Sam and Lisa left yesterday morning, heading up to Cape Tribulation. We all took forever saying goodbye and helping pack up the van - we even managed to get a group photo before they drove off. They might possibly be back tonight because they hadn't been able to get a roof rack for their van before they left and still want to buy one. I spent the morning at the library checking the newspaper for job advertisements and applying for some more jobs online. So many ads sound great until I get to the bottom and they have the dreaded disclaimer: "We cannot accept people on Working Holiday Visas" or something similar. Anyway, I got back and whipped up some tacos. Pukari is always hungry every time we decide to do something, so I feel as if all he ever does is feed me (I think he just doesn't like to eat alone). We'd made plans at volleyball the night before to go for a hike at Mount Whitfield Conservation Park, so I decided I'd make tacos and we could eat before we left. Thankfully the hike was shaded, but despite the shade I was definitely sweating my way up the hill (it's mostly stairs, lots and lots of stairs).
The view from the top of the Red Arrow trail was very pretty and you could see out to the water at certain spots - you can barely tell in this photo, but there's a little white sailboat out on the water. There's another longer trail (Blue Arrow) that I'd like to do some day, but I'd have to go early in the morning - it's just too hot for this Western PA girl. The Conservation Park is right next to the Botanic Gardens so we decided to do the Rainforest Boardwalk trail and visit the lakes as well. The lakes were a bit of a disappointment, for me anyway.
They didn't seem very lake-like, too shallow, but there were lots of ducks and I got a few good photos, so I guess it was worth it. The boardwalk through the rainforest was beautiful, I really enjoyed that. After our hike we headed to volleyball. It was a pretty fun evening, but walking down all the stairs (for some reason) irritated my ankle, most nights at volleyball I don't even notice it, but not last night. Other than the ankle pain it was a good night because I only had to sit out maybe one game. Towards the end of the night I played a few games with the really good guys from PNG (James, Wally, and the gang) and didn't do too terrible. Sadly, I always end up playing with them after I've already played for a few hours so I'm a bit worn out - I've already used up all my good "plays" or lucky saves or whatever you want to call it.
The other night I was playing with a few of them, Scott and Cindy were on our team as well, and poor Cindy got a spike to the face. It wouldn't have been so bad except she wears glasses. She took it really well though, but after the game was finished her and her friend (who was on the other team) decided they were done. After they left Peter told the other team (made up mostly of his friends) that they were allowed to spike now because "Abbie can take it" (I was the only girl still playing). I felt like I had passed some sort of initiation rite or something. I'm definitely getting better, but I'm definitely not up to their caliber of play.
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