I am still very new to this whole idea of blogging, and I am not quite sure how it works, but I am going to give it a try so that my experience here can be documented. Oh yeah, I still don’t have a really catchy name, so if you can think of one, I am open to ideas.
The flight over wasn’t as bad as I thought it would have been. The only bad part of my 23 hour journey over was on the flight from Philadelphia to LA… I was in between some big, huge, computer tech type guy (who wouldn’t stop picking his nose), and this really rude lady. Needless to say they were both from LA. Anywho, once in LA I was really excited to finally get onto the final leg of the trip! The 13 hour segment of the flight wasn’t that bad. The food wasn’t spectacular, but it was edible and served its purpose. But about 13 hours later, the sun was rising as we were landing in Brisbane, Australia. (BTW: Brisbane is pronounced Bris-bin, kinda like we call Mebane Me-ban, and not Me-bane)
Once customs was over and done with, we finally met with Arcadia staff, who are all very nice and excited for us to be here, or so it seems. We were greeted by Cam who is based in New South Wales in Sydney. When we went outside to store our bags during orientation, we were reminded of the season switch during the 13 hour flight. It was pretty cold outside, probably about 10 degrees Celsius, which is about 50 degrees our temp. Most of us were not prepared for this, but we did have hoodies (which are called ‘jumpers’ here.
After 30 minutes of freezing, because I have been spoiled with the hot & humid climate of NC and the southeastern US, we FINALLY got on the bus to drive to Coloundra, about an hour north of Brisbane. The first thing that I noticed about Australia is that the sky is much more brilliant than ours. It makes Carolina Blue look silly. It is probably a whole new shade that Crayola hasn’t come up with yet. And that’s not to mention the scenery on the drive over, the mountains, the trees, the fields, the houses, and then we were to our destination: The Shearwater Resort at King’s Beach. When I read the sign I was pretty excited! I have been DYING to get to the beach, and here I am!! But I must say that I don’t think that I will ever look at other beaches the same. We had to talk a little bit before they took us on our walk through the little coastal city.
Once again I am at a loss of words when it comes to the landscape out here. The Pacific Ocean is a marvelous thing. And in contrast with the white sand here, it is amazing! It is so much better than any picture I have seen, you must simply be here for yourself (But I will put up pics and you can tell me what you think).
We finally got something to eat and had to head back to check into our rooms for orientation. I have to give it to Arcadia, this place is pretty nice. It overlooks the beach and the little town down the street. I really don’t mind sleeping here either. And the food isn’t bad at all. Healthy, but still tasty. They gave us fish and chips from the store underneath the hotel. I asked them if they had any hot sauce and I don’t think that they have a Texas Pete equivalent. Put the chili sauce that they provided was ok..
After a long day, which seemed like it went on forever only because we are still operating on Eastern Standard time, which is a 14 hour difference, we were all tired and went to bed around 7:30 Brisbane time.
So far, I am LOVING the accents! Will be back soon!
Kiara
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