And the little piggies went "wee...wee...wee..." all the way home...

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip
That started from this tropic port
Aboard this tiny ship.

The mate was a mighty sailing man,
The skipper brave and sure.
Five passengers set sail that day
For a three hour tour, a three hour tour.

The weather started getting rough,
The tiny ship was tossed,
If not for the courage of the fearless crew
The Cape Cruiser would be lost, the Cape Cruiser would be lost.

The ship set ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle
With Alicia
The Skipper too,
Melissa… and Jeni…
Some Asian Dude
AJ and Erin,
Here on Rottnest Island!

 On Thursday we woke up early, crawled into our "bathers", and jumped in the car to drive to Freo. We met the dive boat at the jetty; off to Rottnest Island/"Rotto". Because of a crosswind the boat ride was exceptionally rocky and all of us turned very green...ugh...except for Alicia who somehow managed to fall asleep. On the island we checked in at the dive shop. A.J., Erin, and Melissa were to SCUBA dive and Alicia and Jeni would be snorkeling. Alicia and Jeni were snorkeling virgins and so were a little nervous about their first foray into the deep.
Jeni, looking for comfort, approached the divemaster for advice, "You will be in thigh-deep water, all you do is put your face in and if you get scared, stand up." Hahahahahaha!
A.J., Erin, and Melissa departed on the boat for their morning dive, the snorkelers would join them for the afternoon. Alicia and Jeni got lost on the island, what was supposed to be a 10 minute walk to Pinkie Beach turned into a 40 minute walk. They were laughing as they practiced their newly learned snorkeling techniques. On the boat, still in very rocky waters, A.J., Erin, and Melissa prepared their gear. A.J. got seasick and hightailed it off the end of the boat, "Adrian, I'm sick, gotta get in!" leaving Erin and Melissa to hand in his equipment. Once in the water, and with their gear on they made their descent. They cruised through caves, examined the reef, and played with the fishes. United on the island, the 5 of us met up for lunch and then headed back out for the afternoon dive/snorkel. In calmer waters, the divers were exploring the reefs below and they looked up to see Alicia and Jeni snapping photos and video...in the water!! On the way back the skipper nestled up to Alicia and even let her drive the boat. She stalled it out. She's fired.  The ride back from Rotto to Freo we once again encountered very choppy seas...ugh again. 

Back at the house, Alicia, Jeni, and Melissa rushed to desalinate and pretty themselves up for a night on the town. Erin, having not equalized after the dive, had to stay home (boo, sad for her) but got to spend some time with A.J. Dave and Luke picked up the 3 and headed to The Brighton for apps and a drink. The Brighton was not busy and so they walked down the street to the Slug and Hare, a local pub. More drinks, more dancing, they closed at midnight, boo. So off to the Players night club. A bittersweet night - our last night with our newly found friends.

After only a few hours sleep we woke up and once again packed our suitcases and after lunch in Perth City, headed to the airport...again. We stood in the wrong line, you'd think we'd be pros at this by now, and made our way through security with A.J. As we reached the top of the escalator to our surprise Dave was there! He had come to the airport for one last goodbye (aww!). After the sappy goodbyes (Jeni and Melissa had to hug each other) we boarded the plane and had to all sit separately.

We arrived in Melbourne, pronounced "Melbn", at 9p, made our way to the hotel (no hostel this time!) and hurried to freshen up for our night out. We met up with Jeni's friends and they took us to a few local bars. We don't remember the names of the bars, we just remember that they had very sticky floors. 3:45a we grabbed a bite at Hungry Jacks (=Burger King), burgers at 4a, not our best idea yet, but oddly satisfying. A couple of hours later we were awake again and going to the airport. Originally we were to have a 2 hour layover in Auckland, New Zealand but were able to change to a direct flight to L.A. We all agreed that if we deplaned in New Zealand we might not ever get back on another plane. We had to sit separately - Erin and Melissa together, they got barely any sleep because of the screaming, kicking children all around. Together they watched at total of 10 movies (Erin 4, Melissa 6). Conversely, Alicia and Jeni, sitting together, enjoyed their flight without the obnoxious distractions.

We arrived in L.A. at 7:30a, which was weird because we left at 12:30p that same day, we traveled into the past. We met the dads at baggage claim and had to say goodbye to Jeni. So sad!!!

Tummies full of breakfast burritos, Alicia, Erin and Melissa crashed on the couch for a 3 hour nap. In a separate home, Jeni napped as well. Jet lag sucks.

All-in-all, our trip was AMAZING!!! after 2 and 1/2 weeks and 24 hours a day together we are all still friends :-)

p.s. Alicia has decided to move to Sydney, which is good because we will have another reason to go back.

Thank you so much for following our adventures in the land down under, we enjoyed sharing it with you! Keep your eyes open for newly added pictures and one more blog post.

G'day mates,
Alicier, Jeni, Erin, and Melisser

Note: All four of us contributed to the creative writing of this blog.