G’day Mates! (in some cases dingoes),
I guess the saying “when in Australia,
do as the Aussies” applies to this situation. I hope everyone in the states has
been doing well over the past week; I apologize for the delay in my blog posts,
however the past few days have been quite chaotic to say the least. First of
all, we had a safe trip from the states to the “land down under;” however it
was one of the longest days of my life. I flew out of Atlanta last Sunday at
3:30 pm and landed in Dallas/Fort Worth 4:30 (central time). After almost
missing my flight, due to poor communication between American Airlines and Air
New Zealand, we flew into LAX at 6:00.
So I literally chased the sun the entire day. However the weirdest thing
to me was the fact that I never saw the day May 13, 2013; we literally left the
states on the 12th and landed in Brisbane on the 14th. But after a 14-hour flight from LAX to
Auckland, New Zealand we then connected on another 5-hour flight to Brisbane,
finally arriving at 1:00 pm, Brisbane time. Needless to say after watching the show "Lost" I was playing the scenarios in my head 30,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean.
Once we arrived, we hit the ground
the running and went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Honestly, I was pretty
skeptical about this whole part of the trip at first. I feel like once you’ve
been to one zoo or aquarium you’ve seen them all. However I couldn’t have been
more wrong. Yes, the refuge is mainly for the Koalas, but the Kangaroo’s or
“Roo’s” took the show. We were able to enter into the field full of rescued and
domesticated Roo’s and actually “bro down” with them. It was safe to say I was
in my element at this point. Its hard to describe these guys, it was almost
like they were similar to deer (very over populated and always causing car
accidents in Australia) but there really is nothing that I can compare them to
in America.
After the sanctuary, we headed to
our hotel that was located in downtown Brisbane where I proceeded to take what
I believe to be the greatest shower of all time. Between four different plane
rides and the Koalas and Roos, it was safe to say a shower was much needed.
From there my two roommates, Sam and Kevin, some sophomore Sigma Chi’s that I’ve
grown close to, and I rounded up whoever wanted to explore Brisbane for the night.
Needless to say we ended up finding a place called Irish Murphy’s Pub, one of
the coolest pubs I’ve ever been to in my life. However let me tell all of you
back in Athens who complain about a four dollar beer, imagine paying ten
dollars for one. The two nights we spent in here featured two of the best cover
bands I’ve ever seen, heavy 90’s rock and classic rock that all of us “yanks”
could sing along to. But of course it was limited to "strictly to 80's Joel" and Freebird is frowned upon down here. And yes, when 65 UGA students go abroad someone will find
a place to eat after a night downtown. Nevertheless, the one and only Liz
Wright sniffed out a Mickey D’s… one of her finest moments in life.
After three days in Brisbane, none
of us were too happy to leave and we are already looking forward to our one
night there in a few days. From there we headed to Carnarvon Gorge that is
located ten hours inland in Queensland (Northeastern Territory of Australia). We’ve been here for three days and
participated in day hikes throughout the gorge, one of which was 10 miles of up
and down climbs and hikes; the second was an ascend up Ballomba Bluff for a
view that was nothing short of breath taking. Although I did question my sanity
as I climbed up a path that was comparable to the path taken into Mordor by
Frodo and Sam in that Lord of the Rings movie. Literally. I’m not joking,
carrying 240 lbs. up that mountain made Coach T’s stadium runs at Sanford look
like a joke--that’s hitting every step Sanford has to offer. At night, it was
pretty much the same story. We stayed in a “community” that was similar to the
one in “Wanderlust,” minus the nudists and Jennifer Anniston. We slept in what they called “tents”
that had beds… bunk beds. Needless to say I wasn’t as happy to sleep in these
bunk beds as Dale and Brendan were in “Step Brothers.” I would have rather
roughed it outside in a hammock or in an actual tent; I had the mindset that we
were doing the real thing.
Overall, the past six days have
been some of the best days of my life. We have roughly 36 in our group since we
split up in Brisbane and I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting and getting to know
each and every one of these people. Everyone has their own story and different
background and this trip has allowed some of the brightest students at UGA to
travel halfway around the world and gain a cultural point of view that most
people will never experience. I truly regret not having already studied abroad
during my early years of college and recommend that if anyone is ever given the
opportunity to take a trip like this to not think twice. However I will say
that I am glad to call America my home, I enjoy driving on the right side of
the road, sweet tea, and a nice rib-eye… although I will say that Kangaroo
meat does look like a fillet but tastes like a gamey type of duck; nothing a
little Dale’s and Worschershire sauce couldn't fix.
To everyone back home I wish y’all
could be here with me, especially you Houston… I’ve needed my wingman, although
I’m pretty sure you would have held up the white towel halfway up the mountain
today, the same applies to Gazaway and Long. Talk to you guys soon.
Dawgs On Top,
-Dustin
-P.S. Trying to upload photos on Australian wi-fi is comparable the age of AOL Dial-Up, I'll do my best to upload some on facebook and twitter asap.
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