Dear Diary, 

My name is Kate. I am 21 years old and I am from Pamplona. I don't know why I am presenting myself in my own diary but,anyway =)

Last year I went on an Erasmus to Australia. Before this amazing experience, one friend gave me a diary as a present. 

Do you want to read my diary and learn a little bit more about Australia and its flora and fauna? 

Days before going out:

The preparation was crazy. I hate doing suitcases so it took me a long time to prepare everything I wanted to carry with me. 

Trip day:

The journey was too long.  I first travelled to Madrid. From there, I took a plane to Dubai and from Dubai a plane to Sydney. 

Sydney isn't the capital city of Australia but it is a huge city. Its airport is big enough for all the planes that land in Australia. 

1st day in Sydney: 

My dorm was in Sydney so I didn't need to take another plane or train to move. I just called a cab which took me from the airport to the dorm.

2nd, 3rd and 4th days in my new living place: 

Those days were kind of weird. I just started doing my first friends. The friends with whom later I would do all my trips and crazy things.

5th day, the adventures began:

From the 5th day on, we didn't stop visiting places. The very first place that we visited, of course, was Sydney, the city in which we were living. 

We visited lots of places: The Opera House, The Harbour Bridge, The Observatory, some Art galleries and museums, The Towe Eye, The Sidney Town Hall...

It was super cool!

Here it is a video I made: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKSi8z9VAHQ&ab_channel=2-MinuteTravels

Cheese!!!=)

6th day, still in Sidney: 

Our 6th day was also in Sydney. There were a lot of places to visit and lots of things to do in the city.

It is true that there was also too much pollution and traffic on its roads and streets. Due to that, there were not many plants or animals to see =(

7th day, the best idea ever: 

We finished our tour in Sidney and we had the best idea ever. 

We decided to hire a van to travel across plenty of Australian places. 

From the Queensland area to the Northen Territory of Australia crossing New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. 

8th day:

The 8th day started our van trip. Our first stop was of course the capital city of Australia, Canberra. To tell you the truth, I liked more Sydney than Canberra. But anyway the experience was enjoyable enough!

Australian War Memorial

Parliament House Australia 

Testla Tower Canberra

9th day, hiking day:

There are not so many forests in Australia. The major part of Australian land is dry and desertic. 

Its main plants and animals live in the Coral Reef Barrier. Nevertheless, in our way from Canberra to Melbourne, we stopped in one of its main forests: South East Forest National Park.

In the forest, we saw a huge variety of plants. 

We saw different trees but also different types of flowers and shrubs.

We saw willows near a stream, some of them with flowers and others still without them. 

Willow Bottlebrush

*Did you know...?

That willows are only masculine or feminine trees, their reproduction is produced through the air and it takes them at least 4 years to grow their flowers during Spring. 

In our hiking, we also saw some 

Lilly Pilly and beeches.

We were very lucky, 

we also saw some koalas 

sleeping on the beeches. 

*Did you know ...?

That Lilly Pilly was a tree and not a flower. In fact, it is a big tree with flowers and fruits in summer. They reproduce with the help of animals which carry the fruits to the parts and spread the seeds. 

And that beeches are very tall trees which can live even 400 years. They have both masculine and feminine parts. The female flowers are transformed into nuts: "hayucos". 

"Hayucos" are similar to 

chestnuts 

(nuts from the chestnut trees).

10th day:

We were already very exhausted but we slept in the van and we continued our trip. 

Do you want to know what came next?

Next stops...

Melbourne (the capital city of Victoria region), Adelaida (capital the city of South Australia) and a long trip across the South Australian coast. 

22nd day:

Twelve days later we arrived in Perth, the lively but at the same time peaceful capital city of Western Australia.

The experience was amazing until that time and we still had to cross all Northern Australia until Queensland, our last stop.  

23rd day, journey to the kangaroo land:

We started our journey to North Australian territory. We were very excited, we might see kangaroos there! There was land enough for those exceptional marsupials in the Northern part of Australia. 

During our trip, we saw some of them through the van windows. Also, we read some information about the Tasmanian extincted tiger. What a pity, it would have been incredible to see one of those! 

And... this wasn't the unique thing we saw through our window!

During the journey, we also saw small cultivated areas next to country houses. On them, there were: strawberries, potatoes and even ginger plants. UMMM delicious!!

Did you know...? 

That these three plants have an asexual reproduction.

There are two types of asexual reproduction

Vegetative reproduction                  

Produced when new plants are formed from a part of a mother plant. There are four types: 

Tubers (potatoes)

Bulbs (onions)

Stolons ------->

Rhizomes (Ginger)

Reproduction without seeds

Present in mosses and ferns. 

When the female and male gamete meet, they form structures called spores. These spores are carried by the wind until they fall and germinate creating new plants.

24th day, North Australian region:

Even though the North Australian region is desertic, I really loved our experience there, we learnt a lot!

We visited Uluru Mountain. A sacred mountain for the Anango aborigine people.  We didn't climb it. It was forbidden some years ago. But we learnt a lot about the aborigine people.  

*Did you know...?

The Anangu aboriginal people live in the territories of the Uluru rock mountain. They call themselves the Uluru even though their aboriginal names are much more difficult. 

They speak their own language and they have their own traditions and culture. They protect a lot the Uluru rock. They say it was constructed and kept by their ancestors. 

The Uluru rock is now protected by the UNESCO. 

In our visit to this place we saw their traditions and learnt a lot about their music too. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5WWOaMj7Gw&feature=emb_title&ab_channel=YouTOOProject

25th day, trip to our last destiny:

It was a long trip from the North Australian region to the Queensland region.

But it was funny. We listened to the aborigine typical music, very varied styles: Reggae, Hip Hop, country...

26th day, ending our trip:

Finally, we arrived in the Queensland region. There, we asked for the best way to relax a bit and as well to see the Coral Reef Barrier. This was the last main landmark in Australia that we have to see. 

In the tourist office, they recommend us to camp in one of the Whitsunday beaches. So there we went.

We crossed to Hook Island in a ferry and we camped there. 

ON CLOUD NINE!!!

28th day:

After two relaxing days on the island, we hired a helicopter and we saw the Coral Reef Barrier. It was amazing!

*Did you know...? 

That the Great Barrier Reef is one of Queensland's first world heritage area. It is a natural reserve protected due to its huge variety of plants and animals that live in it. 

Watch this video and find out more about it: 

GreatReef Barrier.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPailGdeN0Q&ab_channel=QueenslandTourismIndustryCouncil)

Dear diary: 

After this free month, we studied and went to university. 

We did some other trips around Sydney but nowhere was as cool and amazing as the month van trip!

I hope you liked it as much as I enjoyed this journey. 

Bye-bye for now kids,

See you soon kangaroo!