Autumn in April

You know your soul is still in the Southern hemisphere, when you repeatedly inadvertently walk on the left side, see flashes of cars turning into the wrong lane, and mistaken squirrels for flying foxes and/or possums.


After riding a high from two incredible weeks of travel and fieldtrips, I had to pull in the reins slightly back at school, with three mid-semester exams and two papers just waiting for me to get started on. Somehow I managed to finish everything, albeit not with my best effort (you have to understand that I never do things this last minute and therefore have no experience cramming). But hey, everything worked out fine in the end as reflected by my grades this semester. In between all these assignments, I still managed to go on some awesome day trips, proving that an exchange student has the innate ability to always find time to explore.


April 21st, the day after my Saturday anatomy practical exam, I went on my first scramble in Australia with the UQ Mountain Club to Mount Tibrogargan, one of the Glasshouse Mountains in the Sunshine Coast hinterlands. At 364m, Mount Tibro could hardly be called a mountain by Canadian standards. Then again, the entire continent is extremely flat and Mount Co-otha (which I have ridden and ran up a few times) in Brisbane is only 287m. The scramble itself was fairly difficult (at times you were basically free climbing) but the benefit of a low mountain means that it took only about 45min up and you can see very clearly the views below.

Group photo at the top

Two of the other Glasshouse Mountains



After descending, we still had the better part of the day (it was only 10:30am!) and so some of the Aussie locals in the group suggested checking out this cool waterhole in the surroundings. We drove inland through Woodford, home of a famous folk festival in December, and after some directional uncertainties, found this gem of a waterhole at Stoney Creek.

We spent the afternoon swimming, doing synchronized jumps, and rock hopping across creeks to check out a hidden waterfall at the suggestion of a little boy. Easily one of my favourite days in Brisbane that makes feel so at home that I wonder if I had really only been there for a few months.  

 

 

The following weekend was dedicated to climbing more peaks. My friend Stephanie and I had planned on doing a camping trip to Mount Warning in order to ascend it at sunrise (because it is the first spot the sun hits in the morning in Australia). Unfortunately Mount Warning was still closed due to flood damages in January and so we scrambled to change our plans. In the end we decided on doing two day trips, one in the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast hinterlands respectively.

 

On Saturday April 27th, after walking 4km from St. Lucia to Woolloongabba (including a short cut that involved climbing up the side of a bridge), waiting around to pick up our rental car and then stopping at Coles to buy lunch, we finally arrived at Mount Maroon (966m) in Mount Barney National Park around 1pm. Some hikers who had come down and were leaving told us that it took about 3 hours return so we were still really good for time. Who would have known that within 10min of walking I would run into a friend who I'd met on last week's trip to Tibro? The hike itself was amazing, fabulous views of the hinterlands and we hardly saw anyone else on the track, granting a sense of serenity.  

 

Not that the popular places that I went to are are any less beautiful, but looking back, it's days like this that make my stay in Australia extra special knowing that I went off the beaten path to go somewhere that most visitors would overlook.

 

The next day we headed north to the 208m high Mount Coolum. This time it was more of a hill walk as we made it to the top on these well-formed stone steps in less than 10min. Don't judge the summit view by the elevation however, as I have never seen anything as cool as that on top of a mountain. On the east there is a unobscured view of the entire Sunshine Coast beaches. And stretching expansively on the other side are the Sunshine Coast hinterlands, and further away, the Great Dividing Range.

 

 

We took our time soaking in the view, and because we obviously didn't get enough hiking in, drove to Noosa National Park to do the Coastal Track. Because it was such beautiful weather and there was also some event going on in Noosa, we could not find anywhere to park and had to forfeit the walk in the end, which was really sad because Stephanie's friend Chris was leaving Australia in two days and had really wanted to see it. In its place we decided on just going to hang out at a less crowded beach in Caloundra on the southern tip of the Sunshine Coast. We set up camp at King's Beach, and my friend Kayleen and I went playing in the water just like the many little kids that were there. Just another perfect beach day in Australia.  

 

 

 

Oh Wicked cars!

More to come on May!

The end of an era

Eight flights (two more coming soon) including three nights airport sleeps, a marathon, countless magnificent scenery all over Australia and New Zealand later, I'm sitting here in my last few hours down under going through pretty bad nostalgia as I muse over all the epic pictures and memories. I have been bitten badly by the traveling bug, to say the least. Traveling is such an enriching and wonderful thing and never have I grow so much as a person in such a short amount of time. Maybe it's the fact that I have been a lot more open but many friends that I have made here I feel like I have known for ages. It's amazing how you can feel so at home and at ease in a place so isolated from the rest of the world that you have only been in for a few months. To say that I am going to miss everything would be an understatement, and part of me is anxious of the readjustment to normal life that is imminent. 

When I get home I will take the time to thoroughly finish writing about what has been the grandest adventure of my life. Until next time Australia, and don't you worry, there definitely will be a next time.