Mountains, Sunrises, Sunsets, Chocolate, and Light Sabres

So first off, let me be the first to state that I'm pretty awful at keeping you all updated. But how can I tell you anything without having constant adventures every week? So I hope you guys don't mind the fact that I've gone missing for almost a month and will enjoy this novel of a post.

So let's backtrack to the first weekend of October. I stayed in the Gold Coast area which was good for exploring places a little closer to home. We started off by having brunch at Max Brenner's Chocolate Bar. I didn't need to eat again that weekend due to the large amounts of chocolate spread across my waffles. We ate ourselves silly and then proceeded to walk around the adjacent marina where I started picking out which of the boats I wanted to bring home. Well...my birthday and Christmas will be here before you know it :) After that we went back towards Surfer's Paradise and looked in the tourist shops before spending the rest of the afternoon on the beach. I finally got up close to Q1 (that tall building in the picture at the top of my blog). It's quite impressive and I plan on going in there one day soon to take photos of the city from the observation deck. It boasts the titles of being the World's Tallest Residential Tower and Australia's Tallest Building as well. I noticed the beaches were much busier on that side of the Gold Coast, but it definitely became my favorite spot for people watching.

The following weekend I went on a retreat to Mt. Tamborine with the BCC (Bond Christian Connection). We stayed in a cute (but EXTREMELY cold) sort of hostel overlooking the mountains. That's one thing that I never really expected to see so much of in Australia - the mountains. My images of what the country would look like just had beaches, beaches, and more beaches. But it's amazing being able to look out the window and see beaches in front of you and then mountains behind you. It was a good relaxing weekend seeing a different side of Australia. We went on a small hike and we literally walked through rainforest. The difference between a hike in Virginia and one out here is amazing so you can imagine how many times we stopped to take photos of all the crazy trees and other plants. The part of the weekend that sticks out most in my mind though is how COLD we were the whole time. I never thought I would have to wear so many layers down here. But it was definitely worth it so I can't complain.

Now we've caught up to last weekend. Six of us packed some bags, tents, sleeping bags, and rations for a two-night camping trip to North Stradbroke Island (or Straddie to the locals). We were quite the sight at the bus stops, train stations, and ferry as we carried all our supplies and started our half-day of traveling before finally arriving at our campsite on the island. We quickly set up our tents and admired how close we were to the beach (I fell asleep each night listening to the waves...it was AMAZING). After lightening our load we walked along Cylinder Beach and walked along the rocks and saw beautiful views of the ocean. We stayed out there all afternoon and into the evening before finally seeing the sunset over Cylinder. The six of us ate dinner down the road at a Lawn Bowls Club where we were told there was plenty of food to fill us up. When we arrived though, I had completely forgotten about eating because the only thing I could focus on was why there were so many men dressed up as either Star Wars characters, Gilligan, or women (they later told us they were dressed as netball players). One of the guys informed us that they were AFL players and their season had ended. So needless to say they were enjoying their weekend by goofing off quite a bit. We had a good laugh for the rest of the night after talking to them before leaving. After that a few of us laid out on the beach and watched the stars for an hour or so. Never before had I seen so many shooting stars. It was absolutely breathtaking. And since we still can't recognize any of the constellations down here we began making up our own - including enough Christmas trees to last a lifetime. The next day we woke up early. The six of us split up to do a few different things. I took a walk towards Point Lookout where you could walk along the North Gorge which was another breathtaking sight (but also very scary! I was afraid the winds were going to push me to my death...or the waves that the signs warned us against). My friend Chris and I tried looking for whales but were unlucky in that department. But we did see some dolphins so I was pretty happy. We ended early in the afternoon with some delicious gelato. After that we spent the afternoon on the beach by our camp. I told everyone that I had finally found Australia that weekend. Straddie was exactly how I had imagined Australia before leaving the States. It's now definitely one of my favorite places I've seen in the world! The only downside to the weekend were the ridiculous bogans (the Australian equivalent to rednecks/hillbillies) on the site next to us. They were so loud and obnoxious the last night there that I barely slept. I guess they make for a story though.

This week has been a good long one for me. I was lucky in that my classes ended on Tuesday morning so I've been using this week as a sort of mid-semester break (Bond Uni doesn't have one I think I lucked out). Wednesday I went to the beach for a little while and watched some friends try out the surf. Thursday evening though is when my next adventure started. About 14 of us met up around 10pm to drive to our friend Alex's apartment. From there we hung out for a few hours and then left around 1am to drive to Mt. Warning. This mountain is the first place the sun touches in Australia and we wanted to see the sunrise. So what does that entail? A hike starting around 2am in darkness with light only from the few torches (flashlights) we had. We climbed a lot of stairs and over a lot of rocks before making it to a point where we had to use a chain to pull ourselves up the last bit of the mountain. Although I thought I was going to break my ankles a few times, we all made it to the top safely with enough time to wait for the sunrise. From the top we could look out to our left and see Surfer's Paradise and the rest of the Gold Coast. To the right we could look out towards Byron Bay (where we stopped on our way back from the surf trip about a month ago). The sunrise was gorgeous and the fog along the valleys of the mountains was so surreal looking. The pictures I took don't do the scenery any justice. Here's the best part about it for me though. On our way back from the surf trip a few weeks back I watched the sun set over a gorgeous set of mountains. It was seriously one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my entire life. I couldn't keep my eyes off of them (and especially one of the mountains in particular) and I was then determined to find those mountains again. I then discovered right before we left last night that Mt. Warning is the same thing I looked at that night! I was ecstatic to find out I was going to climb to the top. And now that I know where it is, I want to see the sun set across it again.

Tonight I'm headed out to Surfer's Paradise again to get some photos for my photography class and hang out around there for a bit. Well I hope I've updated you all enough. I'll try to be more conscious about posting more often so that I don't leave you guys hanging!