Million-dollar views

                                                      

Surfers Paradise

This was the day I really had been looking forward to all week. It was Thursday and Imogen and I had taken the day off to go to Surfers Paradise. We had agreed to meet there, and then we went straight for a coffee and breakfast. We sat along the boulevard, and when we finished we went to the beach and from there you could see the Q1 (a building which we would climb later on). It was 9 o'clock and the shops had opened so we decided to have a look around there too. When we saw that it was 11 am we headed for the Q1. The Q1 is the highest residential building on the Gold Coast and represents the Olympic Flame from the Sydney Olympics.

 

When we came there, we signed in, and we would prepare for the climb in 30 minutes. We got a hat, a suit and a harness. The lift took us to the 77th level of the building in 44 seconds! When we got up there, we secured our harnesses to a rails. The doors to the outside of the building opened, and one by one we (our group consisting of Imogen, I and 7 other people) walked up the stairs. The sky was so clear, and we couldn't have chosen a better day to go up there. The view was stunning! On one side you could see as far as Brisbane, and on the other side you could see Mt Warning and Point Danger. While we walked up the stairs, the guide took some photos of us since we weren't allowed to bring our own camaras. All the way at the top, you could actually hang over the edge of the building while he took a picture. This was definitely the most memorable thing I have done up until now.

When we got back downstairs and had taken our gear off, we bought a sandwich and had lunch on the boulevard. After our lunch, Yuki (Kona's mother) brought us back to St. Hilda's and I caught the bus back to Burleigh Heads.

Mt. Warning

Imogen stayed over because Saturday morning we were going to climb Mt. Warning. We woke up at 7 am NSW time which is 6 am QLD time (I am not sure if I told you, but there are different time zones between Queensland and New South Wales). While we were having breakfast, it started pouring! I got scared we might have to hike in the rain, but luckily it wasn't raining anymore when we got there. All prepared with backpacks filled with food, water,and extra clothes, we started the track. It took us about two hours to get to the start of the "rope part". That was the last bit of the hike up to the top, where you had to hold on to a chain in order not to fall down. Also, because it had rained before, the track was all slippery so a couple of times I was quite scared a would trip and fall. We got to the top safely though. It was a little bit of a disappointment, because it was all cloudy and all we could see was white. We rested for a while and ate something because we were pretty exhausted from the hike up the mountain and quite hungry. When we were ready to go down again, we realized that that was probably going to be harder than the way up. We did manage to get down again and even took a couple of action photos while climbing down the rope part. When we walked down the normal path, the weather started to clear up, and it was beautiful! We couldn't see up the coast because the track was on the other side of the mountain, but we did get to see an amazing view of the countryside. When we got down, we drove back to Naoka's house, quickly changed because we were really dirty, and dropped Imogen off.

 

Relaxing

The rest of the weekend was really relaxing. A friend of Naoka (Tully) stayed over and we just watched movies and relaxed. Sunday I just did some homework and started a new book. I have read so many books already since I've been here!

I am counting down the days until my departure now. 48 down, 10 to go. I am quite sad that it is almost over, but at the same time so keen to see my friends and family.

See you in 10 days,

Loulotte