"Brisbane's unique Queensland architecture, riverfront setting, perfect climate, cultural diversity and unrivalled employment growth make it one of the most attractive cities to live in on almost any angle. "

So many plane rides!

So Thursday afternoon, I finally arrived in Brisbane. From Cairns it was a 2 hour plane ride which was a walk in the park compared to 13 hours! I’m done with planes for a few weeks!!!!

I got back in Brisbane International with all the AustraLearn kids and there were separate busses to take us to our final destinations of where we are living. A total of 15 AustraLearn students were living in Urbanest, where I am so we were the first stop. My apartment complex looks identical to the pictures online!!! I absolutely love it! I walked in with a fully made bed so I didn’t have to buy sheets, and my very own bathroom! And my building is all black, green and white, my windows frame is bright green!

I am living with 3 others girls and they are all the same girls that I roomed with for the past week in Cairns which is awesome because they are the girls who I got along with the best! Two go to American University and one goes to West Chester. Yes, you read right, American University…where Dan goes! How is it, that my world somehow gets smaller even thought I am 10,000 miles away?!

But we each have our own room and bathroom; we are literally in a 5 bedroom, 5 bathroom apartment! There is one extra room in here but no one is going to be living in it.

I immediately got settled in to make my room more homey, and for the fact that I was sick of living out of a suitcase! I love love love my room, I printed out pictures and brought my cards from anyone who wished me luck here. In the afternoon, all of the kids that were living in Urbanest decided to go into the city which is a beautiful walk from our Apartment! We walk right around the river, through the gardens and the beach, so its like we have our own city, without the hustle and bustle of the city..get it?

We went to a giant 6 story mall, which was mostly underground to get soap and cleaning supplies and just little odds and ended that everyone needed. It was werid because everything started to close at 6pm, only restaurants and liquor stores stay open later which means we have to plan our whole day around going shopping. MY favorite store so far…The Reject Shop, where it is basically Australia’s dollars store, that is where most of us got our bathroom stuff and hangers from. 

More pictures will be coming soon of the city :-)

I think Australians do well here because we feel a bit naughty, like we're in America and if they only knew how much fun we were having, we'd all get thrown out, you know - Melissa George

Day 5!

Since the past week, I have been mooching off the hostels internet, which is really slow so I haven’t been able to update my blog as much as I wanted. The internet is different here, which I expected but I had to pay 5 dollars for 75 minutes of internet while staying at the Bohemian Resort, so I had to use it sparingly!

Today was a super important day/ dream come true/ straight out of a postcard….it was GREAT BARRIER REEF DAY!!!!! So I had to get up at about 5:45 to catch the bus early to head out on the boat by 8am. The boat ride to get to the reef was actually 2 ½ hours away from land, but my friends and I had the best seats ever on the boat. In the front there were giant hammock like beds that you could just relax on and at the same time, you could see the water underneath you. When we first got on the boat, we had to fill out a sheet to be able to go snorkeling or SCUBA diving. There were a bunch of medical conditions that you had to check off, and I had FULL and I mean FULL intentions of going SCUBA diving, I even packed my own mask, snorkel and fog cleaner all the way down here. So I filled it out, then about an hour into the trip, I was called in….apparently in Australia, you are not allowed to SCUBA dive when you have taken an inhaler/steroids in the past 48 hours. The dive master, Emma, showed me the Australian law because I thought they were joking ( aussies just about everything). Of course I was really upset because this law is only in Australia. So I started crying ( yes, I cried..i was pissed.) so all the dive masters came over and kept saying “no worries mate no worries” which I understood, I knew it wasn’t the end of the world since Dan and I will be coming back here in a few months. It was just in the moment I was so angry that I didn’t lie for once!

I guess the AustraLean people were supposed to tell us that but had failed to mention it, and the dive masters were so mad, that they told me I could have a free stinger suit ( which were 7 dollars, and protected your body from jellies ( jellyfish) or a free drink on the way back.I said it wasn’t a big deal I just wished I knew and I said “ no worries no worries, I’ll be back anyways”. I ended up snorkeling which seemed to be the best option anyways. If I went diving with them, it was only for a half hour and they took anyone who wanted to try it out there, so I wouldn’t have been albe to have the experience I was looking for with newer divers.

So! I got over the fact of the SCUBA situation ( even though I couldn’t bare to look at the divers)  and decided to get a stinger suit and pay 7 dollars, I wasn’t going to ask for a free suit since it wasn’t really expensive.  The girls and I headed jumped right into the clear water! From the pictures it doesn’t seem as clear, but if even if you just looked from the boat, you could see coral everywhere. So I’m swimming, and swimming and staring at the coral and pretty colored fish I all of a sudden feel a REALLY sharp pain in my lip. I jumped out of the water, more then ever before and realize oh sweet I got stung by something. So I had to swim fast back to the boat to make sure I was oaky. It could have been sea lice or a small clear jellie but it hurt so BAD. The dive master put this disguising tasting (since it was on my lip) spray to make the pain go away. It wasn’t poisonous whatever it was and of course…what did they say “you’ll be right mate, no worries” I’m defiantly bringing this line back to the states.

So! I’m finally in the water! With a throbbing lip and ready to see underwater! It was absolutely beautiful! The coral was amazing! Bright blues and greens and the tropical fish were lovely. Being able to see them in their natural habitat was breathtaking! There were schools of squid and GIANT clams! It was amazing; I took a few underwater pictures which came out amazing. We went to two different locations. The first location I completely forget the name of L sorry! But the second location was so amazing! It was called Micahealmas Cave. Right by the reef there was a sand beach formed atop a coral reef cave and it underwater it looked just like Finding Nemo! I know that’s a terrible reference but it seems that all the 20year olds were referencing it to that too! As we were snorkeling we saw a foot long bright blue starfish and a sea turtle! It was beautiful! I cannot wait to go back.

 Overall the reef was absolutely amazing. This is definitely a long post, but it’s the REEF! It had to be! But to end my story from the beginning…the dive master, Emma, came up to be about half an hour before we left the boat and asked if I got my free stinger suit or my free drink. I obviously said no, since I didn’t think they were serious and Emma couldn’t believe it and told me she’d be right back. So I waited and then about 10 minutes later, she came back with $7 dollars and a small 200mL of Pink Champagne! She told be she was so sorry I had such a rough day from not being able to dive to being stung (which was really only the first hour or so of the day, other then that I was in all my glory on the reef!) and she hopes that I return soon. I guess Aussies don’t like when your not right.

“God bless America. God save the Queen. God defend New Zealand and thank Christ for Australia.”- Russell Crowe

Day 3!

Adventure Day!

 So today we had an option to either hang out and explore Cairns by ourselves or to go on different tours throughout the area. A few months back I chose the Tropical Jungle Tour which took you to all areas in Cairns, throughout the Rainforest and to experience Australia’s nature at its finest. It was a very long day, we had to be up and ready by 7:30am and we didn’t arrive back to the Bohemian Resort until 7:15pm!  The first stop we did was the Rainforest Habitat where we were able to see more Koalas, Roos and birds everywhere. Since our guide knew that we did all of the animal stuff yesterday, we made that short and headed to our next destination which was the Daintree River. Our guide took us through this nature walk and we learned about all the different plants that were harmful if touched. I wont get into it here, but let just say that one of the plants it heartshaped, but the stingers will stay in you for up to three years and they are awaken by cold water. Once we traveled through the woods, we ended up at a swimming hole with a decent current and big rocks everywhere. It was so calm and it seemed like a very popular swimming area for more of the locals instead of tourists. After spending about an hour at the hole and cooling off, since it was about 28 degrees centigrade ( 88 F) and the humidity was terrible, we took a boat tour on the same river. We were on the look out for wildlife such as crocodiles, snakes and butterflies.

 On the way back down the windy road we stopped by a look out point where you can see the mouth of the Daintree River and where Steve Eirwin was killed by the stingray.  As we continued down the rainforest, we stopped in Cape Tribulation where it is a World Heritage site and a beautiful beach where the rainforest meets the sand. It was absolutely beautiful! I finally touched the Pacific Ocean!! The water was about 80 degrees, it felt like I was taking a bath. Unfortunately, since its jellyfish season, you cant swim in the waters. On the way back we stopped at a little hidden ice cream place in the Daintree where they make all of their icecream out of their tropical fruits. I was able to eat 4 ice creams; mango, Wattleseed ( which tasted like capachino, but with seeds), soursoap, and black sapote. Since I love ice cream…this was by far the BEST ORGANIC ice cream ever! Since this was one of our last stops, we ened our two hour journey by learning about green ants, which, if you suck them they taste like Limes. It is a very strange thing, but of course, being me…I had to try it. So out of the 24 kids on the tour 23 of us tried them.

 Once we had one green ant, we had a competition called the Ultimate Ant Eating Contest which was a little ridiculous but I can never give up a competition. We had to stick our hands in the tree, grab a handful of ants and eat them to suck the lime juice out, then spit them out before they bit your tounge. Don’t worry they are not poisonous. But you are looking a the 6^th girl to successfully eat green ants with out being bit. J Since this was a full day, we ended up going to dinner at Dunwoodys with the group and made it an early night. They make you exhausted here! 

“Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia.”- Charles M. Schulz

So Day 2!

Happy Valentines Day! So today was our day to head up to Rainforesttation. I had the opportunity to do a wide variety of aboriginal activities, as well as see Koalas up close and personal and hang out with some Roos! The best thing was the Koalas and Kangaroos! The Roo’s are just like dogs! They just hang out all day and wait for you to feed them! They just bounce around and are so carefree! Once our group was done with the Kangaroos, we were able to have our picture taken with a Koala! I don’t have any picture of that because we were not allowed to take photos because the Koalas can only be held for a half an hour at a time and it numerous flashes went off, it wouldn’t be good for them. During that same day I was able to learn how to throw a boomerang and I was pretty successful at it! It didn’t come right back to me, but it came within about 50 feet.

That night we had dinner on our own so a few of the girls and I went to a restaurant called The Crown, which was a little sports bar in the centre of Cairns. After that most of the AustraLearn students were offered a deal for VIP passes to 4 bars with 4 free drinks for only $15. Which is a good deal since any drink costs between $7-$12 a piece. The girls and I met up with everyone and we went out to the Blue Sky Brewery, PJ OBriens and Gilligans for our free drinks. Since all of our bodies are still adjusting to the time difference and being busy all day, we caught a taxi and headed home by midnight. 

"I come from the land down under..."

G’Day Mates! Are you right?!

::Stares blankly:::

“Oh your from America aren’t yah!!? Are you right means OK. Get it? So when I say Are you right, you just say yes!”

…This happened as soon as I got through customs…..and the accents start! Yes! Accents, mate!

The flights getting to Australia were not as bad as I thought. The 6 ½ hour flight to LAX was probably the worst because it was in the evening and there was nothing to do! All they offered was the terrible Michael Jackson movie, which I refused to watch and it was too early to sleep. Once we arrived in LAX ( which by the way, it the biggest airport EVER.) It was a 3 hour wait for the big flight! We took a 747 called “The Spirit of Australia” and it flights out once a day every day at 11:50pm. The 14 hour flight was the longest possible flight ever, and it was very tough to sleep since Economy is so squished, I must have only gotten 3-4 hours of sleep because it was so uncomfortable! But on the bright side! I watched three in flight movies, beat the Advanced Mancala on my ipod, and even listened to all of This American Life Podcasts. J Once arriving in Brisbane, we then went through Customs and headed to the next flight to Cairns, which was about 2 ½ hour flight.

After 3 flights I finally arrived to my AustraLearn culture program in Cairns, Queensland (pronounced Cans ) Our flight landed at around 1pm on February 13^th and that final 2 ½ hour trip to Cairns was just like a postcard. The last 40 minutes of the flight we overlooked the Great Barrier Reef with crystal blue green waters, once we passed the reef we began our descent through the mountain area. With everyone around me, we all agreed that it feel like we are in Hawaii more than Australia.

For the next 6 days, I am living in a hostel called the Bohemian Resort. Actually, I’m sitting right next to the salt water pool in a lounge chair with flaming tiki torches  lighting all the pathways! I will end this post here, hopefully I can post throughout my adventures in Cairns, which include holding a Koala, petting Kangaroos, diving the reef, and touring the rainforest!

Hopefully you will be enjoying these posts! ( this is Cairns center!)