Chapter Two...

Well here I am, over at the coast, half way done with my exchange year. Such a scary thought! It went by so fast. But it has definately been the best six months of my life! So it was on Thursday that I made the six hour bus trip to Newcastle. The goodbyes were very hard, I cried for a few hours, missed Gil and friends and family alot, and got a little homesick. But I brought as much as I could to little town Gilgandra, and it's amazing to see the impact that I have had on so many people. The day I left there were dozens of facebook statuses about me and how they will miss me and that is was so great to know me, made me feel very good to know that I have touched so many lives. <3
I loved Gil to bits and pieces, the friendships and memories that I have made there are absolutely going to stay with me my whole life. I will grow old, telling my grandchildren the great stories of good ol' Gil. Definately holds a big place in my heart.
I would like to thank the Gardiner family again, you guys are such amazing people. Like on the Christmas gift, you are crazy, fun, sarcastic, caring, loving, perfectly imprefect and my second family. <3 I love you all so much, my six months here spent with your family was unbelievable, through the ups and the downs, we made it out with such an incredible bond. Thank you so much, for just being yourselves and accepting and opening your home to a complete stranger for half a year, Time flew by, the goodbyes were difficult, but always will each and everyone of you hold a dear spot in my heart and will stay in contact for ages. Plus! Start saving, cause you will all be flying over for my wedding! ;) Haha love  you guys.
So the bus trip was long, but it was good, packing my whole room into three suitcases was a bit hard, had to leave some stuff behind but I managed to get it packed up, I should probably stop buying clothes... Not! Good joke. Haha. Well anyways I got to Maitland at about eight at night and then Denise and Jack picked me up, I was so tired that day that I just got home and went to bed, I was a bit homesick and sad but in the morning I woke up with a new attitude. I decided that Im not going to live in the past, and that I am going to make the most of my next six months cause I know that it will go by way too fast!
So your all probably wondering how the family is? Well they are great people! So nice. It is very quiet around here which is a big difference, haha. But I have gotten used to it. I am living on a farm right now, there are six alpacas, three goats, two birds, and a dog. The house is small but it is so gorgeous! And the view is incredible! We spend alot of time just sitting out the front looking at the view. We live forty five minutes out of the big city Newcastle, so we go into town once in a while. But when were out here the days are full. I barely have time to watch tv! The other day I was helping shovel the alpaca poop into the trailer then into the garden, Ive been helping with the gardening, and taking care of the animals, theyre in the process of building a chicken coop so Ive helped them with that. All has been good, for New Years Denise took me into Newcastle to show me around and we went to the beach. Wow the beaches are so nice! It gets me a little excited about moving to the coast! We also went to the mall to go shopping. That was fun too! Bought some more clothes, haha go figure. And we also watched some people take off on para sails, Ive decided to put that  on my list of things to do before I go. So hopefully I will be able to manage that! Looked amazing!
Then for the night time we went back into the city to watch the midnight fireworks over the harbour, they were pretty good too!
These past two days have just been relaxing and helping out around here. Tomorrow and the next day Ill be heading to the beach to hang out with friends. Then Friday, Stevie will most likely take the bus over to spend the week with me! I am so excited about that, and then in just eight days will be my sweet sixteenth! :D Sunday, me, Claire, and Stevie are heading down to Sydney to shop and beach and imax theatre should be a good day! Then stay the night at Claires, theres an exchange student party the next night, and then my birthday where we will get to do whatever Denise reckons. So I am very keen for the next few days to come!
So thats all I have for now, loving life at the moment.
Happy New Year!
Love you all and thanks for reading.
Best wishes, Bailee Jo. :)

Xoxo