The Gold Coast

Hello again everyone! It has been a while since I've updated.. but we've been gone for quite a while now! We went on a little trip up north, to the Aussie state of Queensland (in the upper right hand corner), and had the best time ever! We left on Sept. 30, and spent the first few days with some of my parents friends, the Palmers, who now live in a city called "the Gold Coast." It seems to be the tourist destination of choice for most, especially for those around our age as well as families. It's the theme park capital of the nation, complete with Sea World, Wet & Wild, and a few others. I think we shocked people when we told them we had no desire to see the theme parks... I guess I've taken it for granted my whole life that I've lived 20 minutes from Six Flags? Anyway, it really is a beautiful place, but very commercial. The climate reminded me a lot of southern California, (yay hot weather!), and the main beaches ("surfers' paradise") along with all the shopping reminded me of Florida. It's also probably the party capital of Australia. Still, there was much more to see than just the commercial side.

Here's a picture of me with the Palmers, after all these years! Top: (from left) Jamie (18), Jo; Bottom row: Whitney (15), Wes, Kate (17), and me!

Jo was pregnant with Whitney at the same time my mom was pregnant with Caitlin right before we left to move back to Texas. They are just the sweetest family ever. I loved getting to stay with them! Wes is actually an aerial photographer and owns his own business- Skye Pics. If you want to see some awesome pics of Australia, have a look at that site! It was fun to watch him and Jen talk photography and him try and inspire her to start her own photography business... who knows... :)

Jo took us all around the area: to this adorable night market right on the boardwalk next to the Surfers Paradise beach, to lots of massive shopping malls, up a mountain to a rainforest, and others! Here are some pictures of the rainforest we visited- it was so pretty! We got to go on this suspended bridge that went up through the canopy of the trees! I didn't even realize how high up we were until I looked down.. Australia is so cool.

Another day Jo took us to a town about an hour away called Byron Bay. It has the reputation of a hippy town, and apparently also has a rep for being the place to get weed... Haha but it's also home to famous Australians, like Russell Crowe! It was such a cute town- I loved it! The shops were all super unique, and (of course) it was all right on this gorgeous beach! We spent the day there, and after plenty of shopping we had a picnic on the beach and just hung out there for a few hours. Here's Kate, me, Jen, Kate & Whitney's friend Kelly, and Whitney. We had a blast!
Check out this view. I mean, come on. Awesome.
It was so good to get to hang out with the Palmers again! I was pretty sad to leave- just not knowing when I'll ever get to see them again.. It's kind of like foreshadowing for how emotional the next week is going to be! Weird. Anyway, we had a blast in the Gold Coast, then left to go even further up north to Port Douglas!