A Bucket List Week

Aussie Slang Lesson: Week One: Arvo = afternoon Wow, the last week and a half has been incredible and chaotic. It took me about 25 hours in the air to reach the Gold Coast. I have never watched more movies consecutively in my life that were not a Harry Potter marathon (though I did watch …

First Stop Down Under

The thing that comes to mind when I think about my first week here down under is wow, I have knocked so many things off my bucket list already. The day I got here, I did miss my connecting flight to Cairns. That was not fun, to say the least, but it only put 5 …

Preparing for Take-Off

Hello everyone, As I am preparing to leave for Australia, a lot has been circling through my mind. People keep asking me, “Kass, are you done packing yet?”. I respond with a laugh and announce that I haven’t even yet begun. I guess you could say I have a problem with procrastination. However, I am …

Preparing for the Longest Flight of my Life

It’s official; I leave for the sunny Gold Coast in just a few short days! As the days seemed to pass faster and faster, my list of to-dos seemed to get longer and longer. For instance, I had to be an adult and buy my own luggage. Believe it or not, my parents did not …

Thoughts on Leaving Australia

Recently I thought, how will it feel to leave Australia? This isn’t the first time that I have reflected on the idea of going home, but I realized that in the past, I had always been focused on the returning rather than the leaving. I would think about seeing my family and friends who I …

Weekend in the Whitsundays

Upon arriving in Australia I had made it a priority to ask Aussies that I came across for places they would recommend for a weekend trip. From my own research I had considered Melbourne, Uluru, and Tasmania, and while the Aussies agreed that those would be fantastic spots, the suggestion I heard time and time …

Blue Mountains and Australian Forests

Sydney is in a unique position geographically because it is surrounded by the ocean on one side, and national parks and mountains on the other. One of my friends, who is an Aussie native, lives in the Blue Mountains and this past weekend we decided to take a quick day trip out to the lower …

Bondi Beach

Recently I started spending some time at the beach which showed me an entirely new side to Sydney. With Sydney being so close to the water, it should come as no surprise that they have plenty of beaches, the most famous of which is Bondi. Bondi beach and even just Bondi in general just feels …

Arrival in Sydney

The first taste of Sydney that I received was as the plane was touching down from Dallas, the pilot who came on the overhead speaker greeted us with “Welcome to Sydney, Australia, the most beautiful city on earth, although I may be a little biased.” Unfortunately, I needed to get on my flight to Cairns …

Arrive Down Under

One week has past since I have arrived in Cairns, Australia and it has been busier than I possibly could have imagined. Cairns is known as the “Adventure Capital of Australia,” and the city lives up to its reputation. The city itself is a northern coastal town surrounded by beaches, marinas, and water on one …