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.   :-)

 

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 

  

Mid term exams... then SYDNEY!

    Mid Terms: I had 2 exams last week, one in Sales Management and one in Psych. Love, Sex, and Relationships and a paper for Internet Advertising. I didn't have one for Advertising Principles and Practices because we do debates and are about to start an advertising campaign project. I studied a lot and I think I did well on my exams, we find out this week.

    Then my friends and I, as well as heaps of Bond students, traveled to New South Wales for the weekend for the mardi gras parade in Sydney.

    When we got there on Thursday night, we met up with the rest of our group and hung out at the hostel. We stayed at "Wake Up" hostel on Pitt St. It was pretty nice for a hostel and there was a cafe, a TV room, internet access, and the Side Bar which was a lot of fun! There were so many people staying there from all different countries.

< our hostel

     On Friday we did all the tourist things and explored Sydney. We took the Sydney Hop on Hop off double decker tour bus. We went to some markets, china town, around Darling Harbour, and then the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The Opera House and the bridge were amazing! We had so much fun and took a bunch of pictures! There was a wedding being set up in the Royal Botanic Gardens near the Opera House.

    I also saw the Anzac Bridge, Australia's oldest cathedral - Saint Andrew's Cathedral, the Public Library of New South Wales, Sydney's oldest pub, where Russell Crow lives, King Edward VII statue and memorial. I learned that even though the British pound was their official currency, Australia used Rum as another currency in the 1800's.

Russell Crowe's house at the end

    Saturday, Feb. 27, was the famous Mardi Gras Parade on Oxford Street. 1/2 million people come from everywhere for the Mardi Gras celebration. It was crazy! There were so many interesting people!
This is the description from the mardi gras website: "The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival is the world’s premier gay and lesbian cultural festival. Spanning two weeks in 2010, from the 19th February – 6th March, the Festival aims to increase visibility of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities and their culture."  http://www.mardigras.org.au/index.cfm

   Our last day in Sydney, we went to Bondi Beach! That day there was a tsunami warning, but nothing really happened...boriingg. Bondi Beach was soo pretty! We had a lot of fun walking around the outdoor market that had a bunch of tents selling different things and sat on the beach and watched the surfers.