2008 Woodie Awards
Student spends winter break traveling land down under
By Sheryl McGlory
Rocket Advertising Manager
Issue date: 2/3/06 Section: Life
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Johnson, a senior accounting major at SRU, decided to forego the snowy winter weather of Pennsylvania in favor of the sunny beaches of Australia.
Johnson said she wanted to do more traveling after going on a trip to Rome last spring with her Renaissance art class.
"What really sparked my travel bug was Professor (Thomas) Como," she said. "He was really very informative."
Johnson said she chose Australia as her destination because she had dated an exchange student in spring of 2003 and become interested in the country. She said a friend of hers was going to be backpacking through Sydney at the same time.
The trip entailed two weeks in Sydney and two weeks traveling up and down the coast, Johnson said.
Johnson stayed in hostels in Sydney, meeting new people and spending much of her first week lying on the beaches. In fact, Johnson said she spent her Christmas Day at Sydney's Bondi Beach.
"It's a tradition for everyone to go there on Christmas Day," she said. "It was hot; I didn't miss the snow at all."
Johnson said she spent a day visiting a Chinese garden in downtown Sydney, a large area set up to look like traditional Chinese gardens, complete with ponds of Koi fish.
"Once you're inside it, you don't even realize you're in the middle of the city," she said.
Johnson said she was able to save money on the garden's entrance fee with her ISIC card, a card purchased through STA Travels designed to save money for traveling students.
Johnson then traveled two hours by train to the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.
"It's a rainforest, so it's like hiking through a national park," Johnson said.
The Blue Mountains are known for the "three sisters," rock formations 906-922 meters tall that have the appearance of three large pillars or people standing above the Kanimbla Valley.
Legend has it that three sisters used to live in the area as part of the Katoomba tribe. After being forbidden to wed them, the men they loved kidnapped the three and started a battle between their tribe and the Katoombas. A witchdoctor decided to protect the sisters by turning them into stone, but then died before the battle ended and he could restore them to their true forms.
