WOW!

HEY!

So, I totally kept putting this off for some reason.

We're on day 13 (feels like longer). We have less than a week left on the Sunshine Coast and then I'm going to Newcastle for the weekend and back down to Sydney for a few nights. Then back on the plane to Vancouver :(

I've been having an amazing time. I have tried so many new things from surfing to cable boarding, eating kangaroo and playing a didgeridoo! I've spent a lot of time at the beach trying to soak up the sun. We also went to the Australia Zoo which was fantastic -- totally worth it. I spent a couple nights in a hostel in Mooloolaba and met 3 girls from Halifax! Two were nannies in Brisbane and one works and lives at the hostel. It's crazy that I can go halfway across the world and still manage to run into people from home.

I'm really loving the 18 year old drinking age. Trying to take advantage of it as much as I can. Mooloolaba was kind of lame and only accepted passports as valid ID... all I had was my driver's licence. I kind of understand though.... they shouldn't be expected to memorize what a legit nova scotian driver's license looks like. I was too afraid to bring my passport out with me.. if I lost it I'd be screwed.

There's a lot of differences between Canada and Oz. They drive on the left (wrong) side of the road, and the steering wheel is on the right (wrong) side of the car. They say "ta" all the time, and "reckon" and "mate". I think I'm slowly starting to get the hang of it. They have the coolest kind of car, they call them "utes", short for utility truck. I think they're the coolest things ever. It has the front of a car and the back of a pick-up truck. They're pretty popular here but if i somehow managed to get one of those to canada I'd be the coolest person ever.

Australia is amazing. I don't think the rest of the world realizes how amazing it is. I think everyone's slowly starting to figure it out. The only downside is the cost of living... it's kind of expensive to live here, but minimum wage is almost double what it is at home so I guess that makes up for it.

So what's the verdict?

.. I'm seriously considering a 12 month visa :D

Hey!

I am very excited to have the opportunity to travel to Australia with my dad. I have decided to document my experiences so I'll never forget it. I have wanted to go to Australia for as long as I can remember and I finally get to go!

Travelling from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia involves 4 airplanes and 25(ish) hours in the air. Halifax > Toronto > Vancouver > Sydney > Brisbane. I'm not looking forward to the "getting there" part of our trip, but I know it will all be worth it once we arrive in Brisbane.


We will be spending most of our time in Maroochydore, a town located about 100km north (2 hour drive) of Brisbane. My dad's mother (aka my grandmother), "Ya-Ya"; my dad's sister (aka my aunt), Pauline; and Pauline's son (my cousin), Phil live in Maroochydore -- about a 7 minute drive from the beach. The aerial view of Maroochydore kind of reminds me of a bigger version of Bedford, except instead of having a lot of snow, they have a lot of sand. I would definitely choose sand over snow any day.