Week 3 – August 2nd to August 8th
As many of you may know, I am an active participant in the great outdoors – whether it be hiking, skiing, etc. I love being out enjoying nature. So when trying to decide on what school to go to for exchange, Australia was an extremely tantalizing choice – the multitudes of nature meant hiking, hiking and more hiking! Or, I guess I should get with the cultural times and say “bushwalking”.
The week started off with our residence organizing a trip to the famous Taronga Zoo, home to some of Australia’s most exotic and interesting specimens of the fauna-kind. We hopped on a bus, drove across Sydney’s famous Harbour Bridge, and got dropped off at the gates of this park of visual amazement. Seriously. So cool. The huge park contained animals of every kind, not only from Sydney, but from around the world (elephants! <3) Heck, we even had some west-coast representation from the Californian Harbour seals. BOO. YAH. We must have spent close to five hours walking around, just trying to take in the hundreds of spectacular species living in the zoo. However, we did “accidentally miss” the spider exhibit. Oh darn. Better luck next time 😉
School ensued for the rest of the week, but no class on Friday meant FINALLY, FINALLY me and a group of like-minded thinkers headed out on what was for most of us our very first Australian bushwalking experience. An hour train ride away, we arrived at Berowra, where we began our 13km adventure along the Great North Walk trail. Australian bushwalking is VERY different than our British Columbian hiking – for those of you who have hiked BC before, you’d know that most of our trails go up. And when I say up, I mean UP. Our Friday adventure provided a leisurely rolling nature walk – a lot of down, a lot of flat, and a lot of up throughout the duration of the hike made for easier walking than the usual BC standards, but it was gorgeous none-the-less. The blue waters, vibrant green forests, the screaming child-like call of the local birds (wait, what?) made for a real Australian-nature experience, one that I had sorely been lacking and desiring since having thus far spent most of my stay in the main city area. Although, we couldn’t COMPLETELY get away for urban life. Half way through, we caught a car ferry across the Berowra River and stopped for a well-deserved coffee at the local café. (What? When in Rome they say…) Five and half hours later, with countless photos, laughs and memories on hand, we arrived in Cowan, got back on the train, and went back to home-sweet-home for some well-earned R&R.
And finally, Saturday provided the most wild-experience of my trip so far. Australia. New Zealand. Bledisloe Cup. With the cheapest tickets possible (#studentlife), a group of 20 or so of us were able to watch the Wallabies take on the All Blacks in a rugby game for the ages. I’ve never seen so much yellow and green in one place, the ANZ Stadium packed with AUS and NZ fans alike. The game was AMAZING. Tries and conversions went back and forth, before finally (and rather unexpectedly) the Wallabies went down in history and went on to take the cup. The stadium EXPLODED. Truly, it was the wildest experience I’ve had in my time down under so far.
Reppin’ our adopted colours
My first taste of Australian nature has got me hungering for more, and I can assure you, bushwalking with most definitely be in the near future (Bushwalking Fridays, anyone?)
Much love,
Steph