No Easter bunnies just cows, horses and hot crossed buns

Ah I've been so awful at writing and I know all of you have been desperately checking my blog to find out what exciting things I've been doing with my life. Haha wellllll here it is!! Easter weekend was pretty amazing, we all had Friday off for Good Friday (even though I don't have classes on Friday anyways). Jenn, Hannah, Laura and I caught a ride with Amanda to Clare Valley where Jemma lives. It's about a two hour drive away. Jemma's house is GORGEOUS, like I'm talking it belongs on the cover of Home & Garden magazine. It use to be an Old Hospital but Jemma's mum has painted and landscaped and made it into a beautiful and entirely homey house. Beautiful. We took Jemma's mom to church for Good Friday and spent the afternoon cruising around the Clare Valley, seeing where Jemma went to high school and where she use to work and such. THEN Jemma let me drive the car!! I'm talking driving on the LEFT side of the road with the steering wheel on the LEFT SIDE!! AHHHHHHH!!! I loved it and I was actually pretty good at it! Woo! Afterwards, we headed back to Jemma's house for a delicious dinner of crayfish (lobster) and prawns (shrimp) and I even tried some delicious cabbage salad. Yah, I know, trying all kinds of new food. That evening we played charades cause we are that cool. It was actually heaps of fun, especially since Jemma and her older brother Josh didn't know all the American stuff and we didn't know the Aussie things. Oh cultural differences =P

We decided to go to bed rather early since we were going to the races the next day. Laura and I were sharing a bed in the house and we had just about fallen asleep when suddenly loud voices echoed through Jemma’s house. Before we knew it, our lighted flickered on and three people stood in our room. “Are you the American girls?” Disoriented by the sudden light and people, we manage to shake our heads yes. “Awesome! Get some warm clothes on and come with us!!” The taller, older man said to us. We found out that the older man (about 40) was Nick Masterson, a dairy farmer that lived down the road from Jemma. He was accompanied by a younger guy (about 20), who’s name I forget, and his girlfriend, who went to St. Mark’s last year. Laura and I looked at each other and both agreed that the only intelligent choice would be to go. So we put on some warm clothes and hopped on four wheelers (dirt bikes) and went off with these random Aussies at 11:30 at night. As dodgy as it sounds, it was seriously the most thrilling, exciting and awesome evening ever. We rode on the back of Nick’s bike and he took us on the dirt roads to his dairy farm. He let Laura and I drive the bike through the field of cows and up to his house. IT WAS AWESOME!! We saw a calf that was only 20 minutes old, he literally was just born and we saw him take his first steps. Amazing!! Then we got back on the dirt bikes and rode up to the top of this massive hill, where Nick had his wedding reception. It was absolutely the most gorgeous view. We could see for miles and the sky was crystal clear, so many stars. Nick told us how to find south by using the Southern Cross in case we ever got lost in the outback! We drove back to Jemma’s house and after our great adventure Laura and I passed out.

Saturday morning, we had a delicious brekky of scrambled eggs and bacon and lots of toast. Then we all got dressed up for the races and took pictures before heading to the races. These races were so laid back and more country than the Adelaide cup. People were dressed in everything from three piece suits to cut off jeans and flip flops. Very causal, but heaps of fun! After a whole day watching horse racing and meeting Jemma’s friends, we went back to Jemma’s house for dinner and a much needed nap. Sunday we had another fulling brekky and Jemma's mom even put on a little Easter egg hunt for us. She's really a fantastic mum! Afterwards we headed back to St. Mark’s via train and spent the rest of the day hanging out and doing work. Yes it is true, I actually some school work here =P though it’s nothing compared to W&M it’s still a considerable amount....of which I must continue =P

Pictures of these events and more to come soon!!