South Island, New Zealand

The South Island of New Zealand, in my opinion, is infinitely more beautiful than the North Island, which was pretty beautiful itself. We started off in Dunedin, which is a fairly small town with only a few things to do. Our first night was pretty calm. We walked around the city center and got dinner at a little Italian restaurant then went back to the hostel to sleep. 

Wednesday, we woke up, got a delicious breakfast and then headed to one of Dunedin’s only to main attractions, the Speight’s Brewery. Although I don’t particularly enjoy beer, it was cool to see how it all works and do the taste test at the end. Then we took a nice drive along to coast to the Otago Peninsula lookout point. After grabbing dinner we again headed back to the hostel for an early night.

 

Thursday was the big day Christy had been waiting for, Cadbury World.  Dunedin’s real attraction is the big Cadbury chocolate factory and touring it for Christy was like going to Disney World. We got to see a chocolate fountain that dropped 1000 kilograms of chocolate within like 10 seconds. Then we got to drink some of the liquid chocolate. We also got tons of free samples and stocked up on some chocolate for our road trips ahead. As soon as we were done at Cadbury World, we drove four hours to Queenstown. It was an absolutely beautiful drive. After some issues with traffic, we arrived at our hostel and walked around the quaint city.

Friday morning was the day of our big adventure. We had signed up to go canyoning not really knowing what it was or what to expect. It turns out it was unlike anything we’d expected. The three of us, plus three other Americans and two Irish girls piled into a van and were driven down to the canyon. Once there, we were given wet suit jumpers, wet suit socks, wet suit sweaters with hoods, water shoes, life jackets, helmets and harnesses and that’s when we started to worry. It was 50 degrees outside tops and the water was even colder and it was becoming apparent that we would be in it quite a bit. After getting geared up and rocking my helmet which gave me the name ‘Ke$ha’… the most fitting thing I could have chosen…. we were led up to the edge of the canyon. It started with a few nice zip lines across the canyon and then they attached me to a rope and said sit back. Before I knew it, I was abseiling 35 meters down the side of the canyon.  Then we really saw the raging river we would be in. The next two hours were filled with cliff jumping, me chickening out of cliff jumping and being lowered down the cliff by a rope, sliding down rocks, swimming through rapids and scaling rock walls. It was incredibly intense and I’m not gonna lie and say I wasn’t terrified. Although we were all a little battered and bruised, we survived and had a good time! We had worked up quite the appetite so we got in line and went to lunch at FergBurger, a super popular burger place that was absolutely delicious. 

Then, after recovering from our hypothermia, we decided that we needed to freeze just a little bit more and went to Below Zero, a bar made entirely of ice. They give you gloves and a coat when you get there and everything, even the cups, are made of ice. It reminded me of winter and home and why I much prefer the beach to the snow. Of course, in typical Maggie fashion, I then felt my tonsils swell up like crazy and spent the rest of the evening laying in bed as my friends went out on the town.

Saturday we packed up and headed to our last adventure in Queenstown, bungy jumping. We hoped onto the gondola that took us to the top of the mountain and that’s when I started to panic. Normal people don’t jump off ledges like that. Christy and Alex were up first so I stood across the way to video tape them. If I thought watching them fall out of a plane was bad, this was 100 times worse. By the time it was my turn, I was thoroughly panicked and as they strapped me into the harness, I just kept saying ‘nope, I definitely can’t do this’ and so low and behold, I didn’t. Everyone tried to get me to do it but I just stood there paralyzed. There was a 3 second period in time where I thought I could break loose and just do it but the guy was standing in my way and I didn’t want to risk death. Then my moment of courage was over and I was panicking again. Eventually I got out of the  harness and walked away in shame. Then we got in the car and again drove another 5 hours to Fox Glacier!

Sunday morning we put on all our warm gear and got ready to hike the glacier. They gave us special hiking boots and crampons so that we could grip the ice. There was a big rock slide a few weeks ago so there were issues with the route we took to the canyon, meaning we had to cross a river in a raft that was pulled across using a lovely pulley and lever system. It was kind of sketchy but it did the job. Then we got to actually climb up the ice and learn more about how the glacier is formed. I only slipped a few times thanks to the handy crampons. It was the first time I’ve seen ice or snow since I left home the day before the lovely polar vortex hit. We then packed back up into the car and drove the long way to Christchurch. Our hostel there was an old jail that has been renovated. It was really nice but still kind of a spooky feeling.

Now we’re off on our flight back to the Gold Coast, where we’ll spend less than 12 hours repacking and then catch our series of flights back to Chicago. It’s absolutely unbelievable. I guess I’ll see you all soon then!

North Island, New Zealand

After our night in the hostel with the big scary man, we were ready to get out and explore Auckland. Honestly, it was pretty much like every city we’ve been to. Some shops, some restaurants, etc. It reminded me a lot of Brisbane in the way it looked and the way it was set up. So after spending like an hour wandering around and getting breakfast, we decided to head out early and drive to Rotorua. It was a really pretty drive and despite being told the town would smell horrible, I was super pumped to get the adventure going. We checked into our hostel and were sent to an 8 person room. Now, the three of us are sort of divas and demand to be outnumbering the other people in the room. So, after throwing a small fit and calling our lovely travel agent, we were put into the 4 person room we were originally supposed to be in. That didn’t exactly make us friends with the receptionist but hostels are scary things and we don’t like being the minority. Once we got all of that sorted, we wandered around Rotorua, a fairly small town, and got dinner. Then we returned to the hostel and hung out, getting ready for the next big day ahead of us.

Sunday was Easter, so we woke up nice and early to go to church. It was a pretty small church comprised mostly of older people, but it was still really nice to go to mass. Being gone this lent has really made it feel like it wasn’t even happening, especially since Holy Week masses are usually my favorites to go to at home. After mass, we headed to start our big day. First thing on the agenda was Rainbow Springs Kiwi Park. The Kiwi is the national bird of New Zealand and it’s so so cute. Unfortunately the ones they had at the park were all inside in a nocturnal shelter so I couldn’t get any good pictures. The park had all sorts of other birds and things as well though, which was cool.
From there, we headed to zorbing. Ever since doing my sophomore country report on New Zealand, I’ve wanted to go zorbing. Basically, you climb inside this giant inflatable hamster ball that has some water in it and bounce down a winding hillside track. Of the three of us, I was the only one who wanted to do it, so I went alone. It was so cold outside but I stood in my swimsuit like a champ waiting for my turn. It was definitely worth it. I can’t even describe it. You get bounced around like crazy and can’t tell which way is up and which way is down. After drying off and warming up, we proceeded to lunch at a burger place and then were off to Hell’s Gate.

Rotorua itself is known for its natural hot springs and sulfur pools. Hell’s Gate is basically a big geothermal area with lots of both of these things, and some mud pools. We were able to go into the mud pools and sulfur baths. If you know me at all you’ll know that public pools aren’t really my thing and the fact that these were brown and yellow respectively and that I couldn’t see the bottom skeeved me out quite a bit. There were a lot of other tourists there but Alex, Christy and I were able to secure a private mud pool. The mud is incredibly good for your skin, so we were able to rub it all over and then sit in it. After our 20 minutes there were up, we moved to the sulfur pool, but it smelled so badly that we didn’t last there very long. We then headed back to the hostel to shower and clean all the nasty mud off our bodies. That night, we splurged and went out for a nice Easter dinner, which was actually incredible. It was an early night then because we had a big morning on Monday.

We had to wake up early to drive from Rotorua to Whakatane, about an hour and a half, which is where we got on the boat to go to White Island. After a brief stop at McDonald’s for breakfast, we were on our way, this time with Alex at the wheel, meaning I got to sleep some more. Once we got to Whakatane and saw the boat, we knew it would be a rough ride. White Island is about another hour and a half from the coast and this was not a big boat and the ocean was very choppy. Within minutes of the boat being in motion, people starting getting sea sick. By the time we got to White Island, three quarters of the boat was sitting with barf bags in hand. Thankfully I have an iron stomach and had no issues. The island is New Zealand’s only active marine volcano, so we could see it smoking even off in the distance. As we approached, they handed out hard hats and gas masks for us to use during the tour. Let me tell you, it was not a good look for me. But it was totally worth it as we got to peer into the crater and explore the huge volacano that could theoretically blow up at any minute. There were smaller weak spots that you could see the steam rising up through too and it was terrifying to know that with one wrong step, you could end up stuck in one of them. After our tour, we got on the boat back and took a lovely nap and then headed back on our drive to our hostel. Back in Rotorua, we went to the Polynesian Spa where we had a private mineral bath waiting for us after our long day.

Our last day on the North Island was just a travel day. We got up early, loaded up Maria, our trusty rental car and headed back towards the Auckland airport. After going through airport security, we realized the airport had zero food on the terminal side and had to go back out, get lunch and carry it with us through security again. The security guards just laughed at us, which was lovely.

We have now safely arrived in Dunedin on the South Island where we will be for the next day and a half before continuing our escapades. Although we initially had some issues with the car, everyone here has been so nice in helping us get things figured out.

As my time in the southern hemisphere comes to an end, I get more and more sad to be leaving, but also more and more excited to see all of you! I’ll be home for a month before I leave for my summer job so please make sure I get to see your face!! Love you all so much!! xoxo

Last Week in Australia

Classes are finished, finals are over and we have spent our last night in our dorms. I am currently sitting in my hostel bed in Auckland, New Zealand, getting ready to go on my final adventure down under. Although not much has happened in the last week, I thought I'd give you an update on my final days at Bond and in Gold Coast in general. I had two finals, both of which were easier than anticipated. We spent the rest of the time at the beach, getting our last bits of tan, shopping, and eating at our favorite restaurants one last time. I also spent a fair amount of time in Brisbane, enjoying the sights, climbing to the top of the Story Bridge, and trying Greek food (which I loved so don't hate on me for not trying new things). Saying goodbye to the beautiful town that I've fallen in love with was seriously difficult, I will definitely shed some tears as we leave to fly home next week. One of the big things I did this final week was to have one final 'musement park Monday, except it was on a Tuesday and I didn't go alone for once. Alex, Cameron and I took on Wet 'n Wild, the waterpark in Gold Coast. It was kind of rainy and cold, but that meant the lines weren't too long and we were able to not sweat to death in the process. All in all, it was a good way to end the fun before stressing about packing, which was a whole different issue.

Yesterday we kissed the Gold Coast goodbye, packed up our luggage and got ready for our big New Zealand adventure. Our flight went incredibly smoothly and we picked up our rental car with no problem. Although we ended up driving in circles for a while to find a parking spot, everything has gone smoothly and we finished our night with some amazing gelato! Tomorrow we start really seeing the sights and will be busy from then on, including mud baths, climbing volcanos, bungee jumping and touring Cadbury World! I'm going to try and update the blog as often as possible to make it easier for everyone, so keep checking back!

Love you all and miss you like crazy. See you soon!!! <3 <3 <3

Rainin' on the Rock

While you read this I recommend you listen to this song.

When you think Australia, I almost guarantee you think of the outback, the endless expanse of desert, bugs and nothing-ness that stretches across the middle of the country. One of the 'true Australian experiences' we thought was to go on an outback excursion. In the middle of the country, there's this giant rock, Uluru (or Ayer's Rock) that's like the epitome of the outback, so we decided to find a tour that would take us there. Since our spring break here is technically a 'study week' between the end of classes and the beginning of finals, we took advantage of the week off and went on our adventure.

On Sunday morning, we went to the airport and started our trip at 3:30 in the morning. We flew to Sydney and then straight to the Ayer's Rock airport. Now, the entire outback is desert. Meaning it rarely rains. Like, no rain ever. And as soon as we hop off the plane, what do we see? Rain. Lots and lots of rain. This had us kind of excited though. We had been told numerous times that seeing rain on Uluru was not only incredibly rare but also insanely beautiful. We were picked up from the airport (which was smaller than the Bloomington airport by far if that tells you anything) by our tour guide, Sheldon, who we immediately began calling Shelly, much to his dismay. He was exactly what you'd think if you thought bushman... long hair, long beard, funny hat, boots, the whole deal. He then drove us in the bus that would become our new best friend to our campsite to meet the rest of the crew. On our tour there were only six of us: me, Christy and Alex and then lovely ladies from Canada, the UK and Germany. After meeting up with them, we all went to Kata Tjuta, another big rock formation in the area. We got to take a very strenuous hike up and around the rocks, but thankfully it had stopped raining at that point so we could enjoy it.
Then we went to a sunset look out point to watch the sun set over Uluru. Fun fact: it's really hard to see the sun setting when it's cloudy. But regardless, it was a good view of the rock and you could still see the colors changing. For dinner, we headed back to the campsite and had some nice camel sausages, kangaroo steaks and beef. I just couldn't bring myself to try the camel. Then we got to sleep in some lovely tents and pretend there weren't huge centipedes outside that wanted to eat us for breakfast.

The next morning, we woke up hopeful that we'd get to see the sunrise over Uluru as we hiked around the base of it. It was pretty cloudy but we still got to see it! We hiked and hiked and hiked around the rock, which was SO much bigger than expected, a 7 mile walk from start to finish. Also, there are tons of flies, so we spent a lot of time swatting them out of our faces as we walked. But, again, no rain! It was one of those sights that can't be explained. It was hands down one of the most beautiful and awe inspiring things I've ever experienced. After getting picked up by Shelly, it started pouring and that is the beginning of the endless desert rain. We went to an aboriginal culture center where we learned all about the tribes that live in the area and how they have adapted to the environment, and we got to admire all kinds of aboriginal art. Then, we got to experience what only 1% of visitors to Uluru ever get to see... rain on the rock. Because of how much it was raining, there were AMAZING waterfalls all down the sides of Uluru. It was absolutely unbelievable. Our tour guide, who has been doing this for six years, was freaking out with excitement because of how rare it was. We got to spend time just walking around (getting soaking wet... a common theme for the week...) and taking it all in. After stopping back at our campsite for sandwiches, we took off for King's Canyon. We spent the night hanging out, playing the didgeridoo and chatting before cuddling into our new tents for another night of pretending there weren't vicious dingos outside waiting to kill us.

Turns out the dingos should have been the least of our worries because starting at around 2:30 in the morning, the dang monsoon started. All three of us woke up and were seriously concerned that our tent was going to flood or blow apart in general. I figured that was the end... I was going to die in the middle of the desert because of a giant rain storm. And it turns out we were right to be concerned... when we woke up in the morning we found out that the government had closed all the surrounding roads due to flooding and that even if the roads were open, we wouldn't be able to get the buses through them. We were officially stranded in the outback for 11 hours before the rain let up enough that we could get out. I'm not going to lie, it was equal parts absolutely terrifying, unbelievable and hilarious. How many people can truly say they've been flooded into the outback of Australia? However, as an added bonus, in attempts to entertain us while we waited for freedom, Shelly and another one of the tour guides let us braid their hair/beards. It was hilarious.We were supposed to hike King's Canyon but because of the weather, as soon as we were able to leave, we had to try to outrun the rain. It didn't work. We drove to Erldunda that night. It's basically just a truck stop in the middle of nowhere that has a campsite. There wasn't much exciting there but we really only spent the evening and then slept in yet another tent. This time, the only thing we were really worried about though was the truckers on the highway.

We woke up before dawn yet again to drive to Coober Pedy, a little mine town literally in the middle of nowhere. There were opal mines EVERYWHERE as we drove up to the city. The first thing of the agenda was to tour one of the opal mines. In Coober Pedy, basically all the houses are actually caves dug into the rock underground, so we got to tour some of those as well. It was really funny to see everyone freaking out about the rain, and watching how easily everything flooded. In the less than 24 hours we were there, it rained more than it rains there on average in an entire year. Rocks were crumbling the ceilings of houses, walls were caving in, it was crazy. Then we got to do some opal shopping and got some awesome pizza at a little bar in this seriously tiny town. After dinner was a highlight of the trip... we went to a place called Josephine's Gallery and got to play with a baby kangaroo. The owner carried it out in a little pouch because it's mother had died and we got to pet it and watch it jump around on its little baby legs! Seriously, it was so adorable. That night we got to stay in one of the underground caves which was actually super cool once we weren't worried about it caving in on us!

On our final day, we drove to Adelaide where we would catch our flight back to Brisbane. Although most of the day was spent driving, we stopped several places along the way including Lake Hart, which is a salt lake. Normally salt lakes are totally dry with a layer of salt on the sand basically but since it had rained so much, it actually had water in it that Shelly said probably would be there for at least 2 or 3 months. After making several more stops, we had to say goodbye to all our new friends. Although you would think the rain would put a damper on a trip like this, it was such an incredible experience and one that so few people actually get. We were very lucky and the rain just gave us more time to spend with each other and the amazing new people we travelled with. This truly marks the beginning of the end of the adventure! One final and ten days in New Zealand are all that's left! It makes me want to cry thinking about leaving this incredible place. I miss you all, but you can just come visit me here, right??

Cairns

This was one of the big weekends we've been looking forward to since arriving in Australia. Our Cairns (pronounced Cans by the Aussies) was one of the first ones we planned and it was full of bucket list activities. Wednesday afternoon, we packed our bags and headed on the train towards Brisbane where we stayed the night before our super early flight Thursday morning. We had picked a hostel right by the train station to stay in and we chose wrong. We ended up waiting 20 minutes to check in, but they upgraded us to a three person private because we booked through hostelworld and they wanted us to write a good review. The upgraded room would have been nice had it not put us on the side of the hostel directly above the raging club downstairs. We had to be up at 5 and the club was still bumping when we left. So, we definitely didn't get much, if any, sleep. The worst part was that as the bass thumped away, flakes of the ceiling would fall onto me in my bed. It was disgusting.

After an early wake up, we had an easy flight and landed in Cairns, where we picked up our rental car. Yepp, that's right, me, driving on the wrong side of the road. Better yet, we were driving to the rainforest so it was two hours of incredibly winding roads. It actually went surprisingly well, even Alex and Christy agree. So after that nerve wrecking drive, we wandered around Cape Tribulation, an area of the Daintree Rainforest and went to the beach, which you aren't allowed to swim in or really do anything at because of crocodiles and deadly jellyfish. Also, there were signs all along the road saying 'cassowary crossing.' Luckily we never ran into any. After the beach, we were exhausted and found a random car park and took an hour nap. Then it was time for zip lining!

They drove us up into the Daintree Rainforest, the oldest one in the world, where we got to see the beautiful views. Although our guides were somewhat creepy and awkward, it was amazing! We got to see the mountain where Avatar was filmed and zip line upside-down! Then we had to drive back through the rainforest (which has no street lights, surprise) to our hostel. It was recommended to us by our tour guide on Moreton Island and it was definitely worth it. The rooms were little cabins with netting for windows so you were literally sleeping in the middle of the rainforest so you could hear all the noises outside but the bugs and snakes couldn't eat you. We were able to just relax and hang out and actually sleep before driving back down to Cairns in the morning.

After stopping for delicious pancakes in Port Douglass, we returned the car and got a ride to our hostel, Tropic Days. It was seriously the nicest hostel we've seen, with single beds, clean everything, free wifi and a super chill, quiet atmosphere. Then we were off to white water raft! Not gonna lie, I was most nervous for this. I'm absolutely terrified of drowning so I was convinced I was going to fall out and die. The three of us, along with a 70 year old couple and our two raft guides got in the raft and off we went. Somehow Alex and I ended up being the boat leaders, meaning everything was basically in shambles because we struggle with life sometimes. After surviving most of the major rapids, and only falling on top of Alex once, we hit the final set and out fly the older couple. All the sudden I just see feet and helmets floating down the river. It was terrifying. Thankfully they survived unharmed! We got to swim for a bit in the river and then got on a bus to head back to the hostel. As we talked to our raft guide, he convinced us that going out and seeing the Cairns nightlife would be a good idea, so we went to get ready. We all thought that this trip was going to be super laid back so we brought no cute clothes but by some twist of magic, we managed to throw together outfits and got ready in record time. We went to a backpackers club called Gilligans and met up with the raft guide. While we were there, we also saw a group of guys that had been on our rafting tour earlier for a bachelor's party. We hung out there with all of them and had a great time!

 Bright and early Saturday morning, we were up to see the Great Barrier Reef! You can bet that I was quoting Finding Nemo all day. We had all signed up to do an introductory scuba dive and I was nervous... again with the whole drowning fear.. After being taught some basic safety things, we put on our oxygen tanks and weight belts and headed to the edge of the ship. I climbed down the ladder, put in my mask on and stuck my head under water.... where I immediately panicked and demanded to be taken out of the water. The bottom of the ocean is a long way down. So after we all panicked, we decided to snorkel instead, and it was still totally awesome! Because it's the summer, the coral wasn't super brightly colored like  you sometimes see in pictures but it was still unbelievable! We got to see all sorts of fish and coral and we saw a cuddle fish which is apparently super cool and rare. On the boat home we all had lovely little naps and then went back to Gilligans for some more fun with our new friends!

the groom obviously knows the
best sorority

Sunday morning, we packed up our stuff and checked out of the hostel before our last big adventure, horse back riding. Although we were tired from a long, crazy weekend, we were so excited! We got to ride through a beautiful farm and sugar cane fields. I'm not exactly an animal whisperer so I'm pretty sure my horse hated me and he totally tried to kick me off but ya know, it's fine. Then it was back to the airport for us! It was a little frustuating when our flight had a delay but we basically slept through it and were back in Brisbane in no time!

It's so crazy, today I finished my last classes here at Bond! I can't believe it's all ending so fast. We have a 'study week' and then I have two finals and then we'll spend 10 days in New Zealand and then bam, I'll be back in the BloNo eating Steak n' Shake and Chili's and Moe's until my eyes explode. I miss you all so much and can't wait to see you but I can't help but wish I had at least a few more weeks here in the land down under. I honestly don't know how I'm going to be able to leave. Christy and Alex might have to drag me onto the plane. Love you all, I'll actually see you soon! <3

Queensland Adventures with the Fam

After their week in Port Douglas/ Cairns, the family made their way down to Gold Coast! They arrived Thursday afternoon and we took them on a tour of campus first. They were kind of surprised how small campus really was. It's literally a little circle of buildings. And of course, they weren't surprised by how messy my room was. Some things never change. We then got cleaned up and headed to Broadbeach, a town that is a part of the Gold Coast, pretty close to campus, with a bunch of my friends and had a nice dinner! It was nice to introduce my parents to all the people I've been hanging out with.

Bright and early Friday morning, 4:15 to be exact, we had to wake up to drive the hour to Byron Bay to skydive. The parents were surprisingly calm the whole time. We got there, got checked in and got suited up to jump! My dad got partnered up with my hunky tandem from my last dive, Nick, I was with Matty and my mom was with Nado, Alex's tandem from last time. We piled into the plane and much to mom's dismay, she was last to jump. We did the same flight up and it was fun watching them get a little more worried the higher we went. I was the first in the family to jump so before I knew it, it was time! My tandem pushed me out and then we were flipping, yes flipping, towards the ground! After a few tumbles, we evened out and then he grabbed my hand and we spun in the fastest circle ever! Once the parachute had been pulled, he handed the reigns to me and I got to steer for a while. We flew over towards mom's parachute and then floated for a while before he decided we should probably land eventually. The parents beat me to the ground and I was glad to see a smile on both of their faces when I finally landed! They both enjoyed it, however, dad was fast to say he would be content to never do it again. Then I got to drive home. I think dad was more worried about this than jumping out of an airplane. Don't worry though, I'm pretty dang good at driving on the left side of the road, which is good cause I have to do it again this weekend! Here is the link to mom's dive video, and here is the link for dad's! 


After stopping to get some lunch and picking up Aunt Jo, we headed to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary so they could experience all the lovely animals. They were a little alarmed when they went to hold the koalas and they realized it just keeps on pooping and doesn't stop. Luckily no one got poop stains on them! The koalas were being super active so we got to see them up and jumping from branch to branch, and then running across the ground! It was seriously adorable. We moved on to the kangaroos and got to do the usual feed/pet them. Mom was in love!


Friday evening, I took the family out to Surfer's Paradise. It was definitely different from the other places they'd been! I compare it to Miami. Lots of beach, lots of nightlife, lots of young adults.

Saturday morning we woke up and drove to Eumandi. It's a little town about 3 hours north of Gold Coast that has a HUGE market with all sorts of craft booths and clothes and food vendors. After a lot of shopping, we headed to Noosa, which is a little beach town that is a popular vacation destination for the Aussies. It's one of those places that I never would have thought of to visit, but it was really pretty and something different to see. Early Sunday morning, we packed up and headed on a tour of Fraser Island. It was pretty similar to Moreton Island that we camped to earlier this semester, but much bigger, busier and more developed. The tour involved lots and lots of driving along the incredibly bumpy sand roads, which the family wasn't exactly expecting. We got to swim in a freshwater lake, walk through the rainforest area of the island, and eat a nice Aussie barbeque. Once our day of riding around the island was done, we drove to Brisbane, checked into our hotel and then got some dinner. Then it was time to help the parents repack all their bags and get them ready to leave bright and early for the airport to head to New Zealand.

Saying goodbye to them this morning was tough, but I know I'll be seeing them again soon! Only a little over a month until I have to leave this beautiful country and return home, where I can only assume it will still be less than 40 degrees and there will probably still be a foot of snow on the ground. I am so so so glad they came to visit me and that I could share this little piece of heaven with them! Much to their dismay, I can totally see myself living here in the future, so they'd better get used to it!

Sydney

I'm going to attempt to do all of this whirlwind trip in one post, sorry about how long it will end up being!

After much anticipation, the weekend we'd all been waiting for arrived! Sydney!! The big city that you automatically think of when you think Australia. Plus, my parents and aunt were coming! So Thursday morning we woke up bright and early as usual (why do we always choose flights that leave so dang early??) and took a cab to the airport, where we were then told our hour and a half flight from Gold Coast to Sydney was an international flight. Excuse me what? That kind of freaked us out because we were expecting it to be like in the states how security would be 10x more intense and then we would have to go through customs and everything, but we should have known better. International security consisted of only me going through a full body scanner and the security guards joking around with us about our accents. Literally, that was it. After landing in Sydney and walking straight out the door without a second glance from customs, we took a train downtown and went in search of our hotel. Yes, you read that right, hotel. No hostel for us this weekend! Thanks to my lovely parents, we were living in the lap of luxury. We had a king sized bed, pull out couch and balcony overlooking Darling Harbour. It was seriously unreal. And we may or may not have had a freak out dance party to celebrate.  Darling Harbour itself is a really cool little place with tons of restaurants so we got some lunch and then headed to Bondi Beach!

The hotel concierge told us it would be significantly cheaper and faster to take a cab so we took his advice and it was neither cheap nor fast. But, the beach was beautiful. You can tell it gets more use than the beaches we usually go to because it was a little dirtier, but there were these awesome rocks that you can climb out on so obviously we had a photo shoot. The waves would splash up really high behind them so we spent at least an hour trying to capture all the perfect pictures with the waves. Then we decided to explore the whole Bondi Beach area. Its a ways out from the center of town and has a totally different vibe. There were a bunch of cool little shops around the area and we met this store owner who totally cracked us up and had a $15 sale box full of dresses and things that were originally $120+. Of course, as I've said before, being built the way I am makes it harder for me to find fashionable things that fit me right, but Alex and Christy both found awesome things in the box! We meandered around for a while and got dinner before heading back to the hotel and calling it an early night. When I say early, I mean early... we were all asleep by 10 in anticipation of waking up early for my parents arrival the next morning!

My parents had told me they were going to text me once they landed in Sydney so that I would know when to be up and ready for them to get to the hotel. Well, at 7:15, our hotel room phone starts ringing and when I answered, it was my dad saying they were in the lobby waiting for us! We were all still in our pajamas but we sprinted to the elevator and into the lobby where I'm sure we caused a scene with our screaming and crying. After we all calmed down, we got ready as fast as we could, ate poptarts (a delicacy that my parents hand delivered from the US) and then headed out to explore! We took a ferry to Sydney Harbour, where the bridge and Opera House are located. The weather was absolutely beautiful too, which made it even more perfect. Our first stop was the botanical garden. We were going to go on a guided walking tour but after about 3 minutes, Alex, Christy and I got bored so we ducked out and went back towards the Opera House for a photo shoot. I mean, if you don't take a million pictures, did you really even see it? The answer is no. Then we met up with the family and got ready for our tour of the Opera House! We got to see the inside and a three of the five theaters plus got to learn a lot about the construction and everything. The lobby outside the main auditorium has purple carpet and purple walls. For such an amazing building, it was alarming that it would have such a bizarre interior. After getting lunch, we headed to Manly Beach, which we got to by taking another beautiful ferry ride.

Manly Beach is home to the building that they used for filming the new Great Gatsby movie. Its actually a college of management but they covered it in vines and used editing to change the top of it and viola, Gatsby Mansion! The bottom two levels are exactly what you see in the movie! I have officially walked the same grounds as my main man Leo DiCaprio. It was glorious. We called it an early night then in preparation for an early morning of bridge climbing!


The Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb is something that literally everyone we talked to told us to do, so thanks to my amazing parents, the dream came true! I hadn't really thought to be nervous about it until we got there. I knew my dad was super nervous and I had seen the pictures but I guess it didn't really hit me until we walked through the doors. Then I started to panic. I would be walking on a piece of steel 250 feet off the ground. We got a quick briefing and then had to put on our super cute janitor looking outfits so that we didn't distract drivers on the bridge and trucker hats because it was so hot and sunny. Then we put on our harnesses and did the practice course, which was small and had practice ladders so you could get the hang of walking while attached to the bridge. Then we were off! It started walking over these wooden planks that looked ancient, which didn't help my nerves.

Then we were to the ladders. There were four steep ladders that you had to climb up with traffic rushing past on either side of you, which was terrifying. But then suddenly you were at the top and it wasn't scary at all anymore! The view was unbelievable. It was a lot of steps but it didn't seem too steep until walking back down, when I started to panic a bit again. Then I had to climb down the ladders we came up and my harness got stuck. I tried to balance and hold on for dear life and untangle myself all at once which was not an easy task as the trains rolled by next to me, but I somehow managed to survive. We finally landed on solid ground again and survived the bridge climb!

 We met back up with Aunt Jo at the hotel and got some lunch. Spicy hot wings and BBQ pork sandwich <3 <3 <3 Then we were on the move to go shopping. After spending some time in a very upscale mall and realizing all we could afford was a caramel bar (which was delicious), we walked across the street to the other mall which had stores we could afford. Yay shopping! We went to church at the gorgeous cathedral, while a nice storm raged outside. After mass we headed to the Sydney Tower, twice as tall as the harbour bridge, and went to the bar on top. It was kind of like the Space Needle in Seattle where the whole thing rotated so you could see the whole city without ever moving. Since it was dark out the whole city was lit up! Again we called it an early night and I prepared for an even earlier morning to cheer on my parents.

They've been training for a half marathon for a while and decided to run a 10k while they were in Sydney. They made the mistake of choosing to run a trail race instead of a road race so when our taxi pulled into a national park at 7 Sunday morning, we started to get slightly concerned. There were big hills and lots of trees everywhere but the parents stayed optimistic. They got all checked in and I was all ready to cheer them on! Once the race began, I realized I couldn't really go anywhere besides the start/finish line because they were literally running through the woods so I sat on the rocks, soaked up some sun and almost got eaten alive by giant mutant goose creatures. As people started to cross the finish line and more time passed I got a little concerned. Finally, mom emerged and then dad followed 10 minutes later. Apparently the course was much more treacherous than anticipated and to avoid getting hurt, mom cut out and only ran the 7k. But, they both finished and survived! Dad hurt his finger (yes, he hurt his finger in a run...) but other than that they were both unscathed!

After showering and packing up, we headed to lunch at a cute restaurant called the Glenmore. It poured rain while we were there and then stopped in time for us to leave! We did a little souvenir shopping and got dessert and then just hung out and talked at the hotel before we left for our flight back to the Gold Coast. The fam is spending the next few days in Cairns before coming to see the Gold Coast for themselves. After spending time in cities like Melbourne and Sydney, I've realized that Gold Coast is kind of like a mix of Vegas and Miami. Lots of partying and lots of beaches but not much else. It'll be fun though anyway! In the meantime while they're enjoying the beach, I'm at school trying to finish all my assignments because I officially will be busy every weekend from here until I leave for home! We're working on planning our New Zealand trip this week and that'll be our final event! It's all flying by so insanely fast it makes me sad to think about it all ending! I will never be able to express how thankful I am for this opportunity to see a part of the world so many people never get to experience.

 PS. For all you Finding Nemo fans, it's official: P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney does not exist :(