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!