I have just returned from a great break in Australia! It was quite the adventure, so I'll start from the beginning.
I kind of forgot that Australia is actually a foreign country, as in Australia is not just an extension of New Zealand or vice versa, so I forgot that I had to go through customs. And I also didn't think about the fact that I had a carrot in my bag for a little traveling snack... So basically I was held up at customs at the Melbourne airport because of one carrot I had stowed away in my bag. I think the customs official thought I was trying to smuggle lots of produce in to her country because she started drilling me about fruits and veggies, making sure I didn't have anything else. Then she gave me a long lecture about what I can and can not bring in to Australia. It was a great way to start my trip, I felt like a fugitive before I had even really arrived.
But everything from then on was just lovely! I was visiting my Aussie cousins who live just outside of Melbourne in a nice little spot in the country. They had an awesome place, complete with a garden, chickens, ducks, a guinea fowl, a pool, and even a skate ramp! Pretty sweet.
On Sunday I went to a surf competition at Bells Beach, which was just a short bike ride from their house. It was an international surf competition, so even Kelly Slater was there! (A famous American surfer who has won a million things). My favorite competitor was Marco Polo from Brazil, purely because of his name. Watching real surfers was pretty cool, they can do all kinds of tricks and of course they make it look super easy.
The next day was a beach day, so I tried surfing once again...and once again I was not the greatest, but it was still fun!
Here's a picture of the Point Adis Beach where I surfed, taken from my walk to the beach:
On Tuesday I went in to Melbourne with Ivy, Feemy, and Rory (cousins). Now, I have zero sense of direction, and I was in charge of getting us around, so it was a slightly comical situation that the foreigner with 0 sense of direction was in charge...but after asking a few nice Aussies for train schedule advice we made it in to the city! We went to the Queen Victoria Market which was basically a farmers market times 100. It was HUGE. And there were other stalls as well, that sold everything from clothes to candy to statues of sheep and other odd knick-knacks. I bought some Aussie-rules football gear as a souvenir, because they are crazy about their Aussie-rules football in Australia. It's an interesting sport that seems to combine football, rugby, and a little soccer and volleyball too.
Here's some pictures from our train-ride home from Melbourne. The top one is of Rory, Ivy and Feemy, with Feemy's new sheep that she purchased at the Market. And the bottom is just Ivy and me in my new Aussie-football team scarf (I chose the Eagles because they are blue and gold, just like Michigan!)
On my last day we went on a drive along the coast. It was reminiscent of driving along the California coast, except it was a bit more rocky. Our final destination was a lovely walk through the rainforest! It was this really cool suspended walk that went about 50 meters above the forest floor, so that we wouldn't damage the wildlife. Unfortunately I discovered my camera battery was dead and so I don't have any pictures from that day :(
It was really interesting to see Australia and just how different it is from New Zealand. The landscape, the people, the accent, some of the food, and just the culture in general were all different. In Australia there seemed that every animal has the ability to hurt you...even the ants! Australia is home to the top 3 deadliest snakes in the world. And while I was there I heard that a man was attacked by a wombat. A wombat?! New Zealand on the other hand has absolutely nothing that can hurt you. There aren't any deadly animals here. Although Australia was a very cool place, I think I made the right choice of country to come study abroad in!
