hiking & eating

Our dorm is surrounded by heaps of nature.  There’s one hill/mini mountain people have mentioned climbing. Kate and I tried before but we couldn’t find the right trail. This morning we had Bish go with us to show us where to go. The hike wasn’t bad. Bish wanted to jog it but it has such a rocky trail I’m sure if we had run it I would’ve rolled my ankle. Haha The view was pretty awesome and I’m sure we’ll be hiking that often!

hike

Tonight we start MKR again (the final episode of round 1 !!) so we were inspired to try a group dinner. We bought enchilada kits and planned the whole thing. It turned out AMAZING and I’m sure we’ll be doing this often.

enchilada night

Kate made lemon cake for dessert!

Week Two: Classes Begin

Hi !! ❤

So things have really turned up this week. I know I was fairly negative my first week here. I had to adjust my expectations a lot, but I’m getting used to the routine here at JCU. Starting classes has created some familiarity and routine into my days and I’ve really liked that.

So Monday was the first day of classes. But, I don’t have classes on Mondays! haha. So while everyone else started uni I slept in and explored campus a bit. I figured out where my classrooms are. I am taking three classes, one of them has a tutorial (like a small group discussion session). So of the four classrooms, three are in one building and one is way on the other side of campus. Oh well!

Bright and early at 9am Tuesday morning, I had my first class, Cell Bio. I walked into the room with surprise. It wasn’t a lecture theater, it was a tiny classroom. There is maybe ten other students in the class. The small size was not what I expected. The professor was extremely animated and really friendly. She doesn’t do every lecture, but she’ll be around a lot. There was even another McKenna in the class! I think I’ll like that class a lot, it’ll be interesting. And I hope we all get close since it’s such a small class.

Later in the day was my first lecture for Australian Vertebrate Fauna. Haha funny name for a zoology course. This class was larger, the prof said 100 people but I think only like 60 people were there. The room had little air conn so that was a bummer. The professor spent a long time trying to get the intro powerpoint onto the screen. She couldn’t figure it out. Then she called in some tech guys…..turns out she thought the computer was a touchscreen…it wasn’t. There’s a lot of international students in that class, a lot a recognize from Rotary. Anywho she told us about the class including our end of the semester field trip. We spend three days, two nights in the good ‘ol aussie outback! We stay at a ranch, catch and observe different Australian animals. It might be fun, i might also get eaten alive by killer snakes and mosquitoes. Stay tuned!

Tuesday was the night of no return….I’m talking about MKR…Okay, rewind, there’s not a lot of Australian TV shows. This one, My Kitchen Rules (MKR) is the greatest. It’s kind of complex, but it’s basically a reality cooking show. It’s super Australian and super intense. We turned it on Tuesday night and liked it. Wednesday night we watched it again. Turns out its on for 90 minutes every night, Monday through Thursday. New episodes! How crazy! Hahaha So naturally we got hooked and will watch every episode lol. It’s so great because it’s such a big show so EVERYONE watches it. Random people will stop by the kitchen and be like “MKR, I love that show! Don’t you just hate Bianca!?” like everyone knows what’s going on with it at all times. I love it haha!

Wednesday I don’t have class (WOO HOO) and so Kate and I decided to embark on a much unplanned trip. Kate and I have been close for a while now and so we decided, hey, let’s get a bike. We can share it and that way it doesn’t cost so much and yeah. So we ventured to Stockland, the closest mall. We hopped on the bus and asked the driver if bikes were allowed on the bus. She said, QUOTE, “yes, as long as the bus is not full”. So we bought round trip tickets. We stopped first at Big W, kinda like a cheaper target. We checked out the bikes there and liked some. We decided we should cross the street first and check out Kmart (yes! they have a Kmart and it’s SUPER CHEAP). So we headed there and we decided we liked this certain bike best. However, it was back at Big W where there was baskets and the same bike. So we crossed the street and through the mall to find out that no, it wasn’t the same bike, it was a smaller version. So we bought the big basket and walked yet again across the hot pavement to Kmart. We purchased the adorable white and purple bike as well as some snazzy mint green helmets and a U-lock. We walked the bike across the street AGAIN to the bus stop. Minutes later the bus rolled up and the buy immediately said “no bikes allowed on the buses”. OF COURSE NOT. So we let it leave and we came to the realization that someone would have to bike back to school. Now this doesn’t seem like it’d be that big of a problem. Stockland’s only about 2.5 miles away from uni. But we didn’t remember seeing any bike paths along the way. Biking on the left side of the road did not seem like a great idea. But it had to be done. So I strapped on the helmet and took off. Kate guiltily took the bus, haha. Turns out, it was no problem! There was sidewalk for about halfway, then there was a bike path that led through a sidestreet back to the main road into campus. Maybe 15-20 minutes later I was at the dorm! Haha, we locked up the bike and I drank my weight in water. I’m so glad we got a bike. Biking to class cuts that journey’s time in half. Biking to the grocery store is a breeze, faster and easier with the use of the basket! Best decision we made yet! haha

our bike!

The way the uni is set up, the dorms (called colleges) are very competitive. There’s a sport tournament called the Fisher Shield. Rugby (“footy”) is the main event. Rotary, being a smaller college, teams up with Western Courts to form a bigger team called RAW (Rotary and Western). Anyway, so there was a rugby interest meeting. Kate was kind of interested so she convinced me to go with her to check it out. RUGBY IS A CRAZY SPORT. We got there a little late so we didn’t play any games of touch. But we joined in on the little group discussion about the sport. This girl Maddie, a returning player, was a rugby pro. She’s so into it, it made me feel bad for not wanting to join! Rugby is so intense, so physical. So much contact it’s insane. There was NO WAY I was joining the team. But it was hilarious to listen to all the horror stories Maddie kept telling. “It’s such a great sport, you just get to tackle some bitches!” is all she kept saying. She said some girl stood on her hand and broke it in her last game. SOUNDS LIKE FUN….not. We peaced out of there real quick never to return.

Thursday I had Cell Bio in the morning, usually with a lit tutorial after that but not this week. So a few hours later I had my first Children’s Literature lecture. This is the one class I have in a different building. And it’s in the far north of campus. They’re doing construction in the middle of campus so it took about a half hour to get to class! I decided to walk but next Thursday I’ll be biking for sure. So in this huge lecture hall there was only like 20 students. What’s with all these big classrooms and no students! Like not everyone shows up to lecture but really!? So the professor for this one was obviously really into teaching this subject, which was cute. We were also live streaming with the Cairns campus which was interesting to see. She got the technology to work effortlessly unlike my zoology prof. This class shouldn’t be that hard but it is a lot of reading. Easy kids books, I mean check them out:

my books for Children’s Lit

but I’m a slow reader and we’re doing like one a week to start. We’ll see how that goes! There’s tutorial sessions on Thursday mornings so that is more discussion based. The lecture is supposed to last two hours. But she let us out after an hour and said that’d happen often. Sweet! Now after this class, i have TEN minutes to get across the whole campus. Joy! But since we got out early, I stopped by the library to grab a chai latte. It wasn’t very good. I haven’t had a lot of coffee while I’ve been here because it’s so hot! I’ll have to switch to iced coffee. An hour later I was back in zoology. We talked about biogeography the whole time – basically how Australia got some crazy strange animals and all the reasons they stay on this island and can’t be found anywhere else. At the end of the lecture she was all “did that make sense? usually when I teach this is doesn’t make sense” ??????? Uhhh maybe she won’t be the best lecturer…

Thursday’s are my longest days, and we all had a long week, so we decided to go out. At home Thursday is a big night to go out, NOT IN TOWNSVILLE. But of course no one told us that. So we pre gamed by making up a drinking game to MKR (big hit by the way). And then decided we go back to the Tav. Where we went last week and had fun. Dani drove us all. When we got there there was NO ONE THERE. We figured maybe we were just a little early so we stuck around. Nope, no one else showed up. So we got in the car and went to town, Flinder’s Street. We stopping into the infamous Mad Cow tavern and there was like groups of old people there and two very drunk girls trying to swing dance. We left real quick to just hang out back at our floor. All in all, it turns out Thursday is not a big night here, Tuesday is. So we’re planning to go out again then haha. We hung out around Rotary all night and had a blast anyways.

What wasn’t a blast was waking up for my 8 am bio class on Friday, but I biked over there and listened to the lecture anyway. After that I went right back to bed. We were all pretty tired so we just relaxed all Friday long. Rotary hosts free food Fridays, which is really nice since everyone here has to cook for themselves. Its usually donated meals from one of the other college’s dining halls. So we all waited around to get that, and to much disappointment it never happened! So we each ended up making our own dinner and stayed up to watch Crazy, Stupid, Love on TV. Love that movie, but the channel had like one million commercials so we were exhausted by the time it ended.

We had heard about farmer’s markets around town and like I said before I went to the Flinder’s Street Sunday market which was just okay. The other one we have heard about is at a shopping centre called Willows. They have big Sunday markets, but Molly told us that the Saturday ones were actually better for fruit and veg. So we planned to go early in the morning to buy some cheap fruit and veg. Of course, this didn’t work out as planned. But I’m getting ahead of myself. We woke up early and headed out to the bus stop at 8. Dani wasn’t there, the lucky girl slept in through the whole adventure. Anyways, the rest of us waited at the bus stop for a little while. The bus we thought would take us to Willows pulled up. The driver told us that we couldn’t board the bus because it had to drive by the hospital (next to the uni) and come back before we could get on. Like what? Why’d you bother stopping at JCU? Just take us on your way to the hospital? Like ??? Anyways, when it came back around five minutes later he tells us he does not go to Willows and that we need to get on this bus and get off at Stockland and get on another bus. So we get to Stockland and find out we need to wait 40 minutes for the next bus. We go inside the food court to sit in the air con. 40 minutes later the bus arrives and we ask if he goes to Willows and……OF COURSE HE DOESN’T. He tells us to go around the corner to the other bus stop. We leave to go to the other stops and we see the bus we need stopped at a red light about to pass us. We all run to the stop and catch it just it time and YAY he goes to Willows. 15 minutes later we arrive at the mall. The markets are supposed to be in the parking lot. And we see none. We go through the mall to check out the other lot….none there. After this horrendous trip, we have arrived to the nonexistent markets. We were so sad and tired and now had to wait another 40 minutes to catch a bus back to JCU. So we went to the food court. Candice found her favorite burger place Oporto which has extremely expensive burgers for a fast food place. Since it was only like 10 am, I got a banana muffin and coffee which was also extremely expensive. We ate and waited and when it was time to get on the bus, it never showed up. So we asked the next one that came by if he went to JCU, it didn’t of course. But it went to Stockland, so we went there and got on another that FINALLY went to JCU. We did a walk of shame back to Rotary where we learned the Sunday markets are not at Willows but a different shopping center. We found Bish and Dani in the kitchen and shared our embarrassing story. To make us feel better, Dani suggested we go back to Willows tomorrow for the Sunday markets and she’ll drive. What an adventure.

We had some naps and when we got up we went grocery shopping. They had a free food saturday since we didn’t have any Friday, but it wasn’t very good. Later we watched Finding Nemo, in Australia!! lol We planned to have a fun night in, as none of us felt like getting all dressed up to go out. haha we had a good night in and planned to get up early again for the Willows markets.

Sunday went much better. The drive was short and the markets exist! It was bigger than Flinder’s and had heaps of stalls. Not too much fruit and veg variation, but I did get a bag of apples, a small bag of tiny capsicum (that’s what they call bell peppers) for $1, and got a bucket of mangoes for $10. They’re huge!!!

mangoes!!

We also stopped into the food court again where I got a mcmuffin sandwich from Hungry Jacks (a fast food with the whopper so I guess it’s like Burger King). While Candice couldn’t resist not getting Oporto again. lol

On the way home we dropped Micaela off at the marina in town. She had a field trip with one of her classes to collect water samples and plankton out on a boat. After that we drove up Castle Hill and stopped to check out the spectacular views. We have to actually walk up there soon. We went back to campus and napped. Haha

The second week was really great. Our friend group has really gotten close and it feels good to be getting started in a routine. Classes seem like they’ll be going well. And I’m feeling much better than I was the first weekend here. I need to start planning some trips for in and around Townsville. So that’s what the focus will be this upcoming week!

Love you all, miss you!

Week One: A Roller Coaster

Wow. The first week here in paradise was a roller coaster.

Once I was officially all alone, a moved in to my new life, I immediately felt so uneasy. So much about uni life was drastically different than what I expected. I think the problem was having a full three months to just think and think and think about what life here would be like. And then coming here and realizing that things were not what I had planned in my head was jarring. But things began to pick up.

Okay, the dorm situation is a little confusing to explain. I’m in Rotary college (dorm). And it’s pretty far away from main campus, about a 15 minute walk to get to main buildings, about 20 to get to the Woolworth’s (grocery store). The college is actually four sets of detached buildings. Each building is split into two blocks. Each block has three floors. Each floor has 7 rooms, a bathroom with two toilets and two showers, a shared kitchen, dining room, and lounge area. My floor is the non-AC floor. There’s five girls, and one boy, and one empty room.

Jelena – a returning senior, super nice, very welcoming girl lives next to me.

Candice – on the other side of me is a very pretty transfer student from the Uni of Sunshine Coast, who’s so so nice and new to Townsville and JCU too

Dani – a true fresher, lives in Rockhamption, QLD. So nice, art major really really cool

Micaela – an American! Studying abroad from New Jersey and the University of Tampa, she was so quiet at first I wasn’t sure she liked us! But she’s actually so great and tons of fun to be around

Bish – the RA for our block, he’s so fun. Really funny and cool and social. Really glad he’s on our hall. His girlfriend Molly is over all the time too, and she’s really cool. She’s American and her mom works at Appalachian State, so small world!]

Kate – I met Kate at one of the Rotary BBQs and we just hit it off. She’s studying abroad from Purdue University in Indiana. She lives in the next building over. She has AC – lucky duck.

Our floor originally was kinda awkward getting to know each other but we’ve grown really close. And we work very very well together to keep the place clean. We all have designated cupboard space, fridge space, and freezer space. But we share dishes and cutlery and pans, and we clean up after ourselves, so all is good!

The bummer part is that the way the floors are set up, we can’t get into the other blocks or floors. They’re locked and we don’t have access. So it sucks that it’s hard to socialize with people on other floors/blocks. But, since it’s O Week (orientation week) there was lots of orientation events to meet people.

Monday of O week I went around with my major. Of course the way they do medicine programs is COMPLETELY different from how we do it. So the information was mostly irrelevant, but i did get a little campus tour and free lunch so I stuck around for that. They don’t have undergrad and med school, they have a six year program that takes you through it all. Crazy!

Toga Night Me, Dani, Candice, Micaela, Kate

Tuesday was the infamous Toga Party. It’s totally different to be able to drink on campus! Ha! Rotary hosted a pre-party in the common room before we all head to the on campus bar, the Uni Club. So we all prepped together in our floor. All of us and my friend Kate who lives in another block. It’s so odd to pregame with your RA, lol. We all mingled at Rotary until it was time to head to the Club. It was packed! There was space to dance inside and a huge outdoor courtyard to hang out in too. We stayed there for a while and eventually went back home to Rotary. Everyone was out and it was REALLY nice to see the campus come alive. I walked back to Rotary with Bish and Molly and we were hungry so we ate KFC. Bish goes to KFC every tuesday because they have a special deal on fried chicken lol.

I slept through most of the next day, haha. The rest of O week had lots of workshops and meeting for freshers, which we did not attend, but we made sure to attend any event that had free food. Since all of us at Rotary don’t have a meal plan, it’s nice that we tend to gather in the kitchen around mealtimes, but we make sure to find any and all free food! At the end of the week we went with the rest of Rotary to one of those trampoline places. That was REALLY fun and also really tiring.

On Friday Kate, Micaela and I journeyed to the beach. One $4 day pass, a 25min bus ride, and a 25 walk down the beach later we finally arrived at the swimming area.It’s really a bummer it takes so long to get there. The Strand, the main Townsville beachfront, is a really cool place. It has tons of sand area but you can only get in the water in the designated swimming area which is netted off so no stingers get in. It was so nice to feel the cooler air and the hot sand. The water is warm! Not so refreshing, but nice nonetheless. By the end of the weekend we were ready to start classes.

The Strand

The Strand

perfect palms

perfect palms

perfect palms

I’m not gonna lie, the first week was really emotional for me. A lot of the time Rotary seemed dead. I was second guessing if I made the right decision on the dorm, classes, etc. Until I heard about the other colleges. The basically haze all the new students, making them wear these crazy headbands or bibs or outfits, they throw eggs at them at night, wake them up in the middle of the night to walk around the campus. While them seem to be having a good time doing it, I’m glad I don’t have to! Haha

I’m warming up to Townsville. It’s really a hidden gem kind of city. There’s not the big flashy attractions of the bigger cities, but there’s character and community. Being here for a while will surely open my eyes to everything it has to offer. And above all else, it’s BEAUTIFUL. Stunningly picturesque, filled with nature and wildlife.

outside my dorm!

Touring Townsville

It’s sunny and 85 here in Townsville in North Queensland. Immediately I had mixed feelings about Townsville. After coming from big cities (Seattle, LA, Sydney, Brisbane) the small town feel of Townsville is extremely noticeable.

Day 1

We arrived in the Townsville airport around 4pm. The plane was filled with a group of JCU students who had booked their trip together from LA and they crowded around the shuttle service to campus. We grabbed our luggage and our rental car. Sitting in the passenger seat on the left side of the car was sooooo strange. We drove VERY CAREFULLY to the JCU campus.We drove up to my dorm, Rotary International House which is one of the furthest dorms. We stopped into the Rotary office where I checked in and got my key. Moments later the whole group of RAs came in for a meeting, but before they started my RA showed me around.

So the dorm isn’t one building its more of a complex with several buildings, six I think. Each building is split into two “blocks”. Each block has three floors with seven beds on one hall and a kitchen at the end of the hall with an exit to a porch, a TV and couches and dining table. The kitchen is large but the appliances are older. The bathrooms are off of the main door. Two toilets and two showers, not too bad but older. My room is in the middle of the hall. The room is about 14ft x 12ft so not huge but not small. There’s everything I need in it, except for Air Conditioning!!! Check out the pictures to see what it looks like.

At this time, there was only Bish and I checked in. As it was pretty late we left JCU and went to the hotel for the night. We checked in there and got set up in the room. They had a new guests welcome party with free drinks and really good pita bread. Yum! The Townsville Holiday Inn is actually the tallest building in Townsville, just a little fun fact! We then walked down the street to the eastern edge of the Strand. It was already dark, but seeing the light through the palm trees and watching the waves crash onto shore was very cool. We didn’t immediately find a restaurant for dinner so we walked back to the hotel and took the car down to the Strand and found the Watermark Grill. So we sat down and shared a pizza. It had been very hot all day, but sitting on the beachfront with the seabreeze was just perfect. Afterwards we drove back to the hotel, showered, and slept well.

Day 2

The next day, Thursday, we woke up and found the best breakfast place next to the hotel. Called Two Brothers Cafe, the two owners chatted with us at length about Australia, their trip to America, and things to do in Townsville. The good conversation was only interrupted by equally as good food. I had a lovely egg sandwich and chai latte. Since the weather was planning to be a little unpredictable, we decided that today seemed like the best day to check out Magnetic Island, “Maggie” is a tropical island a short 30min ferry ride away from downtown Townsville. We walked to the ferry dock and headed across the ocean to Maggie Island. Very pretty ride left us at a very pretty island. We got on the local bus and stopped at Picnic Beach first. The beach was very clean with a swimming area and a pier to fish off of. We just sat on the shore and enjoyed the view. A crocodile was seen there recently, and that coupled with the stringer danger, swimming isn’t really a possibility.

Next we took the bus to the other side of the island, Horseshoe Bay. This area was slightly larger than Picnic Bay. We were extremely hot so we ducked into the bar and Papa had a beer while Nana and I split a pear cider. We watched swimmers and sunbathers hang out at the bay. The cutest beach cars drove by too. This beach had a lifeguarded swimming area as well. We hopped back on the bus and stopped once more at Alma Bay. This was I think my favorite beach spot, the horseshoe shape supposedly keeps stingers at bay. We saw a few families playing in the water. Two guys were even snorkeling by the rocks on the edge. There was a lifeguard station as well the Arcadia hotel that brought a tiny bit of civilization to the beach. We got back on the bus and headed to the ferry terminal.

Overall Maggie Island was a bit different than expected. I thought it’d be a bit more developed being fairly close to Townsville. 2500 people actually live on the island but I can’t imagine what they do all day. The beaches were great. It was a great day trip to go enjoy the beach. Since the day was a little cloudy and windy and the stingers and crocs, we didn’t get a chance to swim. Apparently snorkeling is easy to do off many of the beaches. There’s also two big backpackers hostels. One is at the Billabong Koala Sanctuary too So I’m really glad we went and saw all that the island had. Maybe I’ll get to go back and snorkel or hike and enjoy the nature.

After we got back to town, we went shopping for dorm stuff. First stop was Kmart. Yes, they have a Kmart, that had everything I needed, for very cheap! Yay! So we got sheets and pillows and cutlery and bowls and plates and cords and more. The most expensive stuff was shampoo, conditioner, makeup, that kind of thing. Which made we wish I had just brought that stuff from home. We went to grab some grub and got lost a little and stumbled upon Red Rooster, a fastfood burger joint that was better than expected. Chicken burgers all around. We headed to Coles, a grocery store, to pick up a few things to stock my fridge. They helped me set up my room and put everything away. Then they left me here for the night since I had orientation early in the morning.

I unpacked all my suitcases and got to meet Jelena, my neighbor. She’s a senior, very welcoming and very nice. I unpacked and then slept. It was surprisingly okay sleeping with only a ceiling fan.

Day 3

I woke up, grabbed some yogurt before heading out to the day’s International Orientation. A group of us met in the common area of our dorm to walk together to the main campus. We checked in and went into a huge auditorium. I sat down next to a girl named Sydney. We kinda stuck together for the day. She’s living in a different dorm so I haven’t seen her since. But she’s actually completing her full degree here so that’s cool. The day was packed with tons of information, most of it I already knew. We had a juice break to mingle and it was cool to meet new people. The vast majority of international students were American. So it was really cool to meet people form all around my country. And especially interesting to meet people like me to live far away from where they go to school. However, I met no one from Seattle (one girl from Bainbridge) and no one who was Pre-Med. So that was little disappointing. And even more so, I wish we had this time to mingle with domestic students. We went back into the auditorium, got thrown more and more information, and then had some pizza for lunch. One more info session in the auditorium before we were released. Just in time for the long walk back to the dorm it started to rain. It was a warm rain though. When I got back to the dorm it was pretty quiet. No one else had moved in, but name tags had been put on the wall. It said that all the rest of our floor was freshmen girls. So I felt that that’d be nice. But in the meantime I started to feel veryyyyy lonely. Our key only gives us access to common rooms and our block floor. So it not like I could walk around the dorm and see what people are up to. With no one on my hall there was nothing to do.

So I texted Nana to see what they were up to. She sad they were coming back from a day trip to Charter Towers.This next town over is very quaint and small but very pretty – according to their pictures. Anyways, they picked me up on their way back to the hotel. We decided to drive up Castle Hill. I was so surprised! First off, the hill is far away from campus. And then the frive up was easily 10-15min. Which means a walk up the steep slope is easily and hour. I thought it’d be more accesible, something I could maybe excersize on regularly. But now I don’t think so. The view from the top was amazing though. It wasn’t a clear afternoon, and still the views were spectacular.After we drove down the windy road we stopped at Woolworths to grab wine and cheese and bread. We relaxed at the hotel and then decided to check out The Brewery at the end of the block for a light dinner.

Now the Holiday Inn is right on Flinders Street, the main street downtown Townsville. Yet it’s been completely sleepy. The cafes are open in the morning, but by midday stores are closed up. But, this being Friday night, there were finally some life in the streets! We walked by the Brewery maybe three times before and maybe saw one person inside. We walked in tonight and it was so LOUD and packed with couples, young students at the bar, and families. We were surprised to see some many nightcrawlers since it was only 8, but I was really glad to see some life in the town. We decided not to eat there, haha, and we instead got in the car and went back down to the Strand. Hard to find parking down there as it to had a lot of life tonight. We found a spot and walked around the corner to the town famous Juliette’s Gelato Shop. Nana and I split gelato and an almond cake while Papa ate a delicious looking chocolate berry muffin. It really hit the spot. Juliettes was a happenin place on a friday night, which was good to see. We went back to the hotel and slept.

Day 4

In the morning, we went back to the fave Two Brothers Cafe, which had a lot more life than our Thursday morning bfast. The same owners were still there working but there were about ten other people there too. I got the same sandwich and latte. Haha, I’ll definitely be going back often. Maybe I could get a job there….hmmmmm

Then we decided to go to the must-see ReefHQ Great Barrier Reef Aquarium. This is the most touristy thing to do in Townsville. I was extra excited to check it out because they have a turtle sanctuary/hospital. The aquarium was cool, smaller than I expected, but had cool stuff to see. BUT NO TURTLES. Supposedly the hospital isn’t open for viewing. I was disappointed for sure. Maybe I can volunteer there and get to see them that way. After that we decided to check out the Jezzine Barracks at the western part of the Strand. These are old military barracks have been refurbished into a beautiful park with great lookouts. Quite picturesque. We walked down one trail to the Rock Pools below. This is a pool that’s made to look natural and filled with ocean water. It’s enclosed so it’s perfect for swimming stinger-free. There was also tons of places to tan or lay out and read a book. I hope I can get down there for a dip real soon.

We decided to drive up the coast a little bit. Past the barracks is Pallarenda Beach.Again, not the best for swimming because it’s stinger season, and that one croc was seen there last week, but tons of beach space, parks and even a few swimming areas with stinger nets. Unfortunately the afternoon had turned into a mini windstorm so we didn’t hang out on the beach for long. We drove back through town and saw this gorgeous waterfall near the Strand. We went back to the hotel and relaxed for a while, we watched the Valentine’s Day showing of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, which was fun for me at least lol. We hit the hay and when I woke up Nana had left me the most perfect Valentine’s Day gift – a monogrammed necklace!

Day 5

We had anticipated Sunday morning for a while because the town has a farmer’s market on Flinders Street. So we walked down there and took a lap around all of the stalls. Again, I was a little disappointed. It was a lot smaller and less exciting that I thought it’d be. The local fruit stands were nice, but there’s not much else. We stopped for breakfast at the M&J Cafe right next to the hotel. I had egg’s benedict on brioche. It was very good, and Nana and Papa both had omelettes. It was yummy!! Before we headed back up to the hotel, we grabbed two almond croissants at a yummy and busy bakery stand.

We grabbed my stuff from the hotel and headed to Stockland, the shopping center next to the campus. Papa searched for a JCU tee, but no where off campus sold them. I got a beach towel at Big W, and then we went grocery shopping at Woolworths. $100 later we headed to my room. When we got to my block there was a new flyer on the door saying there was a dorm meeting this morning. Oops. They should’ve told me while I was there!

We unpacked all my groceries into my designated areas in the kitchen. And I saw that Candice and Dani had moved in and were unpacking. They seemed really nice. They said that Rotary was putting on a BBQ lunch on a few minutes and I said I’d meet them there. But first the three of us went to drive around the campus. We stopped into the JCU bookstore to see about apparel, but they weren’t open 😦

They dropped me off back at my dorm, and it was hard saying goodbye!! I’ll forever be thankful for everything my grandparents have done for me. Especially these past two weeks. Travelling with them is so fun, and they made this transition not only possible, but easy. Their flight was leaving EARLY in the morning, but they emailed me from the airport in Brisbane saying they made it there and one long flight later they were back in the States.

Overall, Townsville wasn’t exactly what I expected. I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed, but it’s definitely different than I expected. I think having three months to build up expectations and plan out in my head how things will be, and then get here and realize how different it is, was a little surprising. It has a little less life than I thought it’d have. I think its a pretty spread out town so there’s a lot of suburbs. I wish JCU was closer to town, and wish the campus was laid out different. There’s a lot I wish was different. But I know I’ll get used to things and end up adjusting well, it’s gonna be hard in the meantime though.

Well I’m officially on this enormous island all alone…I can’t believe it’s only been 10 days since we first arrived in Australia! Crazy!

Brisbane Any Day

❤ I know this post is totally delayed, but there’s been an extreme wifi shortage across this nation, so hopefully I can remember all the details of the three nights we stayed in Brisbane!

Day 1

The short 90 minute plane ride was a breeze, well anything after a 13 hour would obviously is, but like our first plane we had TVs to make the time pass quickly. We were served the most bizarre snacks – two chocolate chip cookies (rock hard) and a pack of crispy wafer cookies with a relish sauce to dip it in…uhhh it tasted about as good as it sounds… but a mere three episodes of Friends later we were in sunny Brisbane!

With this flight we crossed State lines and left New South Wales for Queensland. Brisbane is Australia’s third largest city (behind Sydney and Melbourne). It was gonna be a hot and humid rest of the week with temps in the high 70s. The first thing I did when we left the plane was purchase some sunscreen and aloe. My skin was bright red on my arms and thighs and forehead and chest. GREAT. We took a taxi to the Mantra Midtown hotel/apartments. And WOW was this a nice place. 13 floors up (not so unlucky after all) we had a full size kitchen with all the appliances, a good size living room that exits to a large balcony with a good size table and three chairs. To the other side of the room was a master bedroom and I even got my own small bedroom, each with large closets. A fair sized bathroom with a HUGE medicine cabinet was sandwiched between the bedrooms. The two bedrooms were connected by yet another balcony! The view was great! We’re right in the heart of the CBD so we were surrounded by other apartment buildings and offices. We unloaded and I slathered on some sunscreen before we hit the town!

Now this entire first afternoon in Brisbane was IMPRESSIVE beyond belief. Brissy is a prime example of great city planning…you’ll see why. So we started by walking just a few blocks down to the waterfront. Brisbane is actually a good hour inland from the east coast. However a winding river runs through the entire city so it is also known as the River City. We hopped on the free CityHopper ferry, Lemme say that again…FREE ferry that has roughly seven stops at different spots around central Brisbane. So we crossed the river and got off at the South Bank. We get off at the south end and as we start walking north we realize there’s an entire beach in the center of the park! We first come across a baby/child mini waterpark with tons of playgrounds, water spouts, wading pools and slides. As this was a perfectly sunny Sunday afternoon it was packed with families enjoying the water. Next to that is a medium sized pool surrounded by a man-made beach, complete with sand and tons of space to play in and out of the water. There was another larger slightly deeper pool next to that one. All the areas of the “Streets Beach” are lifeguarded during the main hours of the day, and remember ALL OF THIS IS FREE!! Its open year round, all day and night. Its fabulous. Now surrounding the waterpark/beach/pools is an equally magnificent park. Completely clean and well landscaped. There was a winding footpath lined with artsy fences sprouting purple flowers that took you past the pools as well as a number of restaurants, bars and cafes, and even an amphitheater. There’s also a boardwalk along the river with paved road for bikers, boarders, and roller skaters. The north end of the South Bank park area hosts the Wheel of Brisbane. Just like the one on the waterfront at home, it overlooks South Bank and the CBD across the river. The park ends where the performing arts centre begins. They were starting to show Wicked, which I would’ve loved to see, but it starts after we’re already gone.

Naturally we wandered around South Bank for a while, I had my jaw dropped to the floor the whole time, lol. Then we got back on the free ferry and rode it a few stops down the river to  Kangaroo Point. As soon as we got off we realized it was very residential. It has a small park that sat right under the Story Bridge. Which looks a lot like a smaller Sydney Harbour Bridge. We walked around on the boardwalk there, looking at the incredible condos. Nana and Papa are considering moving here 😉

We hopped back on the ferry and got off at Eagle Pier which is close to our hotel. We stopped at the Queens Street Mall which is just two blocks away from us. We stopped into Target, yes, TARGET 🙂 🙂 for some nail polish remover. Then we went to our first Woolworths (grocery store) to grab some cheese, bread, and wine before heading back to our apartment to relax. We sat out on the balcony and snacked until it got dark. It was so relaxing and really perfect. I also painted my nails 🙂 When we realized we should probably eat some dinner, we walked down the street to the famous Brisbane Casino. Now Aussies are actually known to be big gamblers, but we just walked through to the restaurants. I got carded for the first time, haha! And we ended up eating at their restaurant. Papa got a lamb burger which he said wasn’t too good. I got Chicken Schnitzel. We’d seen this phrase before and come to realize it’s their version of fried chicken. So I got it, topped with BBQ sauce and cheese because, why not. Now Nana got a caesar wrap. She didn’t finish it, and she asked the waitress for a box, and she said that they don’t allow takeaway. We were so confused. We wondered if that was an Aussie thing, a Brisbane thing, or just a casino thing. [We’re still a bit confused but we think it was just the casino’s policy because other places since have asked if we wanted takeaway boxes].

We walked back to the hotel, showered and slept well.

Day 2

We woke up and got ready before nine. Today was the day we’d hit the famous and anxiously awaited Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary! But first, since both my parents had reminded me of it, we set out to set up my Australian Bank account. Of course, the bank wasn’t open until 10 so we ducked into Spoons, a cute little cafe. We shared some muffins and coffee. Nana hates the aussie coffee, thinks it’s too strong. So her an I shared some pineapple juice instead. Then we went back to the bank. Who knew, we walked into the flagship branch of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. We got offered free coffee, twice, and  nice lady helped set up an account for me. With that done, we walked to the bus stops below Queens Street Mall and were on our way to the Koalas!

The bus ride went through Brisbane and took us to the neighborhood of Fig Tree Pocket where we got off at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. The place was packed with tourists, locals, and a lot of school groups. We took tons of pictures as we made our way through the platypus, dingoes, and tropical birds. Then we reached the koalas!! We assumed there’d be maybe ten koalas and they’d be hanging around in trees. No. There were closer to 40 koalas and they had the separated into little huts with a few chilling out on branches, eating eucalyptus leaves. I of course paid $20 to get my picture taken while holding an adorable koala. His name was Claxton and he was a lot heavier than I thought. I was smiling ear to ear! I’m so glad I can say I’ve done that. Haha.

Next we came upon the Kangaroo habitat. We paid $2 to get a large bag of food pellets and we entered the wide open grassy area where the roos just hop around, doin their thing! There was easily 75 roos. They would mostly move together, like in a herd. They were indescribably cute. We fed them, pet them, selfied with them. I could’ve stayed there all day and watched them hop. They had a closed off “roo rest area” for them where we humans weren’t allowed to go. There was also one emu walking around in there. Nana and Papa didn’t want to feed them, but after some badgering by yours truly, they both fed the roos too! Once the bag of food was empty, we toured the rest of the zoo. Saw a few reptiles and things before leaving. We got a cold drink while we waited for the bus which took us back to downtown Brisbane. One of the coolest experiences by far.

It was still early afternoon when we got back, so we decided to get on the Brisbane hop-on-hop-off. We sat on top and just rode the entire 90  min route listening to all the cool things the tour had to share. We got stuck in traffic on the Story Bridge, rushhour I suppose. We got off where we got on, right by Queen Street Mall.

We were all a little sick of eating out and since we had such a nice kitchen, we stopped at Woolworths and bought a lasagna to cook. We first sat outside on the balcony to relax first. There was a nice pool that the hotel had a few floors down, but because we were surrounded by buildings it was only sunny in the middle of the day and not worth hanging out in at night in the shade. Anyways, we cooked the lasagna and tossed a salad. Unfortunately it was definitely the weirdest tasting lasagna I’ve had. But still edible lol.

We watched two episodes of Big Bang Theory before we all crashed.

Day 3

We awoke and had some croissants and fruit that we had picked up at the store for breakfast. Before we got back on the hop-on-hop-off we stopped into the JCU office we found in Brisbane! Turns out they have a tiny tiny campus there. Who knew! We boarded the bud and this time got off at the neighborhood of Paddington on Claxton street. The tour guide on the bus sold it as a major shopping center, but it was very sleepy. None of the shops on Claxton street were open, and the mall area was pretty small. So that was surprising. We walked around a little bit and then got back on the bus. We stopped back at South Bank to grab a small bite for lunch. Surprisingly we didn’t find anything we liked for a long while. We ended up at Burrito Bar, a better-than-expected mexican place. Where we split ice cold cokes, Nana had a taco and I had a burrito. We people-watched as across the street the police were doing some strange sting operation where they randomly pulled over cars and we couldn’t figure out why. But it was fun to guess!

Next we stopped at Kangaroo Point. Now we had been to Kangaroo Point before, but on the water level. The bus dropped us off at an amazing look out area on the top of the cliffs. We had panoramic views of the city and river. Then we walked down tons of steps and arrived at another river boardwalk. We walked along it, taking tons of pictures. We saw some families playing in the parks and saw some kayakers paddling down the river. It was quite picturesque. We arrived at the end of the boardwalk and hopped across the river on the free ferry. We planned to walk through the Botanical Gardens on the south side of the CBD. But we got stopped by a fierce downpour. So we ducked under some awnings until it passed. Then we walked across the very green, very pretty park to reach out hotel again.

We weren’t all that hungry so we just snacked on wine, bread and cheese on the balcony until the sun had completely set. I’m so glad we took full advantage of that outdoor space. It was the best three nights, just enjoying the heat and conversation. We had passes a chocolate/dessert shop earlier so we headed down to grab something decadent. We went to the most adorable Choclatier San Churro, where I had a massive chocolate cake,  Papa had a rich chocolate cake, and Nana had caramel pie in a cup. It was all so decadent. In fact I barely made a dent in my cake because it was so rich. Honestly I wasn’t sure I wasn’t gonna throw up afterwards, so we walked around the block before heading back upstairs to shower and sleep.

Day 4

We had planned to just get up and pack before we needed to catch our shuttle to the ferry at 11:30 for our 2:00 flight. But when we woke up, we decided to go on a little walk to the Kulripa Bridge. An iconic bridge which is held together by heaps of masts. Hard to explain, but definetly a sight to see. We walked across the pedestrian-only bridge and then walked along the north side of South Bank before crossing back over on the Victoria Bridge. On the other side, in the City Square was a small farmer market that we strolled through on our way back to the hotel. We checked out and hopped on the shuttle to the airport. Security and baggage was a breeze and we hung out in the airport for maybe 30 min before boarding a (much older) plane to Townsville!

It’s really hard to say, but I might have liked Brisbane just a tad more than Sydney. It was very different, but as I said before, IMPRESSIVE!

The Good

The people were nice in Brisbane. It seemed like everyone found a reason to be outside enjoying the sun. The place we stayed at was just PERFECT. I miss it! haha The city is pretty condensed to it’s easy to get around on foot. However, the public transport seemed easy to figure out as well. I can’t give enough praise to South Bank! It was really a city unlike any other.

The Bad

Number 1 complaint is wifi. Why didn’t our perfect hotel have any!? Oh well, otherwise there’s not really anything bad about Brisbane. There was a lot of it we didn’t get to see. If I go back, I’ll try to see St. George’s Square, Indooroopilly mall, and some of the suburbs, like where the University of Queensland campus is. I’d also like to get out to the coast. Brisbane is flanked by two pristine beaches: Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. Gold Coast is an entire city by the sea. Think Miami. Sunshine Coast isn’t so commercial and so is the favorite of the Brisbane residents. I’d love to see these surfer’s paradise beaches before I leave.

PS we found two Starbucks in Brisbane, one in Queens Street Mall and one down the street. That could be the last one I go into until I go back to the states and HONESTLY I’m not sure how I’ll make it. *gulp*

The Sydney Scene

Hey mates!!

So we just spent three nights in the beautiful city of Sydney! If I had to describe Sydney in one word it might be…BUSY. The streets were nonstop crowded with tons of pedestrians and the roads were packed with taxis buses and commuters. So much seemed to be going on at all times.

Sorry in advance that this might be a little long of a post. But I wanna write it all down so I can remember it later, haha.

Day 1

We landed in Australia!!! The flight was about 10x better than I expected. I really thought I’d be okay for about 6 hours then just be overcome with boredom. But no. At the gate we had heard that we were getting served dinner, only breakfast two hours before we landed. But once we took off (around 12:30am PST) we found out we were getting dinner! So after a quick bite of penne we fell fast asleep. All of us slept on and off until there was about 4.5 hours left!! Not bad! So I finished the time by watching The Judge, a pretty good film, and reruns of Friends. We were served a fairly good breakfast just as we were descending into Australia!

Customs was interesting, completely automated now where you scan your passport and a camera uses facial recognition to pass you through. Of course this didn’t work for me and I had to go to a teller gate to get let in. Anyways, we got into a taxi and had an uneasy left-side-of-the-road trip to our hotel apartment in….Woolloomooloo. 5 bucks to whoever can pronounce that right the first time. Since we arrived at 11:30 our room wasn’t quite ready and since the water was only one block north we decided to go for a walk. The sky was overcast but quite warm out. We walked along Woolloomooloo Bay which led us through the Royal Botanical Gardens and dumped us at the most perfect spot. There it was, the iconic Sydney Opera House frames by the Sydney Harbour, Sydney Skyline and Harbour Bridge. [see Instagram feed for a pic].

We went back to the hotel and settled in for a moment before changing and heading back out to the streets. Our hotel was in a pretty good spot with proximity to the water and to main roads. We got on the hop-on-hop-off tour bus of Sydney. We sat on the top of the double decker bus as we tried to guess at how left-sided driving works. That first day we travelled all through downtown Sydney, getting off at various spots. We stopped for a quick bite at a burger place nestled in the middle of a cool outdoor city mall. We shared sliders and a coke at “Grill’d” before taking the bus to see Hyde Park, some pretty cathedrals and Darling Harbor. Of course, we stopped into Margaritaville for a taste of some tropical margaritas! The first Legal drink! (to my disappointment, no one asked to see my ID). We headed back to out room to rest our feet for a little while and when we got hungry we travelled east a few blocks to find ourselves some yummy Aussie pizza for dinner. Exhausted from a day of plane and bus travel we all zonked about before 11.

Day 2

We woke up pretty early (8am!!) and since our hop-on-hop-off passes are good for a full 24 hours we decided to switch routes and go check out the famous Bondi Beach. This is Sydney’s most famous beach and is known for being touristy and crowded. But still, a must see, situated on Sydney’s eastern side. The bus took us through Paddington neighborhood and dropped us off on the most perfect beach. A perfect crescent with golden sand and surfers dotting the bay. The sky was starting to turn from cloudy to clear and the temp was just perfect. We walked along the beach and enjoyed the touch of the cool water. We stopped into the local juice shop for a sip of something cool before getting back on the bus and heading up the hillside to see million dollar views of both the Pacific Ocean stretching on for miles and miles, Bondi Beach, and the Sydney Skyline on the other side. Crazy spectacular. We hopped off at Rose Bay, a quite little beach community with white sandy coasts overlooking a sailboat-infested bay and the skyline in the background. Before our passes expired we hopped on the bus one final time and headed to the heart of downtown, Queen Victoria Building on St. George Street.

We were having lunch with a guy Gramps used to coach. He lives in Sydney now so they got to catch up over lunch at an Italian place in the GORGEOUS QVB. After we ate and said goodbye to Eric, we walked towards Sydney Tower. The iconic structure is the tallest in the Sydney skyline and it adorned with a giant “Westfield” neon. I think it’s horribly ugly up close in the daytime. At night or from far away it adds a cool look to the skyline. It’s gold stripes might be what throws me off when you see it from the streets below, I don’t know. Anyway, it naturally sits atop a giant Westfield Mall. So we walked through the huge shopping center (sorry, I mean centre) and I was surprised that most of the stores were the same ones that we have at Westfield malls at home. Hmm.

Since we no longer had access to the hop-on-hop-off buses, we started the relatively long walk back to Woolloomooloo. We walked through Hyde park and stopped to admire the massive St. Mary’s Cathedral. Normally I get sick of seeing ADC (another damn cathedral) but this is really the only big one in downtown Sydney. We walked north on Maquarie street until we were almost at the Opera House. We detoured to stop at Circular Quay first.

Circular Quay (quay is pronounced “key” WHO DECIDED THATS HOW ENGLISH WORKS?! Luckily we figured that out from hearing it before we really looked stupid asking how to get to circular “qway”) is the main ferry terminal. It is also a bus terminal and train station. Sydney is huge and I’d guess that 60% of business workers take public transport. So major transit centers are common. We stopped to figure out the ferry system because we planned on heading over to Manly Beach in the morning. We walked along the edge of the Quay to reach the Opera House. We toured around on foot and saw the amazing sculpture from each and ever angle. And I can prove it with the easily 100 photos I took. Oops! Did you know it was made with Swedish tiles? Up close it looks like the floor of a common household bathroom. But when laid out in the intricate pattern on a fan-shaped building it really takes on that iconic look. Unfortunately nothing good was showing at the Opera so we didn’t go inside the building.

We walked back to our hotel via the Royal Botanical Gardens that surround the Opera House. And the three of us promptly dozed off for an hour sore and tired and hot. We woke up in time to catch a bite to eat. We weren’t in the mood to travel far so we went round the corner to the Woolloomooloo Bay Hotel. We shared tapas, two plates of pork ribs and a plate of garlic prawns with Turkish bread. Turkish bread is a fave of Aussies apparently because we’ve run into it everywhere on restaurant menus. Anywho, the ribs and prawns were delicious and the perfect size. We headed back home and passed out.

Day 3

We woke up and ran into bad news. During the night a water main broke and the street outside he hotel was soaked with water. The hotel didn’t have any running water. But, by the time we got ready for the day it had started to come back on. Phew. Before we left we grabbed some toast and juice at the hotel. Still hungry, I stopped at a classic Aussie Pie stand down the street to grab a pie for breakfast. It was good!! We began the trek back to Circular Quay and got our ferry tickets to Manly Beach.

The day didn’t look promising. Day 2 had started off cloudy and turned into BEAUTIFUL sunny weather but today didn’t look as promising. We enjoyed our 35 min ferry ride across the Harbour to Manly Beach. These ferries are pedestrians only so I wasn’t really impressed compared to the ones at home, but still nice. Manly Beach is really a peninsula hanging off the east side of the Harbour. A quaint little beach town so it seemed. We got off at Manly Wharf which was dotted with coffee shops and seafood bistros. We took the Corso, a pedestrian-only road, to the beach. The wharf actually sits on a beach but that faces into the Harbour. The real Manly Beach faces the Pacific Ocean.

The Corso is two blocks long and packed with surf shops, bars, and restaurants. It dumps you right at the beach. The beach was loooooooong. It seemed twice the length of Bondi. With yellow golden sand spotted with suntanners, it was pristine. We immediately noticed something was going on at the beach. Turns out we walked right into the first day of the Australian Open of Surfing! However it seemed the cloudy day also brought sub-par waves. There were easily fifty surfers waiting out in the water but seldom did an acceptable wave roll through. We wondered how the competition was affected. I walked along the beach and touched my toes to the water again. We saw the lifeguards in bright yellow shirts ready to save surfers gone under. The boardwalk was quite lively with tons of booths set up by sponsors for the competition, food trucks, and surf shops. It was more crowded than Bondi, hard to tell how many were there for the competition. I thought this beach to be way more family-friendly. Whereas at Bondi I saw couples or groups of school-age girls, Manly had families enjoying the surf or taking the family dog for a stroll on the boardwalk. Both had TONS of tourists though.

After walking up and down the beachfront we went in search of lunch. Much to our disappointment we found few restaurants that sounded good. We ended up walking around the Corso and still nothing. We ended up back at the Wharf where we stopped at a place called Nando’s. We didn’t know it at the time, but it’s actually a chain we saw again later. Famous for its chicken sandwiches and wraps we all got something different and we were all pleasantly surprised with a good meal. I also had a Pear Cider that was REALLY yummy.

After lunch we walked along the harbor-side beach. Obviously set up more for kids with a roped off swimming area and sandcastle toys strewn about, this side had a nice boardwalk area too. We ended up looking at the SeaLife Marine Sanctuary. A tiny aquarium set up next to the bay. We entered into the gift shop to check out tickets, turns out they were $25 each!! For an aquarium that seemed the size to house a total of one shark and two penguins we weren’t planning on staying. Just then we were in the gift shop one second and the next we had accidentally passed through and were inside the aquarium. Oops. We stuck around and checked out the little sanctuary. They had a few tanks of fish, a large tank with sharks and rays. And on the top floor it had a penguin exhibit with tinny little penguins swimming about. Worth a walk through, but not worth $25, so I’m glad we only snuck in, haha!

We walked back to the ferry and were soon on our way back to Sydney. By this time the skies had cleared up and it was an amazingly beautiful afternoon. Overall I liked Manly a little more than Bondi. There was a little more to do in the town and the beach seemed like it would get less crowded with it being larger and the waves seemed more surf-able, despite it being a slow morning. Plus the ferry ride is relaxing and scenic.

When we got back to the Quay we went in search of a drink. Naturally we found the closest Starbucks. Now, side note, I found out there were three Starbucks in Sydney. And we happened to see all three! We stopped into this one outside Circular Quay, we met Eric for lunch at Starbucks before going into the restaurant in the QVB, and the third was in Darling Harbor which we saw later tonight.

We still had the rest of the night and since we had seen all the dinner options close to our hotel we decided to stay in downtown until dinner and eat before walking back to Woolloomooloo. We began by walking down St George street. We thought maybe we’d stop into one of the hundreds of shops, but found nothing worth stopping for. Soon we were back by the QVB. Now seriously this is one of the most amazing building alive been in. It was just so pretty inside and out. We explored the many floors and actually as we crossed the street underground to a mall called the Galeries, I stopped into a clothing store and picked up the most adorable printed shorts with pineapples on them! For only ten bucks!! Score!!!

Satisfied that I bought something before leaving Sydney we walked back up to ground level and decided to head back to Darling Harbor. It was a long walk across town, so when we got there we just sat down and rested for a good hour, people watching and such. When we got too bored we explored the many food spots and decided on a seafood place. They both had fish and chips and I had Prawn risotto. (Side note, they call fries, chips. There’s signs that say “hot chips here” and they mean French fries). All of it was very very good. We saw that they were working on a barge in the middle of the harbor setting up what looked like fireworks. Turns out Darling Harbor was hosting a “Month of Love” event, a sort of dragged out Valentines Day thing and so they were doing fireworks to kick off the even that night. But since we had to walk all the way back to our room we decided not to stay and see them. (Bummer!)

We found a shortcut on the way home (yay!) and arrived back to a water-working hotel just in time to do some laundry before packing everything up to head out in the morning. We slept soundly and woke up with plenty of time to get to the airport. We shared a shuttle with two other families heading out and before you knew it we were wheels up to Brisbane, heading out of Sydney and New South Wales!

So, overall Sydney is as amazing as they say it is. But I’ll break it down a little bit

The Good

The downtown atmosphere is unlike any other. It’s a very large city but seems compact. The streets are ALWAYS a crowded, think NYC Times Square, but there’s also tons of car traffic. We saw every type of person, tourists (mostly Asain and Aussies, but a few other Americans), businessmen/women, and so on. The locals call themselves Sydneysiders. The women were typically dressed up, fashion conscious and a little tight/skimpy in the evening. Hard to tell if that’s always the case or since its summer here everyone’s a bit more carefree. We lucked out with the weather. Sunny days, cloudy only in the morning.

The Bad

Like I’ve said, Sydney is BUSY and surprisingly not very friendly. We met a few people we chatted with, but most are busy doing their thing. It’s not the easiest city to maneuver. The hop-on-hop-off doubled as our transit service to get us around the city, but the bus system seemed too complex to figure out for only two days and the train system that operates a little more like a subway system was really expensive. I also got sunburnt badly on day two so that sucked. It didn’t seem that hot!

I need to apologize for the delay in getting pictures up. But this entire country lacks wi-fi!! None in the hotel, a few shops here and there had it but signal strength was never great and we were constantly moving. So when I get a chance to log into my laptop, I’ll get those pics up!

If I go back to Sydney I’ll make sure I find time to go see North Sydney. The Harbour bridge runs north to south and we never crossed over it to see the smaller downtown area on the north side. I’d like to see that if I can. It’s home to Olympic Park, and Luna Park, a sort of amusement area with a Ferris wheel and a giant creepy clown face we could see from across the bridge. I’d love to walk across the bride, on foot or climb to the top! I’d like to see some of the suburbs and other neighborhoods that were too far away for us to get to as well.

All in all, Sydney was fantastic. So grateful I got see such an iconic Australian city. Can’t wait to go back!!

LAX

“Today’s the day! The sun is shining the tank is clean! And we are getting out!”

Currently sitting in the gate at LAX. It’s 9:30 and we start boarding at 11:45. Sooooooo a two hour wait to begin this 15 hour flight is just perfect! NOT oh well.

Getting to the airport was a breeze. Checking baggage went fast. Security took forever. But now we’re still here 2 hours early.

I’m super super super excited! I can’t believe after this horrendous flight is over I’ll be waking up in AUSTRALIA!!! This is my first time flying across the Date Line, going into the Southern Hemisphere, and flying for 15 hours straight!

Where was I on February 4th you ask? Oh. I didn’t exist. Isn’t that weird?? We fly out feb 3rd and arrive feb 5th and for the entire feb 4th I LITERALLY won’t be on this earth. Just a little weird thing to think about.

Sunny SoCal

Getting to spend a relaxing week in sunny California is fantastic. Yesterday I got to see my dad’s parents and my two little cousins Maddie and Andy!

Unfortunately the Seahawks lost. I’m heartbroken and upset and I wish to say no more on the matter.

I got a mani pedi with nana. And I found an adorable lemon tree on our daily morning walk. So I’ve been picking lemons and drinking tea. Yum.

Pit Stop #1: Los Angeles

The first stop on my way to Australia is a relaxing week in Los Angeles.

I flew up here yesterday morning and mostly plan to relax and shop. I still need to find a wallet and sandals and maybe another bathing suit before making the big trip down under.

I get to spend the week with my four grandparents and get to see my two little cousins before we fly out in a mere 5 days!!

Sadly I wont be in Seattle to watch my Hawks win the SuperBowl on Sunday…but I guess I’m closer to Arizona from here than at home!

Bye Bye Seattle

Leaving Seattle is always a little tough. As much as I hate the rain and gloom, I will miss the nice days. Before I left I made sure I saw everything I needed to.

I also got to to go out with Mom & Dad to Salty’s famous Breakfast Buffet before leaving. It was as amazing as promised.

Dad and I went on a nice beach walk with Roxy on a surprisingly warm winter day.

I will miss all my friends and of course seeing the excitement of the 12s. But I’m glad I won’t see 60 degree weather until probably September! So missing winter won’t be much of a problem for me.

Bye Seattle! See ya in June!