A week and a half after we got back from spring break, 6 of us went to Melbourne for a weekend. Melbourne is a really cool artsy city, and is the second largest city in Australia (Brisbane's the third largest). Melbourne is famous for the Great Ocean Road, a really long road along the coast a few hours outside of the city. We did a day long bus tour of the Great Ocean Road and the 12 Apostles. The 12 Apostles are these really cool rock formations in the ocean. We got to see the 12 Apostles as sunsets, and as you know, I'm obsessed with sunsets so I was on cloud nine.
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| The Loch Ard Gorge on the Great Ocean Road |
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| 12 Apostles at sunset |
One of the other days, we took the train to Brighton Beach, which is famous for its bath houses. They're these really little colorful houses that are right on the beach. I have no idea if they're actually used for anything, but it's another Australian landmark that I got to check off my bucket list!
When we were in Melbourne, I actually started to get really sick, so I didn't get to enjoy the trip as much as I would have liked to. At my internship that next week, I was really sick, so one of the ladies I work with brought me to the doctor. I then found out that I had both mononucleosis and strep throat! I think it's been the same reoccurring thing, since this was my third time getting sick since I've been in Australia. I spend like 6 straight days in my bed just sleeping it off. Being sick while abroad is definitely not fun, especially because Australia's medical system is nowhere near as advanced as we are at home. Last week, I finally started to feel better, which was the biggest relief in the world since I went to Sydney over the weekend and wasn't sure if I'd be able to go.
Nicole, Kat and I went to Sydney this past weekend and it was an absolute blast. The city itself was decent, but for some reason the three of us just had so much fun. We had absolutely no plans and no idea what we were going to do when we got there, which made it that much more adventurous. We did the typical trip to Circular Quay, which is where the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House are. This was really cool because it made me feel like I was actually in Australia, since their Aussie's most famous symbols. There was also a festival going on called Vivid, which only happens once a year. They have a projector that puts all these colorful lights, patterns, and pictures on the opera house at night, it was really cool!
The next day we went to Bondi Beach, one of Australia's most famous tourist beaches. There's actually a popular show here called Bondi Rescue, which I watched on the plane ride to Brisbane in February. The waves were massive, and it's almost winter here now so we got to lay out but didn't go swimming.
I got back from Sydney Monday night and woke up at 4:30 Tuesday morning to go skydiving!!! I've been planning on skydiving since I knew I was coming to Australia, but had only told a few people because I didn't want to jinx it. Believe it or not, this was my fifth time attempting to skydive in the past month and a half. We were originally supposed to go in Cairns over spring break, but couldn't because of the weather. We rescheduled to do it in Byron Bay the next week, but that was cancelled then and again two days later because of the weather. We rescheduled AGAIN, and when we finally got to do it, I was literally dying in my bed with mono. The other girls got to go and they absolutely loved it, and I was devastated that I couldn't do it with them. I rescheduled by myself for Tuesday, and was astounded when I actually got on the bus to Byron and they hadn't already cancelled due to clouds or wind or whatever else. Since it would have been terrifying to spend the day by myself, Shannon was literally a saint and volunteered to come with me. She didn't jump again, but she did get to watch me parachute down to the ground. It's a two and a half hour ride to Byron, so it was an all day thing. The closer we got to Byron Bay, the cloudier it got, so I was convinced that I'd have to reschedule yet again. I was shocked when people started getting in the plane and going. I was in the third plane to go up, so I got to see two groups of people land before I went. My tandem instructor's name was Adam and he was so nice. Similarly to when I bungy jumped, I wasn't nervous. I'm not really sure what's wrong with me and why I don't get nervous for these life threatening things that I'm doing...
I was the last one to get in the plane which meant I was the first one out, which I actually really liked. It's a tiny plane and you sit on the floor with your instructor behind you, and they attach their harness to yours on the ride up. The plane ride was probably 15 minutes long, and it was absolutely gorgeous. Byron Bay is one of my favorite places in the world, so to see it from that perspective was incredible. When we got to the drop zone, Adam opened the door, I tucked my legs under the plane, grabbed onto my harness, tucked my head back, and all of a sudden I was no longer in the plane. I guess it was my instinct to shut my eyes, because after a couple of seconds I had to yell at myself in my head saying WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING YOU DID NOT PAY ALL THIS MONEY TO FALL THROUGH THE SKY WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED and then I opened them. Adam tapped my shoulder, and I got to open my arms, which was one of my favorite parts. This company is Australia's highest skydive, so I fell from 14,000 feet and got up to 120 miles an hour with a 60 second free fall. It was so awesome, I didn't even feel like I was falling. It was more like flying. The cool thing about it being cloudy was that I got to go through a cloud and was literally inside of it for a couple of seconds. After that, I could see beautiful Byron Bay, and before I knew it Adam pulled the parachute. It was another few minutes before I was back on the ground again.
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| Also I was the only non-asian person jumping so that made things very entertaining |
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| We flipped upside down but I didn't even know because I forgot to open my eyes |
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| Inside a cloud! |
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| You can see the most easterly point of Australia in the background |
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| Steering the parachute |
Skydiving is definitely by far the most amazing thing I've ever done, and I would totally do it again. I'm so happy I got to come back to my favorite place to do my new favorite activity!
As of right now, classes are over, I finish my internship tomorrow, and need to work on writing all my final papers that are due next week. We leave in less than four weeks, so we're all having the time of our lives and trying to enjoy the last few weeks of Aussie life. I leave for New Zealand in a couple of weeks, so I'll probably post again after that. Cheers!
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