Gold Coastin To 21

Now that all of the birthday celebrations and road trips have finally come to an end, I can update you all on what I have been up to the past few weeks. A little over a week ago, a bunch of my friends and I rented 2 cars and decided to take a road trip up to the Gold Coast which is located in Queensland, Australia. It is about 12 hours north of Sydney and is comparable to Miami, Florida but MUCH nicer. Driving on the wrong side of the road was definitely something you have to get used to. Pretty much forget everything you know about driving and do the exact opposite of everything you think is correct and that is driving in Australia. The steering wheel is on the other side of the car, the blinker is on the other side of the wheel, you drive on the other side of the road, the speedometer is in Kilometers per hour, and the left lane is the slow lane while the right lane is the fast lane. Talk about confusing....I was in a car full of girls which was fine at first but none of them really wanted to drive so I took the wheel for the majority of the ride. We left in the early afternoon and drove straight through the night. It was really nice to drive outside of the city and see what suburban Australia is like. The Pacific Highway took us through a bunch of small towns and stopping for gas gave me the chance to chat with some locals and have some fun. When we finally made it to the Gold Coast, we were all exhausted. We crashed at my friend Tom's place for the night and headed over to Broadbeach in the morning. Broadbeach was where our friends lived so we hangout with them for the weekend. Their building is owned by the same hotel chain as mine here in Sydney so their place was really nice as well. They had a huge wraparound balcony which overlooked the beach, the city, and the strip where everything was happening. We were about a 4 minute walk from the beach and since the weather was so nice, we decided to pull out all of the beds and sleep outside on the balcony every night. Talk about living the life huh? We took a mini road trip up the Brisbane where we went to a zoo and I got to play with a bunch of huge Kangaroo's. It was pretty tempting to steal one but then again, they were about the same size as me so that would be pretty hard to do. After a few days relaxing on the beach, gambling at the casino, and hanging out at the bars, we jumped back in the car and made our long journey home. We stopped in Nimbin (Australian version of Amsterdam) and Byron Bay on the way home and finally made it back into Sydney around 2am. That was the kickoff to the crazy week that awaited us. My birthday fell out on ANZAC Day which is Australia New Zealand Army Core Day. This is one of the biggest and craziest holiday's in Australia. It is basically memorial day, veterans day, the 4th of July, and St. Patricks day combined into one day. Every Australian was up and drinking by 8am so needless to say it was a wild day. We were all a bit tired since we had a big birthday party for me the night before but we all made it to the big ANZAC Day Rugby game which was a blast and then we all hit the pub at night to finish off my night. It was probably one of the best birthday's that I have ever had and my friends did everything in their power to make it as much fun and memorable as possible. Two days after my birthday was both my roommate Drake's birthday and also our good friend Dan's. So naturally, the party continued straight through the week with one night being at a Karaoke bar (Absolutely anarchy at its finest) and the next night we had a 90's themed party back at Coogee Beach. We had a great week but we all needed this weekend to relax and unwind a bit. I thought a great idea would be to take a nice, long, hot bath to relax so I filled up the tub, lit a candle, turned off the lights, and put on some relaxing music for about 2 1/2 hours. When I finally got out, I went out to the sunroom to talk to my roommate and BOOM! A spider the size of a small horse was sitting on the wall. It is called a Huntsman Spider and if you have the guts to look up what it looks like, I definitely recommend it. Of course I screamed like a 5 year old girl and ran inside until someone killed it but the worst part has yet to come...About 20 seconds after we got rid of the first 8 legged super freak in our sunroom, I hear screaming coming from the bathroom in my bedroom. Our other roommate Josh came across and even bigger Huntsman in the very bathroom that I was just soaking in for 2 1/2 hours...Needless to say that I am literally acting like a paranoid freak checking every corner of every surface of every room that I go into from now on. I. Hate. Spiders. Besides that, all is pretty calm in Aussie right now. Planning another road trip up to Melbourne this coming week and yes mother, I am doing all of my school work and trying really really realllllly hard just for you!!!! Been catching up with some friends from back home and its been reallllllllllly great to talk to them :) Hope all is well back in the US of A and stay tuned for the next installment. Cheers!

                                                       

The Land Of Kiwi's

A stereotypical Spring break trip normally consists of some Mexican country and drunken mistakes on a beach. When you're studying abroad in Australia, Spring break has a completely different meaning and a much different agenda. A group of my friends and I decided to head to New Zealand for 9 days of action packed fun and little did we know that this would be the best 9 days of our lives. We left Sydney around 7:00pm on New Zealand Airlines which was actually an awesome airline. They had meals and really comfy seats. One of the great features about this plane and also the one I took to Sydney in the first place was the in-seat entertainment system. The have touch screen TV's in the headrest and you can pick from a variety of great movies, TV shows, Music, Games, and News. Plus, you can also click "Trip Map" and follow the plane along its journey to your destination. Pretty cool stuff. Anyways, we landed in Christchurch around 11:00pm and we already knew that New Zealand would be like nowhere we had ever been before. On our decent, I noticed that there were no lights. I thought we were either landing in the ocean or some mountain range. Finally we could see little patches of lights spread far apart from each other. First time we realized that New Zealand was a very small and quiet country. We boarded our coach bus which took us to our first hostel at the YMCA in Christchurch. We were all starving so the first thing we did was ask for food. Christchurch was devastated by an earthquake in 2010 that literally crippled the city. The aftermath of the earthquake is still VERY prevalent. Nothing was open this late so we had to walk about 20 minutes to the closest food establishment...Denny's. It was a pretty long walk and it was also pretty cold out so we decided to cut some corners and walk through "The Red Zone". TRZ is the area still quarantined and on complete lock down since the earthquake. I have never felt so alone in my entire life. TRZ is about 20 square miles and there is not a single living creature to be found. There was still broken glass, crumbling buildings, flashing street lights, and abandoned cars everywhere. It felt like we were in a zombie movie and were going to get attacked at any minute. Eventually, we made it to Denny's and totally stuffed our faces. Life was good. The next day we made our way to Franz Joseph which is a little mountain town down the west coast of New Zealand's South Island. Driving through the mountains on the way was beautiful and we got some amazing pictures. When we finally arrived in Franz Joseph and got checked into our hostel we were all excited and ready to rock. We decided to hit double happy hour at the local pub and we had an amazing time. They had a great beer there called Raddler. It was a New Zealand brewed beer that had a Lemon & Lime taste to it. Needless to say, with $5 pints as their special, I took FULL advantage of that deal. The next day, my roommate Andrew and I woke up around 6:00am and took a walk to the base of the Glacier that we would be hiking that day and grabbed some coffee, breakfast, and pictures. We then got suited up and began our hike around 8:00am. This 9 mile hike up the glacier was GRUELING and extremely tiring but absolutely worth it. The glacier was beautiful and the ice was so nice with its different shades of blue and green. When we finally made it to the top, we felt like we were on top of the world...Which was not far from the truth. After the hike, we were all exhausted and our bodies were aching so we all went over to the hot glacier pools and relaxed in the water for a while. The water was about 103 degrees and was really fresh since it was actual glacier water. That was one of the coolest parts about the hike. Whenever you would get thirsty, you can just drink the running water coming down the glacier and it was actually some of the best water I have ever had in my life. Of course, later that night we hit happy hour again and then we got some sleep because we had another long day of traveling ahead of us. The next day we got back on the bus and took another 4 hour trip down the west coast. Along the way, we stopped at some great scenic areas and took some pictures but eventually we made it to our destination for the night; a little town called Macarorra. The town had 18 people living in it and we had a group of 36 so it is safe to say, it was an American town for the night. We took a jetboat ride through the mountains and then hit the bar for some Karaoke and Pool. Karaoke was a blast and we all had an awesome time. The next day, we made our final push to our final destination, Queenstown. Queenstown is known as the adventure capital of the world for many different reasons but mostly because anything you could ever want to do as far as adrenaline goes, you can do there. Right outside the town, we stopped at a bridge that was the site of the first ever Bungee Jump. My friend Ben and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to have some fun and do something crazy so of course, we decided to jump off of the bridge. Once we got all suited up, not going to lie, I was a little nervous. Luckily, I had all of my friends to cheer me on so I got strapped in and was ready to rock. Walking up to the edge is a completely unnatural feeling. Your heart is racing, your feet are shaking, your mind is going in 20000 different directions but the only thing you know is "DONT LOOK DOWN!" So naturally, that is exactly what I did. I looked down and saw the beautiful blue water and the little raft waiting to scoop me up if I survived. The guy let go of me and said 5-4-3-2-1...BUNGEE! I did not think, I did not wait, I just threw my arms out and jumped. As you are rushing down all you can think of is the water getting closer and closer but then you feel the Bungee cord catch and you slow down just enough so when my head went into the water, it felt like a nice refreshing splash and back up into the air I went. I had NEVER felt more alive in my life. I was so happy and so excited that I couldn't wait to do it again. Well, that is exactly what I did. The bridge jump I did was only about 43 meters which is a little over 120 feet. I needed something bigger. I needed something that would push the envelope even further. I signed myself up to jump the Nevis. While driving out to the Nevis, you realize you're in the middle of no where with nothing but mountains and cliffs all around you. Finally, we made it up to the sign in area and I realized that this was MUCH more than I thought it was going to be. The Nevis is a cable car suspended 132 meters in the air over a canyon. That is over 440 feet! I knew that I accomplished my goal and really stepped it up this time. I got suited up and took the little cable car out to the suspended box in the air. I waited my turn then got hooked up. Yes, I was nervous, but I could not wait to jump. I made my way out to the ledge, said a small prayer, then 5-4-3-2-1 BUNGEE! I threw out my arms and jumped straight out. 8.5 seconds of free fall is a very long time and I loved every single second of it. I had never had so much fun in my life. The entire way back up I could not believe what I had just done and I officially became a Bungee addict. I could NOT wait to do it again. This led me to my next great adventure at the Nevis which was the worlds largest swing. Basically, they strap you in and then they drop you. You swing about 300 meters and it is the ride of your life. I did this jump tandem with my friend Kaelyn and we had a blast. Later that night, we celebrated at the local bars and met some really cool people. I ran into my high school crush in the stairs of the hostel which was one of the weirdest experiences ever but it was great to catch up and talk about stuff. Weird how you think you may never see some of these people again and then you run into them at a hostel in Queenstown, New Zealand, halfway across the world. Insane. The following day we went way out into the valley and went canyoning. Canyoning is more or less getting dressed in safety gear and throwing yourself down a waterfall 50 - 100 times. We hiked up the canyon then we repelled, zip-lined, slid, climbed, and cliff dove our way down the canyon. Absolutely awesome experience and the wet suits kept us all from dying. We then spent out last night having some drinks and hanging out with our instructors from that day and we packed our bags to head home. I really cant put the experience into words so I am going to upload a bunch of pictures so maybe you can get a good feel of how amazing it was. If you ever get a chance to get to New Zealand, GO TO QUEENSTOWN!!! You will not regret it. Next up is the Gold Coast this weekend with some of my friends for my birthday and to just relax and have a good time. Stay tuned for another post when I get back. Cheers!

Are ya ready mate?!

I know it has been a while since I last wrote on here but I was saving the next post for something good and today was the day! Decided a week ago today that I would finally get up enough courage to go skydiving so this morning at 5:00am I started the journey to Wollongong Beach. Wollongong is about an hour and a half south of Sydney and absolutely gorgeous for anyone who gets a chance to make it out there. Anyways, we took the train into the Central Business District where we met up with our transport to Wollongong. Joe, Brian, and I were pretty tired at this point but each second we drove and the closer we got to the beach, the more excited and anxious we got. Finally, we arrived at the landing zone where we filled out paperwork and went through some instructional material. Basically, hold on and scream your face off. Getting the gear on was pretty cool and made the whole ordeal feel a lot more real. That being said, I don't think it hit me quite yet that soon I would be propelling myself out of a perfectly good airplane and plummeting down to earth at around 120 MPH. Eventually, our instructors came out and I met the guy who's hands I would be putting my life in. Awesome guy named Tom who had over 10,000 jumps so I felt pretty safe. We then made our way to the bus and took the 20 minute drive to the airport. The bus ride was moderately unnerving since so much was running through my mind but all I knew was that I REALLY wanted to get up in the air and do the jump. Once we got to the hanger, we moved pretty quick. We all lined up to jump in the plane and that's when my instructor grabbed me and said, "Oh no no no mate, you wait here. We are getting on last. I want first dibs out the door!" So that's pretty reassuring...I hate heights and I have to sit next to a cage that keeps you from flying out of the airplane and not only that, but I then get to sit there while they open the door and dangle my feet out. Well, that is exactly what happened. After we ascended to 14,000 feet, the door came up and I got the signal to swing my legs out of the plane and tuck them under the hull. Now, do you have any idea how unnatural that is!? It's one thing to even watch people do it but to actually sit there and be strapped to some random guy you don't even know while you're dangling your legs out of the plane and looking down 14,000 feet is just out of this world. Since I was the first out the door, I got the chance to sit there on the edge for about 30-45 seconds before Mr. Tom decided he was ready to hurl me out of the plane. First though, "OH SHIT!" Second thought, "THIS IS AWESOME!!!" When you first begin your free fall you get that tight, weird stomach feeling that you get on roller coasters but once you let out a big scream and open up your lungs, it's smooth sailing from there on out. The free fall was intense. It literally feels as if you are suspended in mid air and not moving but at the same time, you are falling at terminal velocity which is a mind blowing experience on its own. After about 60 seconds of free fall we pulled the cord and shot straight up into the air. That was semi-painful but I got to take control of the parachute and fly us around a bit. Taking some hard banking turns was awesome as you pick up speed and the view of the beach was unexplainable. After about 5 minutes in the air, we eventually touched back down to earth where the adrenaline was most noticeable. We. Went. Nuts. I never thought in a million years that I would do something like this but it only made me want it more! It is almost like a drug (not that I would know) and I just felt the need to do something crazy like that again. We then ran to a cafe to grab some food while our videos were being put together and we slugged a celebratory beer. The worst part of all was when we saw the next group getting ready to go. I felt like a little kid who was kicking and screaming because they wanted to go again. I promise I WILL go skydiving again and I cannot wait to bungee jump next week in New Zealand. I will post the video and some pictures if this website allows me and you can all get a feel of what skydiving is like. I apologize for my tongue being out half of the time. Not quite sure why I did that but never-the-less, it is still an awesome video. Next big trip is to New Zealand in less than a week. I won't be online while I am there but expect a lengthy and action packed blog post when I get back. Hope you all enjoy the pics and such. Cheers!


 SKYDIVING VIDEO!