Surfer's Paradise

Surfer's Paradise, located on the Gold Coast, is the craziest city I've been to yet. Initially when I heard of Surfer's I figured nice small tourist town...WRONG. Think big city, big buildings and a lot of people. Apart from rarely not seeing anyone over the age of 30, Surfer's Paradise is a backpackers dream where 1000's of people go in and out to stay just for the weekend. After a 2 hour bus/train trip we arrived to only find the city was full and my group literally got the last beds available in any hostel in the surrounding area. The beachers were amazing, the swells were perfect, the water (for winter) was warm, the shopping was expensive, there was plenty to do and to see and everyone in the giant city of college students was in high spirits.

Brisbane at night

"Downtown" Brisbane is about a short 15 minute bus ride or a 10 minute ferry (CityCat) ride from campus. I prefer the CityCat although the walk to the dock is about a 10 minute walk across campus compared to a 2 minute walk to the bus. Parts of Brisbane that I've become very familar with include downtown, or as they call it central, the valley, china town (pictured above), south bank, indorpolley and toowong.

Meet the new American...

Although Cairns was a really nice tropical town, I was ready to stop living out of my suitcases, move in and for once in my life live in a place bigger than some peoples high schools.  After a short 2 hour plan ride from Cairns to Brisbane, waiting around in the airport for a few hours in order to arrange a ride I had FINALLY made it to my final destination - The International House on the Univeristy of Queensland campus.

Within the first 5 minutes of being in my dorm, I decided that the first thing I want to unpack is my computer so I could get some music while I unpack.  I opened it up, plugged the charger into an american power strip, then plugged the american power strip into an American - Australian adaptor.  Nothing else was plugged into the power strip and at first nothing worked, then I realized that power outlets have a switch here, so I switched the switch. BOOM! A loud noise and a little puff of smoke came out of the outlet. I instantly watched as my floor in my went completely black, my tower go black, then every tower (about 9 of them) go black. Screams of disappoint and panic came from my tower's common room which I found out they were playing drinking games.  I hung my head as I walked down to the common room, opened the door and said "hey guys, my name is Kyle, I'm from California, and I think I just messed up."

Turned out no one has ever 'caused the entire International House to blackout, but Floors and Rooms happen all the time.  An electrical engineer had to be called, which about 3 hours later finally got power back.  I talked to an American who had just moved in a few days ago and he had ironically set up the same exact configuration,  Macbook pro and all.  I was told I didn't do anything wrong, but this building I'm living in is very old and I have poor luck.  Nice to meet you too, Australia.

Cairns

The hostel I stayed at in Cairns was downtown. Anything and everything that Cairns could offer was just a short walk away. It was called Gilligan's and I would call it more of a resort than a crappy hostel. It's by far the nicest hostel anyone had stayed in from who I talked to. Feel free to google it to check it out. The downstairs turned out to be one of the most hopping pubs in all of Cairns, so it was very lively all time time.

They split the Australearn kids into two different groups depending on where we were attending Uni (they called college Uni, short for university). The first day we drove about an hour on bus out to the middle of nowhere where there existed a small complex in the middle of this rainforest. I would almost call it a zoo, but there was much more than just animals. Naturally there were amazing animals just as kangaroos, dingos, salt water crocks, and just about anything and everything you could ever imagine to be Australian. We also saw a traditional Aboriginal dance. After the dance they showed us how to throw a boomerang, how to play the digeraroo, how to throw a spear and how to speak a little of their tribes dialect. They took us on a ride though the forest in a vehicle that when driving into the water floated and was accelerated by a propeller.

The second day we walked down to the Cairns Marina at 7:00 Australian time, but no worries mate, we are all still jet lagged so it was no problem. I first went scuba diving (which was an absolutely amazing experience) then went snorkeling for the rest of the day. And to only prove further that the great barrier reef truly is an amazing place as everyone says, the tour guide told us we picked the coldest day and one of the most cloudy days the reef has seen in over 5 years. If they never told us that then I'm sure we would have never realized because the water was still SO CLEAR and SO BLUE.

After a full day of being in the water the ocean between the reef and shores had become extremely choppy. But it was so strange because the waters by the reef were as calm as could be. At first this sucked because the warm and dry deck of the large catamaran had turned into a violent rocking ship that would take on water just as fast as it would shed it off. We had no choice but to all cram into the cabin and just look thorough the windows at the power of the sea. However, not being one to just sit back from a distance, me and a group of people maned up and very slowly worked our way to the bow where we held on to the rail literally from being thrown over and experienced a much wilder ride than any six flags ride could offer. Naturally others joined when they figured out that if you wrap every limp around the rail and hold on for dear life then you probably won't get thrown over. Luckily enough no one did.

Over 30 hours of Travel

July 6th has finally arrived. My family and I left Cambria for San Francisco Airport around 1:00pm inorder to catch my 10:40pm plane to Sydney. After the well known trip up the 101, my last dinner in America and lots of hugs goodbye, it was time to go though security, buy a bottle of water and step onto that plane.

Turns out that I sat in row 75, seat G. That's right the last row on the plane, the closest seat to the bathroom. I was so packed in there that my seat didn't even lay back as far as the other thousands of seats. At least the sounds of the constant flush and continually opening and closing of the bathroom doors sung me to sleep. ya right.

I decided to study abroad with a private group called Australearn. They basically help with the process and give you important information and tips about how to survive this country. An Orientation for Australearn took place in Cairns a few days before my University orientation in Brisbane. Turns out there were about 120 students from all over the United States (I think I was about 1 of 10 from California).

Anyways this international flight was filled with all 120 of us and 2 other similar college aged groups of equal size if not bigger. Even though the plane did quite down after a while and everyone went to sleep, lets just say I felt bad for the two or three couples that were just flying for personal needs.

I arrived in Sydney. Spent a 3 hour layover plus an hour and a half delay time on the plane before takeoff. Flew the 3 hours from Sydney to Cairns and finally arrived to our hostel 30 hours after I left Cambria. Wow we Australearn people were ready for a shower...and needed one.

The Countdown

2 months....

1 month....

1 week....

Only 4 days until Australia! I am realizing this will be one of the first times that I will be living outside my 30 mile radius I have learned and loved to call home - the central coast. I consider both Cambria and San Luis to be home, yet one is way more comfier and quieter. Don't get me wrong, I have obviously been to a lot of places, but not for an extended period of time. I went to Europe for three weeks once, been to New York for two weeks, Hawaii a handful times, close to a million weekend trips and a few others. Watch out Australia here I come!