Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

Yesterday Mel and I went to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary with our friend Eddie. The actual sanctuary (previously known as the bird sanctuary) is home to many animals native to Australia including kangaroos, koalas, wombats, Tasmanian devils, crocodiles, snakes, many different birds etc.

We went to a few different shows, my favourite was the free-flight bird show. They had all of these amazing birds which flew directly over you.... a little scary with the falcon and eagle, but definitely a sight to see! Some of the other ones we went to were about snakes, koalas and wombats, and one with a 1tonne croc that ate a whole chicken and a kangaroo tail right in front of us.

My favourite experience of the day was visiting the kangaroos. Up until this point I had only seen wild kangaroos from a distance, so it was great to go up to interact and feed them so close. The area was like a large park and the kangaroos were just everywhere. There were mothers with joey's still in their pouches...that was really neat because it looked so weird seeing a tail and feet coming up out of the pouch. They were very tame...they ate food out of the palm of our hands. Apparently, they're not so tame in the wild, we were told that they can actually become quite vicious and they have very powerful tails.

After the kangaroos, Mel and I did the 'Extreme Green Challenge' which is like a canopy rope course above the sanctuary. It was probably one of the freakiest things I've done. We were literally on top of the trees, walking between them with just a rope beneath our feet and one to hold onto. Of course we were attached with a harness, so it was safe, but looking down from that height is a bit creepy. The course ended with a 150m flying fox (which is just when you attach a pulley to a long rope and glide through the air) which went over the crocodiles and other exhibits in the park. The whole course was supposed to take about 30-40 minutes to complete....it took Mel and I over an hour! I guess we're not as sporty as we thought... there were quite a few freak out moments.

We left the sanctuary and ended our day with dinner and drinks at a surf club overlooking the water. It was so beautiful; having the water right in front of me reminded me of dining on a cruise ship...same magnificent views.

Just an Update

So I've been receiving a lot of emails lately saying that I haven't updated my blog in a while.... to be honest, not that much is happening. Mel and I have gotten very comfortable in our little town here. The weather for the most part is very hot (but when I hear about what you guys have back home, I don't feel too sorry for myself!).

Mel and I have become very close to our travel agent lately. We've finally finished planning all of our trips and solving all of the little glitches in between. We now have our agenda fully planned until we fly back home in May.

I've also been in contact with my good friend Sarah Scott. I grew up with her (and her sisters), and used to work with her at TD, then last year she moved to Melbourne, Australia for a teaching job. We've been chatting, and decided to get together. So two nights ago, I bought my plane tickets and I'm flying down to live with her from March 16-25th. I'm really excited to see her again.... I'm sure her familiar face will give me some of the comfort of home that I've been missing. There are also a bunch of places in Melbourne that I'd love to see, so I'm really happy to go for a visit.

Once I fly back from Melbourne, I have about another week on the Gold Coast and then Mel and I take a flight up to Cairns for five days. We booked a Contiki tour here and it goes to Port Douglas, Kuranda, Mossman Gorge and Cape Tribulation. The tour is only 3 days, and in that time we go to some different national parks and see cultural Aboriginal centres etc. There's also the opportunity to go zip lining through the rain forest in Cape Tribulation. That's definitely something i want to do!

We'll stay another two days in Cairns and do our own thing...one thing we really want to do is a snorkeling day tour on the Great Barrier Reef. Apparently, it's supposed to be one of the most magical places in Australia, and the snorkeling is supposed to be fabulous! The only bad thing I've heard is that it's jelly fish season now, but all of the tours provide you with wet suits that are supposed to prevent any chance of getting stung....I'm sure it'll be worth it!

From Cairns we fly to New Zealand, where we're doing another Contiki tour. This one is for 13 days and we're travelling around both the north and south islands. It'll be a big climate change from hot Australia, but it's supposed to be soooo beautiful there. We're hoping to do some white water rafting, glacier hiking, black water rafting in the caves and glowworm cave guided tours and some winery tours.

Once the tour ends, we stay in NZ for a couple days and then fly back to Sydney for our last week. My dad found a really great deal for a resort and spa in Bondi beach, so we're staying there for four nights and then we're spending our last couple of nights in Sydney. On May 2nd we catch our flight back to Canada.

It's crazy to see it all laid out in an itinerary...it feels like my time here is just flying by. I'm really excited for the pace to pick up and to start experiencing all of these exciting new places!

Trip to Mt. Tamborine

Today Julie, Mel and I went inland to Mt. Tamborine. It was about a 40 minute drive away, but the scenery looked so different. The drive was incredibly hilly and winding (a little bit nauseating) but it was good to see some sights from inland. We spent most of our time driving throughout the mountain and stopping at different lookout points.

We went to the main strip in the mountain and there were all sorts of different cafes and shops. It reminded me of a mix between Stratford and St. Jacobs back home. We had a lovely coffee break and then went and did some touristy shopping etc. Mel and I came across a little German shop that was full of Cookoo clocks and different german products....many of which we recognized from home.

The weather changed dramatically fast while we were up there. In the course of 20mins it went from sunny, to cloudy, to pouring rain, back to sunny again. The locals all say that this is normal... i thought it was a bit crazy.

We're planning on going back to the mountain in a couple weeks when we can spend a whole day there. There's a beautiful walk that goes to a waterfall that we want to do. Also there's some caves that boast about the glow worms (i'll get back to you on that one, because i don't really know what all the fuss is about...worms???). And there's a bunch of different wineries that offer tours, which might be interesting to do.

Apart from that, life has been pretty typical lately. There's a pool where I'm living which I make good use of, and also some tennis courts. Surfers paradise is about an hour walk away, but Mel and I go down there every couple days. We just make sure that we're not walking there in the heat of the day because it gets unbearably hot here!!! (quite the opposite of how I hear it is back home!)

We've been spending some time looking into some NZ tours the last few days. I'm hoping that we can decide on one...there's so many options and they all look great!

Adjusting to Life at Home

Over the last week, Mel and I have noticed that our daily routine has been significantly toned down in comparison to our first two weeks in Australia. Now that we have a home and that we have unpacked and settled, most of our days have been spent getting used to the area and all that it has to offer. We now have discovered our own local shops etc to buy our groceries, we know our butcher, we check in at the local bookstore daily (Mel is itching to get the second book in the Twilight series), and we are trying to get more comfortable with the somewhat disappointing bus system in town.

On Thursday, Julie (the woman we live with) and I went into Broadbeach together to have a shopping day. It was great; we really had a chance to bond and get to know eachother. Julie is in her early 50s and is a grandmother to two beautiful babies, and she has such a zest for life! She's hilarious to be around and is usually the one who has the most outrageous comments and stories.

While shopping, I found a new dress (Amy, you'll absolutely love it, so we can share when I get back) and some new shoes. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that clothes and shoes here are significantly more inexpensive than at home. I've been thinking lately that I may need to purchase another bag or suitcase because there's so many dresses and shoes that I'm seeing that'll look great in my closet at home.....

Later on Thursday evening, Mel, Julie and I went into Surfers Paradise and sat in a pub outside for a drink. Mel and I later walked along the strip and did a little more shopping.... the fashion here is a bit different from home. Everyone is a little more dressy; females especially all wear sundresses, and they're so cute! So, they're in every shop and when they're so inexpensive, how can you say no?!?

Friday was the night Mel and I decided to go out on the town. After almost three weeks here, we still hadn't treated ourselves to an official girls night out.

Julie was nice enough to drop us off into surfers and we started our evening by strolling along the beach (sporting our new australian threads). On friday evenings, there's apparently always a market on the beach, so we decided to check that out. They were selling really neat stuff (but nothing you'd take home) mainly crafts and nick-nacks that have no real usage except for collecting dust. We looked at that stuff for a bit, then walked through the town, and had a coffee at Starbucks. For dinner, we made sure we were well informed on the best place to eat (we checked out menues around town for over an hour!.....we're hard to please i guess). We settled on a nice Italian restaurant, and were quite pleased.

After dinner, around 10:30 we decided we weren't ready to go home yet, so we decided to grab a drink at a local irish pub. We got in and had a few drinks and really started enjoying ourselves. There was live music playing all the oldies that everyone knows and we ended up meeting some Aussies. One thing we were told is that in Australia, it's illegal to serve more than one shot at once. They can serve them one after another, but you can't line them up on the bar.....crazy eh?!? We made friends with the bar tender too, and she ended up making us some authentic australian shots that I can't remember the names of.

Overall it was a really enjoyable night.....until we decided to take a cab home at 3 and had to wait in a line forever..... but the cabbie was really nice and offered us some suggestions on where to travel while we're here.....aussie's are so helpful!

Saturday we recovered.....we didn't do much.

Today Mel and I discovered bus routes. We were very pleased with ourselves when we successfully took a bus to Broadbeach and back. It was absolutely beautiful on the beach today. The temperature was cool, so we didn't end up swimming, but it was so enjoyable laying in the sand. Mel slept for most of it, and I read a bit and just 'people watched'. There was a group of about 8 Men and their little boys (ranging from about 4yrs - 7yrs) and they played touch football for close to an hour. It was so nice to see them interacting and all the mums and little sisters sat on the side cheering and clapping for them. It made me miss home a bit, just because it really infoced a strong sense of community and family. Broadbeach seems like more of a family beach whereas Bondi beach (where we started out) was very hip and happening with lots of surfers and model look alikes.

Once we came home, we made a simple soup for dinner and watched 'I am Sam'....I have officially cried my eyes out (but it's an amazing movie) and now I'm ready for bed.

hope you're not all terribly bored by this long post

miss you all

xoxo

Finally, A Home To Call Our Own

Friday morning, Mel and I took a flight from Sydney to the Gold Coast, and landed in Coolangetta, which is where our hostel was located. Apparently our hostel was 500metres from the airport, so we were told that there was no need to taxi or bus there. We set out through the airport gates on foot, walking in what we thought was the right direction. With both of our oversized packs on, plus our hand luggage, we were quite the sight to be seen, not to mention that we had to run across the highway in all of our gear.....two times. In the end, we admitted that we were lost (we were going in the wrong direction actually) and when we took a bus and asked the driver, we were finally brought to our hostel...which was quite the disappointment. The hostel was nothing like the one in Sydney, it was quite a dump. Good thing we weren't planning to stay there long!

Friday evening we set out onto the main strip in Coolengatta, and visited many real estate agents in hopes of finding a rental that suited our requirements (short term). We were met with many negative responses, and decided that this was not the place to settle down. One agent told us to look for a place in Broad Beach (about 45 mins away) and that this location may have more options for us.

Saturday morning we were on the bus to Broad Beach. Once there, we once again visited more agents. We stumbled into one place called St. George Realty, where we were greated by a man who took an interest in us, and asked to "hear our story....". We told him that we were having difficulty finding a place and he proceded to make a few calls. He sent us down to meet 'Angela, who works for Frank' who could help us....we went but unfortunately that was a let down.

On our adventures however, we met a woman named Julie. I randomly started telling our life story to Julie and explained how we were looking for a place to live, and ironically she mentioned that she was looking to rent out a room in her house! We waited for her to finish work, then drove back to her house with her for a viewing. The house was PERFECT! And she seemed like a very nice woman.

We went home that night on the bus and early sunday morning, we packed up our bags and took a bus to our new hometown, South Port. We spent the day unpacking and doing laundry....and we went grocery shopping. That was quite the adventure, because we needed to buy alot of food (the fridge was empty) but we had no car. THe grocery store was about a 20min walk from home, so once we had all of our groceries, we had to steal the cart to transport all of our food. It worked out quite well,....we got some wierd looks, but nobody said anything about our Wilworths cart in the driveway. For dinner, we cooked gourmet: fresh green beans, chicken breast schnitzel and white wine. It was perfection!

Tonight will be a wonderful night of sleep. So long to sleeping in a room with six people, now it's homey and perfect! I'm absolutely thrilled that we finally have a home :)

Kayaking on Sydney Harbour and Hiking in Blue Mountains

Alrighty well on friday mel and I signed up for a kayaking trip on sydney harbour. It was run through the hostel we're staying at so we were able to meet a few people we're currently living with as well. It was an amazing trip, once we learned how to steer the kayak. Mel and I went in a double kayak and it took a bit of trying before we were able to go in the direction we wanted! It was a really good arm workout though and we got to see the city from a totally different viewpoint on the water.

halfway into the trip we stopped on a little island and laid around on the beach and swam a bit. It was the same island on the new movie Australia and we got to look at a house that's apparently in the film as well.

Once we got back from our kayak adventure, we were starved, and we've managed to find ourselves a nice little thai restaruant. The pad thai really hit the spot!

Yesterday (saturday) mel and I took off on train to the blue mountains. It was about a 2.5 hr journey from our hostel to the mountains. It was a little cooler in bondi that morning, so i asked at the front desk if I needed a sweater or anything for the blue mountains...she said no, that i'd be fine......THIS WAS NOT THE CASE! once we got to the blue mountains, it was absolutely FREEZING. Mel and I did not want to go anywhere, so we went into a cafe and had lunch.

We decided that we'd come all this way, so it only made sense to spend a bit more money and get a jacket of sweatshirt. we asked around and discovered that the only place to really buy such a thing would be K-Mart. So off we went...shopping! when we got there, we couldn't seem to find anytyhing warm (it is summer over here...apparently) so Mel and I considered purchasing bathrobes and hiking in them....it would have made for some good photos, but then we found some hideous XXL men's purple sweatshirts. Needless to say, we were thrilled!

Because the blue mountains is so large, they have busses that allow you to jump on and off and hike around different areas. Mel and I opted for this option, and were able to see so many beautiful sights.

the pictures really do not do it justice, the landscape is so beautiful and stretches so far. Mel and I explored quite a lot....lots of hiking uphill (my legs are a little sore today), but it was amazing!

Once we finally returned home, we were exhausted, but it was an amazing day!

What a view!

I'll begin by saying that Mel and I were able to make it to the sydney fireworks for new years! Thats right, we made it to the kiddy 9pm showing, but it was awesome nonetheless. It was a beautiful show, and I'm glad we were able to stay up for it... and find our way around to even see them. Someone from our hostel told us that busses were free on new years so we just jumped on and went. It was only at the end of the night that we realized that people were paying for them.... so we had a very exciting night--- we experienced New Years aussie style and also committed our first australian 'crime'!

Today Mel and I got up fairly early (because we still haven't adjusted to Aussie time) and went to the beach. The waves were MASSIVE at Tamarama beach and we thought that it was too intense for beginners such as ourselves, so we walked to bondi beach. It was much more comfortable there and we had a great time in the water.

Later in the day, we packed a picnic dinner and headed out on a long hike. There's a trail on the coast here that connects three beaches. It's absolutely breathtaking and the breeze from the water keeps you from getting tired or too hot. We walked for a while then stopped on some rocks and had a picnic. I can officially say that it was the best dinner yet...such a magnificent view!