Tuesday, April 13, 2010

End of Semester & Whitsunday Islands!

Farewell Dinner
The last week in March,  we had our Arcadia Farewell dinner at the "Lake Cafe" down the street. I got the CLC- Co Curricular Learning Cerificate from Arcadia University and a gift card to a book store for writing a paper from our Byron Bay trip about the history of Cape Byron, the Byron Lighthouse, and the Indigineous tribes we learned about. I also get some credit from writing this blog as well.



Whitsunday Islands / Great Barrier Reef
Easter weekend, 7 of my friends and I went to the Whitsunday Islands on "Wings III", a sailing cruise for 2 nights and 3 days.
Thursday night, we stayed at Beachers Backpackers in Airlie Beach and then left Friday afternoon from Abel Point Marina. We slept on the boat Friday and Saturday night. There were about 20 people on board and then 4 crew members who were all really nice and friendly! The other passengers on our boat were nice too, and from all over the world: Ireland, England, U.S., Germany and Sweden. The crew was great; they cooked all of our meals which were delicious! The captain took out Will Smith and his family once on his boat!
We had a choice of snorkeling or scuba diving, or both. So my friends and I decided to do intro scuba diving since none of us are certified. Scuba diving in the great barrier reef was amazing! I went two times and then snorkled the rest.
We sailed from Airlie Beach to Haymen Island, Hook Island then down to Tounge Bay and Whitehaven Beach! Whitehaven beach was beautiful and had the whitest sand! We got out and walked the trail to Whitehaven beach and then up to the lookout.

left: a blue fishright: Nemo!Angel fish 6 stripes
huge blue parrot/ tattoo fish

 

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Lamington National Park - Rainforest hike and O'Reilly's Canungra Valley Vineyards

Last Friday, March 19th, we went with Mazz and Cat (our Arcadia leaders) to Lamington National Park.
It was about an hour and 1/2 long bus ride south to Canungra Valley. We drove up the mountain through the rainforests on the tiny mountain road. Mazz and Cat took turns driving the buss.
It was such a beautiful ride up!

When we got to the top, there was the O'Reilly's gift shop and packed out backpacks for the 3 hour hike.
We hiked through the trail down the mountain in one straight line. It was drizzling a  little so the trail was very muddy and that's when the leeches come out  :-/ So we had to keep an eye on our sneakers and get them off before they reached our ankles and bit us! They weren't that bad though, they were as tiny as inch worms.
My sneakers got soooo muddy! and one leech followed my roomate home! haha it was grossseee
We saw HUGE trees and so many beautiful trees and weird plants.


There were a lot of birds and we saw a Lamington Spiny Crayfish, or a Blue Mountain Crayfish: found in pools and streams of the subtropical rainforest above an altitude of 450 meters.  (picture below)

When we got to the small waterfall, we stopped and had lunch while we sat on the rocks.  Mazz and Cat brought wraps, hummus, veggies, pesto, and lunch meat to make lunch for everyone. (waterfall picture below)


Then we walked all the way back UP (up hill the whole time and faster) the mountain (1.5 hours each way). It got really nice out by that time and it was quite a work out.
We didn't make it in time to feed the birds, but that's ok. We went straight to the Tree Top Walk: a suspended bridge made from timber and wire rope 24 meters above ground! We were so high up! This was a lot of fun. Then Alicia and I went up the ladder that went even higher - 30 meters off the ground. The ladder was surrounded by a gate in case you fell and the view from the top of the trees was awesome!



Then we walked back to the bus and drove back down the mountain. It was so sunny by this time in the afternoon and the view down the mountain was so nice. On our way down, we saw a little white car had slipped off the road and slid down the mountain a little and hit a tree, but I think the passengers were fine.
At the bottom of the mountain was O'Reilly's - Canungra Valley Vineyards. We stopped and tried some wine and relaxed at the vineyard for a little while.  There were pictures of people's past weddings and it was soo pretty there.   :-)


 

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Beginning of March



Wednesday March 3 - Soccer game in Brisbane to see the Australia Socceroos vs Indonesia!
Annie, Cyrus, Kyle, Amy, Steph, Bonnie, Mat, Alicia, Tara, Mike, and I took the train to Brisbane to watch the soccer game! Australia won 1-0  :-)





Friday March 5 - Quiksilver and Roxy Pro Surf Competition at Coolangatta Beach
Our friend Cody, who loves surfing, drove us to the beach to see the quiksilver pro competition on Friday March 5th, the final rounds of the men (quiksilver) and women (roxy). Our friends saw Kelly Slater as he was getting out of the water! It was so fun to be at the event and see all the pro surfers!      
              
             
    
Stephanie Gilmore & Silvana Lima
   
Kelly Slater

March 12-14 - KEM visits!
KEM came up from Wollongong University (1 hour south of Sydney) to the Gold Coast this weekend to visit me at Bond! She came with her friend Amanda from Roger Williams and we had so much fun! When she got here Thursday night we hung out with all of my friends and went to Don's Tavern....the next day I showed Kem and Amanda Burleigh Heads Beach and we went on a beautiful walk around the cliff on the ocean!
We saw 2 weddings at the beach that day!

Sunday March 14 - Mount Tamborine - Wine Tasting Tour
Jessie, Annie, Kyle, and I (and a whole bus full of Bond students) signed up for the Mount Tamborine trip that consisted of 2 Vineyards, a Distillery, Brewery, Cheese Factory, and Fudge! Mount Tamborine was BEAUTIFUL and the views from the top were amazing! It reminded me of Vermont with the farm lands,cows, and horses.
 
The trolley tour guy was very nice and told us a lot about Mount Tamborine. This area is known for its abundance of avocado and kiwi trees! Mount Tamborine is a volcanic plateau with rainforests, waterfalls, flowers, fresh water under ground, vineyards, wineries, lakes, glow worm caves, and more!
The first stop was the Tamborine Mountain Distillery at Eagle Hights Mountain Resort. We tried several delicious liquors: Wattle Toffee, Limoncello, Butterscotch, Caramel, Chocolate, Passion Fruit and Mint! My favorites were the limoncello with tonic water and the wattle toffee.

Next we went to 2 vineyards: first Aussie Vineyards / Au (Authentic Australian Wines) and then The Cedar Creek Estate Vineyard & Winery.
The next vineyard was The Cedar Creek Estate. I liked this one a little more and the taste of their wines. My favorites were the Chardonnay/Semillon 2007: A beautiful semi-sweet and fruity wine and the Revelation Red 2009: Fruity Styled Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine lady talked about the wine industry and how said how they're making more sweet and fruity wines because the younger generation has such a big sweet tooth! The last drink we tried was the Cedar Creme: a fortified wine made with Brandy spirit, chocolate, caramel, and vanilla flavors. The Cedar Creme was delicious, everyone loved it!

Our next stop was the Mount Tamborine Brewery. There was a man singing and playing great oldies on his guitar, a cheese tasting, the brewery, a cafe. Down the road where we got to walk around there were fudge shops, art galleries, a cuckoo clock store, and gift shops. We tried the 4 most popular Mt Tamborine beers and then tried some cheese and fudge! YUMMM