PICTURES FROM AUSTRALIA 2012
This was the first kangaroo I saw when I got to Australia! He was hopping around the University of the Sunshine Coast campus and when my friend and I went to take a picture of him, he stopped, turned, and looked at us for the perfect shot!
I absolutely loved this place! This is Mooloolaba beach, which was about 5 miles from our accommodation. I used to take the bus at least once a week, if not more, to come relax, walk around on the soft sand, and splash around in the water.
This is Whitehaven beach, one of the world’s top 10 most beautiful beaches! I was lucky enough to visit the Whitsundays National Park while traveling to the Great Barrier Reef! The sand on this beach was so white and pure, and it is known to be fine enough to polish silver! It’s absolutely gorgeous.
This is a view of the Sydney Harbor in Sydney, Australia. Although it was a gray day without a lot of sun, I still thought the view was incredible. I took this picture from the top of the Sydney Bridge. From there, I could see the famous Opera House, which is huge in person, along with the city behind it. I enjoyed watching to boats move around the water too.
I love this picture! It was also taken in Sydney, and I was walking around the harbor, by all of the shops and the water, when this Aboriginal gentleman called me over and asked if I wanted sit next to him while he played. Of course, I jumped all over the opportunity and my friends took a picture of me with an authentic didgeridoo!
I took this photo with my underwater camera while I was snorkeling in Fiji. Specifically, I was snorkeling in the Blue Lagoon (yes, where the Brooke Shields movie Blue Lagoon was filmed), and I thought the snorkel experience was better here than it was in the Great Barrier Reef. I was so close to hundreds of fish a time and the experience was felt more intimate because the scene wasn’t commercialized at all.
This picture was also taken in Fiji! These are underwater caves in Fiji that my friend and me were lucky enough to travel to during our island hopping adventure! This location is inside the cave where it was pitch black! I was able to snap a picture and get some color because of the flash, but the water was 40ft deep, and so the experience was incredible but also terrifying!
This is Rainbow Beach, and it is amazingly beautiful here! It’s a beach with incredibly high sand dunes, mountains of them! In fact, the people I’m framing with my index finger and thumb were standing in the valley between two massive dunes! I was at the top looking down on them. This was a cool spot because locals drove us to it; the location is not well-known with a lot of tourists, so the natural beauty of the beach has been well preserved!
Rebecca Laubner
University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia
Fall 2012