Australia!

 

After 22+ hours of traveling, I have finally made it to my new home in Australia!  Sunshine, kangaroos, beaches, and happiness have all met me here so far.  After getting all settled in in my new apartment, my friend Holly was ready to take me out on some new adventures.  Day one on the Sunny Coast was full of many firsts for me.

Our first adventure involved checking out the “Uni” (Australian slang for University).  The campus is very beautiful and full of extremely modern looking buildings that are environment friendly.  The fancy architecture is designed to use as little energy when it comes to lighting and keeping everything cooled down.  On my tour through the Uni I had my first kangaroo sightings.  I was beyond excited and was surprised of how close you could actually get to them without freaking them out.  Although there are signs that say “Do not approach the kangaroos,” I could not resist relaxing with them under a tree. 

After chilling with the kangas, we made our way to Mooloolaba Beach.  The name Mooloolaba is Aboriginal in origin, and is kind of difficult to say correctly.  The beach is absolutely beautiful!  It has the softest sand I’ve ever touched and the water is such a beautiful shade of blue.  This was the first time I’ve ever touched the Pacific Ocean and it was exciting although the water was a tad bit cold. Right now it is winter in Australia, so it will probably be a little while before I go swimming.

Our next stop was at Sunshine Plaza which is like a shopping mall, but it’s outside and right on top of the water!  It was amazing!  Holly showed me all the good places to shop and took me to Maccas (McDonalds) for an ice cream cone.  Well, surprise! I was fast to learn that the Australian dollar is way different than the American dollar.  There is no “Dollar Menu” in Australia (and no sweet tea!) and a Big Mac alone would cost you about $9.  This freaked me out a little bit… and the shock wave didn’t stop there.

Later that night, we went grocery shopping. WOW! Number one, the trolleys (shopping carts) don’t have stationary back wheels.  All four wheels swivel, which makes it extremely difficult to drive around a store.  I was taking wide turns and just trying not to run into anything or anyone.  The prices of food are so much more expensive than they are back home.  A box of good name brand cereal is around $10, bananas are around $14/kg, any fresh meat or fruit is crazy expensive, and the list goes on. 

I LOVE AUSTRALIA!