I know I haven't posted in a while, but I'm back and I have a lot of information to share! I've been busy with schoolwork and little trips, and I'm just now getting around to sharing all of it!

I had the opportunity to visit the aquarium with my friend Mahriena and it was a ton of fun! Not very different from the Newport Aquarium, except for some different animals that are indigenous to Australia! It wasn't very big, but had two huge tunnels where you saw all the fish! They had a huge stingray that totally could've doubled as a blanket and covered me from my head to my toes! It was a fun experience and I can't wait to visit the zoo!

The weekend after the aquarium, the ISA group had a trip to Ballarat planned. It's northwest of Melbourne and is a very very very small town! We had a two-day, one-night trip planned and I'm glad I went, but I wouldn't suggest it, nor will I go again.

We spent the first 6 (yes six…) hours walking around Sovereign Hill, which was an 1800s mock town. Its main focus was the gold rush and there were characters (that we discovered actually lived there…) walking around dressed like people were back in that time. We learned about gold panning, how they used to bowl for recreation, see candy made from scratch (It was delicious and I bought a small bag to bring home!), see the creation of a gold brick, and walked through a mine! The town was one big loop, so we tried to walk slowly and experience everything so we could kill the time we were told to hang out there.

After the town, we headed across the street to the gold museum, which was interesting, but once again, definitely something I wouldn't do again. After exploring and learning about gold, we drove up the hill to the only hotel in Sovereign Hill, a Comfort Inn. We were ecstatic to stay in a hotel finally, but we were put in the two backpacker rooms, which looked like prison… There were rolling bunk beds to sleep on and brick walls and a carpet with no padding underneath it. It was freezing, and since there were only five of us in the room and five bunk beds, we made sure to use the blankets from the top bunks to bundle up. Half of us were kept up for half the night since it was pouring outside for a while, so none of us were very cheery in the morning.

We packed our stuff and headed to the Ballarat Wildlife Park, which was obviously the best part of all of Ballarat. The wildlife park looked like how people actually picture Australia, kangaroos, wallabies, and emus everywhere! I'm not exaggerating when I say there had to be over 100 wallabies and kangaroos…and they loved people (or the food their were holding). One followed us around for a while since they had free roam around the park, and they were all very friendly. They also had quokkas (my favourite Australian animal), Tasmanian devils, koalas, wombats, tortoises, and a huge alligator! It was fun walking around and learning more about animals native to Australia and seeing some new animals we haven't seen before!

After the park we headed into downtown Ballarat for lunch, then we drove home!

The following weekend we had another trip planned for us because when the group had a catch up chat at the office and we all mentioned how we've never been to the Mornington Peninsula and wanted to go. Allyson was planning on going anyway with her friends, so she just let us tag along and rented a bus for us! The place we visited in Mornington Peninsula was the hot springs and they were relaxing! There were different natural hot springs scattered around and we got to sit and relax for an entire day! It was a brisk day, so walking between the hot springs was not fun at all, but getting in and feeling the warmth was absolutely worth it!

There was a cold plunge pool as well and a few of us did the "polar plunge." It can easily be described as falling in a dunk tank with how cold and shocking it is when you submerge. The initial shock was the worst part, but once you were getting out (you had to get in and out since it was just a plunge rather than a pool), it wasn't too bad! And getting back in the hot spring next to it with the jets was a perfect compliment. We were all wiped out and slept the entire ride home, and some of us were still a little wet after changing clothes, so we were all ready to get back to our warm beds!

Those two weekend trips were great experiences and I definitely suggest the second one due to the spectacular views from the hilltop springs!

That's all I have for this post. A post all about Sydney is next!

Cheers!

Tay