Thursday, March 24, 2016

Royal National Park

This was an incredible experience exploring the Royal National Park. I had no idea that it was one the oldest parks in the world. I did not expect the Royal National Park to be so close to the city. It actually is pretty easy apparently to get public transportation to the Royal National Park. We arrived to the park, and were brought to restrooms originally because they were the only restrooms in the whole park. We then drove to Bundeena, which I did not expect there to be a small town nearby. We met our tour guide named Pete, who seemed to have a pretty decent knowledge of the area. He gave each of us in our group responsibility of navigation through the park. I usually use an iPhone or GPS to navigate nowadays, so that was an adjustment for me to get used to. We began our walk and we had to make sure we were all properly hydrated. We made it towards the coast, and I was so stunned with how beautiful the coast was. The view was breathtaking. I was so starstruck with how large the waves were.


I am originally from Cleveland, Ohio and I grew up with Lake Erie my whole life. Lake Erie is one of the North American Great Lakes, we get some waves but nothing like the waves I saw along the coast of the Royal National Park. The waves were majestic and grabbed my attention as the came into the cliffs of the coast. It felt so relaxing and peaceful seeing this sight. 


Waking through to each coastal spot, we went through trails all along the mountainous terrain of the Royal National Park. I would generally say that I am a physically fit person, but climbing up a steep hill was pretty exhausting for me. Cleveland, Ohio is very flat, but where I go to school in Cincinnati, Ohio is somewhat hilly. But, all of Ohio is grasslands for the terrain. It was much different to see bushes, shrubs, and different types of grass along the hills of the trails of the Royal National Park. 
I was so excited to see a beach along the way for this walk. We stopped and had lunch nearby the Marley Beach. It was so beautiful seeing how desolate this beach was. I have been to many beaches along Lake Erie and the ocean before and there have always been so many people at the beaches I've been to. It felt so peaceful to be at this beach, and I wish I could have spent the whole afternoon there. But, we were running into some rough weather along our walk. 



 Our group made the most out of our walk. It was actually kinda fun walking through the torrential downpour. Rainfall is a huge part of nature that needs more appreciation. I personally enjoy hearing rain and watching the clouds of the sky during a storm. Back home, my friends and I would often drive to Lake Erie to watch the lake during a huge thunderstorm. One of my favorite spots along this whole walk was the natural pool. I have never seen anything quite like it before. I totally would have jumped into the water if I wasn't already soaking wet from the rain. But, it was pretty cool seeing a sight like this, and how clean and pristine the water was.

I would say that overall this experience has been one of my favorite so far in Sydney. I think that this city is beautiful, but it felt so nice to get out of the city and see this amazing park. Australia is a beautiful country and I want to see as much of the beautiful land as I can before I go back to the corn fields of Ohio.


Thursday, March 10, 2016

initial thoughts

I have always wanted to come to Australia ever since I could remember, mainly because my grandmother was born here and it’s a part of me that I do not know about yet. I did not have much knowledge of Australia before I came here. When I arrived to this wonderful country four weeks ago, the first thing was drive up the Pacific Highway towards Brisbane. The drive and scenery was spectacular – granted I am Cleveland, Ohio, so we do not get to see beautiful highway drives often. Before I arrived to Sydney, I did some beautiful bushwalks up in Queensland and I really enjoyed it. I knew as an exchange student I wanted to take some enjoyable courses at the University. My friend from this Uni suggested Outdoor Education, and I read the class description and it sounded amazing. I do not know much about the Blue Mountains and Royal National Park, but I am really looking forward to these field trips and learning about these places. Australians live a very active lifestyle and I think that this course is going to teach me a lot about the culture in that perspective. I am excited to see more beautiful parts of this incredible country.