Brisbane and Noosa

Coming into Brisbane I went to the YHA there and then walked along the riverside and botanical gardens for a good chunk of the afternoon. Brisbane looks to be a pretty nice city, but I didn't find all to much to do in with a limited amount of time. However on the night I was there, there was a large rugby league game going on at the Suncorp Stadium which was about a 5 minute walk from the hostel. I decided I might as well see a rugby game while in Australia so I went there and the Brisbane Bronco's ended up winning. Also surpisingly Carrie Underwood was there for a half time song. About 35,000 people were there for that game which was surprised by. After that game I was pretty exhausted due to the lack of sleep the day before so I went back to the hostel and attempted to sleep, till one guy woke most of us up with his snoring. Eventually I did get back to sleep and overall Brisbane was a pretty good city and would love to go back with some more time.

After Brisbane I went to Noosa which is a relativly small place but had a good small town vibe and had a nice beach. I didn't end up doing to much there as I was pretty tired after two nights without much sleep. I mainly walked around town for a while and saw the sun set and then had dinner with a someone I met from Switzerland. After which I just chilled and hit the hay at a decent time

Starting to Travel up the East Coast

After the weekend at Steph's and saying goodbye to everyone (Which I will now have to do again as I got my trip extended for a few weeks:)), I went to Sydney and then took an overnight bus to Byron Bay. It was quite a long bus ride at 12 and a half hours, and it was raining the entire way, but once we arrived in Byron the ride was rea Byron Bay was beatiful with the ocean and the waves crashing on the rocks. I also met a few great people there, someone from Denmark and someone from the UK. We hung out and did a few things such as walk to the lighthouse, movies, and on my last day there we went to Cheeky Monkeys which had some specials because of the State of Orgin game. It was off season there and a little on the cool side, but I imagine when it gets warmer its quite the party there.

After two days in Byron Bay I made my way to Surfers Paradise which was another amazing place to visit. I know why they call it that because the beaches are beatiful and the city there is also great. I walked around the city a bit and did a boat tour thing to get a quick look at the city due to me only being there for a day. When I went back to the hostel I met a international student advisor from UC who was trying to get a group of us together so that we could do a pub crawl without having to pay for cover charges, and maybe even end up with some free drinks. That ended up being a pretty good night and I think I ended back up at the hostel at around 5, and had to be up at around 8 for my bus ride to Brisbane. I didn't get the chance to go to Seaworld or Dreamworld, but hopefully next time I am here, I will get the chance to check that out as well.

Finished at CSU, now time to Travel!

I had my last exam and my last few classes last week, so that marked the end of my time at CSU which is bittersweet as now I get to travel the east coast of Australia for the next month, yet I have to leave some of the amazing people I met at CSU in Bathurst. I will miss everyone that I met, I will miss the fun we had going out, the meals we had to create on the weekends, the uni atmosphere, and just the overall experience. 

The last few weeks of uni were pretty good as everybody was finishing off classes and studying for exams. We had one last uni bar night which was great fun. All of us Canadians also got together and watched the Canucks games which was a good experience as well...hopefully my grades didn't suffer to much.

Once the exams were over, I went to my friends Steph's (Who is the best person in the world:)) place which is on a sheep farm about two hours from Bathurst, near the town of Young which is the cherry capital of Australia. There I got a quick tour of an Australian sheep farm including mustering some sheep which was fun to see. While there I also met some of her friends one night and also met up with Emma.

Trying to get the sheep across the creek

After chasing the sheep

Cherry Capital of Australia

Me and Steph

After that weekend we headed back to Bathurst where I caught a train back to Sydney so I could catch a bus  to Byron Bay. While I was in Sydney I did check out VIVID which was a cool light show that was in Circular Quey.

Circular Quey

Customs House

Overall my experience at CSU has been unforgettable and something I have no regrets of doing. If anybody who is considering doing an exchange is reading this, just do it! Its something you won't forget, and is well worth doing. I have met amazing people that I will be friends with for life.

Last few weeks at CSU

The last few weeks have been fairly uneventful with assignments being due and studying for exams. Nevertheless we did do a few things in the past few weeks to keep us busy.
About a week or so after the Frisbee tournament a bunch of us went to a "Day at the Races" which was basically a day where we got dressed up and watched some horse races at a local track. Almost all of us exchange students were there and overall it was a pretty good day.

Us Canadian Exchange Students

Rainbow near the end of the day

After that I really didn't go anywhere, but we did try some stuff at the Uni such as trying to make a chocolate cake in the microwave which we were all a bit skeptical of but actually turned out pretty good as you see below.

Fresh out of the Microwave!

Add a bit of icing and you got chocolate cake!

The next weekend some of the dormies decided I needed to try some kangaroo meat so we made some kangaroo burgers which were pretty good. Tip: add sundried tomatoes as a topping to make it even better.

Other than that, as I said earlier, we have had assignments to finish and exams to study for so it has been relatively uneventful. But as soon as I finish my last exam here tomorrow, I will start hitting the road. Which will be bitter sweet as I will definitely miss the time I have had here and the people that I have met, but it will also be good seeing some more of Australia. As of right now I plan on going to a friends place for the weekend, then go to Sydney and get on the bus up the east coast checking out things like the Whitsundays, Fraser Island, etc. Then I fly back to Canberra for the Eastern Uni Games, before heading to Melbourne and then back to Vancouver from Sydney.