Family's Here!

Early on Saturday, September 24^th, my family stepped off a plane and entered a whole new world.  They have finally arrived in Australia, and I couldn’t have been any more excited.  I was greeted with big hugs and kisses, a ton of American snack food that I have been craving for months, and breakfast – a box of 6 doughnuts that they bought for $13… it didn’t take long for my family to realize just how much more expensive everything is over here. 

After reuniting, I showed them my apartment and my University.  On the tour of my school, they had their first experience with kangaroos and the tropical environment of Australia.  They were so excited to see the kangaroos and it reminded me of how excited I was when I first saw the wild animals.  When we came back to my apartment, I introduced my family to Tim Tams – an Australian cookie that is the most amazing, tastiest, wonderful cookie ever.  They immediately fell in love and we had to buy multiple boxes of the cookies throughout our vacation (Chris even bought 16 boxes to take home with him). 



Visiting my Uni!



My dad rented a car, which was an experience in itself.  Not only do you have to drive on the wrong side of the road and learn a new speed limit (kilometers per hour), but the steering wheel and all the driving gadgets are flip flopped in the car too.  Whenever my dad wanted to turn on his turn signal, the windshield wipers would whip across the shield, and it does take some getting used to walking to the right side of the car to get into the driver’s seat.   But he definitely got used to it all before our vacation was over.  So next, we all hopped in the car and I took them to my local beach – Mooloolaba Beach.  I showed them the beach and the little town, which they fell in love with.  We spent the remainder of the day there before we went to our hotel for the night.  I took a quick shower and when I came out everyone was already passed out in bed and it was only 8 o’clock!  I guess the time zone difference caught up with them after a busy day.



Ahh! Wrong Side!




Mooloolaba



Mooloolaba

The next day, everyone learned just how tropical Australia is when the loud tropical birds woke everyone up bright and early in the morning.  We got an early start to our day and we went up to Noosa.  On our ride up there we stopped at an overlook on the side of the road looking out at the ocean.  This is where my family saw their first whales!  We saw a couple of whales breaching out of the water, it was a beautiful sight.  When we arrived to Noosa I showed them around the beach and town area and then we headed to the National Park.  We took a nice long walk along the cliff on the coast line to the end of the park.  It was a beautiful walk, but I don’t think they were expecting it to be as long as it was.  Chris even said his shoes were crying with every step he took.  But we made it back to the town of Noosa and then went out to dinner.  It was my first time going out to a nice restaurant since being in Australia.  I got a nice steak dinner, something I haven’t had in a long time since steak is so expensive here.  It was so delicious and I ate so much!  Finally a real meal for a poor college student!  We made it back to Mooloolaba before sunset and went to a lighthouse point to watch the sun set over the town of Mooloolaba.



Noosa




Sunset over Mooloolaba



The next day, we headed down to Brisbane.  On our way down we stopped at Wild Horse Mountain where they have a lookout at the very top that looks out at the Glass House Mountains.  We climbed up to the lookout and I showed my family the beautiful landscape of the famous Glass House Mountains.  We then continued our drive down to Brisbane.  When we arrived we checked into our hotel and then took a ferry, called the CityCat, down the Brisbane River and into the heart of the city.  We went to Queen Street which is kind of like New York’s Times Square.  I showed my family around the city and we did some shopping.  Then we hopped back on the ferry and saw the city all lit up at night along the riverbank.  When we got back to the hotel we got in bed to get ready for the next day.  The next day we would have to get up early and drive to the airport to catch a plane to our next vacation destination – Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef.



Glass House Mountains




Brisbane River ferry




Brisbane at night