We just got back from a weekend at Byron Bay (September 23-25)! Basically it's the Santa Cruz of Australia. This also happened to be my first experience with a hostel and I have to say it was so much fun! We stayed at a funky little place called the Arts Factory. They had free music performances at night and there were hammocks scattered all over to lounge around in. The room I was sharing with a few friends as well as some other random people was called Wagon Wheel.
The inside of the Wagon Wheel room.
The main hangout area for the hostel.
Drum-circle that was performing when we first arrived.
We basically chilled on the beach a lot or wandered around town doing some window shopping during the day, and then at night we would walk out to the town (about a 10 minute walk from the hostel). We went to a bar called the Cheeky Monkey, which was a lot of fun and we hung out with people we met at the hostel.
See the skateboards?
On Sunday morning I woke up at 5 A.M. to watch the 5:30 sunrise. Byron Bay has the most easterly point of the Australian mainland, and therefore is the first place the sunrises in Australia. There's a famous lighthouse at this point and the hostel had a van that drove us up to it. It was so tranquil and beautiful out there! Definitely worth the early morning. We got back to the hostel around 6:30 and I fell right back asleep. Our timing was perfect because just as I was falling back asleep it started pouring outside. The rain sounded so pretty on the roof of our hostel!
Byron Bay was definitely an experience and I can't wait to see what else Australia has in store for me!
This weekend we had a trip through Arcadia to North Stradbroke Island (September 16-18). It was the most amazing experience! I could go on and on about it, but I think I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking. We took a ferry to the island on Friday and that evening heard an aboriginal, Shane Coghill, talk about his experience growing up in Stradbroke Island. He talked about some of the indigenous history of the island and it was really interesting to hear his perspective.
North Stradbroke is the second largest sand island in the world.
On Saturday morning we painted boomerangs and had a lesson on how to throw them, and yes, they actually come back! We then went kayaking through mangroves and did a bit of snorkeling.
My boomerang! The middle top is the symbol for a campsite, surrounded by kangaroo tracks, then the symbol for river. And then spirits at either edge.
On Sunday we woke up super early and went sandboarding. Surprisingly it’s not that similar to snowboarding. You have very little control over where the board goes! After sandboarding we went to the beach for some surfing! Next we headed to Brown Lake. The water looked brownish-red (kind of like iced tea) because material from the Ti-trees surrounding the lake seep into it. It is supposed to have special healing powers according to the natives. It actually made my skin feel super moisturized after sitting in it for a while.
Beach time with Emily and Kristina!
We could see a whale jumping and playing out in the distance at this lookout point!
The tea-coloured water at Brown Lake.
Overall the whole weekend was an amazing experience!
So in light of my academic education in Australia beginning today with my first day of classes, I thought I'd post some snippets about my cultural education...
-kangaroos can pause their pregnancies and restart them when there's enough food
-the emu and the kangaroo are featured on the Australian coat of arms for the symbolic reason that both animals can only walk forward
-there are sharks in the ocean...and the lakes and canals running through Bond's campus
-the sand squeaks when you walk on it because it has high amounts of silicon
-the chart-topper right now in Australia is Gotye- Somebody That I Used to Know (definitely worth a listen)
-vegemite is a great source of vitamin B and is made from brewers' yeast extract (it's gunky stuff they found in the bottom of brewing kegs)
-the constellations are different...they taught us how to find the southern cross
-Goon: boxed wine and the only affordable alcohol in all of Australia
-almost all coffee drinks here are espresso based (and delicious!) I've been getting "flat whites" mainly because I don't know what anything else is called
-Tim Tam's are their own food group
Today we went to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary! It was about a twenty minute bus ride, which wasn't bad. We got a semester pass for $30 (a day pass is usually $40 so that's an awesome deal). So I'm sure I'll be going back lots. I got to hold a Koala bear! It was so soft and sleepy. There was also a kangaroo exhibit where we could pet kangaroos, so I got to check a few things off my bucket list. We went to a bird show that was absolutely spectacular. They had the birds flying free and responding to cues. I had to duck a couple times to avoid getting hit by the birds flying over my head. We also saw a huge crocodile that is one of the largest in captivity! We went during feeding time, but he didn't eat because it's still too cold. There's still lots to explore there and I'm sure I'll be back since I have that pass! There's even a rope course I didn't get to check out yet!
This is how they like to sleep!!!
A hawk using a rock to crack open an emu egg.
The massive croc!!!
On another note classes start on Monday. I'm taking Image and Photography, Buddhist Philosophy, Love, Sex, and Relationships, and Immunology. I worked it out so I only have class on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Hello four-day weekends!
Last Monday we arrived at Bond University in Gold Coast. The campus is amazing! I'm living in Accommodation and each room has its own bathroom, which is reallllly helpful. The gym is right upstairs so I have no excuse not to work out now. I have a view of the pool/hot tub right outside my window, and it's just beautiful! It's been a lot of taking care of business the past few days moving in and getting set for classes, etc, but it's really nice to finally be settled.
We went shopping in Robina and got our cell phones and bathroom supplies and what not. It's ridiculous how expensive everything is here! Bond has been putting on social events as part of orientation week. On Monday night there was a bus that took us to a club called East in Broadbeach. It was really fun dancing with all the Arcadia people!
Some friends and I checked out Burleigh Beach the other day. Even though it's just now becoming spring here the weather was so nice! We went into the water up to our chests, but the waves are really strong so we didn't get that far in.
On Friday we had a BBQ on the beach! Unfortunately there was a bit of a storm, so we took cover under some awnings. We were going to have kangaroo meat, but the rain soaked it so it was thrown out. Hopefully I'll get to try some soon though!
So I survived the fifteen hour flight. I actually slept a good ten hours of it, which didn’t surprise me as I’ve been know to fall asleep at the most inopportune times anyway (such as every day of Ochem lecture and during a 12 hour drive up to Tahoe through a snowstorm to name a few). We arrived at the Melbourne airport and met up with the Arcadia staff, Maz and Kat (they like shortening names here), and we headed off on a twenty minute bus ride to a little town outside of Melbourne called St. Kilda. We split off into groups to explore the area and get lunch. We looked at different shops and then walked along the beach.
After lunch we got back on the bus and drove for about an hour and a half to a national park where we saw our first kangaroos. They reminded me a lot of deer back in Sonora. They just kind of hang out and stare at you and then hop away when you get too close. I got about thirty feet from them. We even saw a few Joeys sticking their heads out of their Mum’s pouches.
After checking out the kangaroos we drove to Sorrento, which is a cute little beach town where a lot of more well off people have beach homes, etc. We stayed at a lovely little bed and breakfast called Whitehall. We had a home baked meal for dinner at the bed and breakfast and after dinner we went on a walk down to the beach to look at the stars. The constellations are all different in the southern hemisphere and the milky way is really bright. After the walk we were advised to stay up as late as we could to help us avoid getting jet lag too bad, but I could only make it until like ten. I slept like a baby!
This is a spider that was hanging out on one of the door frames. I thought it was pretty big and pointed it out to some others. When the bed and breakfast owner saw it he pointed it out to some other Aussies and was like "Oh look...and they think that's a big one!" He and the others then started to exchange horror stories of spiders the size of dinner plates falling on them while they were driving and finding giant spiders being inside of their pant legs after line-drying clothes. It made me feel pretty wimpy.
Sorrento
Whitehall Bed and Breakfast
On Saturday morning I had my first experience with vegemite. At breakfast there was an assortment of jellies and what looked like nutella. I tried a little taste of it on a piece of cereal and my mouth immediately puckered and I had to eat some fruit to get the taste out of my mouth. Apparently the best way to eat it is on a piece of toast with lots of butter, but I think I’ll stay away from it for a while.
Saturday night we had a personal concert by the band Bushwazee. They taught us typical Ozzie songs and little dances and it was loads of fun.
The AFL match
Sunday morning we checked out of Whitehall and drove to Melbourne. The city reminds me a lot of Ottawa in that it’s all centered around the river called the ‘Yarrah’, which literally means “flowing”. The architecture is a mix between older really beautiful buildings and more modern buildings. We explored the city for a bit and then went to an AFL match. The field was huge and we didn’t really understand what was going on at first but people around us explained what the rules were.
