Our first day in Brisbane

Sunday, 13th April 2014
written by Tassilo Busch

I was very sad because we had to leave our exchange families. The departure was very emotional. We left the Gold Coast and drove to Brisbane to a little hostel. The bus travel took one hour. The hostel is not as good as the exchange families. We live with five other guys in a small room with a window which you can't open. It was a rainy day. Nearby our hostel is a cinema and other cool things, for example: a shopping centre a small market and a nice restaurant. At the end of the day we had a short meeting with the group at dinner. Then Marcel, Tom, Ruben, Valentin, Ramon and I went to the city. Brisbane is a very exciting city. There are a lot of skyscrapers. After this all we went to the other guys and Marcel played the entertainer.

Some things never change...

...but some Australian cafés provide the answer...

Thank you so much for an amazing time at the Gold Coast!

The last day at the Gold Coast

Saturday, 12th April 2014
written by Luca Haurand

Today is Saturday and also the last day we will spend here on the Gold Coast. There were not any plans from the school for the weekend, so I spent the night with my exchange student at Ruben and Valentine's house. 

I woke up at 7am and got up at 8:30am and made my breakfast and waited until the other guys woke up as well. We spent some hours there and later we drove home to get ready for the beach and lunch at Currumbin Beach Club with my family and Ruben and Valentine's as well. We had a great view over the coast from the restaurant.

After lunch we went down to the beach and went swimming and we laid in the sun. We went home at 3pm so I had enough time to take a shower and pack my stuff for tomorrow when we will leave. At 6pm we drove to the AFL game and had a great time there and it ended at 10pm.

It was a very good last day to relax on the Gold Coast with my friends and the family and to get ready for the other two weeks of our trip. I hope that I am going to see all of them again very soon.

Hiking at Night

Friday, April 11, 2014

written Zoe Labreze 

 

In the early hours of Friday morning we set off on a great adventure. Our day began at 01:30am and ended at 01:00pm.

 

In the dark night we had about half an hour to get ourselves ready for the drive down into New South Wales. Our destination was Mount Warning, where we were to climb the summit in time for watching the sunrise at the top. This mountain is about 1200m high and it took us about two and a half hours to hike to the top in the dark. And three hours more to get back to the car at the bottom.

 

The two parts of hiking were very different: First we got up in the dark and needed torches to allow us to find the right way. There were glow worms and many stars because the sky was very clear. We had to stop several times but after 4km and a steep rock climb of 400m with the aid of a chain, we reached the top and were the first ones in the whole world to see the sunrise. We had a picnic at the summit and enjoyed the amazing view. Our way back down was a bit longer because we took many photos and there was not the rush to get down for a set time. All in all the hiking was about 9km long.

 

When looking out from the bottom we could not believe, we had climbed such a huge mountain.

Although it was very challenging and exhausting it was an experience I will never forget.

 

Thank you to my host family for the good time at Gold Coast!

Australian Wildlife & Dreamworld

Friday, 11th April 2014

written by Valentin Rödiger 

Today it's Friday. I woke up at 9:15, which was a bit late because at 10 am we would go to the zoo to see some typical Australian animals like Koalas kangaroos and crocodiles. So Ruben and I had to hurry a bit. 

In front of the zoo we met Luca and Lina. We went straight to the Koalas, because all of us were very excited to see these animals and to take some photos. After we made some pretty cool photos, we went to a Bird Show , which started at 11 am. The show was pretty interesting and also had a lot of action, because the birds flew very near over the heads of the whole audience.

The next attraction was the kangaroo enclosure. It was awesome because we could go into the enclosure to feed the kangaroos and touch them. I also took some photos and selfies with the kangaroos. At 12:30 the crocodile show began. Somebody told us a lot of interesting things about these very exotic animals. After this show we went home and then straight to the beach until 3:45pm.

So we went home, took a shower and waited for our final event of this lovely day. 

Ruben, Kate, Liz, Luca and I went to 'Screamworld', it was a special event with DJs and lasers in the Dreamworld theme park. We went on lots of cool rides there, so it was a pretty nice end of a very cool day.

Thanks to my host family and greetings to Germany.

Anastasia Letting Loose

Thursday, 10th April 2014

written by Anastasia Krieg

Today is Thursday. I have been looking forward to this day because we had some cool activities planned. I woke up at 6.30 am and because no one else was awake, I played with the puppies of my host family. Afterwards I had some breakfast, brushed my teeth and made myself ready to go.

Then my host family drove me to Currumbin Beach, because we had surf lessons organized for us. We were given some surf shirts and a surfboard and told to go to the beach. There we were divided into four groups with each six or seven German students and one teacher. They explained to us what to call the parts of the surf board, how to paddle, how to get up and how to be safe in the water with a surfboard.

After that, at 11ish, we got into the water and we tried to catch some waves and get up on the boards. It was so much fun and even though I was in the water most of the time (instead of on the board because I fell down all the time), I had a really good time and gained some awesome experiences. After surfing we brought back our surfboards and surf shirts and had a “shower” at the beach.

Next I went to Meret’s place with Jenny, another German exchange student and we had some sushi and watermelon for lunch. Then we baked some brownies with raspberries and relaxed by their pool, trying to get tanned, but unfortunately all three of us got sunburned faces as well. At around 5 pm we drove to Robina Shopping Centre and walked around. We were looking for some shorts, but there were none as it is autumn now, so I bought a dress. I got picked up at 6.30 pm while Meret and Jenny stayed there.

Then I came home and had some Thai Beef Salad for dinner. Next I watched a movie and relaxed with my family, which by the way is very nice, funny and lovely, just saying.

Finally I wrote this awesome and unique blog post so you Germans could all learn about our fabulous journey in warm Australia being on holidays, and get jealous because you are still in school.

I leave you with some Australian slang, “G’day mate!”