My Last Week

I cannot believe that I have already been living and working in the land down under for 8 weeks now! WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?! This summer has by far surpassed any and all of my expectations and although I’m not quite ready to head back to reality just yet, it is quickly approaching! But anyway, lets talk about how much fun I’ve had and reminisce on my experience, shall we?

Some of My Favourite Things

Choosing some of my favourite experiences is really hard for me to do because I loved everything about this trip. From wine tasting in the Hunter Valley to taking simples ferry rides from Manly to Sydney to fighting off giant insects to watching the sky catch fire every night at sunset, Australia has been so good to me. While I did thoroughly enjoy every adventure (aside from the bugs (bleh!!)), these would have to be my top five favourites:

1. Scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns
2. Surfing(or at least trying to) at Manly Beach
3. Snorkelling at Shelly Beach (for my job with ECOTREASURES
4. Hiking up to Barrenjoey Lighthouse
5. Hanging out with the Wallabies and Koalas at Featherdale Wildlife Park

 

Of all of my many escapades, however, I think that surfing this weekend was probably the front runner of the front runners. I’m kind of thinking that I’m actually probably half fish or something because most of my favourite things  involved the ocean. Theres just something about salt water and sand that feels so peaceful and draws me in. Needless to say, I am definitely going to miss having the Pacific in my backyard more than words can even begin to express. 🙁

The Weekend

This weekend was my last full weekend in Sydney and I definitely made the most of it! It was heaps of fun and allowed me to properly say goodbye to the city that I love so much. We went to a chocolate festival at Circular Quay (YUMMMMM), surfing at Manly Beach Surf School, bought some extremely cute swimwear from a store called  Sunburn, went to all of the cute cafes we’ve been dying to go to, went shopping at the markets on  The Rocks, and hiking around Shelly Beach before becoming beach bums for the rest of the day.

Surf School

So, let me tell you about surf school. I miraculously somehow stood up on my board on my first try at catching a wave and it was probably the best one that I did all day!  I LOVED it. In fact, I loved it so much that I’m probably going to go again next Friday before I catch my flight back to Texas on Saturday. My poor bank account haha But anyway, I did get beat up by some of the bigger waves( by this I mean I got SLAMMED by some aggressive waves in a sneak attack), got smacked in the face by my surfboard (still have all of my teeth thought so thats a win in my book!), and somehow managed to break the strap thing that went around my ankle off of my board, but regardless of the struggles, it was loads of fun! I 100% looked like a newborn baby deer when it tries to stand up for the first time. I was just highly uncoordinated and extremely clumsy, but again, it SO MUCH FUN! I also went with my best mate, Flex (the one who was afraid of the horse and got knocked in the head by the tree branch) so that made the whole experience even better. She fell off her board so many times and each time just seemed to get funnier than the last. One time she actually flew off up into the air and somehow landed back on her board when she came down. Like how does that even happen?! I took in so much salt water from laughing at her misfortune that it probably wasn’t healthy, but it was so funny that I just couldn’t control myself! hahahah

Pictures

IMG_3498 -Proof that I actually got up! Notice Flex biting the dust in the background 🙂 haha – follow the link to check it out!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXtkFj6leZO/?taken-by=lovemanly

This video was taken at Shelly Beach where the ECOTREASURES tours take place! I’m so bummed that I missed out on this over the weekend, but it is pretty phenomenal!

Goodbye Australia

I will be undoubtedly be leaving a big piece of my heart in Sydney when I hop on my flight back to Texas next Saturday.  I am so incredibly grateful to have gotten to experience everything that Sydney and ECOTREASURES has to offer. Hopefully I’ll see be seeing this beautiful country again soon! Until then, Australia! Thanks for all of the amazing memories that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

-xoxo Kaycee the former Intern