RYAN PHILLIPS
Travel Writer

Sick of snow and -40 C winters, I decided to pack up my rucksack and head south for an endless summer.

An hour north of Byron Bay and an hour south of Brisbane, the Gold Coast of Australia is appropriately named. With 42 kilometres of golden sand and bright blue waters stretching far beyond the horizon, it’s the perfect place to study… or not study.

When I decided I wanted to study abroad, I knew I wanted to go somewhere warm where I could surf. Fortunately, the University of Saskatchewan has an excellent exchange agreement with Bond University that allows me to pay undergraduate tuition at the U of S for private school education at Bond. With small class sizes and a state of the art campus, I don’t think I could have chosen a better school or location for my exchange. With 150 Canadian students in the law program alone, it was pretty easy to get into the spirit of the Vancouver Olympic games from the other side of the world.

Two friends and classmates of mine, Jeremy and Braelyn, had the same plan in mind. We found a great place down the street from the school for a reasonable price and immediately purchased bicycles and surfboards. The law program at Bond University is widely regarded as one of the best in Australia, and my experience thus far did nothing but confirm that reputation. I had the opportunity to engage in classes that are not offered at the U of S, like climate change and emissions trading law. It opened my mind to new and exciting areas of interest.

Anyone who has been to Australia knows there is far too much to do to squeeze it all into four months, but cheap flights and backpacker-friendly accommodations certainly do their best to make it possible. I flew into Sydney before orientation week and at the end of January I made it to Melbourne for the Australian Open, where I saw Federer vs. Hewitt in Rod Laver Arena. It was a fabulous experience and the city of Melbourne, on the whole, is a multi-cultural attraction with an impressive arts scene.

After witnessing the number one tennis player in the world in action, I returned to my home away from home to watch Kelly Slater and Mick Fanning, inter alia, bash some lips at Snapper Rocks for the Quiksilver Pro.

In search of the perfect wave, I have used every possible opportunity to get my board wet. There is no better place in the world for it — surfing is a way of life on the Gold Coast. This is especially the case in my favourite destination within striking distance for day-trips down the coast, Byron Bay. An overnight ascent under the stars of the Southern Cross to the top of Mount Warning, waiting for the first rays of sunshine to splash across the continent is about as good as it gets. The hinterland lay only an hour to the west, unnecessarily complicating the decision between a beach day or a hike through forests complete with waterfalls, ancient Beech trees, lorikeets and pythons.

But in between the surfing and the scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef, there is work to be done. I had tutorials, papers and presentations for every class. Normally final exams would comprise most, if not all, of my marks in each class at the U of S. The grading system took some getting used to, but I found it beneficial as it forced me to keep up with the work.

If you are lucky enough to have a girlfriend waiting at home for you, take her to the Whitsunday Islands for a cyclone if and when she comes to visit. Plan a budget and make sure you have the funds available. Groceries, entertainment and the added expense of travelling will dig deep into your pockets, so be generous with the numbers. There is more than enough reasonably priced accommodation on and around campus, from humble abodes such as ours (cockroaches included) to living atop the skyscrapers and bright lights of Surfers Paradise.

Theme Parks to sharks, even polar bears at Sea World, its all here. All that’s missing is snow.

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image: Ryan Phillips