Spring Break Adventures (part 1)

Wednesday was the kick off of spring break (or what my friends and I began to call “holiday 09” since it’s not exactly spring here…and no one knows what spring break is.) The marine biology class went SCUBA diving (at Julian Rocks, of course) and then we had our final exam (the class was only 5 weeks…thank God!) So after the final exam, a few of us girls decided to set holiday 09 into action by heading to the pub in Lennox Head.

Thursday everyone was packing up and heading for their spring break adventure. Different groups of people were headed off to go different places and see different sites and cities. I eagerly waited for my family, Ken and Mary, to pick me up from Lennox to head to the Gold Coast. After they picked me up, we headed through Byron Bay and made a quick stop at the lighthouse. The lighthouse is the most easterly point of Australia. My friends and I have travelled to Bryon quiet a bit but never had made it to the lighthouse. It has been something I’ve been wanting to do since I got here and was great to climb up and see it! After that Ken, Mary, and I had a great lunch at a seafood place. (which was only the beginning to the amazing food I was treated with while staying with them!) I can’t even describe how nice it was to stay at their house for a few days. They are such wonderfully nice people and really made me feel like home. It was great to sit around the table and talk about our family, learn about the differences in our cultures, and look through old photo albums (and new photos from their world travels they have done!) One day, Jason (which would be like my 5th cousin or something like that) took me all around the Gold Coast. We drove through all these little touristy/beachy towns and stopped at several places. We went up this really REALLY tall building (the Q1 deck.) It is the largest residential building on the Gold Coast (it’s taller than the Chrysler Building in NYC) and it has one of the world’s fastest elevators (we went up 77 floors in 42 seconds!) The view was beyond incredible…we could see for miles and miles. Jason and I also walked out to a pier (they had a weird word for it and I don’t remember…) where we watched surfers and swimmers enjoy the surf and sand. We strolled around a mall and had a delicious pizza for lunch…it was a great day! I really enjoyed my stay with them…it was so nice to relax and feel “at home.” (and it was nice to have a real home cooked meal…my cooking consists of toast and cereal!) I am so blessed to have spent a few days with a true Aussie family..that just so happens to be a part of my family. I think I learned more about the difference in lifestyles, language, and culture in the amazing time I spend with them than I have since I’ve been here in Australia. I feel honored that I was able to visit them because I know my grandparents and parents would have loved to seen their beautiful home and would have enjoyed the time I got to spend with them. (by the way, they live in paradise! The Gold Coast is like a chain of small towns that reminded me of a little bit of Ft. Lauderdale, FL but cleaner and nicer…and a mix of the Outer Banks, NC… the Gold Coast is beautiful!)

Saturday morning Ken and Mary brought me to the airport where I met Stacey, Erika, Stephanie, and Britny. They had also been staying at the Gold Coast (Surfer’s Paradise) and we were meeting to fly to Melbourne together. Australian airports are NOT even comparable to US airports. I never once had to show my ID…I was handed my ticket (from Brit) and walked to the counter and handed them my bag to check. Security was a joke…I put my purse on the conveyor belt and walked through a metal detector. It was no big deal at all! We soon boarded the plane and headed to Melbourne.

Melbourne (ironically pronounced “mel-bin”) is a strange city. It is an awkward cocktail of cities; a historical taste of D.C., a business twist of NYC, a splash of London fashion and traces of England’s old Victorian buildings. Walking down the street, old and new buildings and fancy and cheap shops were intermingled. It was such a strange city. Since they are on water restriction, everything seemed so dry and dead. The weather was cold and overcast making Melbourne seem kind of mopey.. . for the first few hours then it turned around. We were staying in South Yarra (a one bedroom flat for 7 girls…we picked up two more at the airport.) We thought we were in the middle of nowhere, far from the city until I went exploring on my own. I turned the corner and there was an endless street of shops and pubs! We ended up having a great meal at an Irish pub and called it an early night for our big city tour the next day. This tour that cost us $80 Aus Dollars (conversion rates are awesome right now…200 Aus Dollars is only $120 USD…perfect time to be in the shopping mecca of OZ!) anyways…this tour was not worth it. We literally drove around the city in circles, listening to the tour guide rambling on about toilets (yes, that’s right…all he would talk about was bathrooms…it was very strange.) We did get to step off the bus at the Shrine of Remembrance, a dedication to all Australian service men and women. It was so neat to see until this crazy Greek man started talking to me and wouldn’t stop telling me how the US owes Greece respect. (I’m not sure what he was rambling about- I was more concerned how to escape his spit that was bombing my face…ew) It was pretty funny…for my friends that ran away and watched this endless conversation take place from a distance. The tour ended by going up Eureka Tower, an observation deck that overlooks the city of Melbourne.

On Sunday, Melbourne became well worth the trip- we went on a tour of The Great Ocean Road. This long road that extends all along the coast was made by WW2 soldiers after their return from the war. We made many little stops to witness some pretty breath taking ocean views, with our final destination being the Twelve Apostles. One stop was made to find koalas in the wild…and we did find two little ones sleeping up in their trees. We also stopped to take a 30 minute walk through a rain forest. Getting closer to the 12 Apostles, we made another stop at this gorge where a famous ship wreck took place. Turns out, there were only two survivors from the ship that originally had 54 people aboard. We finally made it to the 12 Apostles for sunset…and it was so beautiful. (I took about 60 pictures!) The bus ride back was longer than anticipated (who knew we ended up traveling 3 hours away from the city!) The day trip was well worth it and I’m so glad that Stephanie, Stacey, and I did it.

Well that’s enough for now…Next stop…SYDNEY!