Australia

This is my last post, so I would like to review my experience in Australia. When I was a junior high school student, my goal was to study abroad in Australia because I wanted to speak English and talk to people who live all over the world. Before I went to study abroad, I was shy and couldn’t speak English very well. Of course, I improved my English skills. However I learned a lot of things besides English. For instance, I learned about Australian life, food and a lot of good places.

First of all, the learning environment in Armidale was good because I met such nice teachers and classmates. My classmates came from a lot of countries, so I also learned their culture and customs. I keep in touch with my classmates by Facebook now. Also this summer, I met my best friend in Sydney. My friend came to Japan, and I visited Vietnam.

Secondly, when I stayed in Australia, I went to many cities. It was wonderful experience for me, because traveling by myself is good practice of my English skills. I met my host sisters who stayed in my house in Japan and my first host family. I was very happy to meet them again. We enjoyed talking about our memories.


This experience has changed me a lot. However, I think I need more English study because I’m looking forward to a lifetime of English and enjoyment in fourth year seminar. I recommend visiting Australia. There are many beautiful beaches, and famous tourist spots. Also I want to go to Australia again.

Cairns

In this post, I will talk about Cairns. Cairns is located in Queensland which is the nearest city from Japan. If you want to go to Cairns, it takes about seven hours from Japan. In addition, there are a lot of Japanese signs in the Cairns airport. From Cairns, you can go to Ayers Rock, Sydney, Melbourne, and so on. There are many famous beaches, such as the Great Barrier Reef, Green Island, Fitzroy Island, Palm Cove, and Machans Beach.

First of all, I’m going to introduce the Great Barrier Reef. It is the biggest coral reef block in the world and it is a world heritage site. We can enjoy marine sports, such as scuba diving, jet sking, snorkeling, sailing boat, and skydiving.

 

 

 

 

Secondly, I’m going to tell you about Green Island. This island is the most famous island in Cairns. We can go around it in about 40 minutes because this island is small. We can go to Green Island in about one hour by ship, so there are a lot of one-day tours from Cairns.

Thirdly, I'll talk about Cairns Esplanade Lagoon. This lagoon is an artificial pool, not a real beach. However, there is a sandy beach, so we can enjoy swimming for free. Although we can’t hold a koala in Sydney, we can hold a koala in Cairns and take a picture. If you want to see Australian animals, I recommend going to Cairns Tropical Zoo. Also there is another world heritage site in Cairns. If you go to Cairns, you should go to Kuranda. Kuranda is a famous tropical rain forest. Kuranda means rain forest village in Aboriginal language.

 

I think Cairns has nice weather and temperature. Also it is easy to set to from Japan, so I recommend going to Cairns and enjoying a lot of marine sports.

Christmas and New Year in Adelaide

When I was in Australia, I had three weeks free time, so I visited my host sister who came to Japan two years ago. My host sister lives in Adelaide. I spent Christmas and New Year with her family. My host sister can speak Japanese very well because she studied abroad and stayed in my house in Japan. It was nice to meet her again in Australia. Adelaide is located in South Australia, Australia. If you want to go to Adelaide, you can’t go by direct flight from Japan. You need to get another flight in Sydney, Perth, Gold Coast, or Cairns.

My host sister can drive, so she took me a lot of places in Adelaide. First of all, we went to Gorge Wildlife Park. In this park, we can hold a koala for free. In Australia, there is rule on holding a koala. Before you go to the zoo, you need to check the information about whether you can hold it or not.

Secondly, we went to many beautiful beaches. I don’t remember the name of the beaches, but there were nice beaches there, such as Henley Beach, Glenelg, Brighton, and Port Gawler.

 

At Christmas, we saw a lot of Christmas decorations. Many houses have cute Christmas decorations outside around the windows, roof, and trim.

 

 

 

 

          On this trip, it was my first time to spend Christmas in Australia. In Japan, it is winter, but in Australia, it is hot Christmas and New Year, so it was a little strange for me. I usually eat Christmas cake in Japan. However, my host family held a big Christmas party in Australia, so I had a wonderful Christmas in Adelaide. I think New Year is a bigger event than Christmas in Japan. On the other hand, Christmas is a bigger event in Australia. On New Year's Day, I couldn’t hear the New Year’s bell-ringing or eat Japanese New Year’s cuisine in Australia, so I spent a normal day 1^st of January.

 
 

 
 

Second Holiday in Perth

                  I will talk about my second holiday when I was in Australia. My second holiday was busy to go to many places because I went to Perth, Cairns, and Ayers Rock together. I wrote about Ayers Rock before, so in this post, I am going to introduce Perth. Perth is located in Western Australia. If you want to go to Perth, you can’t go by direct flight. You need to get a connecting flight. Australia is a huge landmass, so it takes a long flight from Sydney and other big cities. Perth is a warm climate, so it’s very nice weather all year round. Also there are a lot of famous tourist spots, such as Swan Valley, Wave Rock, Pinnacles, Pink Lake, Esperance Beaches, Shark Bay and so on.

 

First of all, the Esperance Beaches have beautiful beaches and sea. “Esperance” means hope in French, 希望 in Japanese. Because in 1792, two warships were sheltered there from the storm. Then the beach was named Esperance after this accident. Unfortunately, I couldn’t go to the Esperance Beaches on my trip because I didn’t have enough time.

                                                                                                               Secondly, Pinnacles is one of the most popular tourist points in Western Australia. It is in Nambang National Park and there are a lot of limestone formation. I walked in the desert area and saw many rocks.

 

                                         Thirdly, Wave Rock is an objet d ‘art which was made by nature. This wave is 15 meters high. The strangely shaped rock was eroded for a long time. Around the Wave Rock, we can see The Hippo’s Yawn, and Mulka’s Cave.

It takes a long time to travel to Perth, but I recommend going to there. Perth is a beautiful city and there is a lot of nature, and there are many tourist spots. You can join an interesting tour.

Gold Coast

Thank you for reading my blog. I’m back and I will continue to write my blog about Australia. This time, I would like to talk about Gold Coast. Gold Coast is located in Queensland, Australia. You can get to Gold Coast on a 9 hour flight from Japan. In addition, it is easy to go to Gold Coast from Sydney or Brisbane and other cities because there are various ways to get there. There are many famous beaches and tall buildings there.

 

Firstly, if you go to Gold Coast, you should take a walk along the beach. The beautiful beaches continue for about 60 kilometers. You can enjoy a lot of marine sports, such as surfing, bodyboarding, scuba diving, parasailing and jet ski. I wanted to try marine sports at Gold Coast, but I couldn't. Gold Coast was my last city before I went back to Japan, so I needed to go shopping, and I bought a lot of souvenirs.

 

 

 

 

 

Next, Gold Coast is the most crowded area of amusement parks in Australia, such as Sea World, Warner Bros. Movie World, Water World, Dreamworld, and so on. I didn’t have time to go at that time, but when I was 4 years old, I went to Dreamworld with my family. I don't remember anything about that day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          
While I stayed at Gold Coast, I went shopping, sightseeing and met my friends who came to Japan to study abroad before. You can go to the World Heritage forest from Gold Coast so I recommend going there and seeing fireflies.

 
 
 
 

Ayers Rock

This is my last post this year. I would like to talk about Ayers Rock which is located in the center of Australia. Do you know another name for Ayers Rock? Ayers Rock is also known as Uluru. I think many people know Ayers Rock because it is a very famous landmark in Australia. If you want to go to Ayers Rock, you need to catch a connecting flight. You can go to Ayers Rock from Sydney or Cairns by airplane. You can go to the Northern Territory by train and bus as well. However, it takes a very long time and it's expensive. In the Northern Territory, it is difficult to set to other tourist spots because Northern Territory is a desert area. There is a lot of nature and native Aboriginals live there. Tourists have to obey the rules to protect the nature and wildlife.

I went to Ayers Rock on my second holiday in Australia. My host mother suggested to me that I join a tour of Ayers Rock. Many tourists come to Ayers Rock Resort so I met many Japanese people. I just stayed at Ayers Rock Resort two nights, but I saw the wonderful scenery of Ayers Rock.

First of all, I went to the valley of the winds. This is about a seven kilometer trail. During my walking, I saw many rare plants, eucalyptus trees, and large rocks. After that, I went to see the sunset of Ayers Rock. It was an amazing view of Ayers Rock. The color of Ayers Rock changed little by little.

The next day, I woke up early in the morning because I went to see the sunrise of Ayers Rock. The Ayers Rock sunrise was different from the sunset view. The rock surface changes to the various colors in a day. Then I went to Uluru-Kata Tjuta Cultural Center. There we can learn history of Ayers Rock and lifestyle of the Aborigine. I also went to another rock’s area. Kata Tjuta is another name for the Olgas.

I would recommend going to Ayers Rock when you go to Australia. In Australia, there are many famous places to visit. When speaking of Australia, I think the best symbol is Ayers Rock.
 

Welcome Back!!

In this post, I would like to talk about my last holiday in Japan, because I went back to Armidale during this summer holiday. I haven't been to Armidale for seven months, but Armidale hasn't changed a bit. I was very happy to meet my host family and friends. I also met Tsurumi students who are studying abroad in Australia now.

My friend had a holiday at that time, so she picked me up in Sydney. We visited various tourist spots around the city. After that, we went to Armidale by train because it's cheaper than going by plane. However, it’s about eight hours from Sydney to Armidale by train. Unfortunately, we had to change to another train at that time, so it took about nine hours.

In Armidale, I could meet many friends, teachers, and my host family. My friends hold a party for me. I was very surprised and happy because it was a nice party. My host family hold a party too. It was a Japanese food party. We made sushi, spring rolls, and dumplings.

When I finished ELC, all Japanese students went back to Japan because we just had a year study program. Other students still study at UNE, such as Chinese, Korea, Vietnamese, and so on. I thought their English was getting better because they need to speak English every day. However, I don’t have many opportunities to speak English in Japan. I belong to the English communication course, but many classes are using Japanese. We don’t need to speak English in all classes. After I went back to Australia this summer, I came to realize again how difficult it is to keep my English speaking skill.