...'Till Next Time Brisbane

In younger grades, the end of the school year was always highly anticipated and defined by warming weather and end of the year parties and festivities.  At uni, the end of the semester is always much more anticlimactic...there are no room moms to bring in cookies and ice cream to reward you for a job well done.  Instead, you walk out of the last lecture like any other day, telling friends you will see them later as if everyone would be back next week, continuing the semester as usual.  Then Monday rolls around, the alarm doesn’t go off to get up for class, and you have the terrifying realization that you have to face final exams.  Can I just go to the beach instead?

Well, lucky for me I am in Australia and can go to the beach.  And I did.  Joys of being a study abroad student.  

Amongst the chaos of preparing for finals, I also had added stresses of saying goodbye to friends I made throughout the semester and wondering how on Earth I was going to pack up my life in two 23kg suitcases, especially considering the purchases I acquired.  Yep, the next two weeks were going to be a roller coaster.

Before I knew it I had my first two finals completed and felt quite good about both of them.  With a whole week until final #3, I turned my focus to doing things in Brisbane I had put off for the past five months, always telling myself there was plenty of time to explore the city.  Well, time was running out so I figured it was time to get my act together.  So I spent some time exploring the central business district and quirky little neighborhoods friends had told me I had to check out.  I even have some shopping purchases to show for it.  Really good for the packing situation right?

Brisbane CBD from Mount Coot-Tha

When I first got to Brisbane, I made it one of my goals to run in a race while I was here.  After some Google searches, I discovered the first annual Brisbane City2South race, taking after Sydney’s City2Surf and Melbourne’s City2Sea races.  I was thrilled to see it was happening just before I was due to leave Australia, so I signed myself up to run.  So amongst everything else going on as my time in Brisbane was winding down, I had the added anticipation of this 14K race.  Two other study abroad friends staying in the Gold Coast ran as well, and it was a great success.  I could have done without the killer hills at the end, but that just made the sense of accomplishment upon crossing the finish line that much greater.  Epic success.

And that brought me to my final week in Brisbane which meant I had to start saying final goodbyes to some great friends.  The comfort of people saying “it’s not goodbye, it’s see you later,” only went so far for me.  But that is where the wonders of social media come in and provide a bit of comfort.  The really amazing thing is now I have friends all over the world, which means…I have more excuses to travel!  Now just to hit the lottery.  Or if anyone wants to donate to Steph’s Travel Fund you know where to find me.

Much to my amazement, as I started packing I realized that I was golden on suitcase space.  One stress off the list!  But then I looked at my empty closet and it actually started to hit me that I am returning to the United States in less than 24 hours.  My goodness where did the time go…?  Time really does fly when you are having fun.  As a kid, whenever I got that teary-eyed look upon leaving vacation or a long weekend spent with cousins, my mom always told me that being sad to leave meant I had an absolutely fantastic experience.  And that is exactly the case right now.  As my return to the U.S. gets closer and closer, the less I want to leave Australia, but that is because this experience has been so amazing.  I have learned so much about myself and my goals, as well as other people, other cultures, and different ways of life.  This is truly a once in a lifetime experience that I am incredibly lucky to have had…which calls for a shout out to my mom and dad for supporting me and making this possible.  Thanks parents, you rock!

Well guys, this is it.  The end of my time in Australia also means the completion of my Australian Adventures blog.  For all of you who have followed me throughout the semester, I hope you enjoyed living vicariously through my adventures.  I’m not particularly looking forward to returning to the real world, but at least I get the comfort of going back to a country with crispy bacon, $5 pizzas on Friday night, and cheap drip coffee. 

So for the last time…. Cheers!

Singapore...More to Come!

Throughout this semester abroad I have been incredibly lucky to have experienced countless new things and gone on so many adventures.  Though I cannot bring myself to pick a favorite, this past adventure I went on ranks in the top most memorable experiences of my life.  So many things happened which makes for a long post, so bear with me.  You can even snuggle up on the couch with a snack and hot beverage if you like.  I wouldn’t be surprised if you work up an appetite by the time you’re done reading this.  Curious?  Read on my friends.

This adventure technically began earlier this semester when I became friends with Dion.  With our shared love of traveling, food, and trying new things, we were destined to be friends.  From the title of this post you may be able to guess where he is from.  Dion should really be a travel agent because he is the one who convinced me to go to Singapore, promising to create an itinerary to guide me around Singapore’s best places.  It obviously didn’t take much convincing because one month later I was Singapore bound.

I wasn’t too keen to travel by myself, so luckily my friend Chris was more than willing to be my partner in crime and take on Asia with me.  Before we knew it we had our flights booked, accommodation settled, and not only a list of places to explore, but our very own personal tour guide.  Dion’s friend from home, Ron, agreed to cart us Americans around for a week…I don’t think he knew what he was actually signing up for.  But I am beyond grateful that he did because this trip would not have been nearly as wonderful without him.

Our journeys began last Friday as we made our way to the Brisbane airport yet again, just this time it wasn’t before the sun came up…thank goodness.  Between our excitement and the fact that Qantas is the best airline, providing movies, real food, free drinks, and even ice cream snacks, the seven plus hour flight was actually enjoyable.  Before we knew it we were landing in Changi Airport, which is consistently ranked among the top in the world.  Their customs desk even gives out free mints.  We were loving Singapore already and hadn’t even left the airport.

After a brief stop to escape the monsoon that greeted us as we exited the train station, we found our way to our hostel and didn’t even get lost!  If only we had that kind of luck the rest of the trip…more on that to come.  We dropped off our luggage and realized we were super hungry, so upon the recommendation of the hostel staff we went to the nearest hawker center for dinner.  Now, these hawker centers are unlike anything in the United States or Australia.  It is a giant open air market that has heaps upon heaps of individual stalls selling the most amazing authentic Asian food for dirt cheap.  After walking around to all 50 food stalls trying to decide which meal looked best, I decided that my first meal in Singapore would be Thai pineapple rice.  It was delicious.  Only made better by the fact that it cost me around US$2.  Chris and I couldn’t help but to walk around and sample a couple more dishes and some of the exotic juices that were being sold for less than US$1.  It was amazing. 

After our feast we walked around a bit to explore and try and work off dinner.  We ended up by the bay and started walking towards what we recognized as the Marina Bay Sands Resort Towers and the Singapore Flyer, which is the biggest ferris wheel in the world, even bigger than the London Eye.  The fact that it was night made it exceptionally beautiful.  We ended up walking much farther than expected because before we knew it we were at the base of the Flyer, which just so happened to be serving as the starting line for the Sundown Marathon, which is exactly what it sounds like: a marathon during the middle of the night.  As we passed the entrance to the race grounds one of the security guards asked me, in heavily accented English mind you, to check my bag.  As a natural instinct when being offered something I don’t understand, I politely said no thank you and proceeded to walk.  Needless to say, I didn’t get very far, but at least Chris understood and told me to let the guards check my bag.  Fail.

We had heard that Singapore is one of the cleanest countries in the world and we discovered this for ourselves that night.  We found some awesome trash cans that would discourage anyone from littering as well as the cleanest port-o-potties we have ever seen:

Finally our travel exhaustion set in so we went back to the hostel to rest up for our first full day of Singaporean adventures!

Day 1- June 1^st

What better way to begin our adventures in Singapore than with an authentic Singaporean breakfast.  We met up with Ron who took us to Toast Box to get just that.  Upon his recommendation we got kaya toast, half boiled eggs, and teh terek, which is black tea mixed with condensed milk.  Kaya is a delicious coconut-type jam that we fell in love with and would have for brekky basically every day.  Yum.

 

We quickly found out that Ron is a food and restaurant expert, always saying “more to come” after every delicious meal.  And that became the slogan of our trip.  Check out his blog to follow his food passions and excite your taste buds: http://foodparadizesg.tumblr.com/

We post-gamed brekky with one of the best spring rolls I have ever eaten and a variety of different juices.  Yep, the one was actually hot pink!

 

We proceeded to walk around the Bugis area of Singapore, checking out some Hindu and Buddhist temples, ending up at the Singapore National Museum.  I knew next to nothing about Singapore or its history, so it was pretty cool to see everything the museum had to offer.  After some more exploration and shopping we went for bubble tea, which I fell in love with, and had a steamboat dinner.  Contrary to its name, it has nothing to do with boats.  We sat down at the table where a mini grill type contraption was set up and proceeded to be amazed.  For a flat price we were able to go to the buffet full of raw meat, seafood, and veggies which we brought back to our table and cooked ourselves.  Delicious.

Later that night we hit the town and went to Zouk, which is one of the top nightclubs in the world.  And rightfully so—Zouk has several different bar/dancing areas within it and hosts some of the world’s best DJs.  Needless to say, we had a great time and danced well into the night.

Day 2- June 2^nd

We managed to drag ourselves out of bed and do some shopping before meeting up with Ron for the day.  He took us to a Muslim restaurant called Zam Zam where Chris and I tried mutton (aka goat) for the first time.  It was a great power meal before heading to VivoCity shopping mall to walk around for a bit.  Along with the heaps of other malls in Singapore, it put every American mall to shame.  The size, crowd, and variety of stores doesn’t even compare.  Situated right next to the mall is Sentosa resort, which is home to some great beaches, an aquarium, waterpark, casino, eateries, and much more.  We spent the day at Sentosa exploring and soaking up some sun at one of the beach clubs.  For a snack we had oyster soup, which Chris and I fell in love with, and I got my daily fix of bubble tea.  I can proudly say that I had bubble tea every day on the trip…no shame, the stuff is addicting.  More to come!

That night for dinner Ron took us to Chomp Chomp Food Center, which is another hawker center.  We ended up with a sampling of many different dishes, most notably sting ray.  Once I got past the spice that made my lips feel like they were burning off, I realized that sting ray is actually quite delicious.  Who would have thought.  Anyway, we got wrapped up in our feast and lost track of time.  We finally realized that it was 9:51, which meant we had exactly nine minutes to get from Chomp Chomp to our hostel, collect our luggage, and check into the new hostel, none of which were particularly close to one another.  After a moment of panic, we sprinted to the road to hail a taxi and try and call the hostel to see if they could stay a few minutes late so we weren’t without luggage for the night.  As if this wasn’t enough of a challenge, Ron’s phone died right as we got a cab and Chris and I only had Australian phones which were absolutely useless.  So as the cabbie was speeding through the streets of Singapore, we used his phone to call the hostels to assure we weren’t going to be homeless or without luggage that night.  Luckily, we were able to collect our bags and check in to the new hostel.  Crisis averted.  Lesson of the day: Singaporeans are very nice and accommodating people.

Day 3- June 3

The Green Kiwi hostel where we stayed for the rest of the trip was one of the best hostels I have experienced on this side of the world.  From the extremely nice employees to the complimentary breakfasts of kaya toast, dragonfruit, and coffee, Chris and I were more than happy.  This is how we started every morning for the rest of the week:

 We then made our way back to VivoCity to meet Ron and spend a full day at Sentosa.  We got there at 9am and soon realized that that was too early to be out in Singapore.  None of the stores or anything opened until at least 10am.  Crazyness.  Eventually the three of us finally met up and made our way to Adventure Cove, which is Sentosa’s waterpark.  The slides didn’t live up to those in the U.S., but the lazy river more than made up for it.  By the time were a quarter of the way through I thought we were beginning lap number two.  In the middle of the lazy river was Ray Bay, where we got to drift along, looking at heaps of different types of rays, only separated by a piece of glass.  They are such beautiful animals!  I even got a glimpse of the dolphin trainers at work, which by itself would have been enough to make my day.  As if this all wasn’t enough, we exited the lazy river to find a giant fish tank where we could snorkel…for free.  Swimming around with all the bright, colorful fish was like being in Finding Nemo!

After Adventure Cove, we cleaned up and proceeded to the S.E.A. Aquarium, which is the world’s largest oceanarium.  I’m not really sure what the difference between an aquarium and oceanarium is, but apparently one does exist.  My two favorite exhibits were the dolphins (of course) and the giant tank full of fish and rays, most notably manta rays.  If you have never seen one before, believe me when I say those suckers are HUGE—they can span up to almost seven metres (20 feet) and glide through the water like it is nothing. 

 By the time we left Sentosa it was dark, which made for a beautiful walk back to the mall and train station.  Being the smart people we are, we forgot to make note of the name of the train station near our hostel.  We were pretty sure we determined which one was correct, but when we alighted the train our surroundings only looked vaguely familiar.  We weren’t sure whether it was due to our tired and delusional state or if we were in fact in the wrong place.  After walking around a bit we thought all was lost, especially when a local couldn’t point us to Lavender Street, which is the main road on which our hostel was located.  Great.  So we went back into the train station to go back one more stop when we finally recognized the super long hallway from where we entered the station that morning.  Once we emerged from the opposite side, everything looked familiar again.  Success for the Americans!  Still not sure why we were able to figure out more about the surrounding area than the local…

Day 4- June 4^th

Once again, we started off the day with our breakfast of champions: kaya toast, fruit, and coffee.  We were already getting used to this.  Ron had other obligations that morning, so Chris and I decided to go to Gardens by the Bay, which is a huge, brand new indoor and outdoor botanical garden right by the Marina Bay Sands Resort.  The nice lady at the hostel assured us it was super easy to get there, telling us to cross the street and take bus 133 to the end of the route.  Easy, right?  After what seemed like a very long bus ride, we arrived at the final station but for some reason the gardens and resort were nowhere to be seen.  We asked the people at the info desk how to get to Gardens by the Bay and they pointed us right back to bus 133.  Remembering that the hostel lady said the bus would drop us off right in front of Marina Bay, I asked for walking directions instead of getting back on the bus.  And this guy’s reaction was priceless—a mixture of shock and amusement played on his face as his eyes got huge, insisting that it was much too far of a walk.  Then it hit us.  We got on the bus going the wrong direction.  To make this completely unnecessary trip worth it, we stopped at a Toast Box to get teh terek and kept telling ourselves that we were in fact drinking the best cups of teh in all of Singapore. 

  

Hydrated and clear on directions, we got back on the 133 to travel the 8K back to the hostel then another 7K to Gardens by the Bay.  Consider it an impromptu scenic tour of Singapore.  Over an hour later than planned, we caught sight of the Marina Bay Sands Resort Towers and immediately wished we had the money to stay there and relax at the rooftop pool.  It looked majestic:

We made our way across the street and into the gardens where we explored the outdoor areas until the heat became too much, so we went inside to the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome.  It was all pretty cool and we had a great time!   

We were on our own for lunch, but managed to find some good food even without Ron’s guidance.  It just took us a significantly longer.  Our tickets to Gardens by the Bay included a riverboat tour of the city, so after lunch we headed towards the dock, bubble tea in hand (of course), then realized we were the only ones signed up for the river cruise at that time.  Personal boat ride!  It was great seeing more of the city from the water, especially with the whole boat to ourselves. 

We met up with Ron after the river cruise, grabbed a happy-hour beer, and enjoyed the view of the city from the river’s edge.  It was great relaxation after the day’s events.  That night for dinner, Ron took us to China Town to have some famous frog leg porridge.  I had never had frog legs before, but was excited to try it…and it was so good!  I can’t really describe what it was like without comparing it to chicken, so you will just have to try it for yourself.  We proceeded to explore China Town, do some shopping, and sample some more authentic food.  No complaints there!  We finally realized how exhausted we were, so we went back to the hostel to rest up for the next day’s adventure.

Day 5- June 5^th

Time to border hop!  As if exploring Singapore wasn’t enough, we decided to expand our horizons even further and take a day trip to Johor Bahru, Malaysia.  This was the first time I crossed an international border without flying, and it was quite a different experience.  We hopped on a city bus which took us to the Singapore border where we passed through the first round of customs.  When Chris and I entered Singapore a couple days prior, we were given ID cards to keep with us until we left the country again.  Well, we forgot to bring those cards with us, which actually ended up not being a problem.  But until we were summoned up to the office to get new cards, the customs worker invited us into his desk area to take a seat and wait.  We definitely weren’t in Kansas anymore….that would never happen in the U.S.!

We proceeded to cross the border to Malaysia and it seemed like it raised ten degrees even though we were headed north.  To cool off we stopped to get iced Milo, which is a chocolate milk type drink that is very popular in Southeast Asia as well as Australia.  In Singapore and Malaysia we discovered that people don’t really like to carry their drinks, so whenever you order a beverage it always comes in a little bag.  Well, sometimes they just bypass the cup entirely and give you your drink in a bag.  We thought it was hilarious.

 

Some people in Johor Bahru speak Mandarin and even fewer speak English, so that is when we were lucky to have Ron with us since Mandarin is his native language.  That only got us so far though because many Malays only speak Malaysian.  Go figure.  We were able to get around quite well with the only issues arising when we tried to get taxis.  Halfway through the day we ended up being conned by a cabbie, but luckily Ron befriended some nice Chinese people who offered to drive us to where we needed to go.  So nice!  Where were we headed you ask?  To the spa!  Since the American and Singaporean dollars are so much stronger than the Malaysian ringgit, we decided to treat ourselves to a massage.  A two hour massage plus full body scrub only cost us the equivalent of US$40, plus it included coffee and food.  It was luxurious and completely worth it.  After walking around a bit more with our heads still in massage heaven, we grabbed a seafood dinner, complete with crab, stingray, and oysters.  Yum.  Before returning to Singapore we had to spend the rest of our ringitts, so what better to buy than bubble tea?  Told you I am hooked. 

Johor Bahru was definitely an exotic area to explore, but Chris and I were glad to get back to Singapore where we did not have to keep our guards quite as high and could actually communiate with people.  It was a great experience but crossing the border again kind of felt like going home…sounds tacky, I know, but true.

That night was ladies night, so Ron used his connections to get us free entrance to some clubs in Clark Quay, which is a vibrant area right by the CBD.  We met up with one of his friends and proceeded to check out all that Singaporean night life has to offer.  After some free drinks and lots of dancing at a club called Dream we explored around a bit and even ended up at a Russian bar…who would’ve thought.  It ended up being one of best nights out in Singapore!

Day 6- June 6^th

Once again, we woke up to the breakfast of champions then set off to meet Ron for our last full day in Singapore.  Just as Chris and I finally felt comfortable navigating our way around the MRT train routes, we realized we missed the stop where we were supposed to transfer.  Public transportation got the best of us once again.  Although it was very easy to go back one stop and make the transfer, we were a bit bewildered by the fact that all the locals fall asleep once they board the train and somehow wake up exactly when they need to alight….and here we were perfectly awake and still managed to be distracted and miss the stop. 

We finally met up with Ron, stopped for bubble tea (surprise, surprise), and made our way to the ferry terminal that would take us a few kilometers off the coast of Singapore to the island of Pulau Ubin.  This island is home to an authentic Singaporean village, just like the mainland used to be back in the 1950-60s.  The best way to get around the island is by bike, so our first stop was at a bike rental shop.  We asked the worker which route we should take and instead of pointing us in the right direction he offered to show us around.  Perfect.  We must have seemed quite adventurous, because shortly into the trip he asked if we wanted to do some offroading to a remote place where he goes to collect oysters.  Of course we agreed…we couldn’t pass up that opportunity.  Once we got to the beach, armed with a bucket and crowbar, we began the search for oysters.  After about 45 minutes we had a bucket full of the biggest oysters I have ever seen.  The three of us even got to pry some of them off the rocks. 

As if that experience wasn’t enough, he offered to give us half the oyster collection, promising to shell and clean them and point us to a local café where we could have them cooked.  We were thrilled and coudn’t hide our excitement and appreciation.  He went back to the village with our oyster haul while Ron, Chris, and I continued to bike around the island.  Along the rest of the biking path we came across some monkeys, a wild boar, and heaps of beautiful views.  We finally ended up back at the village center where we were greeted by our friend and a bag of fresh oysters.  He pointed us to the café across the street where we added fresh crab and fried squid to our order and the two cutest little Asian ladies began to cook our meal.  Guys. Words cannot describe how good it was.  It was probably the best meal I have ever eaten in my life because everything was so fresh and well prepared.  Literally, amazing.

After we entered into a food coma second only to Thanksgiving dinner, we boarded the ferry and headed back to the mainland.  By the time we returned it was already after 8pm, so Chris and I decided it was the perfect time to go to the Night Safari.  This is one of the few places in the world where you can see animals at night so we knew we had to check it out.  From the lions to the tigers to hyenas, slow loris, otters, bats, and mousedeer, it was awesome.  I never knew mousedeer existed, but they are so stinkin’ cute.  Picture a deer, but the size of a cat.  And the slow loris with its giant eyes—adorable.  It was dark and we weren’t allowed to take flash photos so I don’t have pictures, but that is where Google comes in handy if you are curious as to what they look like.   Go ahead, take a quick break and check it out.

Since it was our last night in Singapore, we had to go out and celebrate even though it was quite late by the time we got back from the Night Safari.  We heard that the Swiss Hotel near the CBD has a bar on the 74^th floor with amazing views of the city so we decided to start the night there.  We were also informed that it was the best place to get a Singapore Sling, which is basically a coctail invented for tourists.  I’m not sure why it is so popular because very few locals drink it, let alone like the taste.  It is basically only tourists who visit and feel like they need to have one to make their Singapore experience complete.  We fit the bill.  So there we were, sipping our Singapore Sling, taking in breathtaking views of the city.  It was quite amazing.

From there Ron took us to some other bars to continue the festivities and top off the night.  It was a memorable last night in Singapore to say the least!

Day 7- June 7^th

We spent our last hours in Singapore hitting up the final places we hadn’t seen yet, which basically entailed sampling some more food Ron insisted we needed to try, walking around ethnic areas, and doing a bit of shopping.  Top on my list was trying authentic Singaporean ice cream.  I’m not sure what the actual flavor was, but it was served on a piece of sweet bread like a hot dog.  Sounds bizarre, but it was quite good. 

The whole trip we had been looking for durian, which is a fruit native to Southeast Asia.  Unfortunately it wasn’t in season so we hadn’t had much luck.  But as we were making our way back to the hostel to collect our luggage what did we find?  DURIAN.  Now let me give you a bit of a background on durian.  It has a very strong flavor and people pretty much either love it or hate it.  Durian also has a very pungent, lingering smell to the point where it is prohibited to bring it some places, such as the train.  The vendors even gave us plastic gloves so that the smell wouldn’t get on our skin as we ate it.  Sounds pretty intimidating, but we had to try it.  So we bought the durian, threw it in my bag, and continued back to the hostel.  While on the train I commented on how strong the durian smelled…and then we all stared at each other when the realization hit us.  We brought a prohibited item on the train.  Whoops. Luckily we were getting off at that stop, so we sprinted off the train and into open air to eat the durian and air out my bag.  While I am glad I tried it, it is something I would be perfectly content never eating or smelling again.  I can’t compare the taste to anything, but it reminded me of very strong onions.  Well, at least we were able to check that off the list.

You can't really see it very well, but in the bottom right corner it says "No durians" HAH

We quickly grabbed our bags and went to the airport to check in on time.  We spent our last bit of time chatting with Ron before having to say goodbye, which was quite sad.  We lost track of time and finally realized that we had twenty minutes to pass through customs and security before our flight left.  Whoops.  So we were those people, literally sprinting through the terminal to our departure gate which was of course one of the one farthest away. I’m sure we were quite a sight.  We just had to keep things interesting up to the very end.

It was sad to leave Ron and see the amazing week come to an end, which was only made worse by the fact that final exams awaited me back in Brisbane.  Adjusting back to Australian life was quite difficult…I feel like my head is still back in Singapore and I want to cry every time I look in my pantry and see ramen, apples, and peanut butter.  This was definitely an amazing, once in a lifetime experience.  Like I said, it was one of the best trips of my life.  A big thanks goes to Ron, Dion, and Chris for making it all possible!

I can’t believe that I now have less than two weeks in Australia, which will be spent wrapping up uni work and dreading saying goodbye to the amazing friends I have made here.  Time flies while livin’ in a land down under!

Cheers!





Crikey! Australia Zoo, Mate!

As a kid, one of my favorite shows was The Crocodile Hunter.  I loved watching Steve Irwin capture crocs and hunt down deadly snakes.  So one of the things I knew I had to do while in Australia was to visit none other than the Steve Irwin Australian Zoo.  On a whim, my flatmate Brittany and I decided make the trip towards the Sunshine Coast and check it out.  Of course, there were tributes to Steve and his family all over the zoo and more crocs than I have ever seen at one time. It. Was. Awesome. 

What a better way to start the day than feeding some animals?  Unfortunately the staff doesn’t trust Australians, small children, or even the average tourist to feed crocs, so they offered us elephants instead.  Brittany and I jumped in line early to secure our chances of feeding the elephants and planned our photography strategy to get the best action shot.  The feeding staff made it very clear the line had to move quickly or else the elephants would get bored and go find their own food….impatient little guys.  Much to our despair, our first go at the photo shoot was a bit of a fail, but luckily we were able to get back in line to give it another go.  Looking like kids who just got promised another ice cream cone, we ran to the back of the line for take two...and three and four and five.  Success!

 

We continued with photo-ops of all the other animals in the zoo, but none seemed to want to have their picture taken so we ended up with lots of animal butt pictures.  But we managed to work the angles and get some good shots of them.  Later we made our way to the Crocoseum which is exactly what it sounds like…a coliseum/stadium for the croc shows.  We scoped out the perfect seats and watched the trainer do the same type of croc show that Steve Irwin used to perform—crikey!

A trip to the zoo in Australia wouldn’t be complete without getting up close and personal with Aussie wildlife, so we made some more kangaroo and koala friends.  And then found one of the zoo employees doing something we had never seen in any American zoo…she had a wombat on a leash and was taking it for a walk.  Which meant we got to stop for a chat and pet the wombat!

Before we knew it the afternoon was half over, but we still had my favorite animal encounter on the agenda—the tiger show.  The experts had the tigers doing everything from jumping through the air for a slab of meat to feeding them from their bare hands.  Since the tigers have been with their trainers since they were cubs, they have developed such a good relationship that the trainers are able to do these things with them.  They made it very clear that if any of us strangers came into the tiger enclosure it would be the last thrill of our lives because they still have their natural, wild instincts.  The heartbreaking fact is that if nothing changes, these beautiful animals are projected to be extinct within FIFTEEN years.  But the cool thing is that the Australia Zoo is very proactive with saving tigers and raising awareness about this issue.  So if you feel so inclined, do your part and help save the tigers!

The following weekend I made my way to the Gold Coast to visit some friends and check out Blues on Broadbeach, which is a big music festival featuring heaps of blues artists and it took place on Broadbeach, one of the Gold Coast beaches.  Hence the name.  Unfortunately, rain always seems to follow me whenever I go to the Gold Coast.  So Friday we braved the rain, wind, and chilly weather to check out some of the bands.  Eventually we had had enough and decided to call it quits for the day.  Luckily Saturday was much nicer and we were able to enjoy all the festival had to offer.  We found an amazingly talented solo artist whom we could have watched all day.  But eventually we had to tear ourselves from the performance so I could make my way back to Brisbane.  Even though it was too chilly to even think about putting on a swimsuit and going to the beach, Blues was a great success.

The next week was bittersweet—it was the last week of class.  While usually I am jumping for joy as I walk out of my last classes of the semester, it was actually kind of sad this time around knowing I was saying goodbye to some of my Australian friends.  As with every uni semester, the last class is somewhat anticlimactic since there are no end-of-the-year parties thrown by room moms or field day activities like in grade school.  If I didn’t have another adventure to prepare myself for the following week I would have thought that I’d be back at uni after the weekend!

Cheers!

The Ultimate Adventure

For the most part, life in Brisbane has been fairly normal after coming back from Cairns.  If you can even consider life here normal.  The week after returning from Cairns was spent catching up on sleep and uni work.  It was actually very relieving to know that I would be spending the upcoming weekend in Brisbane, especially after all the adventuresome travelling I have been doing.

On Saturday, Jess and I met up with a friend and went to check out the popular West End markets.  West End is an awesome area right across the Brisbane River from where we live and is a hippie/hipster/quirky place full of awesome shops, cafés, and pubs.  At the markets you can find heaps of cheap fruits and veggies, locally made jewelry and accessories, hot food for takeaway, and basically anything else you could ever want.  This weekend I hit the jackpot though.  I had just paid for some bananas (to make my new favorite food that my roommates got me hooked on- grilled peanut butter and naner sammiches) when I turned around and found a long time favorite sitting randomly on the table—chestnuts!  Yep, as in “chestnuts roasting on an open fire.” Never would I have guessed I would find these in Australia.  As I sit and crack them open for post-dinner snacks, none of my roommates think that they are worth the effort…oh well, more for me!

To continue our celebration of a weekend in Brisbane, Jess and I decided to have a roomie fun day and go to the seafood and wine festival on Sunday.  It was great fun!  Caxton Street, a main road near the city, was shut down and lined with booths selling seafood and beverages.  The seafood part of the festival lived up to expectations—I got some prawns and chips that were absolutely delicious (think British…chips are American fries).  As for the wine aspect…let’s just say the Australian love of beer took over.  There were many more types of beer available and only about two tents selling wine.  That combined with the fact that beer was half the price made our beverage choice for the day an easy one.  The icing on the cake was sitting in front of the stage, people watching, and listening to some great Aussie bands.  One of the bands, Taxiride, is even on iTunes.  Check them out, they are pretty solid and some of their songs have already made it onto my iPod’s “Frequently Played” playlist.

Not that Brisbane needs an excuse to have some sort of celebration, but that weekend was also Buddha’s birthday so of course there was a week-long festival.  Sunday night was the last night, so what better way to celebrate than with fireworks!  We decided to festival hop so we made our way down to the Brisbane River to watch the fireworks.  Sitting on the riverbank with a perfect view of the city skyline as fireworks lit up the sky was a great end to our Brisbane weekend.

My task for the upcoming week was to prepare myself for my next adventure and yet another first.  I was actually a bit nervous for this because I didn’t really know what to expect and everyone else I was traveling with had already participated in an adventure of this sort.  Okay, so no pressure for the American traveling with a bunch of Europeans.  This may or may not have been me during the week leading up to this:

I am a notorious overpacker (my dad will more than vouch for that) so I was all over the place trying to pack.  I was convinced that I was shoving all the wrong things in my backpack and would end up being the laughing stock of the trip.  So believe me when I say I was more than relieved when I met up with my friends and realized that I in fact packed the LEAST amount of things.  Yes you heard me right.  Everyone else had more stuff than me.  This might have been a once in a lifetime occurrence and no, that is not the first I am supposed to be telling you about.  But it is monumental nonetheless.

As with most of my other travel, I was up before the sun on Friday to start my adventure.  I must have been running on adrenaline because I didn’t even need an overpriced coffee to be able to interact with people at such an early hour.  Armed with a weekend’s supply of food and water, I met up with my European friends and we made our way to the MICAT ferry that would take us two hours across the bay to our weekend destination.  And what better way to be welcomed onto the ferry than with some rain.  Yes, we are supposed to be in the Sunshine State that boasts 300 days of sunshine each year.  Good joke.  But as we looked back to the mainland we saw this which we hoped would be a token of good luck:

Yep, that's a double rainbow.

Before we knew it the ferry made it across Moreton Bay and landed on none other than Moreton Island.  And when I say landed, I literally mean we hit land.  The giant ferry drove straight up onto the beach with only a little sign stuck in sand to mark the fact that this was the ferry landing site.   

I wish I could tell you that warm air and sunshine greeted us on the world’s third largest sand island.  Well I could, but it would be a lie and I am not one to lie.  But we did not let the rain stop us and we proceeded to trek through the sand with all our supplies until we came to the place we would call home for the next three days.  Luckily the rain stopped and the sun came out and we were able to create this:

Yep, we were camping!  Bring it on Mother Nature!

That was probably not the best thing to say because Mother Nature really did bring it.  Between rain, wind, and mosquitoes who I swear hadn’t eaten in weeks, it made for an…umm…interesting first camping experience for me.  In all seriousness I really did have an awesome time and this all made for some great stories and solid blog material.  You all are the lucky ones who get to reap the benefits, congratulations.

Okay, so a little bit about Moreton Island.  As I mentioned, it is the third largest sand island in the world.  Pretty cool!  One of the most iconic features of Moreton is The Wrecks.  Fifteen ships were deliberately sunk off the coast of the island in order to create a breakwall for smaller ships.  Our campsite was a two minute walk from The Wrecks, so this was our view for breakfast every morning:

No complaints there!  The first day we spent swimming around The Wrecks and playing beach volleyball since the rain managed to stay away.  Then that night was the night that forever changed my life.  For those of you who don’t know me, I absolutely love dolphins.  Freakishly so.  So when I found out that I could feed wild dolphins while at Moreton Island I made it my mission to do so.  And guess what.  That mission was a big, giant success!  After watching one of the most beautiful sunsets, I made my way to the dock at the nearby Tangalooma Resort that sponsors the dolphin feeding.  Before I knew it, there were at least ten dolphins swimming right up to the shore.  Guys, words cannot even describe my happiness and pure joy at this moment.  I even teared up a little.  No shame, I’ll admit it.  In complete awe, I sat and watched the dolphins swim around and play with each other.  The awesome thing is that these were all wild dolphins, so everything they were doing was completely natural; they had not been taught tricks or anything.  These feedings have been going on for quite some time, so the dolphins know to come to the shore because they will be fed.  What a wonderful motivation food is!

Finally it was time. Time for my wildest dreams to come true.  Hardly able to contain myself, I went down to the beach, picked up a little dead fish with its beady eyes staring at me, and made my way into the water with the resort’s dolphin expert.  I could barely believe this was real life as a huge dolphin swam up to me and took the fish right out of my hand.  Pure joy.  After I exited the water from feeding #1, the joy must have been apparent on my face because the lady in charge told me to get in line again to give it another go.  Of course I ran back to the water and got to do it all again!  Unfortunately I don’t have pictures of me feeding the dolphins, but this is probably what my face looked like:

Yes, I love Despicable Me.... 

Saturday we decided to take on the task of hiking across the island to the Eastern Beach.  It drizzled on and off all morning, but we finally got tired of waiting around and had no desire to sit in the damp, steamy tents all day, so we decided to begin the hike and deal with whatever Mother Nature threw at us.  For the first hour we walked through a pretty assertive rainfall.  Finally we could catch glimpses of blue skies and heard the sound of ocean waves crashing on the Eastern Beach.  We were so close!  By the time we got to the beach it was pretty overcast, windy, and cold, but I can imagine the coastline would be even more beautiful on a bright sunny day.  We ate lunch (which for me consisted of a peanut butter sandwich…just like every breakfast, lunch, and dinner that weekend) and turned around to hike back to our Western Beach.  When it was all said and done, the hike took about four hours and we covered 18 kilometers of sandy paths.  We were pretty impressed with ourselves to say the least.

We made it to the Eastern Beach!

Mother Nature was significantly nicer to us on Sunday.  There were a few showers in the morning, but the afternoon was bright, warm, and sunny and made for the perfect day to lay out on the beach.  By this point in the weekend I was perfectly content to lay in the sand, listen to the waves crash on the shore, and just relax.  I’m pretty sure I dozed off for a while because at one point in the afternoon I swore I had actually taken a real shower.  Nope, that was definitely a dream.  Before we knew it, it was time to pack up the tents, board the MICAT ferry, and head back to Brisbane.  Once I made it back to my apartment I sprinted for the shower and let me tell you, it was one of the hottest and best showers ever. 

Now, after reading all of this you may be wondering what I actually thought about my first ever camping experience.  This is what my European friends were asking me all weekend.  I actually did have a wonderful time and would definitely camp again!  Maybe with warmer temperatures, less rain, and less bloodthirsty mosquitoes though, but hey, a girl can only ask for so much.  This ultimate camping adventure would not have been nearly as great if it wasn’t for the company, so here’s a shout out to all my friends who were there!  You all are great!

Moral of the story: a rainy camping experience gives you a newfound appreciation for your warm, cozy bed.

Cheers!