The Best of the Rest (Gold Coast Part 2)

(Surfers Paradise)

Well the nightlife was amazing, lots of clubs and (stripclubs) in the area. Many irish pubs as well, which was kind of a surprise to see. We saved lots of money by making our own dinners so we were able to splurge on some beer! So great, and so nice to get away from the boxed wine for a bit. 

We did get a solid few hours at the beach one day! But then of course the wind picked up and buried our beer so we got out pretty quickly. A few of the danish men that were with our camping friends tried to go skydiving and had to cancel 3 times because of the wind so it was kind of a damper for everyone.. but we fought through!

On the last day, we decided to make something of the bad rainy weather so we all rented a car (which is so amazingly cheap in this country) and drove about 40 minutes out to a great waterfall we read about. This is the view from the top, and it was a 45 minute hike down.

Of course being with boys, we had to hike on down and into the bottom of the waterfall! A little nervous in flip flops, but well worth it! The rain didn't seem so bad after being down there.. 

Here's a picture of us all at the top before the hike. The leeches on the path got a little annoying because for some reason they suckered between the toes and went unnoticed for a little while until they got bigger.. ayyye that was a fiasco! 

Being the adventurers that we were that day, the path to go underneath the waterfall was gated off but the boys of course had to climb around. So I'm not staying behind. We ran underneath it and it was a bit scary because of my clumsiness combined with the lack of friction from my flip flops.. But I did it! 

And here are just a few of the amazing views from the top of the mountain on the drive up as well :)

Beginning of the Gold Coast

Where do I even start? This has been the most amazing few weeks! Well to begin, we took a flight from Sydney to the Gold Coast early wednesday (the 17th of April) morning and arrived in Surfers Paradise by 9am. Not realizing we couldn't check in until 2pm, we took our hangovers straight to the beach to sleep them off. Unfortunately we didn't catch the best weather while we were there. Still warm weather but lots of rain and wind so the beach was quite a sand storm at the time. After checking into our place, we were so relieved because we had such a great setup! We had a full kitchen, a bed, a pull out couch, and even another little loveseat. For 5 people - it was perfect! We were able to get the grocery shopping out of the way and then quickly walked down the beach to meet some friends that road tripped up the coast and were camping nearby. Here's a picture of part of the group! Yeahh me and a lot of boys I suppose.

After a few attempts to go to the beach and getting covered in sand, we realized to cut back the day drinking and looked into buying passes for the Seaworld and waterpark that was nearby! We went to seaworld and it was amazing! I have never seen penguins before, which must have been the most entertaining for sure. This little guy just kept running in little circles in and out of the water.

Then there were some pelicans. And of course a sealion show which was phenomenal! 

Then there was of course the underground aquarium view which was really really cool! 

Of course the last one looks like Dori for those of you familiar with finding nemo! :) Then we used the same passes to go to a huge water park the next day. These rides were unlike any waterpark I've ever been to. The one behind us in this picture was so crazy. They gave you a back protector since you ride on your back the whole way down. You step into this capsule that feels like a personal space shuttle that counts you down. The platform drops from under you and you soar straight down and gain enough momentum to soar all the way around and down. I was only able to do it once. The boys took a second go at it. 

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! Sunday was a good night! After a rough but fun saturday night Julie and I had to trek into the city super early sunday morning to pick up her friend who is visiting for the next few weeks! We came home and took some naps then a few of the boys and I headed into the city to go to an Easter mass. We went to the St. Mary Cathedral in downtown Sydney. It has its own block it is soo big! We unfortunately didn't take pictures because it was pouring rain outside. But here are some I picked off of Google for you to see! So big and beautiful! Hard to believe how full it was plus the numerous groups that couldn't even get seats so there were many standing around the sides. 

After the evening service we decided to get a nice dinner finally! There are so many little cafe's the size of coffee shops but they have full menus and full bars! We sat down at one of those and got some great burgers and chips (french fries). For a sunday night the city was quite loud. I guess many aussies have Easter Monday off of work so its a pretty good bar night. We stayed in for a few drinks but came back so we could sleep in and enjoy the sun the next day! We stayed by the pool all day today trying to get our base tans for break. We keep wanting to call it our spring break but its their fall here so everyone teases us because we can't get out of the habit of calling it spring break. A group of us are going up to the Gold Coast for a week (up north = warmer! ) and then heading up even more north to snorkel the great barrier reef! We are going bungy jumping, which doesn't even compare to skydiving or the ripcord at cedar point! I'm so excited!! This is a picture of what they call surfers paradise because it is just miles and miles of perfect coast line! 

We booked a super cheap hotel room, which didn't seem to matter to us because we will barely be in the rooms with a beach like that across the street. After booking it, we read some of the reviews so find some not so great stories about the conditions of the rooms so it might be interesting.. But we are all ready to laugh it off at the same time. Our flight leaves Wednesday at 6am and trains from our location don't start until 5am so it looks like we might be heading into the city for a night on the town before we get to the airport. We can catch 430 trains from the city that way and it is only a 20 minute train ride too. We are excited for our trip to the reef too! The hostel is a super fun one with great night life too! This is a picture of it:

We just planned one snorkeling trip which is all day (8am - 5) and takes us to 2 different locations. We then booked the bungy jumping so you can watch this in curiosity. Hopefully I will be able to post one of me in a few weeks! Love you all and talk to you in a few weeks!

Easter Week

This week is easter week! With this tough week of only two hours of class time I am exhausted and ready for this two week break :) You might as well consider the whole city of Syndey to be shutdown on Good Friday. All uni's are closed (including gyms and libraries) as well as anything from a drugstore to a grocery store. We went to the beach today though and a few shops were open. Public transportation shuts down early and is limited for the whole weekend. Here it is Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Saturday, Easter Sunday, and lets not forget Easter Monday. Limited hours for everything. So this unfortunately means we are stuck inside on a friday night because no bars are open :( Though this past wednesday was a blast! There was another themed party at a local student bar and it was super hero themed. A group of us girls (and one boy) decided to be ninja turtles! We took foam circle cutouts and glued brown paper to them and wore those with our colored headbands. 

This picture above is actually the three of us girls from michigan on the left (Julie and I, and another girl who attends Albion College). The other is from Cincinnati! Gooo Midwest!

The three of us on the left are roommates :) Hailey on the right is from Long Island! Wooo woo go east coast! Our aussie roommate went as catwoman! 

We were exhausted after this long night on wednesday and with the late shopping day in Australia being thursday Julie and I decided to head out for a girls day. (and by late shopping day - shops are open till about 7 or so). It is the end of season sales so we were loving the summer clothes on sale - and we got a few laughs at all the sweaters and fur hoods that we saw in preparation for their winter.. HA! 

Wellll we are now going on a late night Petrol (gas station) run since it is the only thing open (hopefully)! Love you allll! I'll keep you updated before I leave for the Gold Coast area on wednesday because I'll be going right to the great barrier from there! 

First Australian insect interations

So for those of you that don't know - Australia has the biggest insects known to man. And I might be exaggerating but see for yourselves. On 2 different occasions these guys were just chillin in our house. It is known as the huntsman spider, but apparently this is one of the few that don't bite or aren't poisonous if they do.. Us americans were freaking out at the sight of this because not only is it huge and just a spider that freaks us out, it is too fast to try to kill. Our australian roommate suggested the best way to get it out was to get a broom and try to run it downstairs and out the door. After 3 girls were screaming bloody murder one of our male (and not to mention gay) roommates came out to try to sweep it away with the broom. This spider was to fast for anybody to  catch and ran under the door of our other male roommate who was (probably not sleeping anymore but attempting) to sleep at the time. After screaming repeatedly that "Max it ran under your door" he was then screaming from inside his room not wanting to get up in the dark to get to the door and the light. Not even knowing what one of the many possibilities of creatures (snakes, spiders, lizards etc.) may have crawled under his door he was brave and came out to see what the clatter was about. Our australian roommate thought we were over dramatic so just went to bed and closed her door. After calming ourselves we went back into his room to try to find it so he could sleep (somewhat) soundly throughout the night. After 3 americans screaming and banging the broom all around to try to kill this fast spider we found success and were able to sleep after an hour or two of staring at our walls and ceilings in paranoia. To say the least I wish we recorded this fiasco. I never thought I would be thankful for the innocent daddy long legs and minuscule spiders, garden snakes and little ants crawling around our grounds. Never take anything for granted :)

Jervis Bay

For my Marine Science class we went to a southern beach are called Jervis Bay. It is a environmental protection area with lots of opportunity for research - so it was a good place for us to go. Our whole class attended and we stayed in a dorm like camp in the middle of a national park. On the day we got there we had to pick up our wet suits and snorkel gear and then we separated into groups. We went out on a boat to do sediment sampling and while waiting by the launch area - we saw a huge manta ray! 

Meanwhile, I took a few pictures of the beach we were at as well. So pretty!! I never want to leave :)

These are the quadrats we used to do random sampling of oysters and other small organisms in the marshy and rocky areas. Of course we had to have some fun at night with it.

When at the beach doing sampling we came across a whole area of what they call soldier crabs that travel by the hundreds. But heres one up close! 

So some white sandy beaches were the biggest tease since we couldn't spend anytime enjoying ourselves on them.. :( it was horrible being there on a gorgeous day having to do research.

This is the rocky base that is millions of years old in which we had to do random samples of oysters and things like that which live within or on top of the rock area.

We were taken to a beautiful area to snorkel! Since it is a super protected zone in which you need a permit to even fish - the water was so clear and beautiful with the beaches so white. 

Sea urchins in this area are so abundant and they are these really spiky organisms that can be very dangerous if you step on them. But my dive leader went and picked one up for us and let us hold it! (so glad I have the waterproof camera)

Once we finished the dive surveys we were fortunate to have some spare time to snorkel around and look on our own. I found an octopus creeping under a rock! So cool! 

We snorkeled right across from that island where apparently little penguins reside! I wish we could have gone to see some but I guess only commercial boats can head out that way :( But lots of fisherman were surrounding the coastline somewhat near our snorkeling area.

Sometimes this place doesn't seem real. This is with a camera mainly meant for underwater pictures. It does not have a flash and only has a small zoom capability. Still so pretty.

On our walk to the beach on sunday when we left - we saw some wild kangaroos. We actually are not sure if they were wild wallabies or small kangaroos, but regardless - they are a lot cooler than any deer you see! They do not get scared easily unless they feel a threat so you can get right up close to them and get some pictures!!

We came to the beach on the last day to learn about rock walls and their formations caused by high tides. So cool how the little caves are made. We obviously had to go early in the morning before the tide reaches a high level. 

This place is so pretty as all of Australia is! The ocean is so pretty and anywhere outside of Sydney, it has such a low population that there is so much forest area (or "bush area") that its so pretty. Australia has 2.5 persons per km squared. and the US has 31. Just a random fact :) It has been really interesting learning about their aboriginals and their stolen generations which is similar (still with many differences) but still similar to those of the native americans. The aboriginals here are still outcasted even but university (or "uni") students because you can tell who they are because majority of them are black. Just a different culture we are trying to adjust to because of the racist attitudes. The first public government apology was in 2008, so it has been really interesting learning about people who even from our generation that have been affected by their governments. We really would like to make a trip to an inland aboriginal community to see how it really is. Very interesting stuff and I never thought would catch my attention in the history field. Too bad MSU doesn't have a Marine Biology course because it is a very cool subject with infinite amounts of resources in an area like this. I guess lake michigan doesn't act as a suitable resource for it. 

This week we are trying to get lots done before the 2 week break we have :) They are not allowed to hold classes on Good Friday so my wednesday and friday lectures got cancelled. Then my thursday practical got cancelled as well. So all in all - I have two hours of class this week.. So its tough to find motivation to get my assignments done before break since I am not in a working mindset whatsoever. I can't wait to get to the great barrier reef and go bungy jumping!! :) Ta Ta until then! (and they all say cheers to close their emails and say goodbye) sooo

CHEERS!