Since I’ve arrived in Australia, all my days on this wonderful journey have been filled with joy. This trip has not only been the best time of my life so far but it has also been a time where I learnt about myself as an individual and my passion for animals has deepened.
The day after I arrived I started to explore this beautiful country. On July 19, my exchange student, Abigail, Angela (her mom) and Alana (a close friend of Abigail’s), and I, explored downtown Adelaide and the amazing sites that awaited us. We first started off our day by visiting the central markets where we wandered around for a while, and then headed off to the North Terrace where we saw the university of Adelaide, an art gallery and a library. We also had an opportunity to visit Adelaide’s war memorial; it was beautifully detailed and filled with representations of soldiers that fought for Australia during World War II. We then visited the Alpine festival, which is an annual festival to celebrate winter with a lot of different fun activities available to the public. We ended the day at the Torrens River, where we relaxed for a little while.
On July 20, I had a very memorable experience. I learnt something about myself that I am very happy with as it made me aware of my deep passion for animals. It was during our visit to the Urimbirra Wild Life Park where I got to see so many different animals from those I have seen in Canada. Yes, everyone loves animals but something in my heart told me that day that I definitely want to work with animals in the future. This day was also filled with numerous activities, such as a visit to Victor Harbour where we ate fish and chips and indulged in some candy I had never seen or eaten before. We also walked around Granite Island where we found some spectacular views overlooking the bay. However, this will be the day where my happiness was greatest as it touched my passion for animals.
The next day, we went to Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens. Although there weren’t many leaves on the trees to see—it is winter in July, which feels like a warm Canadian fall—it was an amazing experience to see the Australian nature that surrounded us. After this, we went to Melba’s chocolate factory. Who can get enough junk food? Here, I tried many different chocolates that Australia is known for in this part of the world. We then walked through Hahndorf, a charming German town with lots of pretty sites and then wound down our day with a little bowling and dinner with some of Abigail’s friends.
July 22 was somewhat rainy so we had a laid back day as we walked around the Westfield Marion Mall where I had an opportunity to see stores that are unique to Australia. We also caught a movie—Central Intelligence—that was actually pretty funny. It was too rainy to do anything else so we headed home and had a relaxing night watching movies and eating junk food. The next day the weather had cleared up, and we spent some time in the Kuipto Forest where we made a bonfire and…went Pokémon hunting! We also explored the forest and roasted yummy marshmallows.
On July 24, we walked down to Jetty Road in Glenelg where we strolled along the coast of their beach, which was very windy. This being their winter, it was too cold to swim in the water as the temperature hovers around 15 degrees Celsius.
Although my trip has only begun, I have had an awesome time so far. I am very excited to go to Westminster School—even though it is my school summer break!!— and I am really happy that I am having this opportunity to travel the world. – Sophia Auclair ’18, Exchange Student at Westminster School, Adelaide, Australia
This trip has not only been the best time of my life so far, but it has also been a time where I have learned about myself as an individual and my passion for animals has deepened.
I have been living Boca Raton, Florida, for over a week. During my stay, I have experienced many new things. In some ways, it is similar to Montreal and in other ways it is quite different.
Unfortunately, my amazing stay in Australia is coming to an end. During the past two weeks, Tom’s family and I visited several places. First off, we went to the Eureka Tower, one of the tallest buildings in Melbourne where we went on a glass elevator called the edge, which moved horizontally out of the tower. It was a thrilling experience and it allowed me to see the city from a very different perspective.
On March 12, I was taken to the Rhino and Lion Reserve where I had a once in a lifetime experience. About an hour into our drive, I saw the big sign with two lion statues next to it. We drove in and I immediately saw animals. I saw ostriches and a giraffe. While driving around, we saw all sorts of bucks, like the blesbuck, rooihartebeest, sable and springbok, which is South Africa’s national animal. We also saw a warthog with her two babies. We then drove up to the predator camp, which is where the more dangerous animals are, and we were just in time for the feedings. We watched wild dogs, cheetahs and lions being fed. It was so cool because we were right next to all of them in our car watching them eat.
