top of page

Gold Coast

After the horror that was traveling to Australia, actually being there felt like paradise. My two friends and I touched down to blue skies, and 80-degree weather, exactly what we were hoping for. We arrived at the house we were staying at for the week, and immediately fell in love. The house was an older ranch style house, completely renovated with a walk-in shower, updated kitchen, and an awesome pool/barbeque area. The hosts were easy to love too. They were an older couple who we were lucky enough to bump into on our Fiordland trip a few weeks prior. My friend had mentioned our plans of flying out to the Gold Coast for break and found out that they lived there. They were kind enough to offer us a place in their house for a week for really cheap, and after the troubles we’d been having finding accommodation on Airbnb, we snatched up their offer right away.

Our first day was pretty relaxed, we had almost no energy after our 36-hour travel nightmare, so we settled on heading over to the local beach for a few hours. It’d been a long time since I had taken a dip in the ocean, and I had almost forgotten how much larger the waves are when compared to what I’d seen back home on the lakes. After a few hours, we were all nicely burned so we went back to the house to enjoy the rest of the night by the pool. Day two was a lot more action packed, we chose to explore Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary which was a 30-minute bus ride away. The tickets were relatively expensive, but after getting the chance to wander a field with hundreds of kangaroos and pet them, I’d say it was well worth the price. We saw koalas everywhere, too many giant spiders, and even watched a live alligator feeding, although that one actually turned out to be pretty anticlimactic. That night we decided to try going into the city to go clubbing. It was the first time being in a nightclub for all of us since we are all under 21, and its illegal back in the States. We realized quickly that we were not missing out. Nightclubs kind of suck. It’s all bad music, expensive drinks, and a lot of screaming to be heard. After that jam-packed day we decided to spend the next few days relaxing either by the pool or at the beach, and it was amazing. After several weeks of hiking and camping, it was really nice to slow it down and have a typical beach vacation. The coolest thing we got to do while on the Gold Coast, was go to a concert on the beach. Our hosts son, Max, knew of an Australian band performing for free at a local beach and invited us to check it out. None of us had heard of the band, but after that night we all have them on regular rotation on our Spotify playlists. The band is called The Cat Empire, and if I’m being honest they sound much better live than they do on their albums. People of all ages were there, dancing and singing along, and it was even broadcasted live all around the coast because of the Commonwealth Games that were occurring there. Our last day we finally got the chance to try surfing, and let’s just say it’s a lot harder than it looks, even on tiny waves. I pretty much spend most of my time with the board trying not to drown rather than trying to surf, but it was fun nonetheless. Definitely going to have to try again back in the States, but maybe in a beginner’s class rather than on my own with no real instruction.

Overall my mid-semester break trip was incredible. I managed to travel to a country I may never get the chance to again, and I did it with some of the amazing people I’ve met while abroad. My advice for future students studying abroad is to plan your break early on, and hopefully it’ll save you some of the headaches I had while travelling to Australia.


RECENT POSTS:
SEARCH BY TAGS:
No tags yet.
bottom of page