Why You Should Go to Australia

Australia is where I would want to live if I had to move out of the United States. It has gorgeous scenery like the outbacks, reefs, beaches, cities, and many more beautiful sights. Australia is the perfect place for someone to visit because it has once in a lifetime experiences that may not be around forever, for example The Great Barrier Reef is dying according to scientists so you want to see those sights before they are gone. Australia is also the only place in the world where you can see Kangaroos in their natural habitat because Kangaroos not in Australia were introduced to the country by humans. Australia is a place I would visit time after time because it would take hundreds of trips to see everything it has to offer. Australia is "so beautiful" according to http://travel.usnews.com which states that the Great Barrier Reef is the number one place in the world to visit. In closing if Australia isn't your favorite vacation destination, that's because you haven't been there! (No, Outback Steakhouse doesn't count)

Day 14- January 31

We all got up early today to enjoy one last Australian sunrise. Watching the sun come up from behind the Sydney Opera House was an amazing end to our two week long trip. Our plane left at 11:40 AM, so we got a short taxi ride and with some of our extra money we tipped the cabbie $200. We made our flight and prepared for our long journey home back to America. We were all a bit homesick and didn't feel too depressed leaving our vacation destination. We said our final goodbyes to the outback when we got to see the incredible view from our window seats. We saw Sydney, Alice,Springs, and the reef as we made our way into the clouds.

Budget Analysis: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1c5OPTFh1WfCVmk-g9PMVTziOHKCqOkHcNCnjwdQQZgA/edit

Day 13- January 30

For our last day in Australia we wanted to delve more into true Australian life. To do this for breakfast we went out and bought some (Indigenous Meal)Vegemite. 8 out of 10 homes in Australia have Vegemite on their shelves. Vegemite is a thick black food spread made from leftover brewers yeast extract with various vegetable and spice additives. Its been around since 1923, and is the Australian answer to peanut butter. Native Australians love the product and will put the stuff on anything. We had Vegemite with toast and personally thought it was disgusting, Chris actually had to spit it out. At least we could say we tried it, since it was rare back in the states.

Later in the day we took a walk to (History) Hyde Park, Australia's oldest and most well known park. It was a perfect place to relax and enjoy a nice Australia day. We saw the Anzac War Memorial, the main commemorative military monument of Sydney Australia. We visited the Archibald Fountain, a gift given by JF Archibald dripping with ancient mythology. We had a relaxing time just walking around a park without a schedule to meet or a place to be.

For lunch we walked 26 minutes to a place down at the Sydney Harbor called the Quay. The Quay is the most awarded restaurant in Australia. The lunch was very expensive with $175 per person for a 4 course meal. We had lobster, squid, smoked pig, and snow eggs. It was possibly even better then the lunch we had on our second day at Cafe Sydney.

Next we walked to the Sydney Harbor Bridge, an icon of Australia. We decided we were going to do something exhilarating and do a climbing tour. It was $383 per person but totally worth it as we got some great photos at the top. After that we went and ate dinner at the est, another great fine dining restaurant. We all had the 4 course Chefs Dinner that included items such as steak tartare, partridge, and selections of artisian cheeses. Our hotel was close so we just walked 12 minutes back, getting great views of the Sydney Opera House and the harbor bridge. We all were pretty tired from our adventures and went to sleep early.

Day 12 - January 29

We loved spending time in Canberra, but we were excited to be going back to Sydney. Our plane took off at 8:00 and was a short flight at only 55 minutes. For our last couple of days in Sydney we decided we were being too conservative, and we tried to go all out with our spending. When we arrived in Sydney we had booked this really expensive hotel called the Pullman quay grand Sydney harbour. Overall the place was over $300 dollars a night which makes it the most expensive place we stayed at the entire trip.



We then made our way to this epic water park called Wet n Wild (entertainment), the slides and atmosphere was simply amazing. It was announced on september 11th 2010 and officially opened in December 12th 2013, it's actually the third wet'n'wild water park operated by a company called village roadshow park, the other locations are in Gold Coast and lost Vegas if you ever have the urge to go. The park is centered around a large wave pool known as "the beach" which was probably my favorite part. There was a lot of good food and concessions there so we just ate lunch on location

We then made our way to the Sydney Observatory (technology), a site on observatory Hill at the center of Sydney which evolved from a fort to an astronomical observatory in the early 19th century, now it's a working museum. We were able to observe the stars and planets through a cool modern 40cm Schmidt-cassegrain telescope and a historic 29 cm refractor telescope built in 1874. Then we decided to go all out for dinner, we went to this really fancy fine wine and dinning restaurant called ARIA, it costed $205 per person and the food was definitely worth it, they had great stuff like smoked duck, roasted lamb loin and a ton of other fancy foods that confused a lot of us but was still delicious, after that we went back to our room to go to bed after basically getting a food coma from the food. After eating, we walked back to our hotel, cause our hotel is literally the building next to the restaurant. We got some well deserved rest after this long day of fun.

Day 11 - January 28

We woke up around 9:00 and went for breakfast at The Coffee Lab, which the people at the hotel told us was the best breakfast in Canberra, and it was also very close to the city center. The place had a warm atmosphere, and we ordered the coffee and their 3 most popular dishes, No Regrets, Oats Overboard, and Lil Italy.



After breakfast, we took an 8 minute drive to the Australian War Memorial (Historical), since it was so close to where we had breakfast. It had free entry, but we couldn't find a place to park and had to walk for a while. The memorial was massive. There were displays of guns, vehicles, and even a fully restored WWII bomber. There were touchscreens and info displays, and everything was so well kept. Ethan got lost in the halls, but we eventually found him sitting in an army jeep, and he was at us for accidentally leaving him behind. By the time we saw all of the memorial, we walked outside to a a face full of sun and realized we had been in there for almost a whole day.It was at that same time that we realized we also skipped lunch, and we were getting hungry.


It was almost 4:30 when we stopped by an Asian restaurant called Akiba, It looked extremely popular, as even at 4:30 it was almost full. We ordered some food in the classic East Asian style of sharing plates of food. We got pork buns, Korean style meats, potstickers, clams and oysters, and a whole duck. Nothing was left after we were done, we ate everything.

To enjoy the rest of the evening, we went to the coastline to walk along peacefully, as well as see the National Carillon bell ring. After a short while we drove back to our hotel to get some sleep as it was close to 9:00, and Chris didn't want to make another mistake of getting drunk and doing something stupid as he did in Arlie Beach.

Day 10 - January 27

we woke up and left to get on our flight at 8:30 am, to fly from Melbourne to Canberra, we landed and quickly stopped for coffee at this cafe call Bread Butter, where we got some great bacon and eggs. We then quickly went to drop our stuff off at our rooms in the Capital Executive Apartment Hotel.

After that we went to the Australian National Botanical Gardens (Nature). The ANBG has the worlds most comprehensive display of Australian native plant life so we saw some pretty interesting species of plants, the gardens contain over 1.2 million specimens. Walkways meander through the various gardens , including an aboriginal plant use walk that explains many medical and practical uses of the plants. We then went to a great cafe called Floresco in the gardens where they had some great lunch specials like lasagna and chicken Schnitzel parmigiana.

After Lunch we made our way to Canberra Glassworks (Culture), Canberra Glassworks is and Art Gallery and Glass art Studio where the general Public can go and view glass artists works. artsACT and Jon Stanhope, Canberran Chief Minister and Minister for the Arts announced the name of the centre in late 2005, specifically to highlight 'Canberra' as a being potentially well reputed both nationally and internationally for studio glass and the term 'glassworks' to be clear about what equipment and facilities where available at the centre to artists as well as to the general public. the centre is strongly linked with the ANU school of Art Glass Workshop. It was originally scheduled to be opened in september 2006 but was inevitably opened in may 2007. there we were able to watch people and students make amazing works out of glass that were simply mind blowing.

After that we went to BrodBurger, a very nice burger place set right in the Canberra Glassworks so we thankfully didn't have to go far, we all bot the baby sized brodburger, the food was amazing, it turned out to be one of the best meals i had this trip. we then went back to our hotel to get some well deserved rest

Day 9-January 26

 We decided to sleep in today since our flight to Melbourne was only at 11:20, we then went to the airport and started our 3 hour flight to Melbourne. Melbourne is the coastal capital of the southeastern Australian state of Victoria. At the city's center is the modern Federation Square development, with plazas, bars, and restaurants by the Yarra River. We wanted to do some site seeing but we were on a strict schedule so we quickly stopped at cafe Vue, a nice little coffee shop with pastries such as macaroons and tarts. it was very good food but the staff needed some work.

We then headed to The docklands because there was a huge party happening for the celebration of Australia day (Holiday/Celebration) which is the official national day of Australia, celebrated annually on January the 26. It marks the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the first fleet of British ships at port Jackson. These celebrations are supposed to reflect the diverse society and landscape of the nation. We saw a bunch of people in strange costumes,I also got some compliments for my wicked haircut I got from Sydney the food and concessions we got from the stands were pretty good, near the end we got to see this spectacular fireworks show that was just dazzling.


After that we went to the Old Melbourne Gaol (History). Old Melbourne Gaol is a museum on Russell Street, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It consists of a bluestone building and courtyard, and is located next to the old City Police Watch House and City Courts buildings. It was first constructed starting in 1839, and during its operation as a prison between 1842 and 1929, it held and executed some of Australia's most notorious criminals, including bushranger Ned Kelly and serial killer Frederick Bailey Deeming. In total, 133 people were executed by hanging. Though it was used briefly during World War II, it formally ceased operating as a prison in 1924; with parts of the gaol being incorporated into the RMIT University, and the rest becoming a museum. We took the "ghosts? What's ghosts?" From 8:30 to 9:30 where we got to be shown around the prison and told spooky stories about the horrible and mysterious things that happened there, Chris seemed pretty interested in the haunted stories but most of us just found it weird and creepy. 


After that we went to our hotel called the Hotel Carmont Guesthouse and got to catch some z's thankfully our rooms came with WiFi just in case we got bored.

Day 8- January 25

We all landed our flight in Alice Springs at 11:30 AM. We each at some Free Range Eggs on Toast for brunch at the airport. This was a very nice café for us to eat at. It's called Café Terra Rosa, me and Cole especially loved this brunch. Eggs on toast is out favorite type of breakfast, compared to Chris, he's not the best fan of eggs on toast. We finished eating at 12, and then went to the hotel. To get to the hotel we took a taxi, it took about 12 minutes to get there. We got a Standard Twin Room. This room is able to fit all of us, except one person will have to sleep on the floor. I chose to be the one to sleep on the floor (cause I'm a nice guy). We all dropped our stuff off at the hotel pretty quickly since we don't have much time here. We are doing a tour called the City Afternoon Tour of Alice Springs. At 12:45 PM we took about a 30 minute walk to the meeting point of the tour, which is at the Alice Springs City Center. This walk was really nice, we got to walk  along Todd River and then through Olive Pink Botanic Garden. We had to walk along a bridge over the river to get to the meet up, Chris was trying to lean over the railing to see any fish, and he almost fell over. We got to look around the garden a little bit, since the tour didn't begin until 2. This type of garden was a lot different to what it's like back home, there are not many flowers. It's a whole different type of ecosystem in Australia.

We started the tour with going to The School of Air (History). Here we got to learn how children who can't access schools are educated by ratio. The Alice Springs School of the Air is the world's largest classroom. It covers more the 1.3 million square kilometers. This school is also the worlds first to use two-way radio broadcasts to help with the education of students in remote areas. There are currently only 141 students enrolled in the school of air, but it's so big because all the students living in varying areas covering such a large amount of space. Our group got very lucky and got to listen the actual lessons going on the radio. After we got to visit the School of the Air at Alice Springs, we went to visit the historic Telegraph Station. This station was established in 1872, and was built to relay messages between Darwin and Adelaide. This was also the very first European settlement in Alice Springs. Doug and I were very fascinated with the very old architecture and way of life for people back then. Here we got to learn of the amazing innovation that originated at this site. It's so cool that we got to see the very first place that connected Australia to the rest of the world. After visiting the telegraph station we went to visit the Royal Flying Doctors Service. Here we get to see how medical aid's able to reach people who live in the remote outback. The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia (RFDS) is the largest and most comprehensive aeromedical organization in the world. They use the latest in aviation, medical and communication technology. There is a primary health care and 24-hour emergency service to people who live, work, and travel throughout Australia. Daniel really wanted us to fly in the plane and experience more how it works, but the tour said we are not aloud to do that.

After visiting the Royal Flying Doctors we went to the Alice Springs Reptile Center (Natural Environment). Here we got to get very close to lizards and snakes. This is the home of the largest reptile display in all of Central Australia. Just a few examples of what we got to see includes Terry the Saltwater Crocodile, HUGE Percentile Goannas, Thorny Devils, Frill-neck lizards, and many other types of lizards of. I thought this was pretty cool, but the entire time Chris was pretty scared of these creatures. There is one area we got to go in, called the Gecko Cave. It's an area we go into just full of geckos, Chris refused to go in, he did not want to go in there. I found the Thorny Devil amazing. The way the Thorny Devil is designed to survive in this environment is amazing to me, I have always found it really cool how animals adapt to their environment. This lizard originates from Australia and every part of it helps it survive. There is a spiny "false head" on the back of it's neck, and uses this to present to potential predators by dipping its real head. Also with the thorny and ridged dragon scales it's able to collect water from any part of its body. So to drink water, all they have to do is touch water with any part of it's body.


To conclude our tour we all got to go to the top of Anzac Hill (History). Anzac Hill is a memorial dedicated to all of those who served in the defense of their country. This observation point gives panoramic views over the township of Alice Springs. All of us were taken away by the great view from on top of this hill. We can see the entire area of Alice Springs from this point which is a great way to conclude our tour of this amazing place.

Day 7- January 24

We woke up early today to make our scuba diving trip. We checked out of our amazing hotel, and thanked the concierge for his services. The ferry was easily in walking distance, so getting there wasn't a problem. Daniel Li and Cole didn't want to dive so they waited and walked around Hamilton Island while we enjoyed the Australian water.

The Great Barrier Reef(Ecosystem) is an amazingly beautiful location. Even though some people saw the reef is dying, it is still technically the largest living thing on earth. The reef itself seemed to glow with the amount of coral and sea life there was. The most popular fish we saw was called the Wrasse. The Wrasse is a yellow fish with a large hump on its forehead which it derives its name. We also saw clown-fish, sea turtles, and even a huge swordfish! After we landed back we thanked our guide for taking us and hurried for our flight.

We barely changed and made our flight in time we couldn't find Cole and Daniel at the dock. They were out talking to some Australian girls on the beach. Our first flight was from Airlie beach to Sydney, as there were no viable direct flight options from our location. we then went on a walk around Sydney and viewed some of the amazing sights, Chris then convinced us to take a walk around Hyde park and we played some frisbee for the next few hours before we walked to our room in the airport hotel Sydney and stayed they night for $55.