemisphere (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nan_Tien_Temple)

Fishies in the pond!

And cool statues on the lawn

So, this is the entrance to a small shrine.

Quite beautiful in the gardens

This is the entrance to the main shrine

A shrine for incense

A huge bell you could ring and make thanks for what you are grateful for.

Can't quite remember what I gave thanks for, but I guess it was for meeting all these cool people down here :)

Going to miss campus down here, this is what you might see right outside your bedroom door.

There is also a planetarium real close to the campus, so we went there one day

and played around with different stuff. Also saw a Liquid Nitrogen show, quite cool!

Poured nitrogen a plant, easy to shatter afterwards!

The coolest thing there however was the planetarium, looks like a doomsday device!

Surfin USA... I mean Fairy Meadow Beach!

 So, finally some proof that I've actually been surfing!

 Pretty determined to get this done.

I can't for the life of me get past the fist waves. I suck.

However another day I managed to get up on my knees, 

for about 0.5 seconds! Great success!

Since it was getting close to the end of the semester. The campus hosted a formal dinner night. However this was expensive so we hosted our own formal dinner with the famous chef Antonio!

And assistant chef Allison, looks a bit afraid of what we're gonna eat!

Herroh!

It was the one of the most delicious meals I've ever had! And I'm not that fond of squid!

Yummy!


 More food!

 Since there is a surplus of Americans here they hosted a thanksgiving dinner for us. It was fucking amazing!

 Yeah, we gathered all of the people in our group for this, was an evening of great enjoyment.

One idea that came up was that each person got an envelope with their name on.

Other people could then write something about that person an d put it in the corresponding envelope.

It was great, when I read my notes I cried :'(

Some of the highlights from this:

"I'm going to miss you more than the desert miss the rain"

"You're like a ray of sunshine in a dark evil world"

Oh yeah and "You stud muffin you" That cracked me up xD

And so many more, but they're a bit long to recite here in whole. But, damn it, I cried.

After this great night, I've been occupied with studying for my exams, and at the time of writing I'm all done!  Of course, I should have read more, but we'll see how it goes. I went and got my PADI Open Water Certification instead of reading one weekend. It was great, so I'm now a Certified Scuba Diver, so much fun! Have to return to the Great Barrier Reef sometime, damn it! Oh yeah, we also finally had a bbq where we had Kangaroo steak, it was awesome!

We tried to get a picture with everyone, sadly all couldn't come. So you are with us in spirit (or on paper) at least :)

  

We've had so much fun down here, I can't believe it's almost over. The last few days have been spent saying goodbye to people down here. It's sad, some of these people I might never see again :(

So what remains to be done down here then? Well, Sydney again for some last minute sightseeing and souvenirs. And still a few more goodbyes over the coming five days until I leave on Sunday while trying to soak up as much sun as possible. It's about 30degrees here these days! Damn you all that are staying here longer, so so jealous! Hope you all get the mother of all sunburns :)

I'm gonna miss you all dearly, and I hope to see you all again! Now, off to more BBQ and Sun!