Hello everyone!
...so i've decided to write a blog in order to keep everyone updated on what i'm doing in the land down under!
In 3 days so much has happened already! I landed in Sydney on tuesday and missed my connecting flight to Gold Coast so i had to negotiate for a long time with another airline in order to get on another flight...but in the end i made it!!
After having arrived in Coolangatta, my first destination, i basically slept for 24 hours! Coolangatta is a nice little town and is really quiet (i've been told that's because people tend to retire there). It was a perfect place to nurse my jetlag! My roommate was a Polish lady who'd been travelling for about 4 years through South East Asia and Australia and had decided to just move to Coolangatta and make a living by giving massages and selling cigarettes she bought in Thailand. Quite an interesting character!
On wednesday morning i decided to be adventurous and go for a walk along the beach and after 3 hours i realised i was only in the next town (Currumbin) and that it would take days for me to run out of beach...the distances in this country are huuuuge!! The colours are amazing, and seeing the ocean just makes everything better...no wonder australians are so laid-back!
Yesterday i checked out of the hostel and had my first real couchsurfing experience. I was a bit nervous at first, but my host turned out to be an amazing person! He picked me up and showed me places i would have never seen otherwise! We went to Currumbin creek, which has a hiking path through some rainforest, and then to a Mangrove forest that goes around a wildlife shelter... the hope was to see my first kangaroo but sadly they put up a screen in front of the fence so people like me can't see into the shelter! Rather than being disappointed, we hiked some more and arrived at a little hidden beach, which is where we turned back. The animals i've seen are incredible! As we were walking my host pointed out a butterfly which is apparently one of the rarest butterflies in Australia! He's only seen a few in his life, and i got to see one on my second day here! The forest is full of unidentified sounds, and plants i've never seen in my life...it kinda makes you feel like you're in some forest from Lord of the Rings or Narnia...
Tomorrow i'm heading up to Surfers Paradise, which is apparently more of a party area. We'll see how that goes!
Hugs to all!!!
