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Published: April 9th 2013
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Koala!
Because kissing a panda bear in China just wasn't enough. I've had a pretty awesome year abroad, but I have to say that this past week was definitely one of the highlights of my year.
On Good Friday, almost everything in Sydney was closed. Sydney was deserted. I met up with my sorority sister Bianca, who I go to school with back at Babson. I couldn't believe it, but it had almost been a year since I had last seen her, since I left Babson the first week of May last year. She and I caught up and she filled me in at what I'd been missing at Babson. She's studying abroad in New Zealand, so hopefully I can go over and visit her before my time here down under is over.
Saturday arrived and my friend Emily and I were off on our
spring fall break! We took the bus to the airport and arrived an hour before our flight was supposed to board, which proved to be 59 minutes too early. Security was a joke--you didn't have to take off your shoes or your sweatshirt or even show your boarding pass or ID! I also walked through the metal detector with coins in my pocket and wearing
other things that normally set off US metal detectors, but nothing happened. So what Australian metal detectors are detecting is beyond me. It literally took us 60 seconds to print out our boarding passes and get through security, so after twiddling our thumbs for 59 minutes, we boarded the plane and were off to Brisbane. The plane ride was smooth, but I was pretty worried the whole time that I was going to explode since there was essentially no security at the airport. Thankfully we arrived safe and sound at Brisbane.
Once in Brisbane, we checked into our hostel and then went around to explore Brisbane. Since it was Easter weekend, the city was deserted, much like Sydney. Emily and I got some pizza and calamari, and then explored downtown Brisbane. We went on the ferris wheel, which was essentially Brisbane's version of the London Eye. It wasn't as impressive as the London Eye, but i was lit up at night and was still really fun.
Sunday was Easter, and Emily's and my plans fell through as we didn't anticipate everything being closed when we originally booked our trip. We started off by walking through the Brisbane markets
and stopped for breakfast at a local cafe. When we realized that a lot of the buses weren't running, we decided to do a river walk and visit the botanical gardens, as our original plan was a hike and a brewery tour. By noon, we had pretty much walked all over Brisbane, had seen the river, and walked through the botanical gardens, so we headed back to the hostel to figure out what we were going to do for the rest of our stay. The receptionist suggested the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, and Emily and I did not need convincing. We spent the afternoon visiting all of the koalas, dingos, crocodiles, kangaroos, and other native Australian species. Emily and I got to hold a koala, which was one of my highlights of the week. They're so fluffy and cute! Koalas are only awake four hours a day, which is very similar to me when I'm at home for Christmas break each year. I also got to hold a snake and a baby crocodile, before we headed off to the kangaroo area where you could pet and feed them. Unlike China, where there is only one place in the whole country
Notice the Baby Inside the Pouch!
This is a million times cuter than it is on TV. where you can hold a panda bear, there are many places where you can snuggle with a koala in Australia so it didn't cost my bank account an arm and a leg. It's a good thing we have things like the Big Mac index and don't base currencies off of "holding a bear" index, because China's currency would be way stronger. In fact, snuggling with a koala all day was pretty much the same price as a Big Mac here in Australia, or even a glass of beer (they call them schooners here). So I can't really figure out why anyone in Australia drinks, because if I were a local I'd just spend all my money snuggling with a koala all day everyday.
Because Australians enjoy their holidays, everything was still closed on Monday. Since Emily and I hadn't had enough of animals yet, we decided to go to the Australia Zoo. For those of you that aren't hardcore Crocodile Hunter fans, that's the zoo that Steve Irwin's parents started. Growing up, I think I watched every single Steve Irwin TV show that aired (he had more than one TV show). It was literally a dream come true walking
Feeding an Elephant
It's kind of like feeding a horse, but it's an elephant. through his zoo. Although there are many reasons to love Australia, I really think that I ended up studying abroad in Australia simply because I loved Steve Irwin so much. There were posters and signs and statues of Steve and his family everywhere, but you could really tell this was Steve's zoo simply by the way all of the animals were treated. The animals had the largest exhibits I've seen, and they were continuously rotated out to their larger habitats behind closed doors. Not only that, but almost all of the animals were walked throughout the day! That's right, they often took their tigers and wallabies out on walks around the park, where we could stop and see them. You could also interact with koalas, kangaroos, and elephants for free. We pet some more koalas since you can never get enough of koalas, hung out with the kangaroos, and fed an elephant! At noon, we headed over to the Crocoseum, where Steve used to do shows. It wasn't the same without him, but I recognized the stadium, and some of the crocodiles, from the TV shows. They started the show with their birds, which they have so well trained that
they release them from all over the park and they fly to the stadium and do two laps before going back to their trainers. They also have birds trained to fly to random people in the audience! Then they bring out the snakes, and finally the crocodiles. Obviously no one does crocodiles as well as Steve, but they were definitely a good second.
Finally, on Tuesday everything opened back up, and Brisbane was like a completely different city. Emily and I went to a man made beach in the middle of the city. Since Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, is not super close to a beach, they decided to make one right in the middle of the city! It's pretty awesome--surrounded by the city and the skyline is the beach. We enjoyed a more relaxed day before heading back to the hostel and packing up before our Wednesday morning flight up to Cairns. We said goodbyes to our new friends we had met and caught up on some emails. I registered for classes, and after much debate with my mom and class dean, I decided not to graduate a semester early, and am planning on graduating as planned in
The Crocodile Hunter
The walls were lined with clippings of all of the amazing things Steve did. May of 2014. My class dean told me I was ahead on enough credits that I could graduate early if I wanted, but both my mom and Rachel thought I should enjoy a full senior year. My senior year is shaping up to be great--I got all of my first choice classes and I only have class two days a week. Plus, I still have the option to graduate a semester early (December 2013) if I decide, but since I love college and have no desire to leave college earlier than I have to, I think the plan is to wait until May before entering the real world.
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Jade
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Golden Beaches of Queensland
Queensland has the best golden/white beaches in Australia. Brisbane is only about an hour drive to the beautiful and pristine beaches of Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast ! Check it out when you have the time.