My first trip of the semester was to Currumbin’s Wildlife Sanctuary. A bunch of friends and I decided to take the hour bus ride over to Currumbin to see some koalas and kangaroos. We called ahead to see if they offered any group discounts and luckily for us they did. If you’re going abroad and plan to do group trips I strongly recommend you try this! You may also want to check for student discounts. Anyway, the first thing we did was take some prom pics with Happy the koala. For those of you who have never held one, I can tell you that their claws hurt, they smell and they may poop on you (just ask my friend D’ahna). However, it does make for a pretty cool picture. Next, we made our way over to the kangaroos. We were able to walk right up to them and I got to feed one and take selfies with another. After visiting with all of the animals we went through the high ropes course filled with ziplines and obstacles. It was pretty fun, despite me forgetting to put on gloves for the first zipline, not being able to stop myself, and crashing headfirst into the mat at the end.
The first real trip I took was to Moreton Island, the third largest sand island in the world. We left campus early in the morning and were driven to the ferry in a vehicle best described as a 4-wheel drive mini bus. The first thing we did once we got to the island was head to the sand dunes to try out sandboarding. After hiking to the very top of sand dunes that felt a mile high, in 100-degree weather no less, it was time to sled back down. I volunteered to go second, not wanting more time to think about sledding headfirst down a dune on a plank of waxed wood. Better to get it over with, right? I jumped on and slid down at about 40-60 mph.
Next we made our way over to the shipwrecks off the coast to do some snorkeling. It wasn’t the most amazing snorkeling, but I did see some cool fish, a couple of stingrays and a shark. Later that night we headed to the campsite where we watched the sunset, drank some wine and ate dinner before heading to bed. I woke up early the next morning, mostly because I couldn’t sleep in that hot and sweaty tent anymore, but also because I was hoping to go for a quick swim. Seeing as Moreton Island is pretty much deserted I decided it might be fun to cross off an item on my bucket list and skinny dip in the ocean. Unfortunately for me, the one other person on the island probably up at 6:00 am happened to be fishing right where I walked out onto the beach. So, I turned around and grabbed my bathing suit. For the remainder of the day we explored the rest of the island, which included a freshwater lake, a hike to the highest point and a dip in the ‘champagne’ pools.