Oma & Opa's Visit

Here are some pictures from the first couple of days of Oma and Opa's trip to Brisbane!

Mid Semester Break

Lorin and I were fortunate enough to spend time with a host family, the Southams. They showed us all around the gorgeous Hunter Valley. We toured vineyards, national parks and beaches. This was an awesome break from classes!!

Sandstorm!

I experienced my first real sandstorm yesterday! It was a red fog that took over everything. Nothing like the miniature Texas tornados we see at random times. The storm lasted for a few hours and coated the area with a red haze. Here are some of the pictures taken from around Australia.

Riverfire

So yesterday I took a trip to southbank for the Riverfire Festival with Lorin, Amreet and Kay who joined us later. We arrived around 4 and the firework show didn't start until 7 so we had some time to walk around. The only problem was that we weren't the only ones who had this idea. The area was soooooo crowded that we couldn't walk two full steps without running into another person. We walked for about an hour just trying to find an adequate view. The show started and it was absolutely gorgeous! There were about three different stations along the river coast all with the same show with accompanying music. I cannot even describe the presentation. It started with a flyover and then went to a huge firework show as big as most of the fourth of July shows in the states. Riverfire ended with a flaming jet flyover and a long trip home. =) p.s. the show cost 4 million dollars!!

Mt. Coot-tha

Today Amy (from Oregon) and I went to Mount Coot-tha after our classes to do some exploring. Our first bus dropped us off at the botanical gardens. Here we looked at the variety of Australian plant life and the huge lizards that were running around. It was peaceful and there weren't any other tourists around. We then got on another bus that took us to the lookout point on Mount Coot-tha. IT WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!! From this point we could see all of Brisbane and it was gorgeous. This trip was a nice break from being in the city for so long and it was a great break from work.

Mt. Glorious

This weekend has been a very relaxing one. I got a bit of 'uni' work done and one of my friends from class (Leonie) invited me on a trip to Mount Glorious on Sunday. We rode there with a small group of her friends and had brunch in the picnic area. After napping in the sun we went bush walking around the mountain and discovered its' beauty! The mountains here lead to rainforest areas full of plants that I have never seen. It was also much cooler at the higher altitude so the hike was enjoyable. I am hoping to go to about two more mountains this week so we will see if they are all so 'glorious'. bahaha bad joke! After this week of classes I am halfway done with the semester!!

Noosa

We (Lorin, Amreet, Carmen, Monique and I) went to Noosa Heads this weeekend for our first beach trip. It was a one hour bus trip and a two hour train ride, not too shabby. When we arrived we searched for a place to stay and found a hostel called Halse Lodge. We were placed in a room with 14 beds which is not as bad as it sounds as we met a few other travelers. After sunset on the beach we went to grab a mini dinner and then went to sleep. The next day we stayed at the beach for a few hours then walked around the town before returning back to the lodge. On Sunday we stayed for about 5 hours on the beach then went to Kathryn's lovely home (a girl from our dorm) where she took a few of on a tiny, tiny plane ride (a tail dragger) and we also picked fruit from her orchard =) It was so nice to be in a home for the first time in a month. So to sum up the weekend we saw a beautiful beach, read a few books, stayed in a hostel for the first time, met some new people, stayed at a beautiful house and had a great experience!