Australia is like Canada’s cousin on the opposite side of the world that seems like a mystical far off place. And it is, I mean, the antipode of Saint John, NB (where I live) is off the coast of the waters of Australia. The antipode of Saint John is more in Ocean Beach (west coast), but we visited Gold Coast (east coast). So it was fun to visit the antipode of where I lived (not exactly, but close enough) and get to explore the country allll the way on the opposite side of the world.

The flight to get to Australia wasn’t bad, Bali is pretty close to Australia for the most part. I’m pretty sure you could just take a quick boat trip from the tip top of Australia and then go to Bali in like an hour or two. But the thing is, Australia is MASSIVE. We flew to Bali and then went to Melbourne (which is 6 hours), and then Melbourne to Gold Coast (2 hours). But on the way back to Bali, I was looking at the map, this flight was from Sydney back to Bali, and the captain said we were beginning out descent with about 30 minutes or so left into the flight. I look at the map, and we’re still above Australia. In a 6 hour flight, like, 5 hours and 30 minutes are spent flying over Australia alone. Like I said, massive! The one problem with Australia is that all the good places an on the coast, nothing is really in the middle, and to get from coast to coast it’s pretty far trip.

The Rhapsody Hotel was were we stayed and we really could not have asked for a better location. It was right on the beach, very walkable, and if you didn’t want to walk, there was a tram station right outside and a convenience store right underneath. The sea breeze was so healing and calm, I think I wanted to stay there forever. We got passes for the tram, and we got access to all of the stops along the beach. The trams also connect to a bus line that you can ride with your tram pass too, so it’s really good for getting around. We rode the whole tram line because we wanted to. We couldn’t decide which rideshare service that Australia used the most, but with the tram that takes you here there and everywhere, you don’t need it. However, I did get the names a little bit mixed up. Living in Florida all my life, when someone says “Miami Beach” I think of Miami Florida. If someone in Australia says “Florida Gardens” I’m just confused. Gold Coast looks like Miami in a lot of ways. The buildings looks very close to the beach, the flat land, it just looks like Miami.

That was one of the rare times that I have gotten to ride public transport, and the most Australian thing I think I’ve seen in Australia was not the kangaroos or the koalas, but the drunk man who stumbled into the bus at about 2 in the afternoon. He got onto the bus without paying, he was threatening people, and had to be chased out by police. He then proceeded to run across the street in traffic and almost got hit by a car. So fun for my first time riding a bus 😀

We didn’t go to any amusement parks (although I really wanted to) the main reason being that a lot of the good coasters weren’t open. We like to go on the roller coasters, so if there’s no roller coasters… then why go? Instead, we went to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, and we saw the animals of Australia. I like to go to places like this in other countries because we definitely do not get the same animals. I loved getting to see koalas in person! I think I’ve seen them in North American zoos before, but it’s not really the same. We got to see many other Australian animals too, like kangaroos, wallabies, and Tasmanian devils. I got a picture with a koala, and they are really fuzzy. Very soft and very cute. The kangaroos were really energetic and jumpy. They bounce. Bouncy kangaroos. One cool thing I witnessed was a joey went in the mommy kangaroo’s pouch.

I loved feeding the kangaroos, holding a koala, seeing the unique birds, and all the other animals.

We did another fun thing in Australia, and that was the jet boating. We went jet boating last time on the rapids in the St. Lawrence River in Canada. It was a wild and crazy ride. We were soaked in water. This time it was in the open ocean. I was thinking that the ride would be tame, you know, it’s hard for the boat to rock from side to side and get splashed when you’re on a flat bed of water. It’s very different, for one, its a different boat, and instead of letting the environment toss you around, you have to toss yourself around. The driver spun us around in circles, and made it so that we were thoroughly splashed. A bit more emphasis on “splash”. We weren’t exactly soaking wet, and honestly, I wasn’t expecting to be soaking wet.

In the rapids, you run into the waves head first and you feel like you’ve just gotten ten buckets of water dumped on you. If you’ve ever been to one of those splash pads at waterparks where they have that great BIG bucket to dump on the children, then it’s a little bit like that. Also, I will note that it does hurt when the water comes and splashes you, it feels a lot like pins and needles straight to your face. And if you’re on the end (like me) you get full blast of it. I was going to bring my googles, but then I figured I would be good. It was only once I got sprayed in the eyes, did I remember it was salt water.

As far as differences from Australia and Canada go, there’s the usual ones, like driving on the other side of the road, the Aussie accents, and the opposite seasons, but other than that there’s not a whole lot of culture shock. Maybe because I think I’m immune to culture shock, haha. I think Australia is a very nice place, the roaring waves, the warm sand, the wildlife, and I want to go back to explore more of it >.< I think it would also be fun to learn how to surf in Australia! Surfin’ in Australia would be fun 🙂 I got to hear the waves everyday and wake up to the sun shining through the windows. I swear, waking up early to bright sunny morning can cure anything. Sometimes I think of all the travelling I could do if I lived on the other side of the world. Flights would be so much better.

We got lots of walking in, we explored the nearby mall, went for ice cream, went swimming, walked on the beach, swam in the pool because the beach was too cold (it was March beginning of fall season), went shopping around Gold Coast, and I watched Wednesday on Netflix. It was like a vacation from our vacation. What I loved most about Australia was that it was different from Canada and the US, but also just so familiar.

That would be all for my post on Australia! Overall, I really liked Australia, and I would love to go back! I would like to go to Sydney, the Great Barrier Reef, or Uluru next :D.

P.S. Has anyone tried Vegemite and actually liked it? I’ve heard that it’s a black, savory spread that needs lots of butter to make it taste good. We didn’t try it in Australia and I need to know that I wasn’t missing out on anything important T-T

P.P.S. I didn’t see any kiwi birds T-T

P.P.P.S. (thats so many p’s) Does anyone have some Australia place recommendations?