Weekend in Brisbane

This weekend we joined Ila and Matt for a trip to Brisbane. We went Friday after school with the Bus and Train from Noosa to Brisbane, which took us 3 hours and only cost $7. We slept in a backpacker called "The Bunk" and it really was a little bit like a bunker... But we were pretty lucky, because we were upgraded from a 8-shared room in a 4-shared room.



Oli, Flo, Ila and Matt in front of the Story Bridge

 On the first night we discovered the nightlife of Brisbane and on the next morning, we bought some food and had a brunch in the Botanical Garden.

We soon learned, that the garden can be really dangerous...

                                      

In the afternoon we went to the Queen Street (shopping mall) and to South Bank (public pool and markets). After dinner in Chinatown we went to a BBQ on Kangaroo Point (which was more a little bit of a Botellón as there was only drinks and nothing on the Grill). We enjoyed the Skyline from Brisbane while walking over the Story Bridge.



Today we went to the DFO (Direct Factory Outlet). Which is a huge shopping mall full of outlet-strores, including all the surfing brands like Quicksilver, Roxy, Billabong, Rusty or RipCurl. After some serious shopping we arrived in Noosa pretty exhausted.

Flo's Birthday

This Wednesday was Flo's Birthday. Already in advance came gifts in the mail from oversea, which fed her anticipation.

On the day before her birthday Flo had to work hard in the Kitchen, because she planned to bring a delicious cake to school and a second cake for the planned BBQ in the evening (and as it was our homestay-dads birthday we used the opportunity to make also a small cake for him).

When the big day finally had arrived Flo opend her gifts in bed. (Oli didn't bring her a breakfast in bed..)

In school we had our first cake and the class sang Happy Birthday for her.

After school we went to reserve a BBQ-place on the Noosa River. It was a very beautiful spot from where one can see a stunning sunset.

Thanks to Sabrina who brought a guitar and Nina who played and sang we had a wonderful musical entertainment.

After the sunset we started the BBQ and enjoyed this typical aussie tradition.



In the end we were around 20 people and we spent a awesome time! And Flo got many presents :-D (Thanks everybody!!!)

Oli says: it was legen - wait for it - dary!

half-time

Somehow it's shocking to think, that we have already the half time of our stay in Noosa behind us. But at least the weather is getting better and better and we finally can start working on our tan.



This Friday we went with a schoolbus to Maroochydore and had a BBQ with another Global Village School. We played Volleyball and had a lot of fun, meeting new people and enjoying the sun.



On Saturday we went Geocaching and we rode our bikes deep into woods on the Noosa Bird Trail. Some of the Trail reminded Oli of the Nationalpark Bike Marathon, as it was sometimes really challenging Terrain.

 But finally we found the well hidden and funny decorated Cache. But here in Australia a found doesn't already mean, you've got it. This Cache for example was protected by a really big fellow...



Today we spent just some leisure time at our pool and did some homework. But this will be one of our last relaxing weekends, as we also booked this week two trips, one to Brisbane and one to Fraser Island. The weekend between them we will make a school excursion to Dream World (that's where the biggest rides on the Gold Coast are). So we'll be pretty busy over the next three weekends.

Mount Timbeerwah

After a rainy week we had finally a day of bright sunshine. And this even on a Saturday!!!

We (Oli) decided to use this chance for a bike-trip to Mt. Timbeerwah (265 meter high). It has a 360° lookout.

On our way we had to overcome steep passages.

But we were rewarded with a stunning view. Imagine having lunch (Birchermuesli and sandwiches) at this lookout...



After this exhausting tour, we went to our pool to relax and to enjoy the sun.

addendum, and surf

On friday we finished school 30 minutes earlier and had an extended lunch to have a small party (we planned to go to a park nearby but it was bucketing (= raining cats and dogs), so we stayed in our classroom).

It was fun, everybody brought something to eat or drink and we had a big meal.

Today we went again for a surf. We had bigger waves than the last time, which was good, because it got a little bit easier. But also much more exhausting; it had a big rip (somekind of special astralian current, that can be quite dangerous...) and it was hard to fight against it. There was one time when we came pretty close to the rocks.

We are slowly but surly getting better on the boards. Although there is no photo of Flo standing on the board, she also managed to surf this time!

We were again rewarded by a beautiful sunset.



Sunshine Plaza

Thursday night was again the KB's on our programm. This time we used the opportunity to eat a free meal there (it was ok...). Oli won a beach towel in a competition, which involved throwing pingpong balls in a hula hoop.

As it was raining this weekend we decided to go to the sunshine plaza, which is the biggest shopping centre on sunshine coast and about 1 hour busdrive away from Noosa. We got on the bus pretty early in the morning and then we were suprised, when the bus started to fill with gv students. In the end it seemed that half of the students in our school had the idea to visit the sunshine plaza.

Saturday night we went to the Surf Club. It's a place, that is run by the local safeguards and its located directly at the beach. By drinking something you support the safeguards, who are all volunteers in Queensland. Unfortunately the place has to close at 12 p.m.

Today we spent a boring time inside, doing some homework and reading, waiting for better weather...

first surf lesson

Today we attended our first surf lesson. The weatherforecast was terrible, but it turned out to be sunny and warm. We met our teacher Nathan after school at 4 p.m. He is a english teacher from our school and so we had 2 hours for 25$ equipement included, which is really cheap.


The five people in our group f.l.t.r. Flo, Astrid, Livia, Roni, Oli; Photo taken by Simon.

After a very short theoretical part we went into the water and started practising. It was really fun but also exhausting. But we managed to catch some waves! :-D

Oli even managed to stand up and surf on the waves, of what he is really proud. ;-)

Third week, Crikey!

Tuesday we went to the cinema with some friends (cheap tuesday: every movie is only 9$). We saw "the other guys" which is a typical popcorn-movie. Afterwards we went for a pizza and later for ice cream and a stroll on the beach.

 

Apart from that, this week didn't differ so much of the last few. Thursday Night we went to the KB's (Koalabar). But for our amount of homework it ment a significant increase...

We recieved our first "Cambridge Book for Cambridge Exams". In it are four different Cambridge Advanced Exams and we have the privilege to solve one of them per week which takes 3h 45 (of course in addition to our usual amount of homework).
After this heap of homework on saturday, we went with our bikes around the lake Doonella and enjoyed this beautiful sunset.

Today was our trip to the Australia Zoo on our program. This is the very Zoo which Steve Irwin, the famous crocodile hunter, owned and in which he used to do his spectacular shows with his crocodiles. Now, four years after his death, his wife Terri still leads this shows with their two kids (Bindi and Robert).

Although the zoo is pretty big, there is not a great variety of animals. Still the visit in this zoo is definitive a must do if you are in Australia.

Next to the display of the facinating australian fauna, there are also special enclosures in which you can get in contact with some of the animals.