Hello everybody! I have had a very busy and fun 2 weeks since I lasted posted! So I have a LOT to update you all on! Two weekends ago, my friends and I booked a quick last minute trip to Brisbane. Brisbane is the 3rd largest city in Queensland and has the closest international airport to the Gold Coast. We got to Brisbane by catching the bus to Robina Station on Thursday afternoon. From there, we went down to the train platform. None of us had taken the train before so this was totally new for all of us. The public transportation system here is called Translink and it worked similarly to the Metro in D.C. The bus cards and train cards are the same, making things easy. The train ride to Brisbane was surprisingly cheap (cheaper than it would have been in the U.S. for sure). We got on the train and it took about an hour to get to Brisbane. The views from the train were great though as we traveled through the suburbs and the train was comfortable and quiet.
When we arrived in Brisbane, we made our way to the Airbnb, which was in an apartment building with about 40 floors! Before even going to the apartment, we went to the top floor, which had an infinity pool, the gym, and an AMAZING view of Brisbane. We were all in awe when we saw it and couldn’t wait to swim in it later.
The room we were staying in was just as nice. It had two bedrooms, each with a queen bed, 2 bathrooms, a beautiful kitchen and living space, and a balcony that overlooked the city.
During our 2 days in Brisbane, we explored the city, ate some good burgers (shout out to Betty’s Burgers), walked around the shops, swam in the infinity pool, watched some movies while eating ice cream, and enjoyed each other’s company. We were all happy to get away from school and do something different.
We got back to Bond on Saturday night and rested because the next day was….AUSTRALIA DAY!!! Before I begin about Australia day, I want everyone to know that I am only stating the facts about Australia Day and not speaking from personal opinion. Australia day is celebrated on January 26th each year. The day marks the anniversary of when the first fleet of British ships arrived in New South Wales at Port Jackson in 1788 and Governor Arthur Philip raised the flag of Great Britain. Australia Day marks the European colonization of Australia, however there were already people living here, just like there was in the United States. It is easy to tell that because of this there is some controversy over the celebration of Australia Day. Many Australians refer to this day as “Invasion Day”. Every year, people rally for the Indigenous Australian people and call on the government to change the date.
Australia Day was a fun day for my friends and I, regardless of the fact that it was Australia Day. It was a beautiful day so we hit the beach and spent most of the day there.
Fast forward 4 days and it is Friday, January 31st, 2020 – the day that I would be going SKYDIVING! Skydiving is something that I had wanted to do since I can remember. 8 year old Ali is freaking out that I got to experience this for the first time in AUSTRALIA! Skydiving has always been at the top of my bucket list, so when I got the opportunity to do it in Australia, I absolutely could not say no. I got up bright and early and we were all boarded onto the bus by 7am. There were about 30 of us on the trip that would be skydiving that day. My friend, Alyssa and I signed up to jump together and then we waited for about an hour to be called. Once we got called, there was no time to think. We were quickly told to take all jewelry and watches off and put the skydive pants on, while being put into our harnesses by our instructors. Before we knew it, we were getting into the plane. The view from the plane was stunning. I couldn’t take my eyes off the world outside as we flew higher and higher. Next thing I knew, my instructor had secured our harnesses together and the professional solo jumpers in front of us were diving out of the plane.
The moments before jumping are a blur in my mind because everything happened so quickly, but I remember screaming “oh my god” repeatedly as we inched closer to the edge. Falling was nothing as I had expected. My stomach didn’t drop like it does on roller coasters. Instead, I just felt like I was flying and floating in the air. I didn’t have a single worry. I didn’t even think about the possibility of the parachutes not working. I was so happy. My smile was so big and I was enjoying every second of the experience. After a minute or two, my instructor pulled the parachute and he let me steer it. I couldn’t take my eyes off the world below me. I can still see it in my mind and I can’t wait until I do it again (yeah, I’m kind of in love with it now so I think this may become somewhat of a regular thing for me….oops). When it was time to land, I followed the protocol by lifting my legs up so we could fall in the seated position, but right before we reached the ground, my instructor told me to stand up because we were falling perfectly so I did and we stuck the landing! Side note: my instructor was absolutely amazing. He was hyping me up the entire time and he was a lot of fun.
Photos by Skydive Byron Bay Australia
Afterwards, Alyssa and I were ECSTATIC. We were jumping around with so much excitement and adrenaline and we kept that going for the next few hours. We didn’t stop talking about the experience, oops.
We then took a short bus ride to the hostel that the rest of the group was at in Byron Bay. The hostel was cute with a giant courtyard with 2 hot tubs. Our room had 8 beds, so we made some new friends that also go to Bond! After settling into the room, we changed quickly and grabbed food since we hadn’t eaten all day and it was now 2pm. We then met up with everyone else and went on a 3 hour hike to the lighthouse in Byron, which is known for being the most easterly point in Australia! The views were once again, AMAZING. But you guys can see that for yourselves by looking at the pictures!!
Later that night, we had food and the entire group went to a glow paint bar (which was pretty #cheeky). I went to bed early this night since I had had a LONG, but exciting day and I knew the next day would be the same.
On Saturday morning, Alyssa and I were scheduled to snorkel at 7:30am. We had breakfast and met our small group to walk to the snorkel place. They showed us a short video containing all the information that we’d need to know. Including, a segment about all the dangerous and deadly animals that we could in counter, which was a bit scary (spoiler: we were completely safe and fine). We got geared up and headed to the beach to meet the boat!
The boat ride was a lot of fun. We got to Julian Rocks (where we snorkeled) in about 5 minutes and jumped into the water immediately. We actually flew over Julian Rocks the day before while skydiving! While snorkeling, I was able to see a bunch of colorful fish, a sea turtle, a manta-ray, and a friendly shark. Unfortunately, about 45 minutes into the snorkel, I started to feel a bit sea sick from the rough waves, so I got back on the boat. However, I didn’t miss much since another girl ended up throwing up in the water so the group’s snorkeling kind of ended there (but I didn’t throw up so yay!). We headed back to land and I started to feel significantly better. We spent the rest of the day swimming and relaxing on the beach!
t/sdcard/DCIM/100GOPRO/GOPR0056
Hostel crew
On Sunday morning, I got up at 4:50am with Lilly and we hiked back up to the lighthouse for sunrise. We were able to make it there in 45 minutes since it was just the two of us and it was a great way to start my morning. We got back to the hostel around 7am, had breakfast, and then we both took naps. Around 11am, we hit the beach again for a few hours before heading back to get changed. We spent the last few hours in Byron by walking around town, exploring, and enjoying the scenery that Byron has to offer. At 4pm, we got on the bus and headed back to Bond! We got back to Bond at 4pm too. This is because Byron is in NSW which does daylight savings time, while Queensland (where Bond is) does not.
Overall, I had an amazing two weekends in Brisbane and Byron Bay! I have been picking up on a lot of Aussie things and have started using a lot of their slang. Sending lots of love to my family and friends back home and all my lads at GW!! I know I didn’t talk about school at all in this post, but it is going well, don’t worry! (It just isn’t as exciting to write about)
Coming up: in 10 days, Oliver will be here! So you can expect a blog post about our week together and all of our adventures next! @Oliver – Can’t wait to see you and show you around AUS! 🙂
Ali's Australian Adventures 
Amazing few weeks! Beautiful pictures!
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