Traveling to Cairns

During the mid-tri break, some friends and I went to Cairns with the main intention of exploring the Great Barrier Reef. The flight from Brisbane to Cairns and hostels in the area were pretty cheap. While planning the trip, we realized just how much there was to do in Cairns. Because it was still in Queensland, the bus system was the same used in Brisbane so getting around the city was easy, but renting a car was also an option because my friends were over 21.

The Great Barrier Reef was the main attraction. The second I was in the water I was surrounded by marine life. Even though it's bleaching, there is still so much life and beauty there. I loved it, but I also hope we can stop and reverse the effects of bleaching so future generations can experience the abundance of life the reef holds. There were other beaches nearby including Palm Cove and Port Douglas that were good for relaxing, swimming, and tide pooling. 

My friends and I decided to rent a car for two days to drive to Daintree rainforest, the oldest rainforest in the world. In Kuranda, the part near Cairns, we hiked Baron Gorge and admired the amazing views from the skyliner. Deeper into the rainforest, we took a river cruise and spotted wild crocodiles. My favorite part was walking along Myall Beach at Cape Tribulation. It was so surreal to walk along the only place in the world where two UNESCO world heritage sites meet: the Great Barrier Reef and Daintree rainforest. Cairns was a beautiful place with incredible wildlife, and I hope to one day go back and look at it from a more scientific point of view.

Events on Griffith Nathan Campus

Especially in the beginning, I was very anxious about making friends. However it was really easy to meet people at events the campus put on. There was an international students orientation where I made a group of friends I kept up with the entire trimester. I also made a lot of local friends at clubs and other school events throughout the trimester.

Orientation was really focused on introducing international students to Australia and all of its animals. The Nathan campus is in the middle of Toohey forest, a protected sanctuary for koalas. We were welcomed with a traditional, aboriginal smoking ceremony where an Elder walked around with smoking eucalyptus leaves to cleanse our energies and invite us to a new land. We also got to go to the Australia Zoo and see the famous Crocodile show. 

The early trimester had a lot of social events at the UniBar on campus. Karaoke was a fun event with gift cards as prizes. Movie night in the forest was a cozy way to chill with the new friends you made. All events on campus were free, but the school also provided us with discounted tickets to events in the city. When the musical Jesus Christ Superstar came to the Queensland Performing Arts Center, we could buy cheap tickets and go with other students. We also got discounted tickets to climb the iconic Story Bridge in the city.

There was almost always something happening on campus. From game nights with prizes, to dogs to destress for midterms, to forest hikes where you could see koalas sleeping in the trees. It was easy to find something to do, and it was easy to make friends at all the events.

Destinations While Abroad in Australia

Hey everyone, 

I'm excited to share my incredible travel experiences from my time studying abroad in Australia. During this unforgettable journey, I had the opportunity to explore not only Australia but also nearby countries. I worked to save up for these adventures and it was absolutely worth it. I highly encourage anyone studying abroad to prioritize travel because it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. 

Rather than writing a separate blog post for each destination, I've decided to compile my favorite places along with some insider recommendations and cost-saving tips. Let's dive in!

Sydney

Located in NSW, Australia, I had the opportunity to explore Sydney through a tour my housing program set us up with. As part of the Semester in Australia experience, all participants were offered professionally organized trips with a knowledgeable guide and we were given the itinerary beforehand. During the Sydney trip, I met over half the students attending Griffith for the semester in SIA, making it an unforgettable experience. The cost was surprisingly affordable given the amount of activities we enjoyed. It was honestly a relief not having to plan these trips myself in an entirely new country.

On our first day, we walked from our hostel to the Sydney Opera House, soaking in the city's vibrant atmosphere. The next adventure took us on a ferry ride to Manly Island, where we spent time relaxing on the beach and walking around. Our itinerary also included a visit to the breathtaking Blue Mountains National Park, where we were treated to spectacular views. On that very day, we had the chance to explore Featherdale Wildlife Sanctuary, encountering a diverse array of native Australian animals and even feeding kangaroos.

Cairns 

This excursion was also organized through SIA housing, and I opted to go before the university term began to minimize missed classes. Joining me on this adventure were my friends from Hawaii and it turned out to be an unforgettable experience. One of the highlights was a full day spent diving at the Great Barrier Reef, immersing ourselves in its stunning underwater world. On another day, we explored the rainforest with a guide showing us picturesque waterfalls and scenic spots, reminding me a little bit of  Hawaii. This was only about a two-hour flight from Gold Coast and very cheap considering everything we got to do. 

Brisbane 

Me and my roommates planned this trip because it was only an hour train ride from Gold Coast making it super easy to do a weekend trip. We ended up renting a car so we could drive just outside of Brisbane to Sunshine Coast, where the Australia Zoo is located. This was the best zoo I have ever been to because all the animals had large areas to explore and you could just tell they were happy. 

Ended up renting scooters to ride around the city of Brisbane which I highly recommend and it wasn't too expensive. Also if you have time make sure you watch an AFL game or Rugby match while you are in the city.

Bali

Out of all the trips I went on I think Bali was my favorite. It's unlike any other country I've visited, offering incredible sights and experiences. Some of the girls I met through SIA housing and I planned this week-long adventure ourselves, and it exceeded all expectations. Every day was packed with activities that I thoroughly enjoyed, from visiting the Monkey Temple and exploring rice terraces to chasing waterfalls and venturing to Nusa Penida Island. It was a journey filled with unforgettable moments and new discoveries at every turn.

What's particularly great about Bali is how affordable everything is. The food is delicious, and accommodations are incredibly budget-friendly when shared among a group. While flights to Bali were among the pricier ones I've taken, the destination more than makes up for it once you arrive. Getting around using the Grab app was convenient and cost-effective, eliminating the need to rent a car. The flight from Brisbane was about six hours, but time flies when you're looking forward to such an amazing destination!

New Zealand (South Island) 

This trip was truly an adventure of a lifetime. My friends and I made an itinerary that involved navigating a camper van across New Zealand over six days. Initially nerve-wracking, especially since we were driving on the left side of the road and handling such a large vehicle for the first time, but we managed without a scratch. Focusing mainly on the South Island, we opted to skip Auckland, flying into Christchurch from Brisbane instead making a quick three-hour flight.

This was definitely our most expensive trip because even though a van seemed like the cheaper option it still ended up being pretty pricy. Well worth it though because of the breathtaking hikes in untouched landscapes, enhancing New Zealand's natural beauty. As we worked our way south to Queenstown from Christchurch we stayed at amazing campsites where the stars were incredible. Once we reached Queenstown we explored the cool town and did nearby hikes. We also drove the furthest point south so we could do the Milford sound tour, which we ended up seeing dolphins so definitely worth the drive. 

Housing on the Gold Coast, Australia

 Hi Everyone,

    My name is Kaylyn Dosch and I just finished up my sophomore year at Griffith University in the Gold Coast of Australia. As I said in my last blog this experience is truly life-changing and an amazing experience. For this blog, I want to talk about housing and everyday life in the Gold Coast. 

    I specifically lived in the Broadbeach area and it was the perfect mix of beach life, early morning workouts, sunrises, outdoor activities, and an inclusive community. Broadbeach is known for its friendly and welcoming community. It is a very laid-back lifestyle with a focus on work-life balance and enjoying the natural surroundings. Fitness is also very centered in most people's lifestyle who live in the area. There is a variety of food options close by. It is also walking distance to 2 different malls. You are also close to popular spots such as Surfers Paradise which is known for its nightlife. 

     I found housing through SIA, which is a company that does housing specifically for American students going to Australia and takes care of most of the things. My apartment specifically provided towels, bedding, and weekly cleanings which was super convenient to not have to worry about getting. 

The link to the housing website is: https://semesterinaustralia.com/

    My Broadbeach apartment was located less than a 2-minute walk from the beach. Where you can spend time relaxing on the sand, swimming, or surfing. It is also right next to many parks where you can relax and do homework or workout. 

    Broadbeach is also known for its various events and festivals that happen throughout the year. My favorite is the farmers market that happens every 1st and 3rd Sunday of the Month. It has a wide range of fruits, veggies, clothes, food, etc. Other events include music festivals, food events, and cultural celebrations. 

    The tram to Griffith Campus is a bit on the longer side, which was about 30 minutes. I only had classes on campus 2 times a week so it was not too bad for me personally and I loved Broadbeach so it was well worth it.

    The Gold Coast is also known as the Sunshine State because of the warmer climate all year round. Even in peak winter, the afternoons are quite warm. The Gold Coast also has a wide range of activities such as sports, hiking, and walks along the beach.

 

    I would HIGHLY recommend going through SIA and the Broadbeach area! If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask me any questions!

Traveling while Studying in Australia

 Hello everyone,

My name is Kaylyn Dosch and I just finished up my sophomore year at Griffith University in the Gold Coast of Australia. It was truly life-changing and an amazing experience. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested. I specifically lived in the Broadbeach area and it was the perfect mix of beach life, early morning workouts, sunrises, outdoor activities, and an inclusive community. You are also close to popular spots such as Surfers Paradise which is known for its nightlife. I found housing through SIA, which I will talk about in my next blog, but for this blog specifically, I wanted to talk about traveling in Australia!

Australia is super diverse; from the beautiful beaches, the reefs, the rainforest, and the outback. I think it is so worth putting a little extra money aside to explore all it has to offer! You can find cheap tickets for weekend trips through Jetstar and Qunatus. They are super strict with bags and other things, but they are the cheapest flights. Not only does Australia have a lot to offer, but you are super close to so many other beautiful countries such as New Zealand (I really recommend going), Indonesia, Fiji, etc. 

My favorite places that I visited in Australia were Cairns, Whitsundays, and Noosa. My friends really loved Tasmania, but it was June, so it was winter there and it was a bit too cold for me lol. The Gold Coast I would say didn't really get cold in the peak of winter (June), except for early in the morning.  

The Great Barrier Reef is found in both Cairns and Whitsundays which is such an amazing experience! For traveling to Cairns I used a company that my housing suggested which was so worth it. It books your whole trip from the hostel, the tours, and other activities.

The name is G’day Australia Travel which I highly recommend!

The next place that I would recommend is Sydney. For Sydney I went with my housing program SIA and met everyone that I would be living with at the apartment complexes which was amazing and ended up being who I traveled around with. Sydney is a super diverse city and has a lot to offer! My personal favorite thing was the zoo. You get to see and experience all the different animals of Australia!

Noosa is a quiet surfing town with amazing views and scenery. It is an amazing place to relax and just soak up the sun. I took the tram to get there and where me and some friends booked an Airbnb. 

I also visited Bali, Indonesia before leaving for Australia and it was an amazing experience. It is a bit of a flight from Australia (6 hours), but if you were to fly from Hawaii it would be about 18 hours. If you plan ahead you can also find super cheap flights here and once you get to Bali everything is super cheap. Most nice and full meals are at a MAX $10.

Lastly, one of my favorite places was New Zealand! Me and a few friends went for our Reading Week (Like our winter break) and explored both islands. It is truly jaw-dropping views and something that feels surreal. We booked through Jetstar and then rented a car to travel through New Zealand to see the most that we could. We booked hostels to sleep in at night.

Overall, I think it is important to make the most of your time in Australia and explore while you are there. Time flies by and you will be wishing you had more time in the end! Make sure to soak it up and most importantly don’t forget you are still there for school so make sure to keep your grades up and be involved in activities. 

A Special Reunion!

Last March, I was one of the 23 selected students to participate in the Daniel Inouye Kakehashi Scholars Program. It was such an unforgettable experience, and even until this day, I feel incredibly lucky for the opportunity. One of the best things about the Kakehashi project was meeting and becoming friends with the students from Japan. 

Our last photo together at Fukuoka Jo Gakuin University.

During my time in Fukuoka, I bonded with a few of the girls. Fumika Sato, a senior at Fukuoka Jo Gakuin University was one of the girls I became close friends with. I forget how we got into this specific conversation, but Fumika mentioned that her boyfriend is from Australia. I later told her that I had planned to study in Brisbane, Australia the following year at Griffith University. Coincidentally, she planned to move to Australia on a working holiday visa around the same time. 

Our reunion at the Westfield Garden City mall.

Ever since I returned from Japan, Fumika and I remained in touch. Occasionally, we updated each other about our arrival dates in Brisbane and made plans to reunite. As we all know, the pandemic changed everything. I was confident that I would be sent home because of the uncertainty of available flights and my overall safety. However, I was given the choice to stay and I do not regret my decision. 

Enjoying the view at Eagle Heights Mountain Resort on Mount Tamborine.

About a week before my departure, Fumika and I finally were able to reunite. It was difficult to plan a day and location because Fumika lived in the countryside, while I lived on campus (which is closer to Brisbane City). We were able to meet up twice before I left. I know it sounds sad because it was a brief amount of time. However, due to the unusual circumstances, I am incredibly grateful we spent those two days together. 

Visited the coffee plantation on Mount Tamborine. 

This experience showed me the best part of being abroad is not only creating new friendships, but it is also the reunion, especially if it is on a completely different continent! 

Transportation and Living in the Gold Coast

Aloha,
As stated in previous blogs, I lived in Surfers Paradise which is a city directly on the beach. This in my opinion is probably the best place live for someone who is temporarily living in the Gold Coast and is new. This is because the city has an assortment of options for all your living needs and has the best transportation. Plus the beach is always really close! This was the view of my apartment and the beach that is practically a 1 minute walk from the front desk.

I am so fortunate to live in an amazing location and will always recommend people the same place I stayed. The apartment I lived in was called Surfers Century. At the time I lived there it was filled with other international students who also attended the same university as me, Griffith University. During my stay it was a lot of Americans for some reason all were from Pennsylvania. However, every semester it is filled with international students who all typically attend Griffith University. 

Transportation was also something that made life so easy in Surfers Paradise and Gold Coast altogether. To go to school I would use the light rail system that travels up and down the coast. From my apartment to University it would take about 30 minutes to get to class. What made this system so simple was their paying methods. I got a gocard which is what they called it and this card worked pretty much like a debit card for public transportation. You would use this card to tap on every time you got on a bus, light rail, train or any public transportation provided by the state. And all you had to do was transfer money onto the card every time your balance got low. What I would do was put 50$ on at a time which would typically last a month or so. However, what I really loved about their public transportation was the ability to bring your surfboard. In Hawaii, the bus is our only transportation and surfboards are not allowed. In the Gold Coast, you were allowed to bring surfboards and but it gets better. It the light rail train system there were even board holders inside the train. This allowed you to lock your board up safely while you road to where ever you were going. The transportation was amazing and I was so lucky to have a system like this to facilitate such a great experience. 

Surfing in the Gold Coast of Australia

Aloha,
I am a huge surfer and every time I travel somewhere I try my very best to surf as much as I can. There is just some thing about the feeling of surfing a new spot especially when the waves are good. I grew up surfing in Hawaii and could say my expectations for waves are pretty high. When planning my semester in Gold Coast, I knew there was good waves before I went. But I never knew what to truly expect. Let's just say my expectations were fully met. I lived in an apartment in the main city which was a 3 minute walk to the beach. This was amazing but it gave the opportunity to literally walk to the beach every single day and surf. I literally would surf every single day once in the morning once for sunset, with friends or by myself. However, unfortunately my semester was the main season for surfing. So though I surf a lot of great waves and had some amazing sessions, I also surfed some pretty poor waves. Just the ability to walk to the ocean and surf was a blessing in itself. During there Fall (January-April) is when the waves on the Gold Coast turn from really good to world class. Surfers from around the world gather and surf these amazing swells produced by Cyclones. These waves are right handers and when it's a perfect swell you can be barreled multiple times on one single wave.

However, with these great waves comes a huge crowd of people. Considering what I said about not being in the best season for surfing with this next statement. When I surfed one of the better swells for the winter season there were about 200-300 people in the water. All of them, including me, fighting for these amazing waves. This takes place and snapper rock, this infamous and world class surf spot. Considerably one of the best waves in Australia. Considering the constant and insane crowd of people at Snapper I would often surf other spots. Gold coast, oddly enough is a long coast filled with golden surf spots. Where I lived up North was the top of the Gold Coast where the waves started then going all the way down south to Snapper rock and Duranbah was the end and the epicenter of amazing waves. Whenever, I felt like getting great waves and fighting the crowd I would go down south. This actually happen pretty often, lucky enough to have a good class schedule I would catch the light rail train system and the bus for 40-60 minutes down south every morning for sunrise just to score these great waves. Later throughout the semester I made a great group of friends who surfed and had cars. This was a real advantage and was able to check out some secret spots that I cant name haha. However, lets just say my favorite spot on the Gold coast was less than a 15 minute drive from my apartment in Surfers Paradise. At this spot it has some of the best beach breaks barrels than anywhere I have surfed in the world. Surfing in Australia and especially the Gold Coast is a must. If you surf, and there is swell, there is a good chance you score some great waves!

Hiking in the Gold Coast of Australia

Aloha,
My time in Australia was amazing and I enjoyed every part of it. There was a lot to do especially outdoors. Where I am, whether it be traveling or at home I like to include going outside in my daily life. Where I lived in Australia was a city directly on the beach which was amazing for surfing, which I will get into on my next blog. However, nature was really never hard to find in the Gold coast. Where most people lived was pretty flat except for the few hills spread out a long the coast. These were actually great little hikes and had some exceptional views like this one.

Burleigh hill

This was a hike that my friends and I commonly did for sunset. Considering it's short length and really cool views. In the background is the city I lived in and a short bus and train ride would get me to Burleigh, which is also where my friends lived. Besides these short little hikes, gold coast was pretty flat. Coming from Hawaii I am pretty used to ridge hikes on mountains. Gold coast luckily had a national forest but it was an 1-2 hour drive. It was called Springbrook national forrest. Whenever I had the opportunity to go with friends who had a car, I would. There are fun ridge hikes, but mainly Springbrook had a lot of beautiful waterfalls. Unfortunately, during the time I lived there was the dry season. So there were still waterfalls but they were somewhat small compared to the summer. Heres a picture of a waterfall I loved. 

Natural bridge waterfall 

This waterfall was insanely beautiful and was actually really special to local people. This is because of the luminous fungi that lived within. Unfortunately, only really glowed during the summer. I loved Australia for a lot of things. But one thing that was much different was the wildlife I encountered when hiking. In Hawaii, typically you only encounter wild life in the Ocean. Where in Australia there were always some cool animals lurking around. Like this cool dude.

Hiking in Australia was an amazing experience and though I have 100's of pictures for the numerous hikes I did. I only scratched the surface, there is so much to experience in the Australian outdoors!