south of Surfer’s Paradise in the northern part of New South Wales. On Friday, Jenna, Jill, Julia, Cathy, Tanya (who the blog has yet to meet and our token Australian friend!), and I boarded a bus to make the trip down to Byron for the weekend. We legitimately had no idea what to expect when we got there or what there is to do, but we were excited nonetheless. I’ve taken two trips with Jenna and Jill and stayed in semi-creepy hostels with them in Sydney and New Zealand, but this was my first experience sharing it with Julia, Cathy and Tanya. We got off the bus around 1:30pm and were greeted by a pretty cute, but slightly rude Australian boy whose job was nothing more than to get tourists to pay ridiculous amounts of money for skydiving. Needless to say, we didn’t accept his offer. We got on the shuttle to check into our hostel, Cape Byron Lodge, but the driver never showed up (Thanks a lot, Amy.) so we decided to walk; the weather was beautiful and we had just been sitting in a bus for over an hour. We all immediately realized that Byron was an adorable town and that exploration was absolutely necessary. After we checked into the hostel (which was quite possibly the dirtiest place I’ve ever been to), we got back on the shuttle (this time there was a driver) and headed back downtown to shop and have a look around. Byron Bay is home to “New South Wales most beautiful beach” and after walking to the end of the road, we could all see why. The water was clear and blue, the sand was so fine and soft that I could have fallen asleep on it and the whole beach extended left and right as far as I could see. We shopped a little more and then decided it was time for a drink; give us a break- we’re in Australia, it’s the thing to do! We headed to a bar called The Beach and tried a beer called Stone & Wood. We soon realized this was no ordinary beer. Stone & Wood is a infused with passionfruit and I’m not kidding when I say it’s the most delicious beverage I think I’ve ever had. We hung out in town for the rest of the night, ate some dinner, danced at Cheeky Monkey’s (Byron’s HOTTEST party bar) and finally decided that we were exhausted. We had a busy day tomorrow and we needed rest.
there was delicious. Saturday morning’s breakfast consisted of an English muffin topped with tomato relish, roasted zucchini, goat cheese, and a poached egg. I could honestly eat that everyday and still find it amazing. After brekky, we called another cab and went up to the lighthouse, which is infamous in Byron. Cathy had been bragging about how great the lighthouse was going to be for about 3 weeks, so clearly we had to check it out. She was right. The lighthouse did not disappoint. We took a look inside and read some history and then headed down a footpath where we would eventually end up at the beach. On the way and after about a million photo-opts, we made it to the most easterly point of Australia. That’s a pretty cool accomplishment if you ask me. I raced Tanya on the way and obviously I won… only kidding, it was a tie! We walked to the beach, wrote our names in the sand and then headed to my new favorite place in the world. There’s a lookout point directly down from the lighthouse overlooking the water and rocks. I’m almost certain that we sat on the fence looking from the water to the lighthouse to the cliff for about 45 minutes; none of us wanted to leave. After dragging ourselves up the most grueling steps ever, we decided it was time to eat again… Oh, just a side note so that EVERYONE is aware: on Friday, Cathy and Tanya ate sushi. Anyways, for lunch on Saturday Jill, Jenna, Julia, and I got the most amazing chicken burgers ever from a little Portuguese burger stand. And, oh that’s right, Cathy and Tanya got sushi for lunch. After we ate and looked around a little more, we headed back to the hostel to get ready for the evening and possibly take a power nap. Unfortunately, I had a slight fever and sore throat on Saturday night so I didn’t do anything at all except lie in my bed and hope for the best. Luckily, it came on Sunday morning after taking some Advil.
Three days in Byron may have been just one too many, but then again, I had an absolute blast this weekend. Sunday morning, we woke up, checked out of the hostel, and went to get some breakfast. Jill had the “best banana bread of her life” while everyone else's meal was just mediocre. We headed to the beach after brekky where there was an ongoing protest down one end. It was kind of weird, but we embraced it by burying Tanya in the sand and shaping her into a mermaid. Later in the day, I ate the world’s best falafel- not proclaimed by the place I got it, but I dubbed them the title because I honestly think it is true. Tanya and Cathy, well, they ate sushi… what a shock!!! Finally the time came to board our bus and go home. As I said before, I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have such amazing friends in Australia. These are people that I know I will have as friends for the rest of my life. It’s trips like the one to Byron that make me realize just how truly lucky I am. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much and that hard in such a short period of time than I did this weekend. My friends leave in less than a month and I’ll be here in Australia with my mom until mid-July. I’m so ecstatic to have my mom come and I cannot wait to show her all of the amazing sites and places I have discovered over these past 4 months. It’s an odd feeling though. I have my mom coming, which is incredible, but I do wish that my friends could stay here with me. I know that they are sad to leave this amazing country and I can’t blame them, but I know that once I get home it will be great to see them all again (except Tanya… brb crying myself to sleep). It’ll be a completely different experience with my mom than with my friends. I’ve found that the trips I’ve taken with people have helped me get to know them a lot better. It bums me out to think about them leaving so soon. Guys, you have made this experience the best four months of my life and I genuinely mean that and I can’t wait for upcoming adventures with you all. Oh, and mom, LESS THAN A MONTH!!
town and giving away prizes at the same bar we were at. The competition was a “horizontal bungy” which meant that one player of the team had to run to one end of the bar while attached to a bungy, grab a cup of beer, and return it to their teammate. The otherteammate had to chug the beer down as fast as they could and who ever could do it fastest would win a free bungy anda free bungy swing. None of us competed, so none of us won; not that it would matter though because the bungy was in Queenstown and we were not looking to go back there during this holiday in New Zealand. After we swooned over Prince William and Prince Harry some more and commented on how beautiful Kate looked with some girls from London, we headed back to the RV for the night; we had a long day ahead of us tomorrow.
started maneuvering all over the glacier. We used pick axes to balance ourselves and our guide would strike the ice to make stairs for us to walk down. Throughout the day, my group had 3 guides, which was very unusual. The first guide accidentally picked his leg so hard in the shin that he had to be taken away by helicopter, the second guide led us the rest of the way up and down, but had to make a speedy exit at the end because he still had six hours of driving ahead of him. The last guide didn’t take us far, just from the bottom of the glacier tot the bus, but he was the cutest so I didn’t care. It’s hard for me to put into words exactly what we were experiencing so I tried to take as much video as possible. The glacier hike was one of the most adventurous, exciting, and interesting activities I’ve ever done in my life and I would recommend it to anyone no matter what part of the world you are in. We had planned on going to the glacier thermal pools after the hike, but we were exhausted and starving so we decided to just go back to the camper, shower, and go out for our last dinner of the holiday.
weather was far too cold for any of us to go into water, so opted for something a little warmer, but equally as exciting. We took a gondola up a mountain on the far side of Queenstown, overlooking the city the whole time, and bought tickets to luge. Honestly, the luge was the most fun thing I think I have ever done in my life. It’s a little car that has handlebars and that’s it; similar to a go-kart but there are no gas or brake pedals, the only controls are to pull back on the handlebars as a brake. We pretended we were in the video game Mario Kart and were zooming around each other the whole time; it was hilarious and exhilarating especially since it was on the side of a mountain. Afterward, we took the gondola back down and took a look around the shops in time for some souvenirs. We could all agree that the city of Queenstown reminded us of Denver or Boulder out in Colorado. It’s surrounded by mountains and the little shops and restaurants in the center gave the feel of a mountain summit, plus the locals are so laid back and friendly it’s similar to the Rocky Mountains. Needless to say, we fell in love with the city and would go back in a heartbeat. The highlight for all of us was the infamous Ferg Burger. Ferg Burger is a little hole in the wall hamburger stand where the serve enormous burgers that are some of the best I’ve ever tasted. When Jenna, Jill, and I were in Sydney, we met a boy named Jonathan who had been in New Zealand before and he told us about Ferg Burger; ever since then we’ve been dying to try it.
a ½ pound burger with everything on it. SO DELICIOUS. She even got a T-shirt. Unfortunately for the time being, the fun was over in Queenstown. Friday morning we packed up the RV and started on our 5 hour drive to Franz Josef where we will (hopefully) hike up a glacier. It’s still really cold down here and none of us really packed for the climate, but we are having fun nonetheless. It will definitely feel good to get back to the Gold Coast and be able to wear shorts and flip flops again… hmm, that sounds awfully familiar doesn’t it?
for reconstruction, the town of New Brighton (where our hostel is located) is practically all closed, and everywhere you drive in the city there are fallen buildings and roads of holes. Most of the landmarks we wantedto see in the city are closed until further notice. It’s kind of an odd feeling being here and seeing all the tragedy. Before we flew in, I obviously knew that there had been a severe earthquake, but it’s one of those things that I’ve never experienced and therefore never realized the magnitude of what the effects would be. The locals are so calm about it; whenever we ask what we can do they say, “oh you could do this…but, ohwait that’s closed because of the earthquake.” It’s something that really blows my mind and puts life into perspective of just how lucky I truly am.
early on Monday so we could go to the Adrenaline Forest, which is essentially a ropes and zip line course in trees up to 30 meters high. Little did we know that Monday was ANZAC Day. ANZAC, which stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps, is one of the biggest holidays down here and all businesses are closed until at least 1pm. This wasn’t the only disappointment we encountered; it was also raining- cold and raining. We had no other choice but to sit around a table in the café downstairs, eat overpriced toast, and play hours of Monopoly until one. After one o’clock, we realized we were absolutely starving, so we took the bus to a shopping mall across the city, walked around a bit, and finally found a little pub to eat at. We got a pitcher of local Tui (t-oo-ey) beer, interesting because at home on the Gold Coast we love a beer called Toohey’s…
orest and let me tell you IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. Now, I’m a little scared of heights, but if you remember from my blog The Reef, this trip I am being fearless. We made our way out on the ropes and I was kind of scared when we got up really high, but it was worth it. The experience was amazing and quite the workout. Unfortunately, my iPhone was out of battery, so there are only pictures and no videos of our time, but just try and imagine me and Jenna flying down zip lines and climbing on spider web –like ropes in trees taller than anything you’ve ever seen. After an exhausting day, the four of us headed back to our hostel area to get some chicken fingers and fish and chips at a little place we had seen before we left New Brighton. With surprise, however, we found out that the little restaurant had a lot more to offer. It definitely didn’t help that our stomachs were basically empty, but I’m almost positive that we ate just about everything in the shop. To put it simply and after much debate, our table had 3 orders of chips, 3 “hotdogs,” 2 orders of six chicken nuggets, one cheeseburger, and one chicken burger. I know what you’re thinking, “why would hot dog be in quotes?” Well, this would be because it was not a typical hotdog. It was actually a sausage on a stick and then deep fried… YES, deep-fried. No worries, no one who ordered it could finish it and after three bites we all gave up on it, but I can’t say the same for the rest of the food. We got back to our room, experienced, the aftershock (of the earthquake, not of stuffing our faces with fried goodness), and snuggled into bed to warm up for the night. Overall, Christchurch was good to us and we enjoyed our time here, but we are definitely ready to get our RV and drive it all over the south island… Oh, right, I forgot to mention that. The four of us rented a RV and are driving from Christchurch then south to Queenstown then moving back up north to a glacier in Franz Josef and finally leaving Sunday out of Christchurch. This is going to be an unforgettable Easter Break, I can already tell.