So I’ve been back in Canada for over a week now and still haven’t got rid of my jet-lag! I don’t know why it didn’t hit me like this last time- but even with Tom’s lorazepam I can’t seem to get over it. Although- I hear that for a time difference of 16 hours between Toronto and Sydney, that it should take me about 16 days to get back to normal.
I guess I haven’t written in over a month now, so there’s lots to tell! My last few weeks in Sydney were really great, but also really busy. Tom and Mom came to visit- and I was also trying to study and pack and not get too excited about the end of the year.
Tom was in Australia for the first few weeks of November and I got to see him quite a few times while he was in Sydney. I showed him all around our campus the first day he was here and we had a bunch of great dinners with Janice. Alice also invited Tom and me for dinner up in North Sydney one night- which, once again, was AMAZING. Alice is such a good cook! Tom seemed to really like Australia- which I was also very happy about since he says he’ll be coming back to visit every year!
Mom arrived on November 13th and my exams were on the 16th- so Mom toured around Sydney during the day while I studied. In the evenings we met up for some walking around and some dinners. I even made Mom dinner at my studio apartment (with no kitchen) one of the nights. It was fun!
The 16th was my last exam- so after a short visit with Mom and Tom at the end of the exam I headed home to start packing- which is what I ended up doing for almost the entire next 36 hours. It felt like it took forever. I cannot believe how much you can accumulate in 10 months.
I had to skip Tom’s last day of touring around Sydney because of all the packing- so I was kind of disappointed about that. But, at least I got it all done for Mom to help me move it all into my friend’s house on the Sunday. Things went surprisingly smoothly after that and I was feeling much better by Monday.
Mom and I spent the next 2 days in Sydney. We took the ferry over to the Sydney Zoo (which was SO nice), had some great fish and chips, went for a tour and a walk through the Botanical Gardens, went on a double-decker bus tour and did the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb!! Somehow Mom even had time for a mid-day conference call in the midst of it all! We also had a few REALLY nice dinners which was another great treat.
While we were in Sydney, we stayed at the Royal Automobile Club which was right in Circular Quay beside the Opera house!! We had a perfect view of the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Harbour from our window. It was AMAZING. We could also walk right out the back door to the ferry docks- which was SO convenient. What a great place to stay!
On Wednesday, we took an early flight up to Cairns to visit the Great Barrier Reef. We stayed on a little Island Resort (called Green Island) which is an island that actually sits on the inner reef. It was a beautiful place and we spent 2 full days there. On Thursday, we took a half-day trip to the outer reef where we got to snorkel for hours with sharks, turtles and TONS of fish! We even got to pet “Wally”- who was a giant Humpback Wrasse who hung around the raft we were on! I totally loved him. He he he.
There was lots to do on the Island- and I think we managed to do ALL of it while we were there. We snorkeled around the island and under a pier, walked around nature trails on the island, went to crocodile feedings and shows, visited the underwater observatory at night, went on night nature walks looking for crabs and even got to look at the stars through a telescope that was set up for us. We also got to feed fish and sharks each evening and then had drinks on the beach while the sun was setting. It was pretty nice to say the least!! :)
After our 2 days on the Island we headed back to the mainland for one night in Cairns. We had a hotel right on the main street and spent an evening walking along the Oceanfront boardwalk. Mom saw lots of new birds and I took lots of pictures. We had another nice dinner that night and even found a Baskin Robbins for some of my favourite ice cream for dessert.
On our last day in Cairns we decided to ride horses through the Outback on a small guided tour- and it turned out to be really neat! We saw some really interesting countryside and thousands of MASSIVE termite hills. Luckily, I didn’t see any snakes or spiders- but I know they were there! Mom took her horse galloping and managed to only get one small cut from a tree branch. She was much braver than me- I just stuck to the trotting. He he he. That afternoon we flew back to Sydney and I spent the night packing up my bags to head home!
I guess I haven’t written in over a month now, so there’s lots to tell! My last few weeks in Sydney were really great, but also really busy. Tom and Mom came to visit- and I was also trying to study and pack and not get too excited about the end of the year.
Tom was in Australia for the first few weeks of November and I got to see him quite a few times while he was in Sydney. I showed him all around our campus the first day he was here and we had a bunch of great dinners with Janice. Alice also invited Tom and me for dinner up in North Sydney one night- which, once again, was AMAZING. Alice is such a good cook! Tom seemed to really like Australia- which I was also very happy about since he says he’ll be coming back to visit every year!Mom arrived on November 13th and my exams were on the 16th- so Mom toured around Sydney during the day while I studied. In the evenings we met up for some walking around and some dinners. I even made Mom dinner at my studio apartment (with no kitchen) one of the nights. It was fun!The 16th was my last exam- so after a short visit with Mom and Tom at the end of the exam I headed home to start packing- which is what I ended up doing for almost the entire next 36 hours. It felt like it took forever. I cannot believe how much you can accumulate in 10 months.
I had to skip Tom’s last day of touring around Sydney because of all the packing- so I was kind of disappointed about that. But, at least I got it all done for Mom to help me move it all into my friend’s house on the Sunday. Things went surprisingly smoothly after that and I was feeling much better by Monday.Mom and I spent the next 2 days in Sydney. We took the ferry over to the Sydney Zoo (which was SO nice), had some great fish and chips, went for a tour and a walk through the Botanical Gardens, went on a double-decker bus tour and did the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb!! Somehow Mom even had time for a mid-day conference call in the midst of it all! We also had a few REALLY nice dinners which was another great treat.While we were in Sydney, we stayed at the Royal Automobile Club which was right in Circular Quay beside the Opera house!! We had a perfect view of the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Harbour from our window. It was AMAZING. We could also walk right out the back door to the ferry docks- which was SO convenient. What a great place to stay!On Wednesday, we took an early flight up to Cairns to visit the Great Barrier Reef. We stayed on a little Island Resort (called Green Island) which is an island that actually sits on the inner reef. It was a beautiful place and we spent 2 full days there. On Thursday, we took a half-day trip to the outer reef where we got to snorkel for hours with sharks, turtles and TONS of fish! We even got to pet “Wally”- who was a giant Humpback Wrasse who hung around the raft we were on! I totally loved him. He he he.There was lots to do on the Island- and I think we managed to do ALL of it while we were there. We snorkeled around the island and under a pier, walked around nature trails on the island, went to crocodile feedings and shows, visited the underwater observatory at night, went on night nature walks looking for crabs and even got to look at the stars through a telescope that was set up for us. We also got to feed fish and sharks each evening and then had drinks on the beach while the sun was setting. It was pretty nice to say the least!! :)
After our 2 days on the Island we headed back to the mainland for one night in Cairns. We had a hotel right on the main street and spent an evening walking along the Oceanfront boardwalk. Mom saw lots of new birds and I took lots of pictures. We had another nice dinner that night and even found a Baskin Robbins for some of my favourite ice cream for dessert.On our last day in Cairns we decided to ride horses through the Outback on a small guided tour- and it turned out to be really neat! We saw some really interesting countryside and thousands of MASSIVE termite hills. Luckily, I didn’t see any snakes or spiders- but I know they were there! Mom took her horse galloping and managed to only get one small cut from a tree branch. She was much braver than me- I just stuck to the trotting. He he he. That afternoon we flew back to Sydney and I spent the night packing up my bags to head home!
Last weekend was the North American Medical Students Association Halloween party and also my friend Amy’s birthday- so I decided that I should go. I would have much rather been in Toronto with EVERYONE else watching Jamie’s band play at Neutral… but the party here ended up being pretty fun, so it was an OK second option. Australians seem to love their costumes, so most of them went ALL OUT and I was very impressed. Some of them are hard to describe, so hopefully the pictures will do them justice. My friend Ben won best costume for the night- hopefully you can tell what he is because it was pretty hilarious.
Yesterday was actually Halloween, but we didn’t do much since most Australians don’t celebrate it (despite their obsession with costumes). But… it was still an exciting day for me because Brent sent me 12 ORANGE roses and some chocolates! I didn’t even know orange roses existed! :)
Oh… and I also dropped off Brent’s application for the masters program at the Sydney University International Office- since it was the last day to apply.
Well that’s it for now. I am off to practice Cardiovascular examinations with my friend Martha… he he he.
See you soon! Miss you. xox
The first Saturday off, Brent’s friend, Alphabet, took Brent and me (plus one friend from school) up to the Hunter Valley (a few hours north of Sydney) for a day of wine tasting. I’m not sure how many wineries we visited- but it was a very full and fun day.
On our drive home, we also saw tons of kangaroos (as well as some dead ones at the side of the road :(…), wallabies and –even a wombat. Brent spent quite a while chasing kangaroos to try and get some good pics- but they were a little too fast for him. He he he.
On Sunday, Brent and I volunteered at a GIANT outdoor concert in the city called Parklife. There were 35000 people at the concert, plus about 2000 more “fence-jumpers”. 
We were ‘medics’ for the day- and I got Brent as my partner, which made my job easy since he was much more qualified than every other medic there.
We saw a lot of “fence-jumpers” who either injured themselves by trying to get over the fence or by security, who chased them down (and weren’t particularly gentle once they caught them). We also saw A LOT of not-so-smart kids who overdosed on alcohol, GHB, or ecstasy. There were about 70 people sent to the hospital by ambulance- almost all of which were drug overdoses. Parts of the day were interesting for sure, but after 14 hours we were sure glad it was over. 
Monday morning Brent biked down to Kings Cross to pick up our rental car while I packed up our stuff. We left pretty early, but still managed to get a parking ticket in the 5 minutes that we spent lugging our stuff down the stairs to the car (since the elevator in my building was broken). Parking tickets in Australia start at $80- so needless to say it wasn’t the best start to the trip. Luckily, things only got better! :) 
The rest of Monday was spent driving up to Byron Bay (about 9 hours north of Sydney)- with a short stop in a small town called Taree. One of my good friends from school (Martha) is from Taree- and invited us to stop by on our way through. It was a nice little visit- and Brent and I got to meet her family, eat some strawberries and brownies and tell stories about how cold it gets in Canada. :) 
We didn’t get to Byron Bay until past 9pm- and unfortunately we had booked a place at what ended up being a horribly dirty and uncomfortable hostel. There was a nice write up about the place in our Rough Guide- but it was definitely not very accurate. Anyway, we just decided to go right to bed and wake up early so that we could get out of there as soon as possible. 
Tuesday we were up early, so we went to visit a few different beaches (which were all beautiful). We also had a great breakfast and then headed up to visit the lighthouse and walk to the ‘most easterly point on the Australian mainland’. We saw heaps of dolphins while we were there!
At around noon we headed up to the Gold Coast and Surfer’s Paradise. I’d heard lots about the Gold Coast- and it was ok- but it made me think of what Miami beach might have been like about 25 years ago. We stopped at a quiet, but gorgeous beach- called Mermaid beach- to bodysurf some waves- and then headed to one of the biggest surf lifesaving clubs in Australia (called Northcliff) for lunch. The Gold Coast was a nice place to drive through, but I was glad that we weren’t staying long. 
We kept driving (through Brisbane) that afternoon until we got to the Sunshine Coast. The Sunshine Coast is where Brent lived for 5 months when he was here a few years ago. It is a beautiful place. We stopped at one of the beaches just before the sunset and saw the biggest JELLYFISH ever that had washed up on the sand. 
There are shark nets about 500m off shore everywhere in Queensland, but they didn’t make me feel much better after seeing what kinds of things still get through!
Wednesday morning Peter and his girlfriend got up early to go to work, so Brent and I got an early start too. We went to visit Brent’s surf lifesaving coach for a while and then headed back to the Kawana Waters beach where Brent trained everyday while he was here. It was another BEAUTIFUL beach. 
For lunch we had famous ‘Works burgers’ (with everything you can imagine including an EGG on it) at Mooloolaba Beach. We went for another quick swim at the Alexandra Headlands- but Brent caught a wave right into a wall of shells, so we didn’t stay there too long.
We drove up to Hervey Bay (across from Fraser Island) that night and checked into a much better YHA hostel- where we paid the same amount as in Byron Bay for our own little enclosed cabin- which was still basic but much more comfortable! We had a cheap dinner at the hostel, played some chess and booked some tours for the next few days. 
Thursday we went on a whale watching tour in Hervey Bay for most of the day. We saw tons of humpbacked whales and had a great lunch on the boat. We hadn’t planned it- but it ended up being prime whale watching season (since the whales migrate down the coast each spring)- so we definitely got lucky. 
That evening we went for a swim in the ocean at Hervey Bay. The water wasn’t that great looking, but the sand was super soft, and the water was really warm, so it ended up being just perfect.
We went on a full-day guided tour of Fraser Island. I’m sure it would have been even better if we had enough money and time to camp and rent our own 4X4, but we definitely saw enough to know that we want to go back. We had a really knowledgeable guide who took us all around the 170km sand island. We walked through rainforests, swam in freshwater creeks, drove along 75-mile beach (which is a HUGE beach that is also a highway and a runway), visited the Maheno shipwreck, saw the coloured sands, and spent a while at a very famous freshwater lake called Lake MacKenzie(where you can polish your jewlery with the sand). It was a GREAT day and I really didn’t want to leave the island (at least until I heard about all the deadly animals and bugs living on it).
That night we had dinner at a popular Mexican restaurant in Hervey Bay which we decided was probably the BEST Mexican food we had ever had!
Saturday morning we got up early and headed over to the beach where there was a master’s surf lifesaving carnival/competition going on. Brent’s old club was there, so he was happy to see a lot of the men that he used to train with. It is amazing to see the number of masters still involved in surf lifesaving here- definitely something you would NEVER see in Canada. 
After a few races, we decided to start driving back towards Sydney since I needed to be at the hospital by Monday. We ended up driving about 11 hours that day and making it all the way down to a town called Port MacQuarie, which is about 500 kilometers north of Sydney along the coast. We stayed in a Quality Inn motel that night, watched a movie and ordered in some pizza. It was a nice treat after our week of hostels.
At the end of it all, we had driven 2700 kilometers in 7 days.