Kangaroos, Koalas, and Bease...Oh My!: October 2012

It’s been an incredible couple weeks, and I once again cannot believe some of the things I’ve experienced. I am not living in reality right now, and when I come back home and have to actually care about things, reality is going to hit me harder than it ever has before. Oh well, I still have almost 2 full months to live in my fantasy world in the land down under.

Horse races!

The Friday after we got back from Spring Break was Horse Racing day! The horse races were in Canberra, and they are a big deal from what I gathered from everyone. So, while in Cairns I prepared by buying a big floppy hat. We started off the morning by having breakfast at a friends place before heading to the races. The races were fun, and it was fun to see everyone so dressed up! Not going to lie, I expected there to be lots more floppy hats around, but people went for fascinators instead of hats. I enjoyed hanging out with all my Australian and exchange friends the whole day! The horse racing part wasn’t actually too exciting for me, it was more about the people I was with (Sorry to all my horse loving friends for saying that).

Floriade

That Saturday, I went to something called Floriade with 2 of my friends. It is just a big flower show thingy with lots of flowers and shops and food. The flower beds are all in designs, and it’s actually really cool! I had gone at night before our Spring Break, but it was hard to see, so we decided to go during the day. It was a nice relaxing day filled with pretty flowers! That night, the exchange girls had girls night. We all got fancy and went to Civic for a night out. It was such an amazing and fun night with lots of my closest friends here. It was definitely one of my favorite nights out in Canberra!

Pine Island

This past Wednesday, my housemates and some other Aussie friends told me they were going to a river nearby. Although I had dedicated Wednesday to homework, who can really say no to laying out in the sun with friends? Definitely not this girl. So, 5 of my Aussie friends and 1 of my exchange friends and I all went to relax and play in the river! It was a nice, unproductive day and a lot better than doing homework on such a beautiful day.

Surfin' Aussie Land!

And now, for the best part of my two weeks...SURF CAMP! As I sit here typing, it hurts so bad to move. I am sooo sore all over, but the soreness is definitely worth the experience. I have a newfound respect for surfers and what they do, because it was hard enough for me to catch a baby wave. By the end of the first day, I had stood up one time for around 10 seconds, which was amazing. Before that, I was getting so frustrated because everyone around me seemed to be doing great, and I couldn’t even catch a wave. I was actually just laying on my board being way frustrated and not even trying when I ended up standing. I had my head down on my board, and I heard one of the instructors yelling at me to start paddling. Next thing I know, I’m riding the wave and then I’m standing up! It was sooo awesome! After that, I had a lot of close attempts, but always ended up on my knees, which is a no-no in surfing. Oh well, I had fun kneeboarding!

Huge surf boards!

Sunday I got up one more time for like 2 seconds. It wasn’t long but still so exciting! I had lots of half way up moments, but I always fell off my board before doing anything more than crouching. Still, I can now say I’ve been surfing! Yet another new experience. It was such an incredible weekend! I remember first hearing about Surf Camp before I had even left the US and thinking “Wow, that’s so far away.” I can’t believe it’s now over. I don’t know where the past 3 months have gone, but I need these next two to just slow down!

Once again, I don’t think this blog even begins to explain all the fun I’ve had the past two weeks. I leave out heaps of the small details of everything that makes some of the experiences so great because it involves conversations or just completely random things that happen. So, sorry if this all seems boring, but it’s a nice collection of my favorite memories for me to look at. :-)

I know in one of my first blogs I mentioned how I didn’t think I would ever get used to the whole driving on the left side of the road thing. That is now becoming relatively normal. By the time I do come back, I’m going to be completely used to driving on the left and then I’m going to have to switch my thinking back to the right. It’s just confusing to think about.

The drive to and from Canberra is just a lot of countryside. Yet, this countryside seems so different from Tennessee or anywhere I’ve seen in the States. I can’t explain it, but it just seems so much more peaceful or something. The trees that were once so weird looking to me seem normal. It seems normal to see windmills in the distance. It seems normal to be driving on the left side of the road. It seems normal to see heaps of sheep. I say all this to basically say: Life is normal here now. Sure, there are still tons of differences from back home, and some things still come as a surprise to me. But, I’m to the point where I’m probably going to think things are weird when I come back home.

This week is something called Stoneweek. It celebrates the founding of the University of Canberra and is just a huge party week. I’ve asked multiple people what you do for Stoneweek, and the only answer I’ve really gotten is “You get drunk.” I still don’t really understand it, but I know partying has commenced. Today was nemesis day and you tie yourself to another person. You two go everywhere together and every time your partner drinks, you drink. You basically drink until one of you can’t anymore from what I’ve been told. Sounds like a good idea, right? Other things go on throughout the week, I just don’t know what. This is my terrible week in school life, and I have so many assignments to work on, so I will not be partaking in much of Stoneweek, if any at all. And that is ok with me. I think this is a good example of Aussie drinking culture...Drink all day, every day, and the reason is basically school related. Anyways, that’s my understanding of Stoneweek. Aussies and their partying. I love and hate it all at the same time.

Ok, I now must go write actual papers. Blogging is my way of productive procrastination, but it’s time to actually be productive. :-)

Sunset on the way to Surf Camp

Saturday schedule

I’ve been back in Canberra for a few days since returning from Spring Break, and I am still in disbelief at all that I experienced in a week. Last week was easily one of the best weeks of my life, if not the best week of my life. Honestly, a lot of my week cannot be explained in words. They were things you just need to experience for yourself to fully appreciate the beauty of everything that is in our world.

Cairns Lagoon at sunset

For the break, I went with 4 other students to Queensland. Our week started off with a flight to Cairns. We had heard of the Lagoon that was in Cairns, and our first day there, we set out to check it out. Turns out, it was a man-made pool because beaches in Cairns are non-existent. The shores are just a muddy, icky mess, so you definitely don’t want to go swimming there. We only had one full day in Cairns before we headed up to Cape Tribulation.

Daintree River Cruise!

Bright and early Tuesday morning, we began our journey to Cape Tribulation. We booked a tour that would take us up to Cape Trib. On the way there, we stopped at plenty of places and experienced the Daintree Rainforest on our tour, which is the oldest tropical rainforest in the world. Our first stop was at the Wildlife Habitat, which had all Aussie animals. Highlight of the Wildlife Habitat? I got to hold a koala! In New South Wales, you aren’t allowed to hold koalas, but since we were in Queensland, I got to hold one and have my picture taken with him! So awesome! Our next stop was for a Daintree river cruise. We loaded up on a boat and went cruising on a river in search of crocodiles. While we never got to see an adult, we saw 3 baby crocs. I had watched something on crocodiles before coming to Australia, and I actually find them quite fascinating. They are really smart and just intriguing to my mind! After the cruise, we stopped at a lookout real fast then continued on to have lunch. After lunch, we went on a jungle boardwalk through the middle of a tropical rainforest. Just hanging out in a rainforest. No big deal. We were then dropped off at the Cape Tribulation Beach House, where we stayed for the next 3 nights.

Home for 3 nights!

Rainforest plants

Our cabin was literally a 2 minute walk from the beach, yet we were still in the middle of the rainforest. We just took a jungle path down to the beach, and all of a sudden, there’s nothing before you except water. Ocean when you look out, and turn around and you have the rainforest. It was my own little heaven. It was so beautiful, and pictures cannot do it justice. We went out to the beach the first night we were there, and while it was a partly cloudy night, the moon was SO bright. I didn’t know the moon was that bright because I am always surrounded by at least some other lights. But, there was literally NOTHING in Cape Trib, so it was solely the moonlight I witnessed. It was a moment which made me so thankful for the life I live. I will never understand why of all the people in the world, I get to live this unbelievable life. I feel like there are so many people out there so much more deserving of this life, yet I am the one experiencing everything. I can’t wrap my mind around it, and as I stood out there with my friends, I was so happy. It probably sounds weird, and I can’t explain it fully. I wish everyone could stand on that beach and see the moonlight and stars as we saw them. So breathtaking.

Cape Tribulation

The fruits we tried

While in Cape Trib, we did a lot of relaxing. If it wasn’t raining, we were on the beach. If it was raining, you would probably find us playing cards at the bar. We chose to do a tropical fruit tasting one day. There are so many fruits I’ve never heard of! And they are all so good! A husband and wife grow their own fruits and do fruit tastings every day. Their story is actually really amazing, but for the sake of everyone reading this, I’ll skip that as this post is already going to be so long. Just know...A tropical rainforest has a lot of fruits to offer, and fruits go much farther than bananas, apples, grapes, oranges, and all the other ones we are used to!

Ready to scuba dive!!

Nemo and Marlin were home

Friday, we headed back to Cairns. Saturday was the big day I’ve been waiting for for years...The day I would visit the Great Barrier Reef! Once again...Words cannot explain. While I’ve always just wanted to snorkel the GBR, I also decided to scuba dive. Unbelievable. We went to two different sites, and I ended up diving at both. The first, Michaelmas Cay, didn’t have as many fish as I wanted, but had heaps of coral. After finishing my first dive, I was contemplating going at the second site and was convinced by one of the crew members after she told me it was so much better. So, at our second site of the day, Hastings Reef, I dove again! There were so many more fish there, and it was so amazing. We found Nemo and his dad! They were swimming happily in their anemone home! Finding Nemo was always an awesome movie, but when I watch it now, I can say “I’ve seen him and him and him!” It was so amazing. We rented a camera for the day, so I do have pictures, but they do not at all do it justice. NOT. AT. ALL. There are so many people I know who have said they want to go to the GBR. My advice: Just go. You will not regret it. It might be really expensive, but I promise that in the end, you’re not going to miss that money. You’re just going to be thankful you got to see one of the natural wonders of the world in person. At the beginning of the day, I was thinking this would probably be my only trip to the Reef. Afterwards...I don’t know when, but I will be back. I could spend everyday on the Reef, and I still don’t think it would be enough.

Sunday was spent at the Cairns Lagoon and shopping. Monday we unfortunately had to head back to Canberra. I doubt this blog even begins to make anyone reading this understand just how great this week was for me. Visiting a tropical rainforest and seeing the Great Barrier Reef have been on my bucket list for years, and I’ve now done both of them. I also had a great time with the girls I was traveling with, and we had some ridiculously funny and awesome moments that I never want to forget.

*You can find more pictures of my trip at the end of this blog or give me a few days and all of my pictures will be on Facebook!

Now that I'm back in Canberra, I have school to think about. I have so much to do, and I am becoming very frustrated with the way my classes are run. All except for one is so disorganized. There is always heaps of confusion with every assignment that I have to turn in. I never really understand what is expected of me, and I don’t know how I’m getting the marks I’m getting because all of my assignments have involved me just typing and seeing what I end up with. In one of my classes, the lecturer has been out all semester sick, so we’ve just had grad school students lecturing. Not going to lie, they don’t even seem to know what they are talking about, therefore, I have no idea what they are talking about. The tutorials are beyond pointless for that class as well. Things are just run here so differently and assignments are set up so differently. In my counseling class today, we actually took a few minutes and talked about the American system and everyone in my class was so interested to hear how things differ. They all said our ways sound terrible, but I told them I’m not a fan of their system.

My time here is over half way over, which is crazy to think about. I have so many more trips to plan and go on before leaving! We still don’t know when our finals are, and that is also frustrating because depending on when I have finals depends on when I’m going to where. I’ve already booked plane tickets to New Zealand, and we leave on the Wednesday during the last week of finals (finals are for 3 weeks here). If I have a final on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday of that week...Well, let’s just say that’s just going to be problematic. I need to decide when I’m going to Melbourne. I’ve decided Uluru is a MUST. I’ve been undecided about that one for a while, but it’s going to have to happen, even if it turns into a weekend thing where I skip class if I need to. I need to experience the Australian outback while here and that takes priority over school, right? I would like to make it to Brisbane and the Gold Coast, but if that doesn’t happen, life goes on. So much traveling and so little time!

So, to sum it up...School sucks. Life is great. I don’t want to come home. I’m addicted to traveling. I found Nemo. I went to a tropical rainforest. I held a koala. I saw wild baby crocodiles. I have awesome friends from all over the world. SO. MUCH. AWESOME.