From the Whitsundays to Cairns...

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Finally... a place with cheap internet!! I know you are all begging for pictures, but I won't be able to put them up until I get back to Sydney this weekend and am able to get to my laptop and some wireless. Like I said, you won't be disappointed with them!

Last time I updated we had a free day on Long Island in the Whitsundays... we ended up just hanging out and drinking wine on the beach. Low tide is during the middle of the day so me and my friend Will went on a little mission to find as many little crabs and slugs as we could. I guess this is where I should say that the resort we stayed at wasn't that great and was basically really boring because there wasn't a town. We made it fun though! We ended up getting some bottles of wine and hanging out by the beach the rest of the day.

So the 2nd day we were supposed to go sailing all day and go to the famous Whitehaven beach, but there was no wind so it got canceled. Instead, me and a couple friends took a hike around the island which turned out to be really pretty and a ton of fun. Even though I always talked about getting away from Americans, I absolutely love everyone I have met so far and will be entirely sad when I have to leave them. Anyways, after that we just ended up hanging out around the resort. Later that night there was a guy singing with a guitar and he sang a lot of American songs (including a John Mayer song, mom) and it was fun. I went to bed early but ended up hearing stories about how the night was a little crazy.

The next morning we woke up to pouring rain knowing we were supposed to finally go sailing. They weren't going to refund our money so we all ended up going anyway. So we get on this sailboat in the pouring rain, which should have been miserable, but it turned out to be a blast. After awhile a few of us got cold and went below down and played "would you rather" for a long time, and I almost peed my pants laughing so hard. The group of kids I have been hanging out with are an absolute blast. After the interesting sailing experience (we didn't get to stop at any beaches) we got back on the ferry and took a bus 8 hours up to Cairns (pronounced "cans").

We got in here around 10:30 last night and are staying at this awesome, giant hostel called Gilligans, which I had actually heard of before. Me and 3 other girls went out for about an hour to check out the nightlife. I mentioned it before, but the dancing style is completely opposite of that in Iowa City, so it's hilarious to sit and watch these Australian guys dance all over the place.

This morning we got up and got on a huge catamaran at 8:30 to head out to the Great Barrier Reef!!! It was probably around a little over an hour of a boat ride, which was really pretty. Lots of big green hills/mountains along the coast. The weather was partly sunny and probably in the high 70s, which is pretty nice considering this is winter 😊 Once we got to the reef everyone was freaking out... the water was GORGEOUS, definitely one of the prettiest things I have ever seen. All types of blues with dark patches of coral underneath. The water was about 78 degrees, so it really wasn't too bad. We started of snorkeling around and the coral was SO pretty, tons of lime green, aqua blue, dark blue, and red colored coral. Saw some fish, but nothing to extravagant or huge. Some girls saw an octapus... and I saw a baby sting ray but was really hoping to see a whole bunch of big ones. Our group leader who has been traveling with us, Matt (who is actually from Iowa and graduated from the uni I'm going to in Sydney), he picked up a sea cucumber off the ground and we got to touch it. Really cool. THEN we got to SCUBA DIVE. We had a little introductory course and I was a little nervous about the pressure with me ears and the breathing. I got all my stuff on in jumped in and we practiced breathing and taking our mouthpiece in and out underwater, and also clearing our masks of water. It took me a little while to get the breathing down. So it was me and 2 others and we locked arms with our instructor and she took us under. It was one of the most awesome things I have ever done, if not the MOST awesome ever. We went all the way to the bottom (maybe 50 feet? I have no idea) and then she took us around and we saw a sting ray, got to touch some coral, and got to play with a giant clam! It was HUGE and the inside was this purple velvet-like texture with blue spots, and you could touch the inside and then it would close shut really fast! SO COOL. I am definitely planning on getting certified to do some more diving! I wish I had the pictures to put up now, but they will be up this weekend, I promise.

Weather has been overcast, which isn't terrible since the temperature has been really warm, but I'm really wanting some sun!! Now I am about to go shower and then hit up an Asian restaurant (they are everywhere.. and SO GOOD) then head out to experience some Cairns nightlife! Tomorrow we are up early to go white water rafting!! And then tomorrow ends with dinner and a pub crawl around Cairns. Saturday morning is a free day, then we leave for Sydney (by plane, thank God, we've driven over 24 hours by bus on this trip!) at 1pm and me and some friends are planning to go see the new Batman movie at the IMAX that night!! Plan on seeing pictures on Sunday!!

XOXO to you all!!

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