Gold Coast, Melbourne, Adelaide

Hello!
Sorry I'm just now getting around to blogging about the trip I took but here it goes:

Day 1: Thursday November 8th
Amy, Kylie, and I took the train down to Sydney so we could catch our flight to the Gold Coast. Grace was supposed to come with us but she got really sick and was unable to come. We stayed in a hotel at Surfers Paradise instead of a hostel which was good. The main reason we made this choice was so we could have our own bathroom. Unfortunately when we got there the hot water was out so we had to use the public showers at the pool. Just our luck, but we did get a 50% refund so that was good! That night we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for Margaritas and some yummy food! We walked around Surfers Paradise for a bit and checked out all the shops. We also went to Infinity. Infinity is kind of like this weird dark maze thing that has black lights and lasers and a bunch of weird obstacles that you have to get through. It was entertaining to say the least!

Day 2: Friday November 9th
On our second day at the Gold Coast we went to Movie World!! Movie world is a theme park with lots of fun rides! We had to rely on public transport to get there and we ended up waiting for the bus for an hour even though it was only supposed to be 10 or 15 minutes. I am so over public transportation! I'm ready to be reunited with my car! Once we finally got to the theme park we hit up all of the big roller coasters and a couple shows. It was no Disneyland but it sure was fun to ride all the roller coasters! We went back to our hotel and cooked ourselves a pasta dinner since we had a mini kitchen.

Day 3:  Saturday November 10th
Saturday was a rainy day which was a bit disappointing because we wanted to go to the beach. We went to Starbucks and watched the rain and did some people watching as well. We walked around and did some shopping since we wanted to stay indoors. We got drinks by the beach and then cooked ourselves another pasta dinner! (Pasta which only cost each of us a dollar, bargain!!) We hit up one of the clubs that night since Surfers Paradise is known for its nightlife.

Day 4: Sunday November 11th
Sunday was sunnier but unfortunately it was extremely windy. The beach was impossible because of it. We had lunch by the beach. We rented a bike that all three of us could ride at the same time. We had it for an hour and we rode it all the way up and down the beach. It was pretty hilarious since all three of us were on the same bike and we had a lot of laughs. We went out for dinner instead of making pasta which was fun.

Day 5: Monday November 12th
We finally had good beach weather!! We went to the beach for a couple hours and got really sunburned. We had sushi for lunch and then made our way back to the airport to catch our flight back to Sydney. Our time at the Gold Coast was a lot of fun. I absolutely love it there and I really want to go back sometime! Once we got to Sydney we said goodbye to Amy because she was catching the train to go back to Newcastle since she had an exam the next day. Kylie and I stayed in a hotel in Sydney since we had an early flight to Melbourne the next day.

Day 6: Tuesday November 13th
Kylie and I were up nice and early to get to Melbourne. We met up with two of our American friends from our dorm, Christina and Kelsey, who were also doing some traveling. When we got there we checked into our hostel (which was a pretty good one) and then headed out to explore. We went to the Queen Victoria Markets, Federation Square, the Australian Center for Moving Images, St. Paul's Cathedral and the Docklands. We were very busy! While we were at Federation Square we saw an episode of Master Chef Australia being filmed. We accidentally walked right into their shoot. It was pretty entertaining. The Australian Center for Moving Images had a free exhibit which was all about the history of film which was really cool. We had dinner at the Docklands and then once again had some difficulties with public transportation and ended up walking all the way back to our hostel. On the way back we walked past a concert and found out it was Coldplay! We were kinda bummed we couldn't get tickets! People don't sell them outside the venue like they do at home!

Day 7: Wednesday November 14th
We had another early morning because we booked a Great Ocean Road tour with Kelsey and Christina. Its about a four hour drive to get out to the 12 Apostles (rock formations in the sea) and there are lots of places to stop along the way. We drove through Geelong, went by Bells Beach (home of the rip curl surf competition around Easter), drove through the town where Quicksilver and Rip Curl where founded, went to a famous lighthouse, saw some wild kangaroos and koalas, ate some really good fish and chips in Apollo Bay, and then finally made it to the 12 Apostles. We saw some other cool rock formations as well including one that was called the London Bridge! We made it back to Melbourne and had dinner at Pie Face, the best place for meat pies!

Day 8: Thursday November 15th
Kylie and I had another early morning since we had to catch a flight to Adelaide. We stayed with some of Kylie's friends which was great! We went to a shopping center for a bit. Then we went to the South Australia Museum. We went and had pizza for dinner and it was really good. We had been having a hard time finding good pizza in Australia but we finally found it in Adelaide. We went to sleep pretty early that night because we were so exhausted.

Day 9: Friday November 16th
We finally had a day to sleep in a bit! We took the bus over to Glenelg beach with our friend Jason. We had some ice cream from my favorite ice cream shop, Royal Copenhagen. We walked out the Jetty and then went to the beach house to play some mini golf. Don't worry, I won, by a lot! :) We went out for a nice dinner and then went out for drinks with some friends.

Day 10: Saturday November 17th
We again slept in for a bit since we were so tired as our trip was finishing up. We went over to the Adelaide Zoo. We saw a ton of animals including Pandas which were definitely the highlight! We then had to make our way back to the airport. We caught our flight back to Sydney and then got on the train back to Newcastle. We finally got back to campus just after midnight.

We had such a fun time and I'm really glad that I got to see a lot more of Australia! Photos to come soon!
Until next time,
Kimmy