Blogs from Kuranda, Queensland, Australia, Oceania

I started the day with the best thing to do first thing in the morning in Cairns: birding the Cairns Esplanade at sunrise. Although it’s not wader time of year in Australia, plenty of waders do overwinter anyway, I believe first year birds especially, and given how urban and in the middle of the city it is, the trees that line the esplanade do hold lots of interesting birds too including Metallic Starlings, Figbirds, and Fig Parrots. The latter is surprisingly easy to find just in the trees right around there. Despite having birding the esplanade on several mornings when I was last in Cairns, I even managed a rather nice lifer in the form of a Yellow Honeyeater which is quite an attractive honeyeater species. I birded the esplanade for a good couple of hours ... read more

My first week back from China was good, but strange. It was really good to see everyone and I was glad to be back. I miss China and all the amazing people I met, as well as travelling with my class. I miss the food, the hostels and the bargaining. But, it was good to get back and not have squat toilets. It is nice to have quiet streets and people who speak your language. I am grateful to have had this experience and I will never forget it. I would do it again. Thank you, everyone who helped us get to China. I can’t thank you enough. Avalon... read more

Home at last. What an incredible experience the last five weeks have been in China…though arriving home and seeing the family was awesome, I was so excited and tears came to my eyes when I saw my mum and brother. It was a little weird to look around and see the streets filled with western people and to hear everyone speaking English and of course I kept going to say things like thank you in Chinese without realising. No one was staring at you or secretly taking pictures or videos of you…we are no longer like celebrities and I have to admit I might miss the attention a bit. The streets are really quiet here in Cairns compared to China, not so much hustle and bustle and what seems like craziness in the traffic. When we ... read more

My first week back in Australia was great as I went camping with a friend I hadn’t seen for a long time. I found that, although I missed China, it was nice to be back – even though I accidentally kept saying thank you in Chinese. Being away from my class was good – I was getting pretty sick of them by the end. I definitely miss the fact that we had little to no school over our time in China. On the day I got home, mum cooked a huge feast and gave me chopsticks with which to eat. It’s taken a while to get back into the habit of eating with a knife and fork. Although I miss China, it’s good to be home and I can’t wait for the Chinese students to come ... read more

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