Gold Coast, QLD, Australia

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: Why jump out of a perfectly good aeroplane?

A: It's totally exhilarating and fun!! The experience will change your life forever!

and I was convinced! I went skydiving today!!! I got up, caught the bus with two of my friends and we road to Coolangatta Airport, where we suited up and got a lesson in leaving the aircraft. We took off and flew over the coast line for about twenty minutes,

when we reached 10,000 feet, we OPENED THE DOOR!!

I was the second of three to jump, and boy was I excited...and scared out of my mind!!!


It was 45 seconds of free fall, until reaching terminal velocity,



and then a nice slow 80mph parachute down to the landing zone.

The view was beautiful!!!! I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Mt. Tambourine, QLD, Australia

Through my study abroad program, AustraLearn, I was able to sign up for a weekend with Conservation Volunteers: Australia. We left Friday morning and drove up to Mt. Tambourine. What Conservation Volunteers tries to do is restore natural rain forests. So they will find an area of deteriorating rain forest, fence it off, and begin to clear out invasive species and plant new trees and give the forest a chance to regenerate itself.

Our project involved pulling weeds and trees known as Privot.

It's not a particularly harmful species to the rain forest, but it isn't natural to the area. We also cleared garbage that had been thrown there and freed trees that were being strangled by vines. On Sunday, our leader took us to Mt. Tambourine National Park

where we were able to hike through the rain forest. On our hike we saw a Wallaby, a snake, a brush turkey, and heard the call of the cat bird, which, holding true to its name, sounds exactly like a cat's meow.

Australia: Cultural and Linguistic Notes

Hey Everyone, some people have asked me what cultural differences I have noticed between Australia and the United States and what slang I have picked up on. So in an effort to respond I will periodically include stuff in my blog regarding this. For now, here is some background information and a few fun facts :)

Australia, as some of you may now has a large population of indigenous people. The indigenous settlement of Australia dates back before the British settlement and there are hundreds of different indigenous groups throughout the hinterland (or "bush", basically the more rural, non coastal land) of Australia.

Some perhaps less well known information about the settlement of Australia is the British settlement. There were various expeditions too, and sightings of Australia before Captain James Cook, on his ship the Endeavor, made first landfall in 1770. After this, the British claimed the land as their own and began to settle it, initially as prison colonies along the east coast. This was in an effort to reduce the population of Britain, but later was phased out.

As a result, Australia is a very diverse mixture of British culture, Indigenous culture, and more recently Western culture. This is evidenced in architecture, language, accent, culinary and other ways.

Now I'm sure you're all saying, "That's nice Tami, but I could have figured that out on my own. I want to know what YOU have noticed." Well, I'm going to tell you, I just wanted to give you a bit of a background that would require no research on your part.

Education
Let's start with the education system, There is Primary School, Junior High School, and High School. If you say I'm going to "school" you will, based on your age, be assumed to be in one of those three areas of schooling. By the time you are in High School you are expected to know what career you are interested in pursuing. There is no "liberal arts" you go to University to pursue a very specific degree in your field. If you don't want to have a degree requiring career, that's perfectly acceptable. At this point you are encouraged to drop out of high school and enter a trade school to learn a specific trade. If you go on to Uni, you choose a program, and then a major. For instance I would be considered to be pursuing a bachelor of social science with a major in Psychology. You go into a condensed, and intense program and at the completion of three years, you have a degree. You then choose to go on to pursue a master's or pursue a career. The students here are not referred to as freshmen, sophomores and juniors, just by their year. First year, second year, etc.

For classes, I have one lecture per week. It s two hours long and is all lecture, and only occasionally a video. In addition to the one lecture there is a Tutorial for each class. That is one hour long and consists of discussion, handouts, activities, conversation, debates, etc.

Government
Australia is a commonwealth country consisting of a Prime Minister, and elected heads of state. It is a similar system to that of Great Britain. When we visited Brisbane, I had the opportunity to tour the Parliament House of Queensland. We learned a bit about the way the system works and some of the history of Queenslands government itself.

As far as social norms, I have only noticed a few that stand out. In general Australians are more laid back than North Americans. It isn't all about going as fast as possible and getting as much done in a day that you can. They are a very socially centered culture. No matter where you are it is common that people are having a conversation around you. If you're on your way somewhere and you say hello, the other person stops, and says hello back and usually follows up with "How you going?" (A phrase equivalent to "How are you," What's up," or "How are you doing"). It's quite interesting. Also, drinking is not only ver popular here, it is the center of most or all social events. On campus events, off campus events, Holiday events, basically, Australians love to drink. If there isn't drinking at an event, there's probably an after party somewhere. There is also a big "have a go" attitude. If you've never done something or are maybe scared, or aren't so good, it's really common to "have a go" anyway. It's really encouraged and appreciated.

Now for the fun part, Aussie slang!

Me and me mates rocked up at the pub and a bloke shouted us some schooners while we watched cricket on the tellie. He was a nice Aussie bloke, but his mate was a pissed tosser so we left and had a cuppa back at someone's apartment.

TRANSLATION: My friends and I showed up at the bar and I guy bought us a round of small beers while we watched Cricket on TV. He was Australian and very nice, but his friend was a drunk loser so we left and had some tea back at someone's apartment.

haha. ok here are a few basic words for ya'll.

G'day: {Gid-DAY}--US equivalent: Hello
Mate: --US equivalent: Friend
How you going? -- US equivalent: How are you? What's up? How are you doing?
Pissed-- US equivalent: Drunk
Pissed Off-- US equivalent: Angry
No Worries: {No WAH-rees}-- US equivalent: It's OK, no problem, don't worry about it, your welcome, etc.
Aussie: Australian
Yank: American
Bloke: Man
Bum Bag: Fanny Pack..DO NOT say fanny pack. "Fanny" refers to female genitalia

And there are of course some other slang words such as "rubbish"-garbage, "boot and bonnet"-trunk and hood of a car, "Have a go"-give it a try

Another common way of referring to certain things is to add the "ie" or "y" sound to them. For instance, Breakfast becomes Brekky, High School student becomes "Schooly", Mosquito, "Mossie", Australian, "Aussie", Swim Suit, "Swimmy" etc.

And finally, Rhyming Slang. It's common for Australians to say things that rhyme with what they're actually trying to say. Examples below:
Noah's Ark-Shark
Mary Lee-Tea
Kitchen Sink-Drink
Molly the Monk-Drunk
Oxford Scholar-Dollar
Forgive and Forget-Cigarette
Captain Cook-Look
David Gower-Shower
Plates of Meat-Feet
Septic Tank-Yank
Steak and Kidney-Sydney
Apples and Pears-Stairs
Georgie Moore-Door

So there, I hope that you feel informed. If you have any specific questions just let me know! :)

Byron Bay, NSW, Australia

"If everybody had an ocean, across Australia, than everybody'd be surfin, surfin AUS...."?

OK so there may not be a song for my adventure, but there sure are photos! I signed up for the Byron Bay Surf Day event and this is what we got to do. After arriving at Hasting's Point we had a 2 hour surfing lesson, then we spent the morning in the water practicing and surfing! I rode a couple of waves, nothing spectacular but I had a blast!!

Then after lunch we walked up to the Byron Bay historical light house and watched for whales.

We also stood at the "most easterly point of the Australian mainland."

From there we walked down to the beach and relaxed in the sun. After this our guides took us to Springbrook National Park where we hiked up to some rock pools and waterfalls near the base of the mountain!! We got to jump in! It was super cold but a lot of fun!!

Surfers Paradise, QLD, Australia

Now that I'm settled in at school there's plenty going on! A town closer to Bond Uni than Brisbane is Surfers Paradise. As the name suggests it is PARADISE!!

Beautiful beaches and crisp skyline make Surfers Paradise one of the most famous parts of Australia to visit. It also houses the tallest residential building in the world, Q1.

Most students have little or no class on Thursday and no class on Friday. This week we spent both days on the beach and shopping around Surfers. The Beach is gorgeous. The sand is white and soft, and for my Lake Michigan friends, it doesn't squeak when you walk on it. The ocean is crystal clear and a blue that is incomparable to anything else.

The city is nice, well kept and lots of SHOPPING!! There is also quite a selection of restaurants, my favorite being "Pancakes in Paradise".

All you can eat pancakes for only $7.95!!! :)

Brisbane, QLD, Australia

After only slightly adjusting to our new life at Bond Uni, my roommate and I packed a backpack, grabbed a bus schedule and a map and hopped a train to Brisbane, Australia's third largest City and the capital of Queensland. We arrived in Brisbane in the morning and walked from the train station to Chinatown for some shopping, exploration and lunch.


We spent most of the morning there and had a light lunch at one of the many restaurants. After lunch we walked back across central Brisbane to a hostel near the train station.

We checked in and then walked on to the Queensland cultural museum. We visited a historical art museum, a modern art museum, and the cultural museum. After this adventure we found a travel by foot street saturated with various souvenir shops, clothing shops, and other shopping on either side as well as a miriad of pubs and restaurants down the center. We had dinner here and then went out for a couple of drinks at a local pub. Upon our return to the hostel we met some fellow travelers from Ireland and got the opportunity to talk with them about their travels and experiences in Australia. The next morning we got up, had a light breakfast and started walking towards the City Botanical Gardens/City Park. On our way we ran into a weekly market along the Brisbane river. We found many different vendors including opals for anywhere from $300-$2000, souvenirs, many items hand-made in Australia, but not unique to the country.

There was music and so many people that you had to squeeze through people everywhere you went. We also found a farmer's market where we purchased some homemade bread, some local fruit, and a lamington for a picnic lunch at the park.

(A Lamington-Yellow cake rolled in a chocolate coating and shredded coconut-mm mm good)

We walked through the park and climbed a tree before sitting in a grassy shaded area and eating our lunch. After lunch we walked along the river and then discovered a classical concert followed by a marching band from Scotland. Also during our visit we saw the old government building and the active Parliament house for Queensland. It was quite interesting to tour the Parliament house and gain insight to the Australian and Queensland government systems.

After two long days of walking we boarded our return train and headed home.

Cairns, QLD, Australia

After 26 grueling hours of travel, myself and the rest of my tour group arrived in Cairns, Northern Queensland, Australia. During our short time here we attended a few sessions with some information crucial to our time in Australia. They talked a lot about culture shock, homesickness, and adjusting to our life in Australia. The more exciting aspect of this was the hands-on introduction we got to Australia. Our time in Cairns was spent in a hostel called Gilligan's.

For our first adventure we went to a place called Rainforestation. This is something similar to a hands on museum and a zoo combined. We were introduced to heaps of local wildlife. We saw corocodiles, lizards, wallabies, got to feed a kangaroo, and hold a Koala.

We also got a bit of Aboriginal history. We were guided by a local aboriginal who educated us on the weaponry and method of throwing a boomerang, we even got to try!!

He also shared with us the different ways a spear is used in hunting, played the didgeridoo for us and told us how they were made and educated us on the ceremonial and sacred aspects of the instrument, and we got to see some traditional aboriginal dances.
Following this we rode on an army duck through the rain forest and learned about the various plants native to the Australian rain forest.



On day 2 of our adventure in Cairns we hopped a boat early in the morning to the Great Barrier Reef. Once there we were given the opportunity to snorkel, scuba dive, and relax on a tropical uninhabited island. We also saw whales, and various fish come near the boat.



After our adventure in Cairns we flew to Brisbane and bussed to Bond Uni, our home for the semester.

Ridgway, CO-Blue Lakes

So when the thunderstorms crushed our dream of climbing Sneffels we resorted to a CLASSIC Colorado hike- the blue lakes. The blue lakes is a series of three lakes filled by ice melting down the mountains. They are unbelievably blue and so beautiful, surrounded by trees and wildflowers the smell is heavenly and the sun reflects off the water in a dreamlike way. We could see the sun rising over the mountains as we hike up at around 6 in the morning.
The first lake was a turquoise color that got bluer as we climbed.
The next two were closer together and you reach them by hiking through a marshy area right alongside a waterfall. The middle lake is a brighter blue than the rest.
The top lake is surrounded by wildflowers and you can see it in front of the peak of Sneffels.
It was phenomenal.