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Published: July 28th 2008
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Welcome to Australia! My flight was 16 hours from Los Angeles to get to Cairns, Queensland. The tropical north Queensland city is big to backpackers and hospitality industries. We are staying at Gillagan's Backpackers hotel & resort. This place is in the Lonely planets guide as best place to drink and stay. Gillagan's has a great pool, bar, nightclub and dorm style accomodations. Thursday evening 24 July, dinner was on AustraLearn at the popular Shenanagins. I was extremely excited to see they had Pink, my favorite sparkling wine.
Our AustraLearn group headed out this morning to RainForeStation up in the mountains. This is a wildlife park that is in the rainforest and welcomes the culture of the Pamagirri tribe of aboriginal people. An amazing day! I threw a real Australian boomerang, attently watched an aboriginal dance performance, rode a world war II duck in the rainforest and learned about some tropical flora. Also, our group visited the wildlife park to see the Australian fauna. A quick encounter with a passive koala proved for a lifetime photo. Patience allowed me to feed some kangaroos and take some loving photos with the marsupials. Other animals of Australia that I got to see
AustraLearnIntro 002
Australia does not like cigarettes but they sell them, for a lot of money include the wombat (koalas closest cousin), wallabies (small kangaroos), crocodiles, snakes, and lizards. On the dreamwalk our aboriginal leader showed us how they hunt with spears and play the didgeridoo, a wind instrument of the Indigenous Australians of northern Australia. After a great lunch, where I got to try a passion fruit for the first time, we rode the bus back down the mountain into Cairns.
The jet lag is quick to hit. Our first night in, Thursday, I along with many others were hitting bed at 9:30pm. Time difference considered, it was 6:30am Thursday in Central US. We were at the bar downstairs Gillagans and had to call it a night. Tonight is another early night. The great barrier reef is sure to be an exhausting day tomorrow, and I am ready to sleep after dinner at P.J. O'Brien's Irish pub. P.J.'s is another popular place in Cairns also listed in the Lonley Planet guide. If you bought a house wine or domestic beer your meal was only $5.
26 July, 2008. Our AustraLearn program group was a little over 70 people. There are people from many different states that are all going to Macquarie University except
12 who are leaving to Perth. Saturday morning we walked from Gilligan's to the marina. We boarded Passions catamaran and set out on a 2 hour cruise to the Great Barrier Reef. Ocean blue water and a sunny boat deck; might as well been spring break. Our first stop was Michaelmas Cay. The Cay is a protected seabird sanctuary playing host to over 20,000 migratory seabirds ... one of the most important nesting sights in the Southern Hemisphere. The Great Barrier Reef is also a world heritage site. As soon as I was suited with a wet suit, fins, snorkle and camera we were boated to the island to get in the water and see the reef. Of course there were many gorgeous and bright fish everywhere. After snorkling for an hour I headed back to the cruiser to get ready to dive. I geared up for my first time scuba diving. An instructor breifed us on some rules to follow and we jumped into the ocean to practice. Shorly after we were diving to the ocean floor. Around this area the water is only 15-20ft deep. Our leader pointed out some neat things on the reef. She passed around
a starfish, made us hang onto some coral long enough to see "Nemo" come out from hiding, and showed us coral plants that dissapear when you flick your hand near them. I dove near a giant clam and rubbed my hand on the inside (jelly) and watched it close shut. Our group of 5 was lucky enough to see a giant sea turtle cruise by us with a small manta ray. After lunch we relocated to Paradise cove. I decided not to do a second dive but definitely got back in the water for some snorkeling. Paradise cove was much deeper water. This is where I can say I swam with the fish as there were many schools of fish that would surround me. The coral reef here had large drop offs that created an edge to nothing but extremly deep blue ocean. The water was rough and would carry me away from the reef rather quickly. I would have to glance up and find our boat to be sure I didn't loose myself in the deep blue ocean. Hands down, this was a fantastic day.
Our last day in Cairns, Molly, Ziva and I took a walk to
the man made lagoon that is a postcard destination in Cairns. We saw the fish sculptures and the mucky ocean bottom that was left when the tide was out. As we walked around we heard obnoxious noises from the "jungle" trees. A closer look showed the entire tree was filled with bats. Bats are said to be very common in Australia, probably just like the robin is everywhere in the midwest. We walked through a large market and awed at the price of fruit. Of nothing else in Australia, fruit is reasonably cheap because it grows so pleantiful. I cannot make direct comparisons very well because the price is weighed by kg not lbs. However, 6 kiwis for $2 is easy to understand.
Bye Bye Cairns. I am flying to Sydney to get ready for a semester of school.
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jbakertwo
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So jealous
Hey, yeah, well I'm officially jealous. Your first full day and you get to go snorkeling...gay. Everything looks amazing though. Did I see $11 for a pack of smokes? Did you get to pet the qualla bear? Have funs. Plural, yes, meaning have multiple fun. XXXO