Climbing, hiking and chocolate brownies...

Day 2 saw us split up into two separate groups, with mine leaving to hike and the other headed for the high ropes and river rafting. The day was especially humid and we seemed to drive forever before reaching our drop off point. After a quick lesson in map readings, we started off on the trail. Aside from some spattering of rain throughout the day we had pretty good weather. We walked up and down, twisting through the paths underneath the great green canopy. Climbing to the top of a viewing tower we paused for a leisurely lunch, looking at the sweeping views of mountains and forest in front of us. We continued on throughout the day, pausing to complete an activity or two, reflective ones as we contemplated what our senses could pick up from the world around us.

As we reached the end of the trail, back at base camp we were sweaty and tired but had had a really fun day talking to each other. Our guide had kept us entertained with his distinctive personality and hippy approach to the world. The boys out of bordem or madness had established a “Wolf Pack” and were very enthusiastic about it. Very, very enthusiastic.

I dove quickly into the cold river again before dinner and nighttime activities aka Iron Chef dessert. I don’t know if you’ve ever made chocolate brownies that had to include banana and zucchini amongst other things but we got creative. We had a hollowed out zucchini filled with brownies, chocolate fondant pieces, simple brownies and well…a unique (?) creation from the Wolf Pack.

That night saw more late night chats, complete with a midnight snack, though pretty shattered sleep was much earlier than the night before.

The next day my group was to do the ropes and river rafting. Of course it was raining, making the grips nice and slippery which Chi Chi and I, who are scared of heights, loved. The course was essentially a tower, with a number of ways to get up. We watched Anna shoot to the top, Andy like elastic scale the hanging ladder, and Chi Chi brave her fears. We all had a go at dropping from the sky on the giant swing (my favourite!) and kept up ready encouragement through the rain and fiercely hungry mozzies.

Next was river rafting, in the beautiful weather that suddenly emerged for us! I was the guide in the girl’s boat with Anna, Chi Chi, Elle, Virginia and Hazel our instructor. We did have to rescue a large family, with an even larger father and traumatized who had wedged themselves on a rock, and the Wolf Pack who had gotten stuck trying to help them.

We had lots of fun cruising down the river and over the small rapids and I dove into the river afterwards for one last swim.

After dinner we had the talent show, and what an array of talent we had. Hoola hooping, poetry recitation, stepping, hip hop dancing, Opera, Wolf Pack singing and African Dance. Some of the boys even managed to nab a world champion kayaker to mime racing down the river. It was eclectic all right.

An impromptu dance party then ensued. We all tried to learn African dance, some of us better at it then others (the boys put me to shame with their hip wiggling). Overall it was a great ending night of loud music, limbo and some interesting dance moves.

The next morning after pack up we completed a variety of group activities. We lowered a magic wand to the ground, flipped a tarp over with us standing on it and tried to complete a near impossible skipping challenge.

As we got back on the bus to head to our official Orientation dinner we were just as excited as on our way down, the difference here was: we were no longer strangers, but excited as friends, thinking of the years ahead.

Meet the Robbies

The time had come to meet the class of 2017 Robertsons. I was just as nervous as excited to meet the incredible and intimidating group of students who would essentially become my family for the next four years. From the absolute beginning they were the most interesting, intelligent and exceptionally kind people I’ve ever met. Our first dinner before retreat was full of excitement, Maimuna, Chi Chi and Sanmi and I talked about everything from music, to home countries/towns, to jobs to passions. There was a real sense of joy and camaraderie already apparent.

I shared a room with Maimuna, or Muna from Kenya that night and I stayed up late chatting to this really fun, lively person. I couldn’t wait to talk to more people on the bus the next day.

The bus ride down to our NOLS retreat in Nantahala was loud and full of energy. We played a twisted form of musical chairs, just to get a chance to speak to as many people as possible. I spent a lot of that trip speaking to Anna, and Elle and Virgina, all with different interests, talents and passions but equally interesting and kind.

We arrived, and it started pouring ( I felt very glad to have my brand new and expensive raincoat!). Luckily it didn’t last long and we dived straight into activities after dropping our stuff off in our cabins, I was sharing with Jaclyn (California), Monique (North Carolina) and Charlotte (New Zealand).

After a few introduction activities we played a highly entertaining, though totally insane game. In pairs we would blindfold one person and send them out crawling in a circle with other blindfolded people. The “seeing” partner would then direct the blindfolded one to grab a soft ball and throw it at someone else crawling in the circle, getting them out.

It was chaos.

People were screaming, tactics were getting competitive, and Kasper was just running around the circle yelling at his partner to “follow my voice!”

After discussing how the weekend would go, talking about what community and leadership meant to us we had some free time. We headed down to the freezing, fast flowing river and got in. Hunter and Kasper tried to swim against the current, as I froze slowly in the shallows.

Dinner was followed by a campfire and marshmallow challenges. The only girl to volunteer for “Chubby Bubbies” I was also the first out. The losing streak continued as my team’s spaghetti tower with-a-marshmellow-on-top was more a horizontal than vertical success.

Escaping the mosquitos we headed into the hall where we stayed up late, talking about ambrassing moments, failed relationships, our hobbies and the infamous American “Prom Ask”. Australian boys – you are doing it wrong. In the U.S they don’t just go : “umm so you wanna go to formal with me?” there are balloons, and scavenger hunts and paint and confettiti!! You need to up your game.

Collapsing in bed, to the reassuring hum of mosquitos, I was exhausted but elated to be amongst such a great group of people. 

Sand and Surf!

You know the American movies? I mean the ones that show the gorgeous coastal houses, with the wraparound porch, the huge windows and rocking chairs out the front? Those houses most definitely exist.

Wilmington was full of these quintessentially American homes, in shades of blue, pink and white, with flowers and rockers and American flags flying tall. We ooohed and ahhhhed as we passed row after row after row finally arriving at our hotel, which looked like a big, huge…block of concrete, “The Blockade Runner” (which Mum later christened “Bladerunner…no idea why).

Our room was beautiful, overlooking the ocean and the hotel gardens. We spent the afternoon splashing in the beach and the headed to the local South Beach Grill for a seafood dinner.

Our days at Wilmington were leisurely spent. We swam in the beach and pool, lounged in deck chairs, went to the hot dog shack down the road and gorged ourselves on the unlimited icy sweet tea (a North Carolina staple, though we quickly discovered it needed dilutiting..sweet tea is most definitely that).

The only real physically strenuous activity was our attempts at playing the corn hole toss. The aim: throw a small beanbag from a distance away onto a sloped platform and into the hole in the end. Simple, right? No. It was IMPOSSIBLE, it took me over half an hour to even get one in, and Mum and Dad weren’t that better!!

On our second night we put our name down and waited for a table at a seafood restaurant across the water. In the mean time we decided to drive to Wilmington, the nearest big town to get a feel of the place. On our way down a little street, through virtually a forest we saw the flashing lights of a police breathalyzer set up. As we slowed down and Dad rolled down his window, a truly Southern cop came to our window. He was truly Southern in two explicit ways: the smile on his face and the thick, drawling accent that was almost incomprehensible.

“H’ya’ll doin tonigh? Y’all go your license sir?”

He looked at little bemused at the Australian license and International Driver’s License that Dad handed him, and thoroughly confused when Dad began to explain in his Australian-French accent.

“Now jus wait a minut. Where y’all from?”

“Austraaya?” “Ain’t never heard of that before!”

Then realizing we meant a country and not a state he exclaimed

“OH AUSTRALIA!!! Hey look here Carl, Jack! You ever see an Austraayan driver’s licesne before?!”

The cops gathered around the examine the licsense and us, breathalysed Dad and sent us on our way.

We were still laughing at the experience when we arrived back to our restaurant.

Like every waiter in North Carolina, the staff were bubbly, efficient and the food came out quickly. And like everything else in North Carolina, our food was fried.

But deliciously fried.. “shrimp”, and calamari and …the scallops.

These scallops were HUGE, much larger than a 50c piece and delicately fried in beautiful batter. They were the most delicious scallops we had ever eaten!

We went home raving about them and chuckling about the typical southern cop.

***

 As our time at the coast drew to a close, we set off for Southport (where the movie “Safe Haven” was filmed. I was particularly excited, having just seen the movie and how beautiful it was. It didn’t disappoint.

A tiny town, it was on the water with more gorgeous houses, and cute little places to eat. We hadn’t reserved a hotel and so tried out a few full places, before getting the number a reserving a relatively cheap hotel. When we arrived, well…it started to look relatively expensive.

Set in what could have been a caravan park in another life, with cheaply made rows of rooms was our hotel. The room had old-fashioned bedspreads, a rattling air-conditioned and a sad little bathroom.

All part of the experience.

We hopped in the car and drove to the other side, with more beaches and lighthouses. The lighthouse was underwhelming, but the beach was long and had brand new boardwalks down with information about local animals. We saw the cages built along the beach to protect the turtle nests from predators and wished we were at the right time to see the babies make their way to the ocean.

On our way back, completely starving we stopped at an interesting establishment for an early entrée. The staff were very southern, the place was shabby, with plastic chairs, and tables and fat clientele, lonely pictures hung on the walls and the manager’s wife’s hair was in a very bad sixties bouffant.

We ordered fried scallops (in some attempt to recreate the deliciousness of the other night) and tried the “Hush Puppies” served everywhere. “Hush Puppies” turned out to be fried dough. We tried it once and that was definitely enough.

Though not bad food, we decided to head back to “The Frying Pan” a restaurant overlooking the ocean, with a little more charm than that place could offer us. Coconut shrimp, calamari, fish, sweet tea and a hot waiter later we went back to our dingy hotel, where I started packing for my Robertson retreat. I would be meeting everyone for the first time the next evening.

We finished up our time at Southport with breakfast at a Southport Café (pumpkin muffin and BLT), a quick trip to the Maritime museum and the “Safe Haven” display.

As we drove back to Durham, everything started to feel much more real. The holiday was ending and my new life beginning.

Off to North Carolina!

Flying from New York to catch the first glimpse of my new home, North Carolina, had my heart pounding. As we landed, the beautiful stretch of forests lay down below us, a green wonderland.

“Welcome to North Carolina, Raleigh – Durham”.

Following the usual struggle with luggage, and with acquiring the hire car, another Robertson, Rachel and her mum, Betsy, met us. They had kindly offered to help store some luggage whilst we travelled to the coast. Rachel and I had been talking on Facebook for a few months prior to this. After heaving bag after heaving bag after bag onto Betsy’s “pick-up truck” or as I’d say, ute, we chatted in the boiling carpark of our hotel. Bidding them goodbye, until we returned from the coast we set off to explore Durham and Duke.

Easier said than done.

The town sans-students was deathly quiet, no New York nor Sydney! Durham’s layout is very confusing, and the university is not a contained campus but rather a huge sprawling mass that blends with the town until you don’t know what’s what!

Finally coming to West Campus was a beautiful moment. West campus is basically in a forest, surrounded with scampering squirrels and featuring a magnificent Chapel and surrounding grounds. I felt overwhelmed and so incredibly blessed, picturing myself wandering past this gorgeous area for the next four years.

After a brief stint to Ninth Street (the restaurants and café’s off campus), and a peek at huge American houses, we left the exploration of Durham to the next morning and week.

Trying to locate my dorm the next day was a complete disaster, with road closures, a stressed GPS and a plethora of dorm-like buildings. Determined to succeed we eventually located G.A…in the midst of a construction zones. Renovations had evidently not yet finished.

The Sydney-siders were craving a little sun and surf after winter so off we headed to Wilmington, a coastal district in North Carolina.