hittin' the frog and toad

Roadtrip to Lorne!

Friday morning we hit the road or "hit the frog and toad", as the Aussie's say, in a comfy tour bus filled with VU international students with our destination being a small surftown called Lorne! 

Along the way we stopped off at Bell's Beach, home of the Rip Curl Pro surfing competition. We only spent enough time there to eat lunch and watch the waves crash.

Once we arrived in Lorne we were greeted by some chatting cockatoos and climbed into what they described as our "penthouse" accommodation.. maybe not a typical penthouse but probably the sweetest tree-house type dorm imaginable. Then it was our turn to surf! ...Maybe one of the most difficult things I have ever done failed at in my life. The area between the beach flags may have been congested from all of us being out there at once, but our sinuses sure weren't! Who needs a Neti-pot when you have the Pacific Ocean smacking you in the face! Aside from the crowding, bruises, and burning eyes and nose it was a blast and a half!! Then to top off the awesome day we were served a delicious all-you-can-eat buffet meal at Lorne's classiest, fanciest beachside restaurant!

That night was a party for most, but sadly I stayed home with a tummy ache that had been lingering since Thursday... and lingered through the next day as well. BUT that didn't stop me from our bushwalk/hike through a low temperate rainforest on Saturday morning!! We saw some beautiful ocean views (obviously), some echidna poop, some thousand year old ironbark eucalyptus trees, and a family of kangaroos!

After the hike we had a chance to work on some of our AFL (Australian Football) skills and play on an open field in the blazing sun and heat... another quick and less than thorough lesson (which we've come to notice is the typical Aussie teaching style ie. scuba diving, surfing etc.), short and sweet.

aaaaand my tummy ache subsided so we partied that night and hit up the Lorne bar scene, obviously.

Sunday we toured the Great Ocean Road! This country has yet to disappoint in the mind-blowing category... I feel like I can't even think properly anymore because my mind is consistently and constantly being blown. Just... wow.

Our first stop was a camping/trailer park so we could see...

After that we continued along the Great winding, climbing, and twisting Ocean Road on the edge of a cliff with the ocean beneath us... until the bus just couldn't take the heat (please note the smoke coming out the back). Thankfully we were only inconvenienced with a minor delay and no extreme emergency so we just had to wait a few minutes while the bus cooled down...

Then, it was time for the real show. There were only ever nine of them... but two crumbled and now there are only seven. I present to you:

The Twelve Apostles

This next place was probably my favourite. Loch Ard Gorge.

And last but certainly not least we got to see London Bridge. Here we learned never to stand on ancient eroding limestone and to never cheat in a relationship because in both cases there will be crashing down involved. So the story goes... not too long back London Bridge did fall down. It just so happened that when it fell there was a couple who ended up stranded on the other side. It was a big scene that required a helicopter to air-lift them back to safety which attracted cameras and news crews that became the source of truth to each of their spouse's back home whom they had told they were going on business trips. Exposed.

We saw amazing sights, did amazing activities, stayed in an amazing place, ate amazing food, and made "heaps" of new friends... overall I'd say it was a pretty amazing trip.

A great weekend, and a great way to end our Christmas/summer break... back to school tomorrow.

Sincerely,
AUS

An Aussie Appetite: Part II

Roo Burger!

Not technically a traditional aussie meal, but you definitely can't get one of these up in Canada. The idea of this burger is equivalent to a deer or venison burger... a national animal symbol but not something that the country locals most likely have ever tried for themselves. Some of the Aussies I spoke to mentioned that they would feel bad eating a symbol that's on their country's coat of arms but I also spoke to a vegetarian who said its actually more ethical to eat them because they are over-populated and damaging to the wild vegetative species... there are even Kangatarians who maintain a vegetarian diet while only indulging in kangaroo meat for environmental reasons.

So i had to try one...

What better place to try this out than at the Queen Victoria Night Market! Among the many stalls of amazing food options offered at the night market we came across this one, offering a variety of Australian animal burgers. Emu. Ostrich. Crocodile. Kangaroo. I opted for the kangaroo. The meat was very lean due to the muscular nature of this wild animal, but it was cooked to maintain moistness and tenderness. Paired with tomato, lettuce, caramelized onions, cheese and BBQ sauce... you really can't go wrong, regardless of what meat is in between the lightly toasted ciabatta bun! BUT I have to say the meat itself was very tasty and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I really feel like I've hopped on board with the Australians now!

Sincerely,
AUS

canada welcomes the world

let the celebrations commence!

Canada House has had our first party of the semester. I think that judging by our states this morning that it was, indeed, a success.

Flip cup games that were inclusive of people from every North American country, sombreros to enhance the international vibe, hairstyling, and some goon mixed with beer was enough to fade the borders between the Victoria University international students.

Well, that's enough embarrassment for today.

Until next time,

Sincerely,
AUS

now back to reality

So we're home now. Back on solid ground. Back to reality.

Our trip to the Whitsunday Islands mmmmmmay or may not have been real. We're still pinching ourselves to wake up from the MOST AMAZING AND INDESCRIBABLE DREAM that you could possibly imagine only in your wildest dreams!!!

Let me break it down for you:

We arrived in Airlie Beach, a cute little beach town that is the "gateway to the Whitsunday Islands" after our 3 hour flight, a one hour time change, an airport photoshoot and a 2 hour bumpy ride with an obnoxious Asian faimly. phhhewf. Painful, but worth every split second of it.

There's not too much in Airlie Beach, we explored the entire town in less than an hour and you're advised not to swim in the ocean during jellyfish season. So we spent a niiiice chunk of time at the Airlie Beach Lagoon which is a lovely public swimming pool area during the day. Aaaaaand at night we spent our time at our hostel bar eating full, satisfying dinners with a drink included for $6.50, drinking $8 jugs and initiating full-fledged drinking games.

 So that was our lives from Thursday until Saturday... and that's when we boarded the Atlantic Clipper! This bad-ass sailboat complete with a water slide, diving board, hearty meals, 6:30am wake-ups and a crew of the most jokes human beings we've ever come in contact with.

First stop: Whitsundays National Park. After a night full of goon and socializing, complete with a nice "GET THE FUCK OUT OF BED" at 6:30am we walked along a trail, almost got taken out by a wild leaping animal and arrived at Hill Inlet Lookout. This is where we took in the MOST BEAUTIFUL place I have ever seen... I'm still not convinced that we saw it... easily could've been dream at this point. (P.S. the pictures do absolutely no justice.

...then walked back down to experience the most beautiful place I've ever seen: Whitehaven Beach. The sand is the finest silica sand in the world and is so white that its never hot because it reflects the sun.  The sand is so fine that you are able to polish jewelery, exfoliate, and brush your teeth with it. It was also used in the making of the lense for the Hubble Telescope! Check it out:

 Life could not get any better... until we went SCUBA DIVING in the Great Barrier Reef at Blue Pearl Bay! No big deal. It was the most unreal experience I have experienced thus far in life. It felt like a was in a dream, big surprise with this trip. There were hundreds of fish swarming and swimming around us and I would reach out to touch them but I couldn't. AND I WAS BREATHING UNDERWATER! After our diving we just couldn't get enough of the reef so we snorkelled and we also snorkelled at a different spot the next day! We were so buoyant in the salty water there was no need to swim or put any effort while we floated in the East Australian Current!

 To top off the best day of our lives we watched the beautiful sunset over the Pacific ocean.  OH YEAH... and then there were dolphins jumping beside the boat. No big deal.

 So that was pretty much it. After the sun went down, things got a little wild on the boat... we brought one cask of wine per person (a cask is 4 litres) so I think that pretty much explains itself right there.  We woke up to discover the best cure for a hangover is snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef and floating in the EAC!

We got back to land at about 1pm and proceeded to lounge at the lagoon until our free didgeridoo lesson from a short, way too jacked upper body Aboriginal man in a tight Ed Hardy t-shirt who was way too serious about the didgeridoo.

We finished up last night in Airlie Beach by finishing our goon in the park and heading to a pizza party with the crew.

One last 6:30am wake up, a bumpy bus ride, a plane ride behind the most obnoxious family alive, and a hitched ride later and we're back in Melbourne. Home.

Well I'm awake now and headed to school for orientation... we must've been dreaming.

Sincerely,
AUS

P.S. We haven't found Nemo... yet.