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.

Noosa Everglades

This past weekend, I was up in the Noosa Everglades with two friends from UW on a camping/canoeing trip. It is one of two freshwater everglades in the world, the other being in Florida. On our first day, we canoed north from our campsite up the Noosa River. We saw a couple eagles, one of which swooped down to the water and caught a fish. We made our way up to Lake Cootharaba, which was huge and was less than a meter deep across the whole lake, except where it was dredged so that boats could pass through. We then visited Boreen Point, which is home to the second oldest pub in Queensland. After a short nap on the beach, we paddled back to the campsite. The trip back across the lake was arduous and seemed to take forever, since we had to fight against adverse winds and rain.

Along the Noosa River

The next day, we traveled south down the Noosa River to Lake Cooroiba. There was a creek we explored that was stained a blackish brown from tannin and tea tree leaves. The water was super reflective and made for some good pictures. After a picnic lunch, we paddled to the edge of the lake and hiked half an hour to the ocean. On the way, we came across a group of people on a camel safari in the everglades. Finally we ended up on a giant beach that is part of the Great Sandy National Park. There were a lot of SUVs driving along the beach, full of campers and fishers.

Great Sandy National Park

On our last day, we spent a little time fishing in the river with a hand reel. We caught a few small fish, about the size of bluegills. On the way home, we had a slight mishap on the train and accidentally ended up at the wrong stop. Faced with the options of waiting two hours for the next train, or walking to the next stop and catching a train that runs every half hour, I decided to walk. The next stop seemed like it was only a five minute train ride, but the trek ended up taking an hour and forty five minutes! It was pretty fun though- we had to wade across two creeks, cut through a macadamia nut orchard, jump a barbed wire fence, and we ended up seeing two wild kangaroos- the first of my trip! It it was a long day, but a fun end to a good trip.

Lamb Island

What started out today as a day trip to North Stradbroke Island turned into a long adventure to Lamb Island thanks to a small public transportation misinterpretation. Both are located in the Moreton Bay just outside of Brisbane, but having taken the wrong bus 45 minutes to the wrong ferry, I decided to check out Lamb Island instead. It's a small place that is probably only 2 km long and has a population of about 300 people. It was a pretty interesting visit, with excitement provided by two small lap dogs I almost got mauled by. Other than that, there were some nice "beaches" and mangrove swamps that I enjoyed hiking around.

An old boat with North Stradbroke Island in the background

Glasshouse Mountains

Yesterday I took a train an hour and a half north, to the Glasshouse Mountains. There are several national parks up there centered around these small mountains, which are actually volcanic plugs that are about 26 million years old. I spent much of the day walking, first from the train station to the national park, then hiking to the top of Mt. Ngungun.

The Summit of Mt. Dgungun

Sydney Trip: The City

My last two days in Sydney I spent exploring the city. The downtown area was very easy to get around, and a lot of the city was accessible on foot from my hostel. I saw the obligatory Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge, checked out Chinatown, a historic area called The Rocks, and Darling Harbor. In a park area near the Opera House, I watched an interesting street performance. There was a contortionist twisting her body into weird shapes, and the grand finale of her show was fitting herself into a 16 inch square box on top of a 4 foot post. I also walked across the Harbor Bridge, which provided a nice vantage point to see the harbor and city. Sydney is a pretty fun city and seems like a good place to live.

Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge

View of Sydney from the Harbor Bridge