I experienced a lot for the first time this week. I was able to find my way running from my apartment to main beach, which is something I have wanted to do for weeks now. It was about 4 1/2 miles each way and most of the run was down Gold Coast Highway which has awesome views of a marina. My next run I made it further and found that there is a path that runs parallel to the ocean!
On Tuesday I had my first Aussie Kebab which was amazing! It's not like a kebab on a stick but more of a burrito type thing wrapped in a tortilla. I got a chicken one with garlic and barbacue sauce and it was delicious. It's the "late night" food everyone eats after leaving the clubs. They have little stands on the streets.
I booked my first weekend trip to Melbourne this week. I will be going from Thursday March 24 until sunday March 27th. There is a group of us going so it should be heaps of fun. We are going to try to do a day trip to Victoria which is where the Great Open Road and 12 Apostiles is. It's supposed to be an awesome trip so hopefully it will work out.
I'm sure you have all heard about the Tsunami that hit Japan yesterday. At first we were alerted that there was a Tsumani warning for us but it was later lifted and there is no longer an talk about us being affected at all. It is crazy that all these natural disasters keep occuring in the Pacific Southwest!
Last night, the UNIBAR (the bar at the university) had a "white" party which a bunch of us went to. I didn't stay too late since I had to get up at the crack of dawn for my trip to Moreton Island.
Today we had a day trip to Moreton Island, which is an island located off of Brisbane. We met up with our program at 6am and had an hour bus ride to Brisbane. In Brisbane, we got on a ferry that took us to Moreton Island. Moreton island is a large sand island that is made up of 95% national park. As soon as we arrived we took a 4WD tour on sand roads through forest until we reached one of the coolest sigthts I've ever seen! (See below) We spent a couple hours sand boarding. A sand board resembles a snow board but is waist high and you go down on your stomach. It was awesome!
Video of me sandboarding
After that we trecked back to the beach where we ate lunch and swam around the shipwreck which occured during a cyclone. After that, we snorkeled around the shipwreck and saw some awesome fish and came pretty close to a wobbegong shark (Not dangerous unless it feels threatened!!)
Here is what a Wobbegong shark looks like- not a picture I took unfortuntely
Ship wrecks
Someone found a star fish
That's the boat we took across to Moreton Island
This is where we sandboarded
It is harder than it looks trecking up a hill of sand..
Here was our 4WD that we took
I have never seen anything like this before
Keen- up for; like are you keen to go out
Heaps- a lot; there are heaps of people at the beach
How are you going?- How are you doing?
S instead of Z- Aussies spell recognize recognise, apologize apologise
Rubbish bin-garbage can
Winge- to complain
Petrol-gas
Here are some facts about Australia I found interesting:
Cars don't stop for pedestrians unless it is at a designated cross walk. If I am running on a sidewalk and there is a car that is about to turn, I'm expected to stop and wait not the other way around
The education system for Australian students is awesome. Students who are living away from home receive $1000 a month for living expenses, Fees are maybe 5-10 thousand a year for tuition, but they can take out loans which they don't have to start paying off until they have a full time job usually pertaining to their area of study.
Australia has started to borrow 100 million dollars from China everyday to keep their economy stable
All beaches in Australia are public- There are no "private beaches owned by resorts or anything like that here
Hope everyone is doing well and having a great weekend!
Bryan
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