Byron Bay Part 1: Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

Hellooo everyone! Before I forget all the amazing details, I want to blog about the AMAZING trip I took to Byron Bay, Australia. Byron Bay is a beautiful, quaint beach town about two hours south of Brisbane. It's in the state of New South Wales (where Sydney is), right below Queensland. Australia is made up of just six states and a variety of territories and is not much smaller than the United States (though it has a much smaller population), ranking as the world's 6th largest country.

The trip to Byron Bay was an optional orientation trip designated for the international students arriving at Griffith University in the week before classes start. We were picked up at 7am on Wednesday, February 22nd and returned late afternoon on Friday the 24th. Shortly after getting on the bus and meeting the driver (the typical Australian both in his robust personality and frequent use of some choice words... more on him later!), I met two awesome girls from Canada and later lots of students from the USA and a few from Norway, Sweden, and Germany!

After an hour long bus ride passing through the Gold Coast to pick up more students, we arrived at our first stop: Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary! (Click on the link to see their website and some more awesome pictures!) That Wednesday was the first day that I experienced any sort of breeze since I arrived in Australia, which was great for our time walking around the sanctuary. After walking through a gift shop with more stuffed koalas than I ever thought existed, we entered the park. A ranger was sitting on a bench holding some sort of small crocodile, accepting money from those who wanted to hold the crocodile for a picture! Definitely different from the "petting zoo" animals we see in the United States!

We flocked instantly to the koala section, where there were at least ten koalas clinging to various branches in a cluster of trees in the most distorted positions, fast asleep! Koalas are absolutely as fuzzy and adorable as their reputation suggests. While most of the koalas on those particular trees were adults, there was one baby that took cute to a whole new level! Koalas are in the same category of animal as kangaroos, called marsupials, separated from other animals because they give birth to undeveloped young. There are only 334 species of marsupials, 70% of which live in Australia and its immediate neighboring countries. While koalas are native to the coastal regions of southern and eastern Australia, there is apparently a koala living on my university's campus in the northeastern region! Adult koalas weigh anywhere from 10 to 35 lbs. depending on gender, and have five fingers on each hand including two opposable thumbs! Amazingly, the koala's fingerprints are almost impossible to distinguish from human fingerprints. The guide assured us that the koala is as soft as it looks although they can have vicious personalities. After seeing their claws, which are meant for assisting in climbing trees but could easily be used for defense, I opted out of paying the $20 it cost to pet one of them!

THE AUSTRALIAN DROP BEAR: Shortly after arriving in Australia, some of the Australians (who knew we weren't native) started telling us to watch out for the "drop bear," which is essentially an evil carnivorous koala (the standard koala is herbivorous) that drops randomly from the trees onto the heads of people passing below. They say that the koala digs its claws into your head and eats out your skin and brains. Australians have gone further to prove their expertise in photo-shop by creating pictures of koalas in the middle of a huge mass of blood and guts spilled on a sidewalk somewhere. They say that to lure off the drop bears, you have to spread Vegemite behind your ears. That leads to another topic...

VEGEMITE is a dark brown, almost black colored paste with a jelly consistency that is made and eaten exclusively in Australia. It is made from yeast extract and the is spread on toast, sandwiches, pastries, etc. The Australians LOVE it...it's hard to find someone at breakfast who isn't eating it... but even they admit that it is an acquired taste and if they hadn't grown up eating it, they wouldn't like it. It's produced by Kraft and the jar could be easily mistaken for peanut butter but BEWARE, you'll get an evil surprise if you think you're having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich but you've used Vegemite instead.

Getting back on track, after tearing ourselves away from the koalas we moved into the kangaroo section. Unlike the koalas which were behind fences with guards standing by, the kangaroos were in a completely unfenced area, just laying around for anyone to see and touch. These kangaroos were probably the calmest animals I've ever seen in my life- sure, these particular ones were especially domesticated from living in a petting zoo, but even the babies were completely unfazed by the people touching them and taking hundreds of pictures of them as they pass by. In the picture on the left above, you can see a baby joey in its mothers pouch. This joey was only 8 months through its 14 month gestation period and was already BUSTING out of the mother's pouch. It's truly amazing to see! The mother was extremely calm but the guide told us to not touch the joey in her pouch because she would get very defensive. The most stunning thing about the kangaroos is the size of their feet- they have ENORMOUS feet that seem to completely dominate their bodies, but they assist them in balance when they are sitting up, and running. The kangaroo can run at speeds up to 44mph!














While seeing koalas and kangaroos definitely completed our Australian wildlife experience, we went on to see an enormous crocodile and some beautiful, majestic birds, as you see above! We also saw ENORMOUS snakes (including a python that was about eight feet long!) and a lizard with a ton of personality, below!

Overall, visiting Currumbin was an incredible experience that really opened my eyes to Australia's animal kingdom. Anyone who gets the opportunity to go "Down Unda" should try to visit a wildlife sanctuary like this one!

Here's your daily dose of Australian vocabulary...

POWERPOINT = ELECTRICAL OUTLET
LYCRA= SPANDEX
MACCAS- McDONALDS
TOG= BIKINI
TIMETABLE= SCHEDULE

That's all for now! Stay tuned for our hike to the easternmost point of Australia and our sea kayaking and surfing experiences!

Love always,
Sarah

The Flight Around the World

Hi everyone! Tomorrow marks one week since my arrival in Australia (or "uhs-traih-lee-uh") as they pronounce it here!) and it has been an absolutely AMAZING week. Australia is truly everything it's cracked up to be...everyone forms stereotypes about the crazy, energetic, outdoors-y Australians with their awesome accents and love for alcohol. I can promise you that all of these stereotypes are true! The Australian people are possibly the friendliest, warmest, most helpful and lovable population in the world. But before you can get to Australia to experience its majesty, you have to get through the flight...

It's harder to find a flight longer than the flight to Australia. Those lucky West Coast Americans who wish to get "Down Unda" have it much easier than those of us from the East Coast, who have to fly across the country before getting on a plane from somewhere in California to somewhere in Australia. After leaving Philadelphia, PA at 1:20pm on Friday February 17, we flew to Cincinnati and had a short layover before flying into Los Angeles. Miraculously, after almost 7 hours of flying, we got into LAX at 5:50pm. At almost 11pm after eating some questionable Panda Express Chinese food, we boarded the airplane that would take us into Brisbane International Airport. My first thought when entering the Virgin Australia plane was that I had just walked into a club and not onto an airplane. A full bar awaited the passengers, leading into an absolutely ENORMOUS cabin. While the first class passengers could recline their chairs into beds, the coach passengers were still equipped with personal TVs (that had hundreds of movies and TV shows on demand along with a messaging service so that you could text any other seat on the plane!), blankets, pillows, eye covers, ear plugs, and headphones. The flight attendants were dressed in beautifully colored suits and vests and treated the passengers like royalty. The safety video alone is enough to make you love the flight...you can watch it right here, and you should! It will give you a good laugh!

Immediately after taking off, they dimmed the cabin lights so that it was almost pitch black and almost everyone went to sleep.

Saturday, February 18 completely disappeared to everyone on that flight. Somehow, 14 hours after leaving LAX on February 17, it was 7am on Sunday February 19 and we were in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia!! It seemed like an overnight flight, and I slept for almost 7 hours of it. We received breakfast on this flight. It wasn't your typical "airplane breakfast," but a cheese omelet with sausage, roasted potatoes, vegetables, yogurt, a croissant, coffee, and tea. The flight to Australia sounds like it would be unbearably long and miserable, but I absolutely loved my time with Virgin Australia and, although I am never going to want to leave, will probably enjoy the return flight as well! If you fly to Australia with Virgin Australia, I promise that the daunting myths about being on a plane for so long will not apply. Plus, you know you're getting out in the most amazing place in the entire world!

Breakfast on the plane!

Once we got to Brisbane, we were greeted by a driver from Griffith University, where we are going to school. We rode to campus with an exchange student from France, one from Germany, and another from the United States. It was barely 8am (5pm the day before in Hershey because of the 15 hour time difference), and was already in the 80s and sunny. After getting to campus, we received a linen package that included sheets, a quilt, towels, and a pillow. The package was free for the moment but don't worry, if you don't give it back to them within 2 weeks, you're charged $88. At this moment I began to realize how exorbitantly expensive everything is in Australia. A linen package is $88 a "fortnight" for a rental, internet is either $25, $40, or $60 extra a month, and you have to pay for your mailbox. Mascara is $20 a tube, a coke is $3.50 a bottle, and finding an article of clothing for less than $25 is a miracle. Also, despite the sweltering heat, there's no air conditioning in the dormitories, or "colleges" as they call them here. $30 later, i have a nice fan that I live in front of! Here's a picture of my dorm room and the view outside- it's small but i love it!

The first day in any new country is really hard. I was really homesick, exhausted, and HOT AS HELL. After taking a short nap and waking up at 6pm Brisbane time, my body thought it was 3am and was definitely dragging. Today was the first day I woke up at a normal time (9:30 am) and felt settled into the time difference. It's amazing what feeling rested does to any international experience! The first week here has been a surreal blur of making friends, traveling, experiencing the alcoholic culture (unavoidable), and soaking up all that Australia has to offer!

Every time I blog, I'm going to include some Australian vocabulary to give all of you a taste of their culture. Here's the first few!

• LINE (as in "get in line" for something)= QUEUE
• YOU'RE WELCOME = NO WORRIES or IT'S ALRIGHT (you literally wont find someone that says you're welcome!) 
• TRASH= RUBBISH
• LITE MILK = SKIM, FULL CREAM= WHOLE
• BISCUIT = COOKIE

That's all for this post...check back soon, I'll be posting pictures from our AMAZING 3-day trip to Byron Bay! Thanks for reading!!

Love,
Sarah