Hey everyone!
Sorry for the late update its been a bit strenuous getting everything settled in and ready to go…but awesome at the same time.
Backtracking a bit, I flew down with 3 others – Jeff who I went to high school with – Matt and Cassidy (all who attended Conestoga together and were planning this way before I teamed up with them). Flying out of Toronto we were off to San Francisco where we had a 7 hour layover. A friend of mine is at school at SF State University so we met up with her and got the royal tour. One of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever seen. It’s like the Rocky Mountains with buildings all over them, the elevation from street to street, to people playing music on every street corner and taking cable cars to your next destination. So sweet. Down to the pier for some food, looking out to Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. Great memories to start this adventure.
Our next stop was Auckland New Zealand. With only a 3 hour layover we couldn’t leave the airport but that was ok, our 13 hour flight there was long enough (most of which I was out cold for). Once we landed we just wanted to keep up the laziness and check out the 24/7 shops and watch these people walking by with their accents and all wearing shorts and t-shirts.. not bad for February 2nd. It’s starting to hit us.
Another clean takeoff and we’re in our final sprint. A 3 hour jet over to flood central – Brisbane, Australia. We were seated on the left side of the plane so when landing we couldn’t see anything north of the Brisbane river, which is where the real damage was done. All in all though, we made it! We land and get picked up by a middle aged guy holding the Griffith Uni sign and our names written on it. A pretty cool cat, a non-stop talker giving us some history and places to check out as we drove past them. I was in the passenger seat-the driver seat in Canada but with no steering wheel in front of me..welcome to driving on the other side of the road.
Over the last few weeks we’ve moved out of our temporary accommodation and split up into two groups so we could find places close to the ocean. We’ve also met up Jeff’s cousin Jess who’s been travelling the world by herself and is staying with the other house for the next 6 months or so. So the 5 of us have tackled Aus the best we can, getting to know the area and getting help from this guy Bobby we met at the Uni when we went to register. A past Business undergrad going for his Masters.. and also the Canadian Club president.. getting the hookups from the start.. So he offered to help us, and help us he did. From renting a car for us and driving us around to find the best house to giving us insight on everything we need to know.
The aussie lifestyle is starting to take its form. Beach life has lived up to its hype, we all live minutes from water with bodyboarding, beach football doing absolutely nothing getting ingrained before school sets in. Orientation was last week and uni begins this coming week. Surf stories, more fun times and pics reporting soon.
Until next time, take care.
- Rob
