My first holiday: Part 1

When I had my first holiday in Australia, I had three weeks free. During my holiday, I thought staying in Armidale would be so boring, so I went to many places in Australia. This post, I will talk about my first holiday.

 I went to Melbourne by myself because Melbourne is a special place for me. When I was 10 years old, I did a homestay in Melbourne. At that time, I did not know a lot of English words and could not speak English. Although it was a hort stay in Melbourne, I was surprised about the many differences between Australia and Japan. Then I thought I wanted to learn more about Australia. After this experience, my goal was to study abroad in Australia again. My first host family was very kind to me, so I like them. I sent a message to my host family in Melbourne because I wanted to meet them again.

When I was 10 years old

    

     Finally, I could meet my first host family again!! I was very happy to meet them. My host family took me the same places where we went to about ten years ago, but I did not remember these places. First of all, we went to a national park. Secondly, we went to the Great Ocean Road. The Great Ocean Road is a famous road, and an Australian national heritage site. The Great Ocean Road is located in Victoria, Melbourne. It starts in Geelong and goes to Portland. The total length of the road is about 250 km. It is a very long road. We saw very beautiful beaches and landscape of mountains. I just stayed at their house one night, but it was nice to catch up with them.

After that, I went to Monash University because my host sister who came to Japan to study abroad five years ago is studying at Monash University in Melbourne. Her name is Morgan. She studied Japanese in Japan and stayed at my house. She can speak Japanese very well, so we spoke Japanese and English at that time. I thought there were many modern buildings at Monash University. In UNE, we can see many animals, but in Monash, its like a shopping mall. She is still studying Japanese, so I met many friends who are studying Japanese.

Beautiful Beaches

I will introduce some places I went to with my host family. At the weekends, my host family usually stayed in the house and watched movies or read books. Also we went to the beach, did bush walking, or went to grandmother’s house.

 

First of all, I will talk about beaches. If we go to the beach from Armidale, we need to drive at least two hours. I went to Yamba with my host father and sister. Yamba is north of Coffs Harbour. In Yamba, we went on a boat and did many marine sports. For example, I rode a float that was called a biscuit with my host sister. The biscuit was very fast, so we needed to hold onto the strap. It was fun to ride the biscuit. A party was held at my host father’s company, so we could eat and drink free.

 

 

 

Secondly, I went to Port Macquarie where my host grandmother lives. Port Macquarie is south of Armidale. There are very beautiful beaches there. We stayed at her house two nights. In the early morning, we woke up and went to the beach to see the sun rise. I think it was a lovely sunrise. I could meet grandmother there. She was very friendly and kind.

 

 

 

In addition, I went to Coffs Harbour with my friends during holidays. Coffs Harbour is famous for Big Banana. We can see Big Banana and eat bananas.

 

 

Next, I went bush walking. It was first time for me to go bush walking. We walked about three hours. To walk in the bush was very tiring, but we could see beautiful views.

 

I think Armidale is so quiet, but there is a lot of nature. Many people live in the rural areas where there is unspoiled forest and trees. If I did not go to Armidale, I would have never experienced the opportunity to come into contact with nature like this.

 

 

 

 

 

Host Family

This is the second post of my blog. I am going to talk about my homestay experience. I stayed with the same family for nine months because they were treated me like their real family.

There are six members in my host family. My host mother is a teacher, so she always helped me do my homework and assignments. When I arrived at Armidale, I could not understand a lot of English. My host mother spoke English slowly for me and used easy words. My host mother and father have two sons and daughters, but the sons live in another place with their family.
 I always did something together with host sister because she can cook, sew, and so on. For example, we cooked cakes, muffins, biscuits, and meals together. We made a lot of cakes, but I was always surprised at the color. The color of the cake was not normal color. Sometimes, we made a cake for the dog’s birthday. I had a very good time cooking something with my host sister. I have learned how to cook from her while learning English.
Sometimes, I slept in the garden in a tent with my host sister. It was the first experience for me to sleep in the garden using a tent. We talked a lot, but it was so cold outside because the season was winter. Some other things we did is go to the beach and bush walking. Grand mother lives in Port Macquarie, so we went to her house and swam at the beach.

Another host sister lived with us just four months. Then she moved to Sydney to get a job. We did not spent much time together, but she was very kind and she can do everything. I have respect for my host sister because she became independent. The two host brothers are married and each has a child. I met one host brother and his wife and  baby. Their baby was so cute. My host family is a big family so I could meet many people.

This time, I told you about my homestay. Next time I will introduce places where I went with my host family.