Day 1: Saturday February 9, 2013
The Trip/getting to Cairns
As soon as I got through security I saw a girl with the
Global Links study abroad tag on her bag and introduced myself, we were both
relived to have someone to hang out with for the trip. We ran into another girl
at our gate who was also in the program, and from then on slowly the entire
group came together- once we were in LA we had a group of around 20 or so all
hanging out on the terminal floor in a big circle.
The flight to Brisbane wasn’t bad: I was asleep before the flight
crew finished the safety information. Then 15 hours later I was in Australia!! The
huge group of us had to run to our next flight to Cairns, which was a quick 1
hour flight. We were met at the airport by the Global Links leaders and taken
to our hostel by bus.
The hostel is amazing! It’s a place called Gilligan’s and
has a pool with a waterfall and a club. Check it out:
Chinese New Year celebration just outside our hostel
After we were all settled into our rooms (there are 6 of us
to a room with bunk beds), we had an orientation session and then dinner. On
our walk to dinner we got to check out Cairns a little:
Beer at a pub overlooking the view you see below
View of Cairns at low tide
The lagoon, a little pool where seawater is pumped into- it allows people to swim in the ocean safely without getting stung by jellyfish
By the time everyone had a little food in them, we were all
ready to crash. Dinner ended up with all of us staring blankly across the table
at one another in dead silence. The night ended early, I was way too tired to
go out. Jet leg is no joke.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Day 2: Sunday February 10, 2013
Rainforest Station Nature Park
Went to the farmers market this morning and tried some cool
fruit:
A few of us trying dragon fruit
Today we went to the Rainforest Station Nature Park, where
I:
Went on a duck boat tour:
They are similar to the Boston duck tour boats and go in
water and on land. Ours got stuck when we were in the water, but our tour guide
was very nice and taught us all about the flora and some of the fauna we were
seeing.
Threw a boomerang:
Learned about traditional aborigine weaponry:
Saw a didgeridoo performance:
Painted in aborigine style:
Saw a didgeridoo performance:
Held a koala:
Saw a HUGE crocodile get fed:
AND
Fed kangaroos and wallabies:
Australian slang:
Ankle bitter: small child
Crook: sick, ill
Barbie: barbeque
Chook: Chicken
Knocker: someone who criticizes
Barrack: to cheer on a team (don’t say ‘who are you rooting
for’ because Australians use root as a term for when people get naked and
friendly…)
Bludger: a lazy person
Vejjo: vegetarian
Coldie: a beer
Mozzie: mosquito
Ripper: good, fantastic
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Day 3: Monday February 11, 2013
The Great Barrier Reef
Today we went snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef with
Passions of Paradise. We sailed out on a big catamaran two hours out to a dive
and snorkel sight. It is jellyfish season, so we all wore skins to protect us
from stings- aren’t they sexy?
PHOTO in skins
Here are the highlights from my first dive:
Sexy snorkel suits :)
A jellyfish I almost ran into:
We then had lunch and headed out to our second dive sight,
which was much shallower and easier to get close to the coral and fish.
Underwater video:
No comments:
Post a Comment