Before I left for Australia, one of my best friends from home promised that she would try her best to come and visit my while I was in Australia. Excited for the idea of this, we had already planned on her coming with her fiancé a couple weeks into the semester. I was eager for them to arrive in March, but it didn’t work out since they had standby tickets and it was during Spring Break. I was pretty bummed, but a few weeks later she informed me that she would try again after graduation in May. A couple months passed by and it turned out that she was planning on coming to visit with her cousin Hannah on May 18th! I was so excited!!! They had standby tickets again, which made it difficult to guarantee their arrival, but it was a less busy travel time….so chances were really good!
It was the week for Roberta and Hannah to visit, and I was getting extremely anxious, making it very difficult for me to concentrate on the essay I had due that week. I tried to focus, but could only think of them. It was terrible because the only way I could be informed if they made it on the plane or not was by an email from Mrs. Vickroy. Constantly refreshing my inbox, I finally got an email, and it was an itinerary of their flight plans…meaning that they were both on their way!!! I couldn’t wait for them to get to Australia! They would only be able to visit for a few short days, but I had so much planned for them so they would have a great time!
The day they were meant to arrive in the country, I last minute decided to meet them in Brisbane that morning. I emailed them numerous times hoping that Hannah would check her inbox along the trip (and hopefully before leaving the airport—or else they would have gone all the way to the Sunshine Coast and I would have been stuck in Brisbane waiting for no one :/). After waiting at the train station for a couple hours, worried I would not be able to find them…they appeared at the gates! I was so excited to see their faces and to have my best friend in Australia with me!
From the train station we caught a bus to the Koala Sanctuary just out of Brisbane. Here Berta and Hannah would be able to see Koalas, possible hold one, and see other indigenous Australian animals while they were here. We got there and did our exploring for a couple hours. We all got to hold a Koala, unfortunately couldn’t take pictures unless we wanted to pay about $60, so we enjoyed the experience We also saw dingoes, Tasmanian devils, a platypus, a crocodile, and plenty of kangaroos. They were excited that we could walk around with the kangaroos, walk up to them, and pet them! After capturing tons of photos, we headed back to Brisbane to catch a train back to the Sunshine Coast and relax for the night (since they were so jet lagged). We got back to my apartment…I quickly introduced them to my roommates. But in no time we were settled and Roberta and Hannah were passed out on my bed by 9pm.
The following day we headed to Mooloolaba Beach so they could experience the ocean in Australia. Unfortunately when we arrived, the weather dramatically changed and it was a bit rainy. It wasn’t the best beach weather, so we just explored the nearby shops and had a picnic lunch. We left from there to go to the Sunshine Plaza so they could experience a little Aussie shopping—they wanted to check out dresses and such. We shopped for a couple hours and then went to the cinema to see the Pirates of the Caribbean 4 in 3D. I made sure that we got some lollies…and of course Berta could not resist some popcorn The movie was amazing and we had a great time. The girls were already getting exhausted on the bus ride back to the University. I tried to entertain them with the different terms and Aussie slang I had learned over the last few months. We were planning on going out to the clubs in Maroochydore that night, so I told them to take a short nap beforehand. We went out to Fridays with Tara around 10pm . We had a lot of fun dancing and I was glad to share the night life with them. There were quite a few strange people out that night, but we stuck to ourselves and had fun. We headed back to my place around 12:30…..and passed out.
The next day we slept in a little later, but decided to try the beach again and relax all day. On our way to the bus, I showed them the USC campus. While we were walking around I warned them that they would definitely see kangaroos…and wouldn’t you know it one showed up. We were about to take a picture when I realized that it was a pretty fat kangaroo. With a second glance I realized it wasn’t fat, it was a baby roo in the pouch!!! It was the coolest thing ever! We got to see the mom hop around with the roo in her pouch, and we saw the roo hop out of the pouch and hop away on its own! It was the most magical experience, and I was so glad to share it with Berta and Hannah! It was a perfect day for the beach this time. We laid out in the sun and explored the tide pools and rocky areas where little creatures usually like to hang out. Earlier I had asked Berta and Hannah if they wanted to be involved in a photo shoot for my photography project. I had to take 20 pictures and put them in a sequence to tell a story. They were excite4d and willing to participate, so we spent a lot of the day doing that. We had a lot of fun (and the pics can be seen in my photography album on facebook by the way) After getting plenty of sun, we went back to my place to make some dinner. First we walked to Wooly’s grocery store to get the ingredients we needed for our meal, we also got a movie to watch—Burlesque!
On Monday we woke up and went to Caloundra for our most extreme experience of the weekend—SKYDIVING! We were all pretty nervous, but it was something we all felt we had to do, and I know that I wasn’t leaving Australia without doing it We all went up in the plane together, and we were tandem jumping with professionals, to slightly lessen the risks :P From how we were sitting on the plane, Hannah would be the first to jump, then Berta, then me. It was honestly scarier for me to watch them leave the plane…it kind of hit me in the face like “Whoa! After that there is DEFINITELY NO TURNING BACK! It was my turn to jump…I thought I would cry, but I just screamed and laughed….it was the most AMAZING experience I have ever had!!!! I had so much fun and it gave me such a feeling of freedom! The view was beautiful and I never wanted it to end. I got to steer my parachute which was cool…and as soon as the jump was over I just wanted to do it again! I would LOVE that job. If you ever get the chance to skydive, DO IT! I was scared to do it, but it wasn’t scary at all and it was worth every penny!
All in all we had an amazing time! Making sure they tried TimTams and Vegemite, and telling them about Aussie traditions and their slang, I would like to say that I successfully gave them a true Australian experience in a mere four days. I was so happy that they could make it!!! Having them in Australia with me made me all the more excited to be back home to see them this summer…at Berta’s wedding!
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