Koala Sanctuary

In my plan, I have a lot of places to visit. One of this is the Lone Pine Koala sanctuary.

For a overseas tourist like me, Lone Pine offers a great opportunity to see a selection of unique Australian native animals in one wildlife park. Most favourites are represented: kangaroos, wallabies, emus, dingoes, Tasmanian devils, snakes, bats, crocodiles, echidna, wombats and lizards.

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane is the largest koala sanctuary in the world, with over 130 koalas. It is one of the most popular tourist attractions, with memorable opportunities to cuddle a koala and hand feed kangaroos.

There are also many colourful Australian Parrots and Cockatoos, as well as other Australian birds such as Kookaburras, Emus, Cassowarys among others. Free flying Rainbow Lorikeets fly to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary for the specially prepared nectar meals at the sanctuary. Visitors can feed the lorikeets directly twice a day.

Once a day there is a bird of prey show with several kinds of raptors showing off their speed agility and keen eyesight.

The Tasmanian Devils are fed in the afternoon. 'Koala Forest' is a large koala enclosure with over 30 koalas surrounding the customers. Koalas there are fed mid-morning and mid-afternoon. If you get there around then, you can see them jumping from branch to branch in their hurry to eat the best, fresh gum leaves.

The City

Brisbane has so much to offer. There are beaches both north and south, there's a ring of rain forests to the west, and everywhere there are outdoor activities you can undertake. The weather is fantastic year round, except a few hot and humid weeks. These are easily countered with a pool and air conditioning! The people are friendly, and now there's pretty much everything you could want.

One of my favourite place is Cathedral square. This park to me has always been a "chill" park. I can go up there and just sit and not worry about anything. Even though it's not as enclosing as the Botanic Gardens, it's far enough away from the centre of the city as to not be too busy, but still civic enough that you can people watch.

The Queen Street Mall is a pedestrian thoroughfare which runs through the centre of Brisbane, from Edward Street to George Street. The Mall is the premier shopping precinct within the Central Business District.

There are many iconic shops located throughout the Mall, and a raft of shopping locations. If you want to shop in Brisbane this is where you go. It is also a common meeting place, with many people meeting where Albert Street would cross the Mall at the Hungry Jack.

The Brisbane River is one of the symbol of the city, effectively borders the city, and one of the most impressive ways to explore the city is to walk it's banks via the many city river walks.

This is one of the great ways to enjoy the city. The walkways are explored by tourists exploring the river sights and sites, and by city workers at lunchtime or on breaks

You also often see people out for some exercise including walking, jogging, running, cycling, rollerblading and skateboarding.

It really is a great way to relax and watch the world go by.

So if you come to Australia, or if you live here already, get yourself to Brisbane!

Christmas in Queensland

This was my first time far from my country during the holiday. New different emotions compensate for the lack of home.

Before holiday I met an Italian guy in the restaurant of my friend. A friendly guy with passion for travel.

I was busy only for Christmas Eve, and I wouldn't spent the rest of holiday alone, so we planned for a 3 days trip.

We rented a car with 2 Brazilian guys and I was exited about my first driving holiday in Australia. On the 25th of December we went to Byron Bay. An amazing place 2 hour far from Brisbane. The weather was warm and the landscape during the journey was beautiful.

The first impact with the Byron Bay beach and the big waves was awesome. Many surfers caught the blue big waves like pro and my hope to take a board vanished, but just watching was a great sensation.

We enjoyed a delicious Xmas lunch in a backpacker hostel with music, swimming pool, and obviously, beer.

The unusual crowd of people and backpacker reminded me of the beach in my country, but in a totally different context.

We walked on the beach and looking for a place to sleep, but all the hotels were full, so the possibility was to sleep on the beach (too cold) or in the car (too small). The choice was the car, but obviously I slept just a few hours. However at 6 am I ate my breakfast under a big tree close to the ocean…not too bad.

We spent the day after at the beach and we walked to the lighthouse, on the top of a hill with a panorama that took my breathe away. The power of the deep blue ocean was amazing!

In the way back we visited 2 different beaches in the gold coast, not impressive like in Byron Bay, but a nice place to stay during the holiday with friend enjoying life.

English school

My first goal is to improve my English. For this reason the choice of the school becomes very important.

Almost all the schools in Brisbane are in the city centre, and at first sight are all the same.

I spent some day collecting information about the type of courses, prices, quality, location, etc

The choice is really hard!

We often think only of the cost, but I didn't want to waste my time at a cheap school

The best way is to know someone who had been to one of the schools.

So, I talked with a friend, an Italian girl, who told me about a school with good teachers, a nice environment, and very good classrooms. This sounded like what I am after.

The choice was right: teachers are friendly and very knowledgeable, which makes the lessons very pleasant and not at all stressful. There is a lot of choice for courses (General English, IELTS, Cambridge, etc)

The school has a kitchen with microwave, refrigerator and hot/cold water dispenser, 3 computer rooms, and a dvd room.

Students are from Venezuela, Brazil, France, Spain, Colombia, Poland, Belgium, Korea:

a nice mix of cultures, past experiences and dreams, who share the desire to come to Australia to improve their English...and, why not, to stay.

First days

The impact is very exciting, so you are full of energy, and you start with the easy things: apartment, bank account, Australian sim card, learning how to get around the city.

All these things require at least two weeks, so it's important to start looking from your country.

In the meantime I was looking for an English school, because my first goal is to pass the IELTS exam and to have more chances during a job interview.

My idea is to find any job to do on the weekend and during the week to look for a job in my field.

The hot weather is very lovely in this period, the beaches are awesome, they literally take your breath away. It seems to be in another world, where the nature is predominant.

In a few hours, you can reach amazing places.

A totally different environment helps you to grow up. You meet many people, and the exchange of ideas is continuous. You never know what will happen the next day or those who you could meet.