I LOVE MELBOURNE

Melbourne has officially made it into my top 5 favorite cities! It was awesome!!! Our weekend didn't start out very well with a three hour delay for our flight..but that's what you get when you fly with Tiger. Once we arrived though I was immediately in love :) There was so much to see...the people, the streets, the tram, the art galleries, the mall, the shopping, the market, the food!! I could keep going on and on about how great everything was!

We also drove The Great Ocean Road. We stopped at the Port Campbell, the Twelve Apostles, Apollo Bay, Lorne, and Bells Beach. Everything was so beautiful, it was unreal. This is the Twelve Apostles, the picture looks as if I stole it off the internet but nope it's my own photography :)

Did I mention that I drove part of the Great Ocean Road?! Yes, I did! I drove on the left side of the road in a car with the steering wheel on the right :) :) It was amazing!! And I didn't crash, which is always good!

Our stop at Bells Beach was freezing, but also very pretty! From the lookout you could see all the surfers getting massive waves! We really wanted to walk on the beach but the cold weather kind of discouraged us. We met some boys from France that took this picture for us :)

As I have said, Melbourne is awesome!! Here it is at night from the bridge that is over the Yarra River.

During our day exploration of Melbourne, we went to the mall, and some art galleries and Eureka! Eureka is a building that has 88 floors where you can see the entire city!! This is  a picture of Eureka, and yes we went all the way to the top!!

Sunday night we went to Crown Entertainment Complex. It is the biggest casino in Australia. It was lots of fun and I won $2.18 but also kind of overwhelming seeing as how none of us have been to a casino and none of us knew how to play any of the games. Oh well, we still had fun and we even got to see a few people get thrown out. That's always good entertainment!

I'd go back to Melbourne in a heartbeat :)



Don't Pee in the Wetsuits!

Checked another item off my to do list, I learned how to surf!! I didn't wear a wetsuit but the #1 rule if you do is DON'T PEE IN THE WETSUITS! We went to Spot X at the Mojo Surf Camp where we learned the fundamentals on the beach first and then tried our luck out in the water!

During the day we relaxed in the hammocks and one day we went kayaking! It was my first time kayaking and it was rough at the start since we started in really shallow water. We had lots of obstacles to go around too such as over and under tree limbs. We did very well navigating and even saw a fox before we turned around to head home!!

I'm not going to lie - surfing is hard work! By the third day I was sore all over and had lots of sand burn on my knees. Although it was really hard work, I think I did pretty well :)

The University of the Sunshine Coast

My MUM (mom) requested that I take pictures of the campus so she could see what it looked like. This I think is a great idea!!

This is the path I walk to class. There are some signs posted to be aware of the animals and this is where most of my kangaroo spottings have been!

This building is where the International Office and the Student Travel Agency is located. So naturally I’m there all the time booking trips J This building is nicknamed the cheese grater.

Most of my classes are in building K which this really neat path leads to. Across from this is the art gallery. In one of my previous posts I put up one of the pieces from this month’s exhibit.

There are many more buildings and a few cafes along with a library and a book store (the bookstore at BW is way better though!). And this is where I live J UniCentral!

Aussie Lingo :)

You would think since Australian's speak English it would be no problem for an American to come here, right? Well...almost right. Although Australian's speak English just like America they have their own unique lingo! Here are a few that I have picked up in the past three weeks.

Sunnies = Sunglasses
No Worries = Forgiveness or Reassurance; No Problem or Forget About It
Rubbish = Garbage
Keen = Very Interested
Brekky/Brekkie = Breakfast
Singlet = Tank Top
Mate = Friend
Bloody = Very
Lovely = Lovely (they just use it way more than Americans)
Bottle Shop = Liquor Store
BYO = Bring Your Own...(lots of restaurants are bring your own drink)
Chips = French Fries
Footy = Australian Football
Heaps = A Lot
Lollies = Candy
No Drama = Same as "No Worries"
OZ = Australia!
Goon = Boxed Wine
Schooner = Large Beer Glass
Skull = Chug
Thongs = Flip Flops
Uni = University
Wicked = Really Good
Aye = Added to the End of Sentences
Oi = Hey!
How You Going = How Are You?
Lad/Bloke = Guy, Boy
Cheers = Thanks!

Fraser Island

For a two day one night trip I went to Fraser Island! It is a beautiful sand bar that is made up of 98% sand and 2% rock. It is filled with trees and plants which makes it so unique because the soil is sand. There is also a lot of history to be learned about the island.

This adventure started with our awesome tour guide Cameron. He was a very funny and knowledgeable Australian man.
Our first two stops were Lake Wabby and Lake McKenzie. Lake Wabby had a huge sand dune (which we climbed) that was practically 90 degrees. To get to the lake we had to take a 45 minute hike which was very long but very worth it once we got to the lake.

During our walk to the Lake Wabby (and mostly everywhere on the island) there were postings about Dingoes. Dingoes are wild dogs that roam the land. They can be very dangerous and often are attracted to small children.

Lake McKenzie was unlike anything I have ever seen. The lake is all fresh rainwater and the sand is unlike any other. The water was crystal clear and the sand we used to exfoliate our bodies!! Ha and it actually worked. The sand also worked to clean one of my mates (yes, mates) jewelry.

Everything on this island was breath taking. It was so perfect that at times it seemed fake. To get to anywhere on the island you need a 4 wheel drive vehicle. We were in a huge 4 wheel drive bus that at times was veryyyyyy bumpy. It took a lot of skill for our tour guide Cam to navigate through all the trails. On the second day we went to Eli Creek, Indian Head, colored sand mountains, Maheno Shipwreck, and the rain forest. Indian Head is the second best lookout point in Queensland. It was so pretty that I could have stayed there all day just watching the ocean beneath us.

The shipwreck was also really cool. There is a long story that goes along with it but it is almost 80 years old. You are not allowed to climb or go inside the ship anymore and if a ranger catches you you will be given a huge fine. Before the safety signs about not being allowed on the ship were put up tourist would go inside. Little did they know that there were still active bombs on the ship which they set off. The bombs were all found and are gone now but the front end of the ship was destroyed and you are only able to see a few pieces above the water.

I was very disappointed that I was leaving the island without seeing any dingoes. But SURPRISE on our way home we saw one walking the beach. It is a male and he looked like he was searching for food.

On bus also got stuck in the sand on the way home but our awesome tour guide,Cam, got us out :)
Overall, this was a great weekend. We stayed in a amazing resort and had so much food! I hope that every travel experience I have in Australia is just like this!!



My First Week Down Under

I have officially been in Australia for one week! It is all so unreal that I am actually studying abroad. I had some homesick issues when I first arrived but now I am doing great J I’ve met so many great people from Australia, Norway, Sweden, Germany, and the USA. I have a great view from my room of the campus. Our campus was built on a kangaroo reservation so they are all over the place.

You have to be careful not to get too close to the kangaroo’s because they can hurt you really bad.  But here was my first spotting on the first day of orientation week.

I celebrated Valentine’s Day in Australia with some great people! The girls all made pasta and dessert for the boys and then us all just hung around. It was really nice J For O-Week (orientation week) each night had a different theme. The first night was a toga party and the next night was Mexican party. Both were a lot of fun and the aussie’s sure know how to party! I went to The Sunshine Plaza, which is an outdoor mall. It is HUGE and has really great stores that we don’t have in the USA.

Our campus has a lot to offer and one cool thing is the art gallery. This was the featured work.

I’ve been to the beach twice so far. It’s great to just catch the bus and go to the beach for the day! It’s very pretty and there are a ton of people. It’s cool to watch the surfers too! I’ve been doing a lot of walking..on the beach, around campus, at the mall, to the grocery store, and to Kondalilla National Park. It was beautiful! We hiked down to a watering hole where we all got to swim. The waterfalls were so pretty but the trails were very muddy!! We also went to a lookout of The Glass House Mountains.

I start classes on Tuesday and I am nervous/excited!! I hope they are interesting and not too hard because I have a lot of traveling I want to do!!

finally in australia!

so ive finally made it here to australia and it is GREAT!!! ive met so many great people and everyone is so nice! the walk to the grocery store is very long but i need a lot things than i thought i would. i just met one out of the three roommates i have tonight. her name is lisa and she is from germany, which is so cool except she doesn't speak english well. ive met a lot of great people from the states too!! i tried to get a cell phone today...i needed my passport...so lets just say i didnt get a phone today because i didnt know i needed my passport. internationals need their passport for a lot here and it makes me nervous because if i loose that i am toast!!! orientation is tomorrow, its at 8:30am but i cant wait because i haven't seen campus yet! or a kangaroo!!