What an amazing way to start off my adventures with Alison and begin to finish up my time in Australia. From old to new adventures around Sunshine Coast, it has all been amazing so far!
Thursday June 21st
For both Alison and I, it was an early morning! I got a text @ 5:30 am that she has arrived in Brisbane and would be heading my way within an hour. After getting a few more things ready for her arrival, my roommate, Luke, and I headed to the USC bus stop to meet Ali. I saw her load off the van, and I just ran and we embraced in a big and long hug! We were both all smiles and not completely dry eyes – it was so good to finally see each other after so long! We carried her luggage back to my apartment, introduced her to my roommates, and got her a little settled in. But not too long after that (maybe 20 minutes) we got going with our day. Luke, Michael, Alison and I hopped in the car and drove 40 minutes to Mount Cooroora. One thing that I’ve learn about having visitors here, is the best way to avoid jet lag is to force them to be active and not let them sleep until later in the evening … and what better way to keep Alison awake than to hike a mountain! I think we all seriously underestimated how much of a climb Mount Cooroora would be. The first half wasn’t too bad besides the occasional reminder that we were a bit out of shape, but then the second half was where it got hard. For the rest of the way up there is chain rails to help keep your balance and climb up. Some of the rocks were so smooth and were a bit tricky climbing up – especially with short legs that don’t want to reach far! But we made it up to the top in a little under an hour. We all took a break to sit on the rocks and enjoy the beautiful scenery.
After we got our fill of pictures in and standing on ledges (to freak Michael out – sorry haha), we started the adventure down. It generally wasn’t as hard down as on the way up. Except when we got to those smooth-faced boulders … we decided the best way to get down was just to hang on tight to the chains and slide down! I keep thinking throughout my time in AUS how thankful I’ve been to have hiking boots. What a difference that makes. After we successfully made it down Mount Cooroora, we headed into Kawana so Michael could buy some hiking boots for his trip to The States. Meanwhile, Luke, Alison, and I decided to explore Kathmandu (essentially REI) – we actually had a good time trying out the camping gear! And much to everyone’s surprise, Luke decided to buy a tent … I tried to convince him that taking a tent back to US wasn’t the best idea, but hey, he’s back in New Jersey with his tent now!
After our quick shopping stop, we were all starving. I decided that introducing Alison to her first, glorious Australian food would be fitting: chips (French fries) with cheese and gravy. It was easily a hit! We all enjoyed those with some delicious burger from Backstreet Burgers. Then we made a quick stop at Woolworth’s to pick up some groceries. When we got back to the apartment we all agreed to pop our feet up for a bit and take a breather by watching an episode of Netflix’s Queer Eye (highly recommend). After an episode of that, Luke, Alison, and I headed down to the pool. Now for the past month or so it’s been “winter” in Sunshine Coast. I hope my Minnesotans accept me back because I’ve been calling 60 degrees cold for the past month. But in my defense, when I’ve been living in a hot climate for a while and growing accustomed to it, and then it drops down to 60s during the day and 40s during the night – well, that’s cold to me. Man, how will I survive MN again!? Thankfully I’ll be coming home to summer! Anyways, we decided to all try out the pool (me being more chicken than the others) and were all greeting by a nice “polar plunge”. Needless to say, we didn’t swim for long.
After this we walked around campus with Michael and Luke searching for kangaroos, but unsuccessfully (don’t worry, Alison saw her fair share of kangaroos later this trip). We walked over to Cole’s as well so Alison could buy her first legal alcohol from the bottleo… it was a bit anti-climactic haha! Once we got back to UniCentral, Alison and I decided to play some ping pong for almost 2 hours. It was great because we mindlessly played and then just talked about how life was going, the future, and all topics in between! Soon it was getting dark so we headed back to my apartment, and soon enough Alison crawled under the comforters and took an hour nap. We had a good laugh too since we were going to go out with Erin and some of her siblings (since her family just arrived in AUS – actually the same flight as Alison), but jet lag hit everyone and us American Aussies were the only ones awake! So instead I fried up a chicken, veggie, rice, and sweet chili sauce stir fry and woke Alison up to eat. The rest of the evening we just relaxed, hung out with my roomies, and then got to bed at a decent time to end day 1 together!
Friday June 22nd
We were both excited today since it was surfing day! Now, I haven’t been incredibly overjoyed to try surfing again (scroll back to the beginning of my Australia posts if you want a refresher) – but in a nutshell, I wasn’t looking forward to being thrashed by the waves again and didn’t want another huge surfboard bruise on my leg. Thankfully only one of those happened, and only a few times! Around 10 am Luke, Alison, and I caught a bus to Alexandra Headlands which is about 20 minutes up the road. We all had a bit of smile since we definitely looked like the tourist/outliers as everyone else was wearing a wetsuit. Thankfully, my roomie, Chelsea, let me borrow her long-sleeve rashie so that helped keep me warm (and made me look like an actual surfer haha). The ocean was quite freezing upon first entering, but much to our delight it felt perfectly fine after we’d been in for a while. With Luke’s help and advice, Alison and I were able to get the hang of it and were riding our boards in on our stomachs for a while. I took a break to boogie board and take videos while letting Luke use one of the surf boards. After about an hour we were all getting hungry so Luke and I walked down to Mooloolaba (15 minute walk) to pick up Phoenix Kebabs, another Aussie classic that Alison needed to try. Again, it was a hit! I also picked her up a Turkish delight which I find disgusting, but she wanted to try it. Her verdict was: “It’s like a giant fruit snack with powdered sugar”. I mean, she wasn’t wrong!
Luke had to head back, but Alison and I decided to keep the surf boards and stay at Alex Headlands for a bit longer. And I am so glad we did because soon after getting back into the water, I stood up on the surfboard multiple times and road some waves! It felt like I was standing up for so long, although it was probably only a few seconds. Honestly, it was such an amazing feeling finally standing up on that board and riding on top of the water. After a fair amount of wipeouts (you know what I mean if you say my wipeout compilation video on Facebook haha), it was relieving to finally surf! Alison got so close and was on her knees a few times, but for her first time she was doing so good. I was glad that the wave conditions were much better than the first time I went surfing – no bruises this time! Well, except for the time when Alison swung her surfboard and nailed me in the knee on accident… oops haha. We continued to surf a bit more, and had a bit of a laugh because every time Alison tried to video me surfing she either didn’t hit the record button or was too in awe of my amazing skills. But third time’s a charm and we got that one on the video – it was probably the best of the day anyways! We also had a bit of a laugh when an older man with a bucket hat saw me wiping out a few times and came over to give me advice. He told me to paddle out passed the wave break and he would show me. The was one, tiny problem… I couldn’t paddle passed the wave break. I am a very strong swimmer but trying to control a 7 foot board my second time surfing and paddle over waves is a skill I have not yet mastered. Alison enjoyably watched as a wave would push me back the distance I paddled. Eventually I gave up and continued to catch the smaller waves on the first break like I had been doing. The bucket hat man was cool about it – he came and chatted with us afterwards, gave a few pointers and then continued on surfing.
After we spent about 3 hours out surfing, we could tell our bodies were worn out so we called it a day. We packed up our stuff, grabbed the boards, and caught the bus. I know I’m not the first to say this, but man, riding the bus with a big surfboard is not fun. One of the many lessons that I’ve learned while living in Australia is to be grateful for the convenience and freedom that a car gives you. I will never take my car for granted again! Once home, we sat down on the couch and gave our bodies a rest. We caught up with Chelsea (who brought Alison home a meat pie from the bakery, another Aussie classic – yes, the pattern continues, she loved it), watched Queer Eye, and looked and laughed at all our videos and pictures from the day.
Later that evening, when Michael got home around 11pm from work we all took a roomie picture with his crappy old camera on the same couch as the past 2 years of his roomie pictures had been taken – it was a tradition for apartment 7. Then we all piled into his car and drove to Mooloolaba for one last late-night 7 Eleven run. Aussies love their 7 Eleven runs to get Slurpees and Krispy Kreme donuts – something that we’ve done a few times this semester. Then like always, we took a night walk down at the beach. It was a bit sad for me because this would be the last roommate excursion as they all left the next day. Eventually we headed back home a quarter passed midnight and hit the sheets after another great day on the Sunshine Coast.
Saturday June 23rd
After sleeping in, we started out our morning with another (more famous) Aussie classic: Vegemite (aka yeast extract). Now, I’ve tried it before, but the wrong way. I tried it straight (YUCK.) when you’re supposed to butter toast and spread a little bit of Vegemite on top. Michael assisted in the correct Vegemite toast, and it actually wasn’t too bad. Essentially salty bread. When I tried a bite of Michael’s toast, someone who has eaten Vegemite their whole life, I wanted to spit that out. That was disgusting … I’ll need to work my way up to that haha. For anyone that is interested in trying this Australian delight, I’ll be bringing a jar home to The States!
As we were ready to head out, we had to say our goodbyes to Luke (who is now back in NJ) which was so sad!! Then we all 3 drove into Mooloolaba and went to the SEA Life Aquarium. It was great! My favorite part was seeing stuff like Blue Linka Sea Stars and Black Tip and Woebegone Sharks – animals that I have seen in the wild. We all also enjoyed the seal show! We stayed there for a few hours wandering around the aquarium and seeing some amazing creatures.
Then we walked around the Mooloolaba Esplanade and stopped for some touristy gifts. It was a lovely day out so we stuck our feet in the water and hung out on the rocks down by the ocean. It was a peaceful feeling to just watch the waves crash onto my favorite Australian beach. I started to remember a lot of the great times we had at Mooloolaba Beach – like when Erin & I barely knew each other and we took a trip to Mooloolaba on our first full day in Australia, and couldn’t find the beach for the longest time, discovering that it was just on the other side of the road! The 3 of us continued to sit on the rocks for a bit longer and enjoyed some classic Australian lollies.
We wanted to go for a hike or something, but everything was at least 2 hours by transit for a 30 minute drive (another time I would’ve been grateful for a car). Instead, we just hung out around the apartment, I taught Alison how to make burgers, and around 5pm walked Michael to the bus stop and said goodbye to him since he would be heading to The States (but on the upside he will be visiting Minnesota about a week after I am back). Then Alison and I walked about 20 minutes to Woolworths, we weren’t sure if the bakery was going to be open by the time we got there but we were determined to try since I wanted her to try (yet another) Aussie classic: Lamingtons. Much to our delight they were open and we got the last Lamington! That evening we relaxed and colored a bit and had some good conversation! We went to bed at a decent time tonight since tomorrow we had a big, early adventure.
Sunday June 24th
The alarm woke us up @ 5:45 am and we rolled out of bed, ready to start our day! Alison had found an awesome excursion, dolphin kayaking, up in Noosa (45 minute drive away). Unfortunately since we had a strict departure time, we weren’t able to take public transportation that early. Instead we ordered a cab, which was a bit pricey, but we had to get there somehow. At about 8:15 am our tour company, Epic Ocean Adventures, picked us up. We loaded into a ute and made the drive up passed Rainbow Beach (60 kilometers drive) and on a short ferry ride across a bit of water. We had a great group of people and enjoyed making conversation with them – all sharing adventure stories. Our tour guide, Vince, was great as well. He was a very classic Aussie with long, beach wave, blonde hair, no shoes and a no worries attitude. He also knew quite a bit about the landscape and wildlife so it was great to learn more about that from him.
Eventually we made it up to Double Island Point and loaded into the kayaks. Alison and I were in a tandem kayak and were both excited to get going. She was pretty antsy and wanted start kayaking, and I had to have a bit of a laugh because I noticed how much I’d changed in that aspect while living in AUS. In America, it is a go-go-go lifestyle. Everything is on time and if it’s late people get annoyed. Australia is quite literally the opposite. You learn not to ask the plan because it will happen when it happens. Although being on time is important, it is way more of a go-with-the-flow attitude. So while she was getting antsy, I wasn’t even bothered because I had grown accustomed to that Australian, laid back lifestyle. But eventually we did push our kayaks into the water and start on our adventure! Soon enough we learned that sea sickness was a real thing for both of us. Alison was hit a bit harder than me, and although we look back and laugh at how sick we were then, it definitely wasn’t funny at the time. Mine thankfully came and went, but it did not feel good. I highly recommend taking something for motion sickness if you’re any bit like us. The worst definitely was when we’d stop kayaking and sit in the open ocean and let the waves take us. Looking back now, it was funny at one point when the whole group was watching a pod of dolphins we were at the way back of the group being sea sick, and our tour guide called out to us, “Hey girls! Come check this out!” and we just waved him away and he realized that we were over the side of our kayak for a reason haha.
But onto the fun stuff! We first saw a Loggerhead turtle swimming with us on top of the water and that was sweet. Not as sweet as swimming with them at the Great Barrier Reef, but still adorable nonetheless. Then we were kayaking and suddenly our tour guide told us to stop and pointed to a pod of about 30 dolphins swimming passed us! It was so amazing to see so many dolphins at once just peacefully swimming! But then what came next was by far the most amazing thing I have ever experienced in the ocean. Off in the distance my tour guide and I spotted water blowing up above the surface, the sign that a whale is off in the distance. Our tour guide instructed us to keep paddling forward as he was trying to get us closer to the whales. For a while we thought we lost them, but then all of a sudden the reappeared about 100 meters away from us. We immediately stopped paddling and stayed as still as possible. Much to our and our tour guide’s surprise the whales kept getting closer. He wanted to stay about 100 meters away, but the whales wanted to get closer. We watched for about 3 minutes as 2 Humpback Whales swam towards us, and got about 30 meters away from our kayaks. It was incredible to watch their large tales come out of the water, see them break the surface, and blow water up into the air. It was indescribable. Even the videos that we got can’t fully capture the amazing feeling of being in the ocean so close to 2 Humpback Whales. That was easily the best thing to happen all day. After we had watched the whales swim away, it was our turn to start paddling back. We got back to the beach after a while, and were 1 hour behind schedule but it was well worth it to stay out there and experience that. We then just loaded back up into the ute and drove back. High tide was starting to roll in, so there was a handful of soft sand spots which made it a challenge to get through – one time we got very close to being stuck. The best way to relate it to Minnesota is driving through a large amount of slushy and fluffy snow. But we eventually made it back and they dropped us off at our pickup point.
Alison and I then decided to catch a bus 20 minutes up the road to Noosa National Park. It was about 4 pm when we arrived there so we knew we couldn’t doddle too much since sun sets a little passed 5 pm. I have been to Noosa National Park 2 previous times, but the 3rd time was just as beautiful, especially at sunset. We stopped at the Boiling Pot, Fairy Pools, and Hell’s Gate before turning around. We made the trip back mainly in the dark, but it was well worth it! Then with about 5 minutes to spare, we caught the next bus home. Although it was about an hour and a half trip back on public transportation, it was drastically cheaper. We finished up the evening by making ham and scallop potatoes, relaxing, and then I called Logan on his way into work. It was such a good day (besides sea sickness) and we were ready to hit the sheets before another amazing adventure tomorrow!
Monday June 25th
We got up this morning excited and ready for our trip to the Australia Zoo: home to the famous crocodile hunter Steve Irwin. We caught a 9 am bus to the zoo and spent the whole day there until a bus home at 4 pm. Almost immediately upon entering the zoo we got to hold a blue tongued lizard, which wasn’t too bad since he just sat on our hands peacefully. We wandered around portions of the zoo that had otters, koalas, huge tortoises, and lots of crocodiles and alligators. At noon we went to the Crocoseum to see the famous crocodile show! Unfortunately the Irwins weren’t there when we were, but the show was still cool! We then went to Kangaroos Heaven and fed red kangaroos and wallabies. We were also able to pet a koala who was just chilling in a tree, so that was adorable! We then continued onto the East Asia and African exhibits to see tigers, giraffes, rhinos, meerkats and more! The tigers and giraffes were some of my favorite animals at the zoo! We also were able to see a tiger show and see some amazing tricks that he could do.
We were both so amazed at how the Australia Zoo didn’t even feel like a zoo, which was Steve Irwin’s intention. Besides getting lost a few times, we felt like we were out in the jungle with these animals. The exhibits were so large and lifelike, it was amazing. Both Alison and I would go back in a heartbeat. The rest of the evening we spent packing up and cleaning my room. It was a bit sad to be packing up everything into my suitcases again and to see my room so empty. After a long evening of doing that, we both hit the sheets for another good night of sleep as tomorrow we are jumping on a flight for a mini trip to Cairns!
Another Point of View 