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!”

"Supergood" days

Wednesday, 9th April 2014

written by Meret Floeth

Today started like every day since our exchange students have holidays: After waking up at 6:30 am without an alarm clock, as every day since I am in Australia, I went out for a walk with the super-cute dog of my host family, Rosie and had a short swim in the Pool afterwards.

Together with the family we decided to go to the Theme Parks, which are very close to our home. They bought me a “VIP-Pass” for the Parks, which means that I can go to every theme park with my pass so I didn’t have to pay every single time.

We started with movie world, and even though I wasn’t the biggest fan of theme parks before, I am now! There were three of us, my exchange partner Christie, her friend Genie and me, and we had so much fun, I didn’t expect it before.

Because the day was pretty hot, we decided to go to another park, called wet ‘n’ wild, which is a water fun- park with many water slides and also ordinary rollercoasters and it was fun again, but not as good as movie world!

The parks close at 5 pm so there was some time left and we decided to go to the beach and the view we had to surfers paradise was fantastic, just like the whole atmosphere, when the last surfers left the water and small groups of friends sat together and had a picnic for dinner or were just looking at the beach.

All in all, I can say that this day was a perfect day in Australia, and I’m looking forward to many others like this.

Didgeridoo at Surfer's Paradise - Simply Amazing!!!

The Sea World Experience

Tuesday, 8th April 2014

written by Tom Sternmann

Today it was a perfect day for me. I was with Tassilo, my exchange student Chase, Hayden and Ramon in Sea World. It was really fun. First of all we went on a rollercoaster where we got really wet. We saw a lot of different animals shows. The best ones were the dolphin and sealion shows. In the dolphin show you can see some guys who made stunts with the dolphins like backflips and frontflips. After that we made more rollercoaster and saw some special fishes and pinguins too. You can swim with the dolphins if you want but this is really expensive. 

After the nice experience in Sea World we went with lots of other guys to the beach and swam in the really nice ocean. There were so beautiful waves and the weather was also well. We also went to surfers paradise's city and bought some things and food. Here is erverything more expensive than in Germany. After a really nice day with new experience everybody drove with the exchange parents home. 

Word of the week

We are constantly learning new words during our stay in Australia - vote for YOUR word of the first two weeks now! This week you've got the choice between "Fair dinkum" (ein typisch australischer Ausdruck, der in etwa so viel bedeutet wie "Zweifellos"), "sticky beak" (bezeichnet u.a. eine Person, die seine Nase in die Angelegenheiten anderer steckt), "shenanigans" (zu Deutsch "Blödsinn", "Unsinn") und "No worries" ("Keine Sorge", "kein Problem" - das australische Motto schlechthin). 

Hiking at Springbrook

Monday, 7th April 2014

written by Shadi Safari

Today is Monday. The holidays have started so we didn't have to go to school and we could sleep longer.

After a stormy Sunday everyone was hoping for good weather because we went on a hike in Springbrook. The track we actually wanted to go on was closed because of the storm yesterday so we had to go on another one. 

On our way up to the waterfall we stopped and took a lot of photos. Everyone was amazed by the view we had. We saw a waterfall but unfortunately we couldn't go behind it because the way was closed.

Up there most of the Australians were cold while the most of us Germans said it wasn't cold. After we went back the same way we had a nice picnic. Some of us were just sitting and talking and others were playing things like rugby. At about 3 pm everyone got picked up by their hosts. 

After we arrived at home we went to Bill's house which is just up the road. Later a few other guys came over and we all played soccer, tennis, rugby and basketball. Jessica, my exchange student, had to leave soon because she had a netball match but I stayed with the boys and we played poker. After Duncan, Linus and I went home we had dinner and spent the rest of the evening with Jessica playing Darts. 

All in all it was a very nice day. I spent a lot of time with my German friends but also with the Australians.