The final day

So today was the last full day we had in Australia. We started the day by meeting 10 am at the theatre room at the university, where we held our graduation and got our certificate signed by the head master of Griffith University.

We got to say a proper farewell to the wonderful teachers we had during the study trip and where off to the beach at 11.30 to enjoy the last day together in the sun at Southport Beach Park!

After getting the last tan we headed off to Surfers Paradise, where we had reserved a table for 35 people at a delicious Italian Restaurant called Vapiano. Time went and we first got home half an hour to midnight.

 Last view of Surfers Paradise Beach

                       

                       

So the final day of our study trip will come tomorrow, where we will meet all packed and ready at the school at 9 am to depart for Brisbane Airport.

On behalf of Ida and I we would especially thank our the family Ross who has hosted us for these two amazing month. For 56 days we have lived like a part of another family and the experience has been really exceptional.  

Skydiving completed

So today was the last chance for skydiving before going home, so we met at the school again even earlier than last time - 4.55 am! - and headed for another skydiving company in Gold Coast. It cost a bit extra, however we also landed on a beach!!

The first sign shown when entering the building    Nadia getting safety instructions 

Luckily the weather was just perfect for skydiving and we went in teams of 5 on a small plane 300.000 meter up in the sky and off we went again! You feel so alive and the adrenaline level is high! We had 30 seconds of free fall and two minutes with the parachute triggered - worth all the money!!

                                                       Helena and I ready to get in the air


   I can feel the adrenaline already!            The fancy plane flying us 300.000 meter up

Afterwards we went to Currumbin Beach, which is a beautiful valley with sand and the most clear water you can imagine. But the stream of the water was very strong so we had to be careful not ending up at the horizon.

Currumbin Valley Beach

           Lunch at a nice cafe after skydiving                     Nadia and Jakob having fun at the beach 

In the evening we ate the last meal with our homestay, as we are eating out the very last night in Australia. We got meat pie, which is a typical Australian dish, and a lot of salad, fruit and ice cream. On the special occasion Ida and I had written a "Denmark" quiz to test how well they have been listening throughout our stay when talking about the Danish country. Impressively Peggy and Don answered 7-8 correctly out of 12 questions.

And so the last of the evening went on with packing the suitcase. We are only allowed to bring home a maximum of 30 kilos of baggage, so I have a back-up space in Helena's suitcase, as I clearly have or is very close to the maximum weight allowed!

My not-completely-unpacked-and-yet-overweight suitcase...

Activity day: Australian Football League

Today was activity day. This time we showed up at school in full sports clothing, as we were heading for the Metricon Stadium (biggest stadium in Gold Coast) to learn about the sport called Australian Football League, shorted AFL. It is pretty similar to American football, however this type of football is a bit more complicated.

The Metricon Stadium is the home ground for the SUNS football team, which represents the Gold Coast state.

Two football players were guiding us around the stadium telling us how to play and how it is related to other businesses, as we are on a business education trip

                                                      The Metricon Stadium arena

   

Afterwards we went out to an open grass field to do some AFL training with the football players! We practiced all the technique we just learnt and competed against each other to win one of their own SUNS footballs - Victor won it, however Helena and I got one too, when taking a photo with the guys!

         
                   AFL training                                       3 Danish students getting interviewed

                  
   Of course we had to visit the souvenir shop        Helena and I getting a photo with the players

                                          We proudly show the SUNS footballs we were given

See the interview video with us when practicing AFL here:
http://www.goldcoastfc.com.au/video/2014-03-21/harmony-week-griffith-exchange-students

Unsuccessful skydiving at Byron Bay

As we all met up at 6am at the school and took the bus 1 hour to Byron Bay Skydiving, paid and prepared for skydiving we were told the wind suddenly got too harsh to do it! So they cancelled our group's skydiving for today :-(

Because we had already paid all the money Griffith University allowed us to re-take the skydiving tour on Thursday. However the skydiving staff told us the chance for good skydiving weather was 50/50... So our fingers are crossed as we got no other possible day to do it

As an apologies the skydiving centre drove us to the main City and beach of Byron Bay and would Pick us up again at 3pm to drive us home. 

So today we had another day sunbathing and shopping. We all were pretty upset about not getting to skydive when looking so much forward to it since last Sunday in Cairns was not a success either!

Byron Bay Beach

                              

                                                Local demonstration for saving the environment

               

                    

                            Lunch at a nice beach cafe        Nadia getting chocolate pancakes and frappuccino 

Surfers Paradise Beach

Today we finished a big group assignment which we have to present when coming home to Niels Brock College in Denmark. But of course we did it outside in the sun at the pool with a class of sparkling water and fruit - so it was okay doing homework under these conditions :-)

At 13 am we were heading for the beach at Surfers Paradise. We ate at a nice Australian restaurant - probably the last dinner eaten out before returning home to Denmark on next Saturday

- Now we are all really missing our families and Danish "rugbrødsmadder"

Tomorrow we have to get up at 5 am, as a bus will pick us up at school and take us to Byron Bay where we are going SKYDIVING. Lets see if I survive until tomorrow night to write a post about it!!

Ida, Helena and I at a restaurant in Surfers Paradise

 

Surfers Paradise Beach Promenade in the afternoon and evening

School tour to Brisbane

We started the second last week with an all-day trip to Brisbane, Queensland, which is an hour away in car from Gold Coast. First the school bus drove us to the "Port of Brisbane" where the core export and import with Asia and the rest of the world tales place.



Hereafter we got a guided tour around the Australian Parliament House. Compared to the long history of Denmark, Australia cannot exactly brag about having old and well preserved parliament buildings or constitution. It was all established only 200 years ago when Australia became independent of the British colonisation, which ended in the early-mid 1900s.




These two cultural parts of Brisbane the school had planned for us to see finished at 12, so afterwards we had free time for 5 hours until meeting at the bus at 6pm to return home.

Surprisingly the time went faster than expected when doing shopping in the inner city! and the weather was perfect, however, my intense sunbathing last Sunday in Cairns has resulted in a bit sunburned skin, I must admit...

Cairns Weekend Trip

Thursday after school we were going on the second and last weekend trip organised by the school. This time we were heading for Cairns - the tropical north of Queensland. 

When arriving at the hostel in Cairns at 10 pm many of the young backpacker guests were standing at the reception dressed up like dragqueens and very drunk, and suddenly they started clapping and welcoming us with "cheers" as we were entering the hostel - every weird but fun though!

Friday morning the alarm woke us up at 5.30 as we had booked a boat tour for the whole crew at 8am. The weather was very cloudy and rain appeared now and then, but it did not stop us from going out on the Great Barrier Reef to do snorkeling and diving. It was a great 9 hours boat trip, on which many of us got very seasick because of the heavy waves making the boat swinging!

Afterwards we all showered and went out to a steak house near the hostel to eat a good beef on the top of all the swimming we had been doing all day.

   
     The Danish crew going on board         From left: Laura, Mathias, Sandra         
        Niclas shooting with his GoPro camera                      Hello from me under the sea!

                                    




      Getting ready to snorkeling                                  Sandra and I

Saturday the weather was all cloudy and rainy like Friday affecting the enjoyment of doing extreme sport as Cairns is all about. So the plan about going skydiving was cancelled, however the students doing bungee-jump wanted to do it despite the bad weather! So 25 of us have planned to go Skydiving in the following weekend in Gold Coast instead - I'm getting a adrenaline kick just thinking about jumping out of an air plane!!  

Victor doing his bungee jump!

So Saturday was pretty chill - Helena and I took the bus to Cairn's shopping mall to look for gifts to bring back home to out families. This evening we went out on an Mexican restaurant we got recommended from some of the guests at the Hostel - and they sure were right, the food was delicious! Sandra and I tried a dish called "Chocolate Chicken" which was a chicken greased with a chocolate sauce of chili, spices and cocoa - worked perfectly together!

                                                     Mexican food at Cactus Jack's                    

Of course the sun was coming Sunday, when we had to fly back home to Gold Coast, so we all got up early to get as such sun as possible before departing for the airport. When coming home to our home stay Peggy and Don served BBQ for Ida and I - not bad at all.

                                         
                                        A part of the Great Barrier Reef seen from the plane