I can’t believe my year in Australia is nearly over.. It’s gone so quick. Too quick! I’ve had the most amazing year, and I’m so grateful for everyone who helped it become an unforgettable memory. I learnt a lot during this year, not only about me, but also about other people. It has been such an experience, which nobody will ever be able to take away from me, nor understand, unless they have left their country for a year themself to go and live in another country thousands of km away from home knowing absolutely nobody at first. I also couldn’t have wished for a better host family and better friends through-out this year! They have become great friends for life and I am sure we will see each other again, either in Europe or the next time I fly back to Australia. 😉

I will try and enjoy my last few days here as much as possible, although it will be SO sad to leave everyone behind.. But I think a year away is exactly the right amound of time to be gone, just enough so that you’re 101% sure that you want to come back as soon as possible again. 🙂

P.S I will be arriving at the airport in Zurich at about 1.20pm this Sunday. I will be at home that day, so any spontaneous visitors are very welcome to come and say hi. 😉

My host parents had booked an appartment on Hervey Bay for us plus my German friend called Eva for last weekend. It took us about 4 hours to drive up to Hervey Bay. We could check in to our appartment at 2pm, and after that we went for a walk down the endless long pier which lay right infront of our appartment, and we watched all the fishers fishing on the pier. The weather was beautiful and it wasn’t too cold either. Unfortunately it was freezing and it rained a bit on the Saturday, on the day Eva and I had organised to go on a day tour over to Fraser Island.. But it was still nice! The tour guide drove us around in a 4 wheel drive bus (you can imagine how all the sandy and muddy roads were like to drive on..) most of the day but we did a few stops, e.g at the beautiful Lake McKenzie (its water is supposed to be very pure and cleansing), at the Maheno Shipwreck (on Seventy-Five-Mile Beach) or at Central Station. The reason why the shipwreck is there is because while it was being towed to Japan for scrapping in 1935 Maheno was struck by an out-of-season cyclone and washed ashore. Central Station, a former logging camp, is now a Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service ranger information station and interpretive centre. Not to forget the Coloured Sands on Seventy-Five-Mile Beach!  They comprise 72 different colours, mostly reds and yellows. The colours are caused by the leaching of oxides that coat each grain of sand, causing bands of colour.

Fraser Island itself is the largest sand island in the world, stretching over 123 kilometres in length and 22 kilometres at its widest point. The highest dune is 244 metres but most rise to between 100 and 200 metres above sea level. Drilling has shown the sand extends to 100 metres below sea level in places. Most of the sand comprises grains of quartz, with less than two per cent being other minerals such as rutile and zircon. Just in case someone were interested in a bit of geology and geography or whatever..

Then on Sunday we went out for brunch in the morning at a nice little café, and after that we went for a wander through Hervey Bay before we went to the cinemas in the afternoon to watch “Hangover 2”. 🙂 Then on Monday it was time to go home already again, after we had cleaned up the appartment in a record tempo (for me anyway)..

All in all I enjoyed the weekend away, and I recommend everyone to go there if they ever have the chance!

(more photos on facebook)

So now even I can say I’ve been to Sydney! 😀 My host mum, a friend of hers, Eva and I arrived in Sydney around 8am last Friday. We weren’t able to check in to our hotel until 2pm, so we dropped our bags off at the hotel and then took a wander around Sydney. We went and had a look at the famous Harbour Bridge and Opera House first, and after that we went and had a quick look at “Paddy’s Markets”. The markets were in Chinatown, and therefore those markets sell all kind of (cheap) stuff.. If you’re lucky you can find a few nice cheap things, but there are also a lot of designer clothing, bags etc. which you’d have to pay a bit more for. After we had checked in to our hotel (“Hyde Park Inn”) we went and met up with Jas’ sister and her daughter and son. In the evening Eva and I went out again too explore Sydney at night.. I was surprise how many shops still were open at 9pm!

On the Saturday we headed off to Bondi Beach. I have to say the beach itself wasn’t much more special than for example the beaches over on Straddie, but I really liked Bondi, the town. There are many nice little shops and cafes with views over the ocean. Jas dared Eva and me to go and ask a lifeguard to get a photo with him, so off we went, looking for the most good-looking lifeguard we could find and asked him if we could get a photo with him, which we could, although I think he was a bit puzzled.. Typical European tourists he must have thought. On our way back in to Sydney we stopped at the “Paddington Markets”. Those markets really had a lot of nice things, although everything was a lot more expensive than at “Paddy’s Markets” as everything was self-designed art craft, and therefore I could only afford to buy myself a bracelet. In the evening, after we had gone out for dinner, we walked down to Darling Harbour, which was magical! There were street performers entertaining the people, bars, restaurants, cafes, clubs and we even were lucky enough to see fireworks. I think that is definitely one part of Sydney that never sleeps.. But although there were a lot of people it was still a great place to be at on a Saturday night. I wish we had something like that near where I live in Switzerland!

The next day we took the ferry over to Manly, which I also really liked. Manly Beach wasn’t a lot more special than Bondi Beach, except that it was quite a bit longer. Manly isn’t very big at all, but there are still a few good (and expensive) shops around. The rest of the day Eva and I went and did a bit of shopping around Sydney on our own. By Sunday we had gotten quite comfortable with finding our way around Sydney, and at the end of the day we even found our way back to the hotel again. 😉

On Monday it was time to fly back home again, but only after we had allowed ourself one of the sweetest looking cupcakes I have ever seen.. They were delicious! We arrived at home again at about 4pm, but not for very long as I had a “War and Peace” concert at school the same evening, so I only had a quarter of an hour time at home to get changed and to pack my things for the evening. I accompanied Blake (guitar and vocals) on the violin to the song “Hero Of War” by Rise Against (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DboMAghWcA). I think we did quite well. 🙂

Street dancer doing acrobatics with his belly! (at Darling Harbour)

Last Friday I went surfing for the first time here in Australia, finally! Got about time.. Mrs Laing, the international student co-ordinator at our school, had organised the surfing day for all the internationals (except the Asians). We had to get up early to catch the 7am barge from Cleveland over to North Stradbroke Island (Straddie). As we got there we all got a wet shirt and a surf board. After a short introduction (surfing really isn’t that hard) it was time to prove our surfing skills in the surf.. We had 3 Australian students from our school there as instructors, so they helped us getting up on the board and catch good waves to surf on. Everyone stood up pretty quickly, some more often and some not as often, but I think everyone was able to get up at least once. 🙂 I even managed to stand on the board a few times for quite a long distance! Our surf lesson went for 1.5 hours, but it only felt like we had been in the water for about half an hour.. It was soo much fun! 😀 I never thought that surfing could be that much fun. Me and a few other friends enjoyed it that much that we will be going surfing next Friday again. After the surfing lesson we drove up to the point and went on an about 1 hours walk, called the ‘George Walk’, which was really nice. I took a few photos from the walk, but surf photos will follow, because I didn’t (and couldn’t) take any, but Mrs Laing had organised 2 professional photographers to come with us on the day, so they took quite a few really good ones. 🙂

In the last couple of weeks of my Summer holidays I had planned a one week trip up to Cairns with a friend. We lived with a host family during that time which Mrs Laing, the international student co-ordinator at our school, had organised for us. Monja & I had booked a diving course which went over 4 days. The first two days we practised in the pool at the diving centre and the other two days we drove out to the Great Barrier Reef on a boat. The trip out took us about 2 hours. The underwater world there was just so special, I recommend everyone going there if they are in Cairns one time! But what I enjoyed even more than the underwater world was the scuba diving itself. It is just an incredible feeling to float through the water 12 metres under the surface, only hearing your own breathing and only being able to communicate to your diving buddy by hand signals. We had to do different exercises, like taking off our mask, taking out our regulator, sharing air with your buddy or taking off and putting on your BC, all under water. I passed all the exercises so I got rewarded with my very own diving licence at the end of the diving course, so I am now an officially accredited Open Water Diver! 🙂 That means that I am allowed to go scuba diving all around the world now. I hope I will be able to go and dive soon again. On our last day in Cairns we went on a Cape Tribulation Tour up to Port Douglas. The drive up to Port Douglas was very nice and took us a couple of hours. Included in the tour was a visit to the wildlife park and rainforest up there, crocodile sight-seeing and a couple of more smaller things.

A couple of days after arriving safely in Brisbane again and unaffected by the floods it was time to drive out to the airport again to fly down to New Zealand! After more than 6 months I finally saw my family again. I really enjoyed the time there. We went for multiple hours walks in the Abel Tasman every day, swam in the perfectly clear water, and in the evenings we either played games, went down to the beach near our motel or just chilled in our personal whirlpool. 🙂

Spending Xmas with hot weather instead of cold snow was a very different experience. Because it didn’t snow here a bit of the Xmas feeling got lost, and it rather felt like some other day you celebrate, but not like Christmas. But it was a good day after all. 🙂 The presents got openend in the morning of Xmas Day together with Jas’ parents and brother. The probably biggest present I got was from Jas and Scott: a 3 day tour down to Sydney! 😀 We will be going in the beginning of April and they even said I was allowed to bring a friend along as we would have to book a family room (with 4 beds) anyway. After that Scott had made eggs benedict and Jas had made pancakes for those who didn’t want eggs benedict. I had the eggs benedict version, very yummie! In the afternoon we were invited to Scott’s sister. We went for a Xmas swim in their new pool and in the evening we got served a very nice dinner consisting of prawns, different salads, meat, and not to forget the Xmas wine. 😉 All in all I really enjoyed the day, although it was a very different experience.

On New Year’s Eve I went in to the City with two friends to watch the fireworks from Southbank. We had good night, and we probably saw the most beautiful and amazing fireworks I have ever seen! They were just absolutely incredible.

There’s been some time since I went camping, but I just haven’t had the chance to update my blog yet.. But better now than never!

The Year 11 Leadership Camp went from 24th – 26th November and was held at ‘Camp Warrawee’ near Brisbane. The camp was supposed to prepare us year 11 students for next year as we will be year 12 students next year and will have to represent our school. Over the three days we did a lot of things which had to do with team work. I got to know people better and I also met and talked to new people who I never had talked to before. One day we did climbing activities, as for example the flying fox, tree climbing and many other games. On Friday we went canoeing and we had to build our own raft to cross a river. Our raft was actually quite good, except that it was too small to fit our entire team on it.. I was muddy and absolutely soaked afterwards, but it was worth it! The last night of the camp they had also organised a ‘High School Stereotypes’ themed dance which was quite fun. Trish and I dressed up as cheerleaders. I didn’t take any photos myself, but I am tagged on a few on Facebook.

On the last day of camp we got back home in the middle of the afternoon, and as soon as I came home I had to quickly have a shower and wash my clothes before we drove off an hour later to go camping at ‘Spring Gully Stay’. I thought I would be really tired after the school camp, but it wasn’t too bad. We stayed at a creek and I even had a little dip, although it was freezing.. I also had a shower in a little tent by only using 8l of water, including washing my hair! I must say I am pretty proud of myself..

So now I’m officially on holidays! I’ve just been hanging out with friends pretty much every day, but I haven’t been able to do too much because it has been raining HEAPS the whole time. But yesterday and today it didn’t rain, but instead it is boiling hot now when the rain had disappeared (wonder for how long).. It actually is riduculously hot, no idea how I will survive up in Cairns in a few weeks time! I would be soo happy if I just could walk around in the snow for 1 day dressed in a jacket, scarf, boots and gloves.. But I guess I will have to wait another 1 year to experience that. I know I’ve always said I love the sun and the hot weather, but I promise, nobody of you would still love it as much after living 2 years in summer.. Many have already pointed out how tanned my legs and arms are already, some have even said that I look like an aboriginee! 😉

Last Monday and Tuesday we had ‘Sports Awards Night’ and ‘Presentation Night’ at school. I had to go to school on Monday (instead of Tuesday) to practise for the awards nights. On Monday evening we then had ‘Sports Awards Night’. I got a Merit for hockey, which I don’t quite understand as I only played about 3 games.. You can get Merits or Excellences where as Excellences are better. The evening wasn’t actually quite as boring as I had expected it to be, there were people dancing and singing throughout the evening, that prevented me from falling asleep.. On Tuesday evening we had ‘Presentation Night’. That awards night was bigger than the ‘Sports Awards Night’, as then all the academic awards were distributed. There were again people who either got Merits or Excellences (I got an Excellence for French, that means I topped that subject). There were many students who got Special Awards, Certificates etc. aswell, but we left before it finished. There were also people who danced and sang during the night, which was really nice! I have noticed that we have got some really talented people at our school, who are really good at dancing, singing, or music in general.

Only 1 more day of classes left this year, yaay!

Yesterday I celebrated my birthday with 12 of my best friends. We had a really good night and had heaps of fun! We met at 4.30 p.m to go and see ‘Paranormal Activity 2’ at 5 p.m. I have to say we were all quite scared before even watching the movie because we had all seen the trailer and it seemed very scary.. But at the same time we were all pretty excited. In the end the movie turned out to be a very.. special movie. It didn’t actually happen much, and it was almost not scary at all.. Rather funny. So we laughed quite a lot during the movie, probably spoiling all the ‘supposed-to-be-scary-parts’ for the other viewers. After that we went to ‘Fasta Pasta’ where I had booked a table. I had nudels with prawns and some other stuff on top of it. After we had eaten Lisa and Fleur went and got the cake they had made for me and left at ‘Fasta Pasta’ before we came. It seriously was the best birthday cake ever! Have a look at my photos and you’ll know what I mean. I thought that was incredibley sweet of them. Nora and Natalie had made me a chocolate cake aswell, but which hasn’t been eaten yet, but it looks delicious! I also got presents of all of them: from Monja, Natalia and Nora I got a really nice bracelet, Mel gave me bracelets aswell, earrings from Tina and Eliza, Tim Tams from Katharina, bright pink karate gloves from Lisa and Fleur, a music store voucher from Chris and nice cards from everyone. After we had eaten Monja, Natalie, Nora, Fleur, Katharina, Lisa and I got picked up from Scott and Jas (and Ben, because everyone absolutely wanted to be picked up by Ben) and driven back to my place. Everyone except Natalie and Nora stayed the night. We ate heaps too many lollies, talked, laughed and then went to bed fairly early as everyone was so tired. But as soon as we had made ourself comfortable in the camper, ready to go to sleep, Ben of course had to have his fun and come and scare us several times.. I revenged by looking through his bedroom window from the outside. He said he didn’t get scared, but I don’t believe him, because he screamed like a little girl.. This morning we got up at about 8 a.m and had pancakes with strawberries, cream and maple sirup for breakfast, yumm! Now I’m all alone at home again and should probably start getting ready because I’m going to a little concert which Maddy will be participating in. I’ll see when I’ll have time to do school work..

And now I’ve only got 1 more week of school left, 2 weeks of exams and then 8 weeks of summer holidays!

After we had celebrated Jas’ birthday last Thursday (I had made her a chocolate cake) and we had gone to a very amusing Japanese restaurant for dinner (we sat at a table around a huge cooking surface and so could watch the cook cook our food while we were eating it, and we were entertained by him as we had to try and CATCH parts of our food with our mouth/hands.. Which of course turned out to be very hard and therefore very messy.. but it was fun!) it was time to go camping to Hastings Point on Friday! Jas picked me and my friend Shannon up from school at lunch time and we arrived at the camp ground in the middle of the afternoon. The whole Friday afternoon/evening and Saturday we were really lucky with the weather and went swimming in the pool, chilled at a beach not far away from where we were staying, played table tennis and air hockey and we also tried our luck at one of those machines where you can put money in and try to fish a toy out.. We spent quite a lot of money on that, just trying to get a fish I really liked but didn’t manage to get, before a little girl came for help and fished the fish for us on her first go.. On Saturday we also went to Byron Bay. First we drove up to the light house and had an amazing view from there. Then we walked to the Most Easterly Point Of The Australian Mainland. After that we went on a little shopping tour through Byron Bay (the whole town lives kind of a hippie lifestyle). I bought 2 braceletes and a pair of very comfortable denim shorts. We also visited Scott’s sister who was camping in Byron Bay with her family. That camping ground was direct at the beach! Jas and Scott said we would go camping there once, too. So that’s how we spent our first two days of the weekend. On Sunday it was my birthday so the day started off with eating yummie pancakes with strawberries, honey and cream and opening some really nice presents. Then Anselm (a German international student) and his host parents (friends of Jas & Scott) came for a visit and we spent the day at the beach enjoying the beautiful weather. It was an absolutely fantastic day and we had lots of fun. We came back in the afternoon again to eat Scott-made hamburgers for lunch and in the evening after dinner we ate chocolate cake which Jas & Scott had bought in a bakery nearby. After that we just let the evening chill out, Shannon and I watched a movie and Scott allowed me to be on Facebook for about 15 minutes, yaay! At about 10 p.m it started to rain though, but luckily we were already snuggled up in bed then, although it was very hard to fall asleep with the rain hitting on the canvas all the time (not to forget Scott’s snoring..). The next morning it was already time to pack up again (I was ready first, believe it or not!) and to drive back home, it was really nice to be back home again.

I can say I probably spent the best birthday weekend ever this year, with great people, beautiful weather, a beach and heaps of fun! My 18th year couldn’t have started any better.