Last month, I had the amazing opportunity for my parents to come visit me in Sydney. Usually I don’t relish the chance for a familial visit, but this one was different. First we need to get things straight. I love my family as much as the next guy, and probably more. But in a typical semester, I will only make the drive down to San Antonio once or twice, and only then on special occasions or when my mom is cooking a particularly good meal.  Not because I don’t love to see them, but because I lived with them for 18 years of my life and I pretty much know what’s going to happen most days I spend down there. This visit was different for three reasons: I’m in Australia, I was running low on cash, and my parents love good wine.

The first few days they were here we partook in the typical touristy routine: cruising on a ferry around the Sydney harbor, visiting the world-renown Taronga Zoo, exploring Chinatown and the accompanying market, and eating at a few great restaurants. But I must say, none of that compared to seeing them for the first time after so long. Not because I so desperately missed my family, but because there is something unnaturally comforting about seeing a familiar face in a foreign land.

After spending time in Sydney, my parents and I flew to Adelaide to explore other areas of Australia. Our first day was spent exploring the city, which resulted in my parents sufficiently spoiling me. The next day we met with one of my dad’s local business friends who took us out to the Barossa Valley, one of the best winemaking regions in Australia. We spent the entire day drinking expensive wines at private tastings and being chauffeured around different vineyards. If I’m being completely honest, this was probably my favorite part of the entire trip. I have been fascinated with wine since I was very young, so I seized every opportunity to soak in the entire experience.

The next day my parents and I flew to Kangaroo Island, Australia’s third largest island, to explore bush land and see native wildlife. I have to say, Kangaroo Island surpassed all my expectations. As the name implies, there were kangaroos everywhere: out in the desert, by the beaches, in wildlife rescue parks, crossing the road in front of our Land Rover. Wild koalas were everywhere as well. We spent the following two days touring the entire island, getting to visit wildlife rescue parks, sandy beaches, and natural beauties. By the end of my time on Kangaroo Island, I had seen, fed, pet, and bonded with more native animals than I could ever have imagined.

After leaving the island, my parents took a quick personal trip to Queenstown, NZ, then returned to Sydney. In my final three days with them, I took them on the second half of their personal tour around the Sydney. We were able to make the breathtaking coastal walk from Coogee to Bondi, visit the Sydney Opera House and check out the Royal Botanical Gardens. Essentially, I crammed all the good things about my trip to Sydney thus far into six very busy days with my parents, which they were very grateful for. It was so hard to say goodbye, but I am incredibly thankful for the time we were able to spend together in Australia.

If there’s one piece of advice I can give the inexperienced traveler, it’s that sometimes the extra 30-50 for places to stay are well worth it. Last week a friend and I took a trip to New Zealand for our mid-semester break. Being college students, we were looking for any way possible to pinch pennies and fund the trip. We developed a great strategy that had us staying up all night in the Christchurch airport the day we arrived and the night before we departed to save a few dollars. Let me tell you, it was absolutely not worth it.

Thankfully, as we bussed our way into Queenstown the second morning, I was able to get some sleep on the floor of the bus before the driver so rudely woke me up. Something about a “liability” and that I could “break my neck”. On our way into Queenstown, we stopped at Lake Tekapo for lunch, which I quickly realized was the most beautiful place I had ever been to (before the rest of this trip). The water in the lake is bright blue (as you can see below), apparently caused by minerals from a nearby melted glacier. You don’t really find that in Texas.

Queenstown was everything it was made out to be. The town boasts the title “Adventure Capital of the World”. Since extreme adrenaline isn’t really my style, my friend and I decided to take it pretty easy while we were there. By easy I mean going on three major hikes, one of which was an eight-hour summit return trip that we completed in five and a half hours. This was the Ben Lomond trail, which turned out to be one of the most grueling things I have done in my entire life. Essentially the trail requires you to walk up about a 40-degree angle for four hours before you reach the summit. At some points along the trail, you literally have to climb rocks on the edge of a fairly daunting cliff to find the next section of the path. After numerous hours of complaining (at least I’m somewhat used to hills, my friend was from Lubbock), we made it to the summit. I must say, the view was worth it.

The most incredible part about our trip to New Zealand was the day trip we took with the BBQ Bus to Milford Sound. If you haven’t heard about Milford Sound, don’t look it up. Honestly, it is almost frustrating talking about it and showing the pictures, because they absolutely do it no justice. It is hands down the most beautiful place I have ever been to, and I would venture to guess that anyone who has been there would say it is the most beautiful place in the world. Please take that into account, as you look at the next few pictures.

When one of my friends invited me to visit Krakow for five days during our break, I had to google the place. Poland was never on my list of places to visit, much less the first Easter European countries I wanted to visit. However, when life invites me to unheard of places, I’m trained not to shove it out of my radar.

In fact, the places I’ve visited are not the most touristic places but they have been the best experiences I’ve ever had. So when I had no time to research and plan out my break, I joined my friends going to Krakow, Poland.

Those 5 days surpassed my expectations. 

A few weeks ago in Edinburgh there was a rugby match between the Scottish and Italian national teams as a part of a tournament called the 6 Nations. 6 Nations is a tournament where rugby teams from six countries (England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, and Italy, hence the name 6 nations) all play each other in rugby matches. I can honestly say that I have never heard of the 6 Nations tournament before I got here but its a REALLY BIG DEAL so we knew that we had to go! Because it was a match against Italy and not another UK country, it was actually very easy to find affordable (albeit, nosebleed) seats for the match.

 

I’ll confess that I didn’t know the rules to rugby before I got to the match (and still don’t understand all of it), but it’s kind of a combination of football and soccer, and it’s surprisingly exciting to watch! The point of the game is to run the ball over the goal line for a “try,” and you can only pass backwards the ball to players on your team. The fascinating thing about rugby is that it is almost as violent (and in some situations more violent) than football, yet the players wear hardly any protectional sports gear at all.

(Highlights from the rugby match – Scotland won 34 to 10!)

Scotland scoring!

Going to the the stadium was SUCH a cool experience – the national pride that everyone had for the Scotland rugby team was unbelievable. Also the stadium performances were so much cooler than in America – they blasted a bagpipe version (!) of “We Will Rock You” before the game started, and every time Scotland scored they played “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” over the speaker system and everyone went craaaazy. In the words of Barney Stinson, it was LEGENDARY. 

Until next time,

Jessi