10 Fun Facts About Australia and New Zealand

Its official, I once again have my feet firmly planted on U.S. soil.  I landed in Boston two days ago after the longest Friday of my life (literally the longest because of the time difference).  I don't think it will really hit me that I'm home until I get back home and enter the infinite stretch of boredom that is known as winter break.  To help keep the magic of my trip alive a little longer, though, I thought it would be fun to type out a list of things that were different or fun about Australia and New Zealand. 

1. Australians don't eat peanut butter and jelly. In fact many think it is totally weird. 

2. Tim Tams are by far one of the best cookies ever! 

3. It is normal to become aware of the fact that you now have a funny accent. 

4. The Great Barrier Reef is dying.  I am so happy I got to see it before it was too late.

5. Food is super expensive and portions are smaller.  

6. Aussies like to shorten everything.  For example, the city of Brisbane and affectionately called Brissie. 

7. New Zealanders are called Kiwi's.  Don't worry they don't mind. 

8. If you have the chance to see a glacier in New Zealand. DO IT. No matter the cost. 

9. New Zealand farms deer.  As a girl from the Northeastern U.S. this seemed so strange to me. 

10. Australians and New Zealanders are some of the nicest people I have ever met.  

In the end Australia and New Zealand are some of the most unique places in the world.  Seeing kangaroos never got old and the beautiful scenery of the South Island of New Zealand is truly spectacular.  If you ever have the chance to visit I say go.  My time down under was one of the best experiences of my life.  

To the South of Middle Earth

If you ever have the chance to visit New Zealand, do it.

I don't really like making list of my favorite places I've been because really every place is so different and fun how can you compare them, but if I had such a list New Zealand would be pretty close to the top.  Right now I am touring around the South Island from Christchurch down to Queenstown and back up the Christchurch through the Kiwi Experience bus tour.  This tour was a little expensive but definitely worth it if you don't want to worry about driving yourself during your vacation.

The South Island has so far been one of the most beautiful places I've been to in a long time.  I would definitely recommend taking the train through the alps.  I did this on my first day from Christchurch to Greymouth and while Greymouth is not that great of a city the views of some of the most beautiful landscape is well worth it.

by Caitlin Maloney

After staying the Greymouth I slowly made my way down to Queenstown stopping along the way in small towns.  In Wanaka I took a helicopter ride up to a glacier which was quite possibly the most incredible moment of my life.  The glacier is one of only three in the world that goes right down into a rainforest.  It is slowly receding and it is sad to know that it may not be there when my children are grown.

By Caitlin Maloney

Franz Josef Glacier By Caitlin Maloney

Fox Glacier By Caitlin Maloney

Queenstown was my final destination.  Its a lovely little tourist town tucked deep in the mountains looking over a beautiful lake.  If you are in any way interested in adventure sports this is the place to get your adrenaline running. Whether it be bungy jumping, sky diving, or extreme biking this is the place for you.  It's also the place for you if you like looking at beautiful scenery, eating wicked good burgers, hiking mountains, and having a relaxing vacation in New Zealand.

Queenstown Warf by Caitlin Maloney 

Queenstown Warf by Caitlin Maloney

So really if you are looking for your next international adventure I would seriously consider jetting off to New Zealand.  In my opinion it is one of the most unique places on Earth.

Day in the life of...

My 16th birthday remains my favorite birthday by far.  No, I wasn't one of those spoiled girls with a giant birthday bash costing more than a wedding or a small house.  In fact I would hate being at one of those parties let alone be the center of one.  Too many people.  My 16th birthday was my favorite because my parents took my sister and I along with two friends to New York City for a weekend.  One of my dad's friends had a house in New Jersey at the time so we all stayed with him and caught the train into the city every day.  The best part of the trip was being in the car with my friends. Throughout the eight hour drive we passed the time by making up stories about the people we passed.

Fast forward to this past week and I found myself bored on the long bus ride home, stuck in rush hour traffic in Brisbane.  In my boredom I found myself making up stories for the people around me.  One particular guy was especially interesting probably due to the tattoos all over his body.  Here is a snippet of a story/description I made up for him.

There is a boy on the Brisbane 345 bus, no not a boy but not a man either.  He's at the in between where he's trying to be a man but not quite fitting the mold yet.  Tattoos crawl across his body and gages stretch his earlobes twice their original size.  His body is an echasketch of rebellion.  He doesn't like rules, even though he knows they're in place for a reason.  Across his knuckles "live free" is scrawled in old type print and I can't help but think to myself, 'maybe he should visit New Hampshire'.  

There it is.  A little taste of my bus ride.  I'm sure this will not be the last time I will make up these stories.  I think their good writing exercises and it passes the time during a long commute alone.  Maybe I will make this a thing.  Who knows.  It was definitely fun.

Lamington's in Lamington and Other Updates

It's about time I updated on what I've been up to Down Under.  Last time I wrote about going to the Gold Coast and briefly mentioned Lamington National park.  Well Lamington was amazing.  The rainforest is so different from anything you will ever experience if you spend your entire life in the Northeastern United States.  There are so many sounds, smells, and everything is so unbelievably green, compared to the current state of my wintery Maine home.  When we first arrived I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy myself.  This was probably due to the down-pouring rain that soaked me through within the first ten minutes of being in the park.  That would dampen anyones day (no pun intended).  However, I soon realized that if you are going to see the rainforest, and I mean properly see the rainforest, it is best to do it in the rain.  You cannot imagine how beautiful the fog is as it filters out the distant trees of the undergrowth but here are a few pictures that will give you an idea.

The weeks after that were pretty crazy.  They included three exams and a paper, hence the reason I am just now getting around to this post.  After those crazy weeks I took a flight to Tasmania which was unexpected to say the least.  We landed in Launceston on a friday to fresh fall like weather, which was a relief after the 100 plus degree days in Brisbane.  Shortly after getting to Launceston, though, we learned that the place has no public transportation on the weekend.  None.  Then we attempted to rent a car and failed miserably.  (Do you know how difficult it is for under 21 year olds to rent a vehicle?  I thought I had escaped the problem of being underage when I left the states).  So in the end we spent two full days in Launceston going to a gorgeous gorge and a weird little zoo.  It wasn't what we planned but still fun.  (One more day, though, and I probably would have gone crazy).

Then I was off to Girraween National Park for another excursion.  Unlike Lamington, Girraween is getting frighteningly close to the desert in the middle of Australia.  You can literally feel all the moisture get sucked out of the air as you travel west over the mountains and away from the shiny coast.  That being said it was beautiful and we did have plenty of slightly brown water to drink.  I also faced my fear of heights and climbed up possibly the steepest and scariest mountain ever, the Pyramid.  It's basically like climbing up and down a 45 degree angle of pure granite.  I only felt like throwing up once during the whole climb!  After that we piled on the bus to head back to Brisbane and back to mountains of homework but somehow I don't mind.  After all I have less than two weeks left in this beautiful city.  I want to enjoy it as much as I can.

xoxo

Also if you haven't had a lamington you should really try them.

Brisbane and the Gold Coast

Its amazing how fast time can pass by without us even knowing until after the fact.  Four weeks of my study abroad trip has already come to an end and here I am starting week five.  Anyway here is what has been happening.

I now call a lovely townhouse in a suburb of Brisbane home and I have two amazing host parents who have kindly shown me around the city.  Oh and I must mention my furry host cat Mac who is currently sitting on my lap as I write this post.

My second weekend here I took the train down to the Gold Coast, which is exactly how it sounds, miles of beaches with silky sand and many skyscrapers.  If you are picturing Miami, Florida you have the right idea but I was in luck because it was less crowded.  It turns out people don't frequent the beaches at the end of winter despite the eighty degree weather.  Why? I have no idea. It was beautiful.

During my third week living in Brisbane my classes were in full swing and the homework was piling on but I still found time to enjoy myself.  I visited Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary which is a must see if you happen to be anywhere near Brisbane.  The koalas were all over the place just chilling there like koalas do and I got to hang out with some pretty awesome kangaroos.  You should never try to approach a kangaroos in the wild but the guys at the sanctuary were perfectly happy to have a little pat from the tourists (and I'm sure they didn't mind the kangaroo food given out by the visitors).  It was definitely worth the money to see this little guy up close...

...and this guy

 ...and this one too.

Finally, this past week I was living without the comforts of home and the addicting drag of the internet while staying at Lamington National Park.  Let's just say that it was an amazing experience that deserves its own post...

Australia Day 1?

Okay so it's been more than the first day, or even the third day for that matter, but today is the first day that I've felt awake enough to actually write/remember what has happened.  After four plane rides (including a rather stressful layover in Huston) I get to wake up to the the view above.

After a early morning bird watch I ate some breakfast and morning tea, which is an amazing thing.  We should really make it a habit in the states.  Later in the day I spent time at a beautiful beach collecting cool shells and doing other Biology related things.  I also spent a great deal of time staring out at the ocean watching humpback whales playing around.  I couldn't believe that was class.

Oh and did I mention I saw a Koala.  My very first Koala in the wild.  I would post a picture but the only ones I have are horribly blurry so I leave you with this beautiful view instead.

The Muse in Music

I know that almost everyone listens to music and has there favorite genres and artists but I thought I would post a few of my favorites.  Music is such a big part of my life whether I'm writing, reading, or cooking I'm usually also listening to something in the background.  Music helps me cope with life.

I don't know about other people but I love finding new music.  I love the chase.  Some days I will listen to fifty or so new songs until I find one that I like.  I will sift through all the okay stuff just to find that one song that I can star in Spotify and listen to for weeks.  For me listening to an amazing new song is a little like reading one of my favorite books for the first time.  With each there is a sense of novelty that you can never regain no matter how many times you listen/read the music or book again.  I love that feeling!  I guess you could say I'm a bit of a music junkie.

So a little about my taste in music.  As of the past couple years my love for indie music has grown.  For me indie has a sound that other genres don't tap into.  I also like it when the instrumental bits are nice and authentic.  Don't get me wrong, I jam out to the lastest pop songs just as much as the next girl, but there is something amazing about knowing that an artist can actually play the instruments in the background.  Maybe this is why I tend to listen to a dash of folk music.  Gotta love a little banjo, am I right?

This being said my favorite band is The Killers and I will always have a special place in my heart for the Cranberries who I grew up hearing.  I also play the piano and have always loved a little bit of classical music between my Indie songs and popular favorites.  This love has branched into a love of soundtracks, consisting mainly of Alexandre Desplat, Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard, and Murray Gould of course (this man is a genius).

During the past few months one of my favorite indie artists, Daughter, put out a new album.  I love her soft sad lyrics that are filled with such emotion that it makes you forget about any problems you may be having.  Here is a little taste of what she sounds like.  Happy listening! Oh and I am always looking for new music so if you have something you really enjoy leave a comment and I'll give it a listen too!