Now it’s finally over… my time in Australia is approaching its end! And it really was a great time. After having done all exams (which I hope were pretty good) many of the international students decided to leave quite early. However, me and Peyton decided that after having seen so many beaches and cities in Australia, it was time to discover some of Australia’s National Parks. I mean, this continent is famous for being huge. So, why not make a 10.000 km trip in 10 days! And that’s what we did!

1. Stop Adelaide

The first stop in our journey was Adelaide. We flew from Brisbane to the capital of South Australia. Peyton and I stayed there for one night. I have to admit that there is not much to say about Adelaide. The city is quite nice for living I reckon. But its not a great tourism spot. So after an afternoon in its centre and a walking tour we felt as if we had a pretty comprehensive impression of this city.

Flying to Alice Springs

Alice Springs is a small town in the heart of Australia. Surrounded by the Australian outback it is a perfect starting point to discover the Uluru (Ayers Rock), which is one of Australia’s most popular sights. And I have to admit: being in the outback was just amazing. We slept under the stars (and I’ve never seen any comparable sky where I saw as many stars), hiked around the Olgas, got to know a lot about Aboriginal culture and what was most important to me: I got way closer to Australia. Sure, I’ve seen very many nice beaches in Australia… but being in its Outback and spotting wild horses, wild camels and some kangaroos gave me the feeling of actually exploring the country. Sitting around with the other travel mates at the camp fire and having marshmallows was a great experience.

Travel to Darwin

From Alice Springs our journey led us to Darwin, the capital city of the Northern Territory. Since Peyton and I wanted to have a feeling of what “distance” actually means in Australia, we decided to take a Greyhound bus. Consequently: We travelled in a bus for 22 hours. Since there are only 180.000 people living in the Northern Territory there was basically nothing on our way to Darwin. Nothing, but bush land and outback. After our arrival in Darwin, we had one day to explore this city.

The Kakadu National Park

One of the most beautiful national parks in Australia is the Kakadu National Park, which is as big as Switzerland. Our tour in this park started with a crocodile cruise. I’ve never seen a 6m long saltwater crocodile (“salty”) jumping straight out of the water to reach a peace of meat. And especially, I haven’t ever been that close to it. The crocodile cruise was definitely exciting! Next we explored the billabongs, waterholes and falls in the park. On the one hand, it is really beautiful and a daily temperature of about 30 degrees invites you to swim in one of the beautiful lakes. On the other hand, it is pretty dangerous in the park because there are crocodiles all around. Therefore, swimming in there is not a really good idea. Nonetheless, we really enjoyed our stay there.

Finally!

Now that I am back in Brisbane I recognize how quickly time passed by. I am so glad for every travel I made and for every little piece of Australia which I explored. Even though I am glad to go home and see my family and friends, I’m pretty sure that I’ll miss Brissy and D’Under quickly. But falling in love with a country always means that you probably return one day. And I’m very sure to return to Australia because there is so much more to see and I so much enjoyed my time over here! I whish you all the best and want to end my blogging with a recommendation:

If you can afford it or if you are just keen on widening your horizon and leaving your everyday life routine… then decide for a study abroad in Australia. I would directly do it again because it was an awesome time I spent here!

Me and my friends Stacy (US) and Steven (US) were planning to do our first trip together. While surfing the web we detected them: amazingly cheap tickets to NZ. Just 250 AUD for return tickets…. so the decision was made quickly: we had to go! After calling Peyton (US), Jenna (US) and Patrick (German) our travel group was complete. NZ here we come!

( Peyton, Jenna, Steven, Stacy, I, Patrick)

Our flight left from Brisbane to Christchurch, which is located on the South Island of NZ. We arrived late and very extremely hungry at the hostel. The beds were ok … I chose to sleep at the bottom bed of the bunk bed. Wasn’t the best choice since almost every prior guest left a detailed message what “fun” he had in this bed. Well, after we had some crackers for dinner (this was the only food available at 1 am in Christchurch), I went to bed; excited about our journey to start soon.

Day1 - PS: I skydived

We decided that we are too smart for a guided tour … so we rented a car, got a map and our first road trip started. After 3 hours we arrived in Kaikora, a small coastal town. We decided, that a skydive in Kaikora would be a great start for the tour. Although some of us were really frightened, we finally all did it…we all jumped out of a plane. When my plane went up, I remained totally calm. Everything was fine with me until the instructor told me to sit next to the plane’s door. Now my heart started a bit to rotate. Then the pilot opened the door next to me… oh my god….my only thought was “ What are you doing!” … But before even finishing this thought we were already out of the plane and I had an amazing - 30 seconds - freefall. And I know only one word to describe it: Awesome fun! To my mind everybody should try it…. I at least have never ever done something more beautiful. You really feel like a bird … When I told my parents later on, it was hard work to convince them that this was an important experience to me …. I remember them saying something like “Was our daughter really crazy enough to jump out of a plane?” Ok, probably I should adjust my way of communication a bit. I sent a postcard home from NZ which stated: PS: I skydived!

Before my skydive

…. and during the skydive

Day 2 - Kayaking and a big split-apple

This day we decided to spend in a national park called Abel Tasman, which is located in the north of the south island. Sun was shining and the sea up there was so crystal clear… just beautiful. We got some kayaks and explored the bay. The “highlight2 of our tour was a big split apple … just a stone in the water. However, the Kiwis (NZ-guys are called Kiwis) have plenty of stories to tell about this rock. I at least was more fascinated by the sea lions on the rocks. Anyways, the scenery was beautiful and we loved staying at the park. In the afternoon we then left for Greymouth, a city on the western coast of the island. One short recommendation: In case your feet are sandy from the beach and you get off your shoes for cleaning your feet before entering the car… always make sure to afterwards get your shoes into the car. Otherwise, they might remain at the car park in a beautiful national park up in the north of the island, while you recognize the loss about 100 km later. Not a good idea!

In the back, you see the split apple

The beautiful Abel Tasmen Park

Day3 – Scenic transalpine track

On our last day we drove through the NZ Alps, which is a beautiful mountain area. We walked up a track which guided us to a waterfall. In the afternoon we went back to Christchurch. I think we saw approximately one million sheep on this way. I’m pretty sure there are more sheep than inhabitants in NZ! Back in Christchurch we stayed almost all night at the McDonalds. Not because McDonalds is extremely beautiful in NZ…no! We had the great idea to save some money and to fly back to Brisbane at 4 am. Since we did not want to pay for a hostel during this night, we stayed at a McDonalds till closing time at 12pm and tried to sleep in the car afterwards. What a night! I felt almost every section of my body aching after trying to sleep for one or two hours in the car.

Arthur’s Pass - NZ Alps

Back in Brisbane, we all were sure that this was just a perfect trip to explore NZ. We had so much fun, survived driving on the left side of the road, and had a lot to tell. In case you have ever the opportunity to go to NZ: do it!!! It is so pretty there…and each day the countryside we saw completely changed. We explored coastal areas, mountains and forests. All in all, it was a fantastic trip… 3 days, 1000 km, and lot’s of fun.

Slowly the semester in Brisbane is proceeding towards its end. Time passed by so quickly. I recognize my friends over here to become busier in finishing their last assignments and sorting out everything for the final exams. Actually, I must admit that I am not busy at all by now. Probably, this is because I am used to a way higher stress level at my home University in Maastricht. (They know how to stress students.) So, I have enough time to think a bit about my time at the University of Queensland.

Everything started with an orientation week. This was a great opportunity to make friends. Although I missed a bit more interaction and activities during this time, I enjoyed the O-Week a lot. We were allowed to try almost all sport activities…and honestly: Once I tried 3 different sessions in a row. Next day I felt every mussel in my body so badly. Next to doing sports, I met my friends a lot during O-week. I especially liked the market day, when all associations and clubs on campus presented themselves. Furthermore, it was a good opportunity to collect some membership cards for Brisbane’s clubs. Generally, I enjoyed the atmosphere on campus because it was so busy and lively.

Stacy and I with a lot of give-away bags. We loved collecting posters, sweets and party flyer on campus. Both of us joined the family night club gold membership. Unfortunately, we have been to this club only once thus far…. but we definitely intend to go there soon again .

Later my courses started with their lectures and tutorials. In comparison to my home university, where I never miss a single tutorial, I experienced the way of teaching to be way more laid-back. Tutorial attendance is more randomly than obligatory. However, my biggest challenge was actually the subjects’ contents.

Especially, for my adventure recreation and tourism class it took me a while to get used to examining a skydive activity from an academic perspective. To me, adventures and leisure recreation belong to my leisure time and not to my University schedule. But after some time I got used to it and started to enjoy the course. Come on, one of our course excursions was rock climbing and kayaking. Who wouldn’t enjoy that? Well, I did! And we really had a lot of fun. My adventure class met up at the Riverlife in Brisbane and half of us went kayaking, half rock climbing. Since I already kayaked in NZ, I decided to rock climb. After 2 meters I asked myself: “What the he** are you doing here.” and I almost intended to go down again. But then I decided to keep on going and I made it up to the top. All the 30m… this was a great feeling of achievement! I can only recommend to try rockclimbing. On the top I had a beautiful view over the Brisbane RIver towards the city. Great! The Picture above shows the Germans in my adventure class. In the middle of the picture you see our professor of the adventure class, Ian Patterson. We have a lot of fun in this course with him. During our second trip we played paintball. I never did this before and I am a bit afraid of getting hit by a ball very often. And actually I got hit quite often. I’m pretty sure I will have more than one bruise. I’m curious to see in which colour they will turn out …lol. Well, the pictures show us in our paintball gear. All in all, the paintball game was a little scary to me. At least, now I did it and most of my fellow students highly enjoyed it. I guess paintball won’t become one of my favourite activities…but it was quite ok.

Thus far my mid-semester exam and my essays went quite well and I cross my fingers for the final examination at UQ. I hope I will pass these exams as easily as I was able to manage the assignments beforehand. At least I’m not stressed yet and still enjoy my stay over here a lot. And this is very important to my study abroad. Nonetheless, I start to feel that Uni will end soon. Today we had our farewell session of the BEL (Business, Economics and Law) Faculty. This was really cool! We got a free University T-shirt and they took professional pictures of us and Australian animals. Holding a crocodile and having a very big snake around your neck was an exciting experience…. it was definitely fun. Furthermore, we received some information about these animals and I met many of the other exchange students. It was a very nice afternoon and I highly appreciate that the BEL Faculty organised it. So, it appears to be time to say goodbye quite soon

Patrick holding the crocodile      Nils with a strange Australian bird

After seeing Sydney it was kind of a must-do to go to Melbourne. As far as I heard these two cities are in kind of a rivalry with each other. So, I was very curious to find my favourite. Our group to go to Melbourne was pretty big: 2 Germans and 8 Americans. Really a fun group! Since not everybody has Fridays and Mondays off (lucky me that I do have), we all arrived at different dates. Some went to Melbourne on Thursday and stayed till Sunday, others left Brisbane on Friday and discovered Melbourne till Monday. However, we were all together in the same hostel and it was really fun to all be in one room there.

On Saturday, our group was complete. The sun was shining (we had a very bad weather forecast for this weekend…so lucky us!!!) and it was a perfect day to explore the Great Ocean Road, which starts close by Melbourne. So actually, directly after my arrival in Melbourne I left the city again… but it was definitely worth it! Of all my day tours if done in Australia, the Great Ocean Road Tour definitely belongs to the best ones. We left Melbourne early in the morning and arrived at our first location, which was a famous surf beach. Unfortunately, I forgot its name… however, we spotted wild kangaroos there, which was quite nice. Although the sun was shining, it was a pretty windy and chilly morning. Nonetheless, some surfers took their chance to catch the perfect wave. Our next stop was a lighthouse. There we took this nice picture of our group. A pity the random photographer did not recognize that I intended the lighthouse to be on the picture as well. Still, it’s a nice group picture. Personally, one of my favourite stops was the bird feeding (even though not “Great Ocean Road”- specific). It was so much fun feeding the birds…. actually it was more kind of a wild chaos. However, our group liked it a lot. The highlight of this tour was definitely the twelve apostles. When I first saw them it was really a special moment. Nature created so beautiful sights along this ocean road… I recommend seeing it to every Australia visitor! The sunset behind the clouds and the awesome scenery were a great experience. Unfortunately, this was the very last sunny part of this tour. We intended to see some more special rock formations…. however, it started to rain and after becoming quite wet and really tired we were at some point just glad to return back to our hostel. All in all, day 1 in Melbourne was really, really good!

On Sunday the greatest part of our group left Melbourne. Only me, Jigar and Stacy were left over. So, I decided to go on another trip. I heard of this small island close by Melbourne where you can see the smallest penguins on earth. I’ve never seen penguins in their natural environment… so I was very keen to do this tour. Since Stacy is not a bird fan at all, I did this tour on my own. After our group visited the Eureka Tower in Melbourne to have a great view over the city, some left to catch their plane and I started my daytrip. I’m not so sure whether it was actually one of my best ideas to do this trip because the weather forecast was still very bad. In contrast to our day 1, the forecast was right for day 2 in Melbourne. It rained cats and dogs! And it would be a great understatement to say it was windy…actually it was really very stormy. At our first stop which was a nice beach I felt like blown away. However, the waves at this weather were amazing. So, always try to see the positive side of it. After seeing some Koalas in a small wildlife park on the Island I was really looking forward to see the penguins. At a special beach, hundreds of them come out of the waves and make all their way towards the sand dunes where they stay overnight. Visitors of this spectacle could sit on a tribune at the beach and watch the cute and small creatures coming out of the water. It’s a pity I couldn’t take any pictures of these small guys but since the flashlight of a camera hurts the penguins in their eyes visitors were not allowed to use their cameras at all. However, in my memory, this will be a very special moment which made the whole trip worth it. I completely forgot about the bad weather in the afternoon and highly enjoyed watching the penguins. Although I remember our driver saying something like “I never had such a bad weather on this tour”, I feel it was still worth it and a lot of fun. And at the end of the day there is no wrong weather, only wrong clothing.

On day 3 I recognized that thus far I hadn’t really seen Melbourne itself. So it was definitely the time to do some sightseeing within the city before at 6pm our flight was supposed to leave. So, Stacy, Jigar and I started a small sightseeing tour. It was a chilly and cloudy day in Melbourne. However, it was not raining what I highly appreciated. The Melbourne tourism centre is really great. First, they supply a free hop-on hop-off bus tour to see all the sights in Melbourne (perfect for me since I hadn’t had too much time left to get an impression of the city). After driving around a little bit, we felt like discovering the city by foot to get a better feeling for it. The tourism centre provided us with plenty of walking guides. So we chose a walking tour in the inner city centre. We saw a lot of very old shopping malls and nice old buildings. Melbourne is really a nice city. I’ve to admit that the time I spent in the city itself was actually way to short to have a real feeling for Melbourne. I regret a lot that my stay there wasn’t longer. Nonetheless, my impression of Melbourne was really good. I liked the city a lot. And I especially liked the fact that I had so fantastic daytrips. Stacy Jigar and I had a very relaxing last day in the city. As Jigar said: 2 is a couple, but 3 is a party. And this was really the motto of our last day where we got a little closer with Melbourne.

Crazy Stacy and Jigar at the Shrine of Remembrance

My overall judgement: Melbourne versus Sydney!

Well, difficult to say. First of all I am glad to have visited both of the cities. I would love to go to Melbourne again since there is still a lot which I haven’t seen thus far. (Unfortunately, flights to Melbourne are quite expensive. So I won’t go there again.) All in all, the cities are just completely different. Sydney definitely has got more sights and tourist attractions than Melbourne. However, Melbourne exhibits more flair and style than Sydney has. And it kind of spreads the atmosphere of a European city. I wouldn’t say that any of these cities is more worth seeing it. I would just say that both are a perfect spot for a weekend trip. And this weekend trip was definitely a lot of fun!

See u soon, Claudia

During spring break many students get together for travelling. Although I would have loved to have a big spring break happening with my friends, I was already “dated”. My mum and my sister planned to come to Australia, to see where I am studying abroad.

The Visa Hazel

First of all, my mum as well as my sister had to apply for a visitor’s visa. No problem for my mum, but my sister Stephanie was a big issue to the Australian government. Since she is under 18 and my mum might just kidnap her, we had to organize 1000s of documents to apply for the visa. What a hazel! The flight date was coming closer and closer…. and it seemed to take ages until we finally got a positive reply. And then they arrived in Sydney.

Sydney – Australia’s tourist capital

I left Brisbane Early in the morning and arrived in Sydney domestic Airport around 8 o’clock. Still enough time to transfer to the international airport to fetch my mum and my sister. And then waiting started….soooo many passengers left the arrival area….but my family was not among them. I waited… and waited….and waited… and finally they arrived. My mum was sooo glad to see me. After 22 hours of flying and a travel of 26 hours in total, both of them definitely looked exhausted and tired. Nonetheless, they jumped towards me, gave me a hug and were eager to see the city. So we left the city towards our first destination: backpacker hostel. I would have never thought that my mother (almost 50) would actually decide to choose a youth hostel – but she did. And that’s how we ended up in the Sydney Original Backpackers. We had a room just for the three of us and the bathrooms looked nice enough for my mother to place a pleasant smile in her face. She seemed to be happy. And my sister was happy to be in Australia anyways. Everybody happy….so we could leave for the city. I underestimated a bit that both of them were really jet lacked… and after walking around in the city for a while they were too tired to move any further. But that wasn’t a big issue…we still had two more days to discover the city. In the end, we walked lot in the city centre, discovered the botanical gardens, took gorgeous pictures of the opera house and explored St. Mary’s church. As a highlight, my mum decided to invite us for a showboat dinner cruise, which was amazing cause we saw Sydney’s harbour at night. All in all, the city was a great start for an Australia visit.

Sydney Opera and Harbour

Harbour Bridge and me

Back in good old Brissi

After we returned from Sydney, I planned a nice week in Brisbane. My mum and my sister really wanted to discover my home city. First of all, they appreciated that Brisbane was way warmer than Sydney. Whenever I had no classes at University, we meet up and discovered the city. One of Brisbane’s highlights definitely was the Koala Lone Pine Sanctuary. It is a lovely little park where my mum and my sister saw their first kangaroos, wallabies, emus, wombats and koalas. Actually, they did not only see them like in a zoo, but the sanctuary allows its visitors to get into contact with Australia’s animals. My mum and my sister hopped with a kangaroo and cuddled a Koala. It was a very special moment to hold one of these amazingly cute animals on your arms. However, I have to mention: They are way heavier than I would have thought. While I attended some tutorials at UQ, my mum and my sister discovered the Brisbane Botanical Gardens and the Queens Street, which is great for shopping on their own. By the way: shopping…. My mum and my sister shopped so much! Lucky them: they came to Australia during seasonal sale week….so everything was really cheap and they highly enjoyed it. All three of us found nice bikinis … perfect for the next trip!

My mum and my sister with a kangoroo

Great Barrier Reef

Since my mum and my sister should get the ever best impression of Australia, I decided to book a trip to the Whitsunday Islands, which is a gate way to the Great Barrier Reef. These Islands are supposed to have the whitest sand in Australia…. So I hoped to enjoy a great trip. However, the weather wasn’t really on our side. The day when our sailing and snorkelling trip on the Caimra, a catamaran boat, took place was our most rainy day at the Whitsundays. Nonetheless, food was good an we enjoyed our stay up there.

Great Barrier Reef snorkeling

Excited about the UQ

After our return from the Great Barrier Reef, my mum was so excited to see my University. So we planned a day at the UQ. Both of them directly fell in love with my Uni. They highly enjoyed the atmosphere and liked the style of buildings surrounded by many trees and parks a lot. We started our day with a yummy breakfast at the Darwin Café. Next, my mum and my sister attended one of my lectures. They were really excited about that. My mum talked to one of my professors… and actually her English worked out quite well. She was proud of herself….and I glad that she enjoyed my University environment so much. Later, we had a Pizza on campus and walked around the beautiful lakes on campus. To leave university we decided to take the ferry instead of a bus. Thereby, we could enjoy the city skyline and the sun while heading over to Southbank, Brisbane’s city lagoon. After having experienced the UQ, lying in the sun is perfect for relaxation. I read some articles for uni while my mum and my sister intended to finalise their tanning.

At UQ

Time to say good bye

Each day in Brisbane, we explored another restaurant for dinner. Once we have been to a Mediterranean place in West End, one of Brisbane’s suburbs. Another evening, we decided for one of the restaurants at the Riverside from where we enjoyed a beautiful view towards the story bridge. However, for the last evening we decided to stay at my apartment. I bought a kilo of Tasmanian prawns, some French baguette and cocktail sauce. It was a delicious meal…. Just perfect before starting the 24-hour- journey back. When they were leaving, I first was very sad. This was the first time since I left home that I experienced a feeling of homesickness. However, after some days of University routine I got back into my daily life in Brisbane and started to enjoy it again. Meeting up with my friends over here… and probably going out for parties again, helped me a lot J. Anyways, I highly enjoyed showing Australia and especially Brisbane to my mum and my sister.

Hello, my name is Claudia and I’m an international exchange student at the University of Queensland. Originally I’m German and studying in the Netherlands. When it was time to choose a destination for my study abroad location my decision was not to hard. I directly knew that I wanted to go to Australia (and by now I did not regret it for a second). So, when I had to decide among the Australian Universities and cities, my choice fell on Brisbane. On the one hand, I knew that the University’s reputation is quite good while on the other hand (and probably more important to me), Brisbane is located in Queensland which is Australia’s Sunshine State. So, actually my choice was made quickly. I wanted to be where the sun is and beaches are most beautiful My study abroad started with an exciting journey to Asia. Since Asia lies on my way from Germany to Australia it proved to be a perfect stop-over location. I have never been to Asia before and highly enjoyed this experience. I stayed in Singapore for two weeks and travelled to Indonesia and Malaysia. It was great to experience how different other cultures are from the western culture. For example, I went to a traditional Singaporean dinner ( please do not ask me what I actually ate there… I think I do not wanna know all ingredients… at least it tasted good). It was really exciting when I participated in a traditional Hindu festival in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia’s capital) where approximately 1 million Hindu came together. All in all, it was a fantastic warm-up for Australia and I’m really glad I did this trip beforehand. However, I’m happy I decided not to go to Asia for my study abroad. (Its more enjoyable to know what’s on your plate ;-))

I planned to arrive in Brisbane one week before the O-Week (Orientation Week) to be able to find an apartment/room. At the airport a nice representative of the University welcomed me and the University pickup service (pre-book it online) brought me to the city. This made my arrival a lot more comfortable since I did not have to pay for or organize any transport to the city. I decided to stay at the palace backpackers…one of Brisbane’s biggest hostels. Would I recommend it?! Probably not! I had bed bugs in my first night at this Australian backpacker (not a warm welcome …but today I value it as an “experience”) … so I had to wash all my clothes, change room and cope with itchy bites. Nonetheless I quickly fell in love with the city. And the bed bugs enormously increased my motivation to find an accommodation quickly.

Generally there are two options for living. You can live on campus or in the city. Since I heard, that on-campus accommodation is more expensive I chose not to apply for a college room. Today I am really glad that I did it this way. The rent for an on-campus accommodation includes a small room and food. However, the food is not really good (to stay polite). The accommodations are ok… however, I do not see the value of money reflected in what you really get for it. Concerning the fact that the students living on-campus miss many meals whenever they choose to leave the campus it appears even less desirable to stay there. So, I decided to be in the city. When I searched for an accommodation the University of Queensland was really very helpful. The accommodation session provided me with helpful information about renting a room. Furthermore, the Uni has got an extensive database of available houses, apartments and rooms. Nonetheless, do not think its too easily to find a nice room. All in all, finding an accommodation in Brisbane is really a matter of good luck. Fortunately, I was very lucky. It took me only two days to find a nice room in the city centre. I pay 150 AUD per fortnight (which is a 2 week period). This is actually quite cheap. I highly enjoy living in the central business district and having my own bathroom in a nice apartment. As an add-on, the house comes along with a nice pool (go for a pool if you can…. that’s soooo cool!). I really feel like having the jackpot ;-). But I have to mention that there are many nice locations for living. All of my friends live in nice apartments. Often they share their facilities like kitchen and bathroom (like I do) and live together with other students. However, it took some of my friends almost one week to find a nice place. So, I think it was not to bad to arrive quite early in Brisbane.

After settling down I now felt ready for Australia to come. I was curious to explore the city and to see how the University works. The orientation week provided me with a perfect introduction into the UQ. But more about this next time.

Claudia