Going Home

Well final exams are over, and hopefully I passed all my courses. Wow, did it go by quick. It feels like it was just yesterday that I arrived in Fiji with six strangers from UW and it's already time to leave my good friends. I now have a day to pack up, then fly home, have another day to pack, and head to Michigan for a summer internship. I had an amazing time in Fiji and Australia- it was definitely one of the best decisions in my life to study abroad. I'm really glad to have met so many awesome people and have seen so many incredible sights. Let's keep in touch and hopefully I can get back here sooner than later.

 Good Times

A visit from my mom and sister

For the past few days before my final exams, my mom and sister came to visit. On the first day of their visit, I showed them around Brisbane and the University of Queensland campus. The next day, we went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. We saw a bunch of native Australian animals like wombats, kangaroos, wallabies, dingoes, and tazmanian devils. The sanctuary was especially neat because we got to feed and pet the kangaroos, and the koalas were the most active I've ever seen. We also watched a birds of prey show and a sheep herding/shearing show.

A Koala at the Lone Pine Sanctuary

The next day we took a day trip to Tamborine Mountain in the Gold Coast Hinterlands. We did a few hikes through the rainforest, including one along a canopy skywalk. We also went through a glow worm cave, had a cheese and wine tasting, visited a brewery, and went on a gallery walk in the Tamborine Village.

On their last day here, we went to North Stradbroke Island in Moreton Bay just outside Brisbane. We did a lot of hiking along the beach and headlands. It is the start of whale season, and we spotted a couple groups of whales breaching and also a few pods of dolphins swimming and jumping through the water.

 Frenchman's Beach on North Stradbroke Island

'The Gong' and Jervis Bay

This week we have a break between the end of classes and the start of final exams, so a group of UW students and myself decided to go visit my roommates hometown, Wollongong, and his family's beach house in Jervis Bay.

To start off the trip, my roommate and I relocated a 4WD campervan from Brisbane to Sydney at the cost of $1 per day, with $150 of free petrol. We decided to get the drive done in one go, and it ended up as a 15 hour car ride. The next day, we the rest of the UW students in Sydney and drove three hours down to Jervis Bay, where my roommate's beach house is. We spent the next few days down there, exploring the small town and visiting several national parks.

Some cliffs on Jervis Bay

From there, we traveled north to Wollongong, where my roommate grew up. He gave us a tour of the city, which is on the beach and is pretty nice place. We got to meet some of his family and hung out with his brothers. I spent two nights there, one of which we we spent playing a trivia game at the local lawn bowling club. It was pretty interesting since we were the only team with members under the age of 40, but we didn't end up doing too poorly.

A view of Wollongong

I fly out of Sydney early tomorrow morning, and will meet up with my mom and sister in Brisbane as they arrive for their visit. This trip made for a nice end to the semester, and thankfully I don't have to start studying for finals for another four or five days while I get to show my mom and sister around Brisbane.