The Magical Luna Park and the Hauntings of Janet.

     I am thankful for the land down under. Australia is beautiful. The water is always crystal clear, and the views are breathtaking. All the cliché things people say when coming back from a great trip applies to this one as well.

 I have also learned how to adapt to a whole new environment and make Aussie friends. Adapting to Australia was a little different to me because I never had a honeymoon phase. I am not sure why either. I just got there and kind of was like, “This is my new home. Okay cool. I like Steve Irwin too.” Instead of, “THIS IS MY NEW HOME. IT IS AMAZING, OH LOOK AT THAT WOW!” I did enjoy my time in Australia a lot. Here are two memories that stood out to me. At least in this moment.

One of the most magical nights of the trip was our visit to Luna Park. We all went to Luna Park on March 23^rd, around 8pm. It was a cool and dark night. The park was all lit up in carnival lights, and it resembled something out of a movie. I was almost in a trance due to how ascetically pleasing the view was and the musical soundtracks played throughout the park.

We bought tickets and I saw the ad for a haunted house in the park. I am a lover of haunted houses, so I just had to go. Some of the others were happy to join me as well. This two to three minute haunted house was one of the scariest haunted houses I have ever been too. I could not point out what was scarier about this particular one; all I know is that it caused us all to run out screaming. It was a blast!

I also obtained a fair amount of fairy floss (cotton candy) from one of the carnival booths. I love a good fairy floss, and the carnival guy piled it around the paper wand. Around and around until the fairy floss was almost too heavy to stay on the paper wand. I was in heaven at this point. All in all, this one particular two to four hours of this one night captured my heart and will forever be a magical moment.

On a slightly less magical note, Australia would not be Australia without mentioning Janet. Where do I begin with Janet? I will start with the moment we learned about her. Cal, Ryan, Carson, Addie, and I had a movie night in our apartment. We decided to watch scary movies, so one of us suggested The Conjuring. For some reason we watched the sequel and not the original Conjuring movie. While watching this movie about a 11-year-old girl named Janet who got possessed, and we made jokes about her throughout the film.

After the film we continued to make jokes about her, and saying her name after something mysterious happened in the apartment. Throughout our whole trip Janet has managed to follow us oddly enough. 

When Addie, Carson, Cal, Ryan, and I went to the Whitsundays for spring break the screen door did not lock, and the wind would move it. We all were like "Janet??" As a joke. 

Later in the trip we went to a BBQ place. We all sat at a table of 6, with an empty seat beside me. I was joking like I saw Janet sitting there and told Carson that Janet did not like how she was looking at her. Carson got a little creeped out, because who wouldn't? So I decided to "push" Janet out of her seat. But in that very motion the table beside us dropped something on the floor- right where Janet would have landed. We all paused and looked at each other. We were all creeped out. 

Whats more is that later the waitress came over and told us there were free desserts tonight. We all said yes so she counted us and then said, "So dessert for 6?" Well there was only 5 of us so we paused again and told her 5. When she left we all lost it, joking that Janet was actually there. 

Other examples of Janet in our lives include us saying her name and lights randomly turning on, or water bottles falling from the trash on cue, or the time at surf camp when an instructor thought he heard that Katelyn’s name was Janet. It didn't help that the beach we were surfing on was Cunjurong Beach. Which my computer just tried to auto correct to conjuring. My point exactly.

One of the scariest was when Addie and I were up late at night and she mentioned Janet in a joke. 10 seconds later the hall light turned on. We heard no one, and the hall lights are motion censored. We were terrified. 

Turns out that Cal needed a glass of milk at 2:40am and did not want to wake up JJ. Still, the coincidence of mentioning Janet, and Cal awaking from his slumber in need of dairy is almost too much.

Janet is not allowed to come back to America with us. 

However, the person who sat by Ryan on the flight back home was named Janet...