How are you liking the Gold Coast theme of my blog! It's beautiful! ♥

Anyway...

During my final few weeks in Australia I did a lot of reminiscing. I went back to Brisbane, shopped, went to South bank, saw a movie, hung out at UQ with Erica. It was wonderful.

I also spent a lot of time trying to get my remaining memories of Gold Coast in. Jessica, Anja, Melissa & I went to the Q1 tower. What an experience! It's the tallest tower in the southern hemisphere and it is right up against the beach. I got tons of great pictures! After we went up in the tower we bought some strawberries and ate them on the beach in celebration of Midsummers, a Swedish holiday! From there we took tons of crazy pictures and just spent the night enjoying each other's company!

We also went out to dinner and to a short film festival in Surfers (at the Towers at Cavill). This was in celebration of Melissa's birthday. It was tons of fun. We went to Outback Jack's for dinner and then to the film festival. It was freezing by Australia standards (which by then had become my standards as well). We had a great time overall! :)

Finally came the day that Hailey & I were leaving. We stayed up all night so we could sleep on the flight and finally hauled all of our bags onto the train. It was my last train ride in Queensland! :( We got through security and said our goodbyes to this amazing country. I think I'm more emotional now, almost a year later, than I was then.

Here are some things that I don't really remember when they happened that I also don't think I wrote about in the blog!

During the semester we had a family dinner at Alex's house... German style! The boys made us kasespätzle, and TONS of it. It was pretty awesome!

We also had a Eurovision party. That was fantastic. So much food and so much fun- I'm now addicted to Eurovision and can't wait for it again this year!

One night Hailey, Jessica & I had a crazy and hilarious photoshoot in our apartment. It was great! :)

And also we went to the last party at the UniBar... The hookers & deviants party. It was rather interesting to say the least.

Well, here's to Australia, the most amazing, sunburnt country I've ever been to and will ever be. I miss you so much, Aus, and I can't wait to come back one day. Who knows? Maybe I'll buy a one-way ticket.

♥ cb

So today, we left for Christchurch, New Zealand from the Brisbane International airport. It was Hailey, Erica and me. The flight went well, although it was long, and we got into Christchurch around 11PM local time.

The airport shuttle dropped us off at our hostel,

the Thomas Hotel. Let me just say, nice place. If you're in Christchurch and need an inexpensive place to stay check out the Thomas Hotel. Seriously. We were so excited to be in New Zealand that we dropped our things off in our room, checked out the amenities quickly and were ready to go out on the town! Our hostel was about a 5-10 minute walk away from Cathedral Square, the main square in Christchurch. We found ourselves a 24-hour McDonald's and sat in the square, watching drunks go by. It was a lot of fun, believe it or not.

Today we got up semi-early and decided to check out Christchurch in the daylight. We walked to Cathedral Square again and went into the Cathedral. It was gorgeous! I took tons of pictures, because I really have a thing for the architecture in churches.

After we toured the Cathedral, we went to Southern Exposure (if that's what it was called) where we saw a bunch of awesome fish and we saw kiwis! And when I say kiwis, I don't mean the fruit or New Zealanders (but we did see New Zealanders too). Kiwis are flightless birds native to New Zealand. They're really cute. They're nocturnal and have really thick, tiny feathers covering their body. It almost looks like fur. Sadly, we weren't allowed to take pictures, but it was pretty great!

After the little aquarium, we went to COCA, which is a contemporary art gallery. Not worth it. If you walk up the street about 3 minutes you'll get to the Christchurch Art Gallery. That was worth it, as well as free. It was mostly modern art, but they had a blue exhibit that was semi-interactive. It was pretty sweet. From the art gallery, we walked to the botanic gardens. They were so gorgeous! It was such a nice place to just walk around and relax. The Avon River goes right through the botanic gardens, and it was just so peaceful! It was positively fantastic!

Today is the day. The day of the Lord of the Rings tour to Edoras! I was beyond excited, but incredibly tired as well (we had to get up early in order to be ready

for our pick-up!). Erica & I hopped on this insane looking vehicle and we were off! There was a lovely older couple from Rochester, New York there who had just come from their daughter's wedding in Sydney. The trip out to Edoras* was great! Such lovely scenery. We went over a river that has the bluest water! It's from a glacier that is melting and the silica stays in the water, making it incredibly blue. It was awesome!

Although the weather was rainy and all around kind of yucky, it was such a great trip. We learned about Lord of the Rings, saw amazing scenery, and got to see Edoras! Our tour guide actually worked on Lord of the Rings and many other Peter Jackson films, including King Kong and The Lovely Bones as on-site sound production. He was incredibly nice and very funny. He's won two Oscars, one for LOTR: Return of the King and another for King Kong.

Edoras itself was gorgeous! It's not actually called Edoras, but the city was placed on top of Mt. Sunday. The views were amazing, and would have been even better on a clear day! We also got to play with re-produced props from the movies, like swords and such. It was so cool!

After the tour, the three of us went to an improv-comedy show called Scared Scriptless. It was great!

Our last full day in Christchurch. We walked around the city quite a bit and enjoyed the markets across from our hostel. A nutella crepe is a perfect way to start your day, incase you weren't aware.

Today we shopped around and got our necessary souvenirs. We tried to meet up with some fellow Arcadians, but it didn't work out as planned. The last day in Christchurch ended up being a great one though!

ANZAC day is like Veteran's day for Australians/New Zealanders. Although New Zealand didn't have many festivities today in particular, they had for most of the weekend.

Today we left. It was sad, because I knew that upon returning to Australia I would miss the autumn weather that I had become so accustomed to. You have to understand that Queensland is so far north we don't have many seasons... Mostly just Summer and Winter (a winter that feels like summer). It was sad to go back, but good to see my friends again!

♥ caitlin

*Edoras is the city in LOTR: Two Towers on top of the mountain.

I got to the airport, through security (which is significantly more lax here), and to my gate. Now came the hard part: staying awake long enough to board the plane. Finally my 9:05 flight started boarding and I was up and in line as soon as possible. I managed to snag an aisle seat, plugged in my headphones and promptly fell asleep.

Approximately an hour and ten minutes later (it was sooner than that) my Virgin Blue flight landed in Sydney. Ah, Sydney. Even though every time I'm there I'm sick, I still love this city. I met my parents at baggage claim and we got a cab to our hotel. Our hotel was literally a block away from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and about a 10 minute walk from the Sydney Opera House. Maybe that explains my plethora of Sydney Harbour Bridge & Opera House pictures? Nah. It was such a fantastic location; I loved it!

So today was about exploring The Rocks & Central Quay and keeping my parents awake until at least 8:30 PM. We enjoyed a nice walk up George Street and over to Central Quay where we encountered about 10,000 street performers (most of whom had a didgeridoo in hand). We then walked from Central Quay to the Opera House. It was a beautiful day and we took a million and a half pictures. Approximately. I saw some Asians taking a picture at the Opera House with a "do not climb on inclined wall" sign... Oh the memories they will have. We grabbed lunch at the Orient Hotel, where my parents first encountered how truly expensive Australia is. It was delicious; who doesn't love chorizo salad? No one? That's what I thought. After our lunch, I was on a Zicam hunt because I could feel a slight tickling in my throat (and by tickling I mean burning sensation), only to find that Australia doesn't have Zicam. Lame. I also bought a $50 Sydney shirt for $10 today. And ate dinner at a noodle place called Wok on Inn.

Let the exploration of the Royal Botanic Gardens begin! These gardens were fantastic! They not only offered fabulous views of the Harbour, but were enjoyable and educational-ish as well! Perfection! We saw enormous fruit bats today (my parents first encounter with them), and saw some sweet herbs and stuff.

As we were leaving the RGB we stopped by the Governor's House to check it out, and managed to get 3 of the last 6 tickets for the last tour of the day! They only do tours on weekends, and this is the first weekend they've been done in a while since the house is still in use today. Every governor of New South Wales has lived there, except the two most recent ones. Governors are appointed to more or less represent the Queen of England or something. I don't really remember. Either way, the house was really cool. There was this lady, who I assume was British, constantly asking questions about the Royal Family (who has visited on many occasions); her daughter pulled her aside and said, "Stop asking questions about the Royal Family, it's pathetic." It was hilarious.

Tonight, we went to the Opera House to see some Beethoven thing with the Sydney Philharmonic. Well, part one was hardly Beethoven. It was depressing. Part two, however was J.S. Bach, Mozart and finally Beethoven. It was fantastic! It made me miss concert band so much.

Easter! Ironically, more places were open on Easter than were on Good Friday. Today we went to Darling Harbour. And the Paddy Markets. Darling was okay. It was less than I had expected. Paddy was also less than I had expected. We just kind of walked around the markets a little bit, and then headed back to Darling. We stopped at the Chinese Garden, which was absolutely beautiful. If you're going to go to Darling Harbour, go to the Chinese Garden. It's great. As we were walking through Darling to go back to George Street, an older Scottish woman approached us and offered us three tickets to a lunch cruise of the Harbour. It was fate! I guess. It was a lot of fun just getting to see a lot of the Harbour and eating too. When we got back to Darling, we walked back to George Street and ate some decadent deserts at Guylian's, a Belgian chocolate place. It was a good Easter.

Today was my sick day. We were going to go to Bondi, but I was exhausted and my sickness has reached it's height unfortunately. I spent a good portion of the day in bed, but when I wasn't in bed we walked around the markets at George Street and ate lunch at the Löwenbrau. Käsespätzle is delicious!

Today the Cairns adventure began. It was about a 3 hour flight up to Cairns from Sydney, most of which I slept through. We got to our hotel and got all this super nice treatment because my dad is a member or something. We went to the lounge thing and had a pre-dinner snack, which was basically our dinner. We then went and explored the esplanade. Cairns is much less of a city than I recall it being. We went to Nando's and my mom and I split peri-peri fries (the fried-food love of my life). We then went back to our hotel and settled in for the night.

We decided today would be a more relaxed day. We got some breakfast and went to explore the "city" a bit. We shopped around and got some really delicious lunch. Later on, my dad and I went to the pool and swam around for a bit. It was good fun. Sometime between Tuesday and Wednesday I made $10 profit at the casino.

I think today was the day we went to the Great Barrier Reef. We got up early and hopped on a boat and prepared to be amazed. GBR is pretty freaking sweet, I won't lie. We went on a semi-submersible first and took some pictures. Then my dad and I went snorkeling over the coral. Coral is terrifying. So are fish. And the ocean. Basically, I was terrified the whole time. There was this fish who is Reef Magic's (the pontoon thing) "puppy-fish" named Wally. My first glimpse of him? Teeth. I was scared. My dad tried to get me to pet it, but I wouldn't.

I met up with Erica tonight, and my parents took us out to dinner. Then the two of us went out and walked around Cairns and ate sorbet. It was good times.

Today we hopped on a bus to Port Douglas. The drive was beautiful, as was Port Douglas. I loved every minute of it there. My dad and I went for a swim in the netted part of the beach, and then we got some lunch. I found the church I plan on being married in: St. Mary's by the Sea. It's small and gorgeous and perfect.

Anyway... We walked all around town and it was super hot, but the weather was beautiful! We sat at the marina for a bit before we had to catch the bus back to Cairns.

Today we flew from Cairns to Brisbane and took the train to Gold Coast. We got my parents situated in their hotel, and then I showed them around a bit. We ate dinner in Surfers, and then parted ways.

I woke up today, and hopped on the bus (at the new bus stop). I got over to Pacific Fair and walked to my parent's hotel. From there we went to McDonald's for breakfast and free Wifi. From there we went to Brisbane for the day. We went around the markets at South Bank and enjoyed the sunshine. We then went to Queen Street, looked at a discount book store and ate at Pancake Manor. Oh, the good times. We stuck around South Bank a little longer, and then hopped the train back to Gold Coast.

Classes began today. I showed my parents Griffith University Gold Coast campus (you know, my school). Then we went to Australia Fair for lunch where they got kebabs and I got sushi. Then we did laundry, and later parted ways as I had class. Tomorrow, I am going to meet up with them for dinner and say my goodbyes until June rolls around.

♥ caitlin

Wrong.

Anyway. Last weekend I went up to Brisbane to spend to weekend with Erica, a friend of mine (and roommate-to-be) who goes to University

of Queensland. So I took the bus from Griffith to Helensvale (20 minutes, maybe) and from there I caught the VLAX (Varsity Lakes Airport Express?) to South Bank. There was a slight miscommunication and Erica went to South Brisbane train station (which is literally a 10 minute walk away from South Bank train station) instead, but we eventually found each other (she found me). We then went to South Bank, Australia's only man-made beach in the middle of a city. It's a really nice more or less huge chlorinated pool with sand and fake rocks and tons of ibises. I hate ibises. After spend a few hours wandering the weekend markets and enjoying a nice swim we walked across the bridge over (what is assume is) the Brisbane River to Queen Street. This is a well-known pedestrian street that is absolutely consumed with stores and arcades (shopping centers). Also on Queen Street in Brisbane Square is the Treasury Casino, a really sweet looking casino that I plan on going to at some point.

Oh, we also got lunch before

we went to Queen Street. I hate some delicious Hawaiian pizza and garlic bread and then afterwards we got some New Zealand Naturals ice cream. Spotty dog is delicious!

Anyway, so after a little shopping on Queen Street (a little shopping means 10 post cards, just so you know) we took the City Cat, a fantastic ferry that goes up and down the Brisbane River, to UQ. She showed me around campus, we saw eels and turtles and old-looking buildings. UQ is substantially larger than Griffith. Griffith is about the size of Arcadia's campus, but it's COVERED in academic buildings. UQ is way bigger. We walked across campus to her college (housing). From there we got showers, got ready and made our way to the bus stop at the Vil. We took the bus into the city and went Pancake Manor for dinner.

We met up with so

me of her friends, Jen & Shelby (American) and Emma/Emily (I can't remember) & Carrie

(Australian) and ended up having to wait for a table. The hostess said only 25 minutes, which turned into an hour, and we eventually just squeezed six people into a four-person booth. The food was delicious. I got nachos (?).

We then went back to UQ and Erica, Jen & I watched Step Brothers, the movie Erica and I have been quoti

ng for the last week or so. After Step Brothers, we promptly fell asleep.

The next day, we got up late (10 am!) and got ready to hit up GOMA, Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art. It was fantastic! We got to put stickers on Buddha and walk through a string room! We also saw a bunch of hats and tried to make planes out of ... Trash.

After the museums we walked around South Bank and Queen Street a little bit. Eventually we got some dinner and made our way back to South Brisbane train station (I left from here this time). I then shared a train car with about 6 very drunk Australians, which was obviously incredibly fun.

Not. I like Australians, just not when they're drunk.

As of tomorrow, I am catching a really early bus (5:48 am) to the airport and flying down to Sydney to meet up with my parents! Woo! But that entire Easter Break trip will be a separate (or a few separate) entries. :)

Have a great Easter, everyone!

♥ caitlin

Hailey & I left Griffith at 7:42AM in order to get to Robina Train Station and be picked up by Mazz & Cat (Program Coordinators for QLD). Well, the bus ride was an adventure- there was one bus transfer, and we saw a totally different side of the Gold Coast. And Bond University too. We met up with a bunch of Arcadians at the train station, and waited patiently for the bus to arrive. It was a little late, but soon enough we were on our way! There were 24 of us, I believe, and the trip took about an hour and a half. Most everyone slept the whole way, which is understandable, it was pretty early.

Part of the trip included Mazz winding the bus up this terrifying, mostly one-lane mountain to O'Reilly's, our starting point.

Food for lunch was separated and put into peoples' bookbags, and soon enough we were applying bug spray to our ankles so that we wouldn't get leeches. Yes, leeches. Glorious. We started walking down this incredibly muddy (mind you, it was a rainy day) hillside. Erica only fell four times, and Devon only face-planted. We saw a BLUE crawfish. BLUE. It was super cool. Too bad I couldn't get a picture of it. Apparently they hiss at you too. We also saw a bunch of colorful birds, and a bunch of tiny leeches. One such tiny leech decided to attach itself to my leg, and while I screamed and panicked and could hardly keep still, Devon saved my life by pulling that little bugger off. I was/am traumatized.

Sooner or later we got to a point near a creek where we put together our lunch: chopped veggies, chicken, ham, tortillas, and condiments. It was quite delicious.

Now it was time to hike back UP the hillside. Keep in mind, this was a BIG hillside. And a muddy and slippery one, at that. We really sped up it, because we were running a little late and didn't want to cut anything out of the program. Basically, I now have buns of steel. Just letting you know. After we got back up the hill we did a tree-top bridge walk thing. It was fantastic. It wasn't as high as I thought it was going to be, which is good for someone such as myself. After the tree-top walk we saw some wallabies (adorable!) and got back on the bus.

Next stop? O'Reilly's winery. We got to taste 5 wines for only $3, so it was a fairly good deal. I did it. And I didn't really like it. After the wine tasting I went down by the creek, and checked my feet for leeches (more like, I took my shoes & socks off and Devon checked my feet because I was too scared).

After the winery we drove back to Robina, and saw some kangaroos on the way. Hailey and I dropped by Nando's after we got back, then walked around Surfer's all kinds of muddy and sweaty and smelly for a while, we mostly watched a rugby game at Circle on Cavill. Good times.

That's it for now. The next adventure is looking to be next weekend in Brissie with Erica!

♥ caitlin

Oh the beauty!

North Stradbroke Island, the second largest sand island in the world. "Sand island?"you ask. Yes, sand island. Island made entirely of sand. And it was big. It's sister island is Moreton Island, just off of Moreton Bay (who would have thought?!) where I was last time I was in Australia.

I just realized, I have sandboarded on the largest

and second largest sand islands in the world.

Back to reality. So, we hopped the ferry, with our sweet busses, over to Straddie. The way over was a battle against the wind; there were times I thought I would fly off the top deck, but alas this did not happen. We got to Straddie just in time for a beautiful sunset at Amity Point (don't snorkel there... I will e

laborate later). After the fantastic sunset we went to Seashells, a wonderful restaurant run by a wonderful man willing to cater to 65 college students. After we ate dinner, we celebrated Cat's birthday (Woo!) with the most delicious cake. Then we sat with Shane Coghill, a local Aboriginal man who experienced a lot of crazy things in his life. He told us about the lifestyle of the Aborigines on Stradbroke Island, and of his childhood and the stolen generation. It was all incredibly interesting. The Aborigines are very spiritually connected to the land and the animals, and the stories he told were unreal.

After listening to Shane, we got back on the bus, and went to our accommodation, a sweet apartment style resort, and there were 12 people in our apartment. Well, I think ours had 13. I met a bunch of new people from the program, so it was really sweet.

Today we went snorkeling and kayaking and boomerang painting and throwing. We went to snorkel first, it was a good time, even if the water was murky (and I could hardly see my fluorescent fins). Erica and I ended up just hanging out in the shallow water talking. After snorkeling began mine and Erica's kayaking failure. We went out second place, and ended up last place. We turned around to go back before the rest of the group, and they still managed to catch up to us.

After kayaking and a quick snack we went to go paint our very own boomerangs. It was so much fun. Since I have no artistic talent whatsoever, I ended up just putting dots all over my boomerang to make it look semi aboriginal. It kind of worked. Sadly, it didn't dry in time for me to learn how to throw it (although, I already know how, I just can't actually do it properly). While we were painting Shane's nephew, Brendan told us how a few years ago, at Amity point a tourist was snorkeling, and ATTACKED by a SCHOOL of BULL SHARKS! Yes, that IS where we were snorkeling, in murky water, where bull sharks love to hide and maul you.

Boomeranging was over, so now it was lunch time! After lunch we went on a coastal hike on the other side of the island. It was so beautiful!

Most of my pictures on Facebook are from the hike. I've never seen such a gorgeous and wild coast. After our little hike, we went for gelato. It was so delicious. So de

licious. (I haven't had gelato in ages.)

When we got back to the hotel from the hike Erica and I got the makings for ANZAC biscuits from Mazz. ANZACs are delicious! That night, we also went to the beach twice, and discovered the true wonders of North Stradbroke Island: glowing sand. Yes, you read right, glowing freaking sand! It was easily the highlight of my night.

We had to be on the bust by 6:45AM today in order to eat delicious pancakes, surf, and sandboard before we had to catch the ferry back. Well, as you can see, the pancakes were delicious- I mean who doesn't love pancakes on the beach? No one, that's who. The water was really rough today, so I didn't end up surfing (by personal choice... that and I'm terrified of drowning) (and sharks). Instead, I sat up on the rocks and enjoyed the gorgeous view! Sandboarding was next, and boy was it an adventure. I tried it all three ways: on your stomach, on your butt, and on your feet. The first two worked. The third didn't. I crashed hardcore,

and got whiplash. Although, I feel it's a great reason to get whiplash.

It was now time to clean the apartment, which happened quite quickly and without complaining! After cleaning up, we went to Brown Lake, a rain-water lake in the middle of the island infused with tea-tree oil. It supposedly has healing powers, and it makes your skin super soft!

After Brown Lake, we had to go back. It was so disappointing, as I'd made new friends and gotten closer to already-friends. I didn't feel like going back to Griffith, but alas, I had to.

Tomorrow, I am going to Lamington National Park, a rainforest. I'll be sure to tell you all about it... Approximately a week from now.

♥ caitlin