Snorkling!

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Last weekend (April 19-20) I went to Cairns! It was very exciting indeed. We got there saturday late afternoon and checked into the hostel... which was insane. It was HUGE and honestly, looked more like a hotel. The halls were long, the kitchen (on each floor) was INSANELY huge, there were tons of computers on each floor, the rooms were nice (own bathroom and shower!) and rooms had a balacony area. It was nuts. After that we kinda walked around for a bit, and then me and one other girl decided to get dinner at this Greek restaurant that we found. Omg i was in heaven. I had been dying for good food. and that is most definitely what i got. it made me very happy. =) Then just kinda hung out with people, walked around, and most people went to this club place but i was exhausted and did not feel like paying to go and basically hang out with people, since i wouldn't be drinking, and so I just went back to the hostel, read, and tried to go to sleep. that is when i realized the downfall of the hostel. they have a bar area downstairs and it was blasting music basically the entire night. and their were loud people on our balcony drinking and being roudy for a long time. It was hard to sleep. But i did manage to get some sleep throughout the night. Then got up early on sunday, got food, and walked down to the marina. Got on our boat, and headed out to the reef!!! I was super excited. It was GORGEOUS outside (sunny and like 80degrees) and the water was insanely beautiful and yeah it was just great. I love boats so the 2hr ride out did not bother me. It made others sea sick but I was fine, which was nice. So, once we got out to the reef, they gave us a briefing on snorkling, and we got to go out for about an hour. It was incredible. Probably the coolest thing I have ever done in my life. Saw sooooooooooo many different amazing fish it was just overwhelming. and the coral was insane. and yeah. i was super happy. back on the boat we had lunch and stuff and then they brought us to a new spot and we got to go out again. just as amazing the second time around. I kept having to remind myself that I was in australia, snorkling in the freakin great barrier reef! omg. i am so lucky. It was just spectacular overall. Hopefully I will be able to get some good underwater pics from those who had underwater cameras.

It was a little tough leaving the ocean and heading back to the center.. especially since I had work to go back to. But I was just greatful for the amazing weekend that I had. =)

Then last night (monday night for me) was our last night of field research with the bats. I was kinda sad for it to be over. Especially since now we have to write our papers. Ugh. Ya'll know how much I love writing. There are a few of us who would much rather continue doing research for the next 2 weeks, rather than spend that time writing a paper and putting together a presentation. Ah well. I am sure it will all turn out OK.

I cannot believe I only have like 2 more weeks in this place. It kinda makes me really sad. I love it here so much. At least I will get to spend about a week in new zealand. that will be amazing. I am really excited for that. =) This has been such an amazing experience overall. I am sooooo incredibly glad that I came. It has been the best thing I have ever done.

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