Outback Australia

This past week, I traveled to the Northern Territory and did a 2 night/3 day tour which included Uluru, Kata Tjuta, and Kings Canyon. All these sites are out in the middle of nowhere in the desert.  Just to give you an idea of how far Uluru is from Canberra...Think of the distance from Nashville, TN to Los Angeles, CA. That is about how far Uluru is from Canberra (according to the reliable source of Google Maps). It was such an amazing trip full of indescribable views.

Uluru sunset

Tuesday we flew into Ayers Rock Airport, and straight away went to visit the Cultural Center and do a base walk around Uluru (Uluru and Ayers Rock are the same thing-Uluru is the Aboriginal name given to the rock). I did not realize how massive Uluru was until I was standing next to it. I’ve seen multiple pictures, but none of them do it justice. Uluru is a very sacred site to the Aboriginals full of tales about how it formed. Although it is still legal to climb Uluru, the company we did the tour with highly discourages it because of how sacred it is to the Aboriginals. 35 people have died attempting to climb it, and I’m honestly not sure why anybody would want to climb it. After the base walk, we went and viewed the sunset, which was nothing less than amazing.  

Sunrise over Uluru

Karingana Lookout 

The next morning, we got up at 4AM to go watch the sunrise over Uluru. Yet another amazing view. We then went to do a hike through the Valley of the Winds at Kata Tjuta, which ended at a lookout called Karingana. We went back to our campsite to eat lunch and chill in the pool before making a 3 hour drive to our campsite for the night.  We went to the pool, made dinner, showered, and spent time just hanging out with the other people on our tour Wednesday night. It’s amazing the awesome people you can meet on a tour like this. So many different stories about what everyone has done with their life and why they are in Australia and what their future plans are. I’ve met some truly inspirational people through all my traveling this semester, and this trip was no different.

At the top of Kings Canyon

Thursday we once again woke up at 4AM (ugh), ate breakfast, and headed to Kings Canyon to do another hike. The first part of this hike is what is called “Heart Attack Hill” and goes to over 100 meters high. It led to an amazing view, and after climbing all those stairs and chilling for a while at the top of the canyon, me and a few others decided to head back down and do the Kings Canyon Creek Walk through the middle of the canyon. After Kings Canyon, our tour was pretty much over, and we headed to Alice Springs where everyone was staying for the night. After having time to hang out at our hostel, go for a swim, and shower, we headed out to meet up with the other people from our tour and have dinner and a few drinks. After dinner, me and the 2 friends I was traveling with went back to our hostel to hang out and just talk because it was the last night I would spend with one of them in Australia. :-(

During the tour, our sleeping arrangements were literally out under the desert sky in a swag and sleeping bag. There was a shelter at both campsites, but I did not sleep under the shelter either night. The first night it was cloudy and actually rained at one point and instead of moving under the shelter, I just zipped my swag up more and went back to sleep in the desert rain. And I was totally ok with that. The next night, the moon was so bright I had trouble sleeping because I felt like a light was on. It was amazing to be able to just lay under the stars. Even when camping, I’m always in a tent, so sleeping without a roof over my head was different from anything I’ve done before! Since we were in the middle of a desert, it was super hot. It was a different type of heat from the Tennessee heat I’m used to. Instead of the disgusting humid heat, it was a very dry heat. It was so much more tolerable than Tennessee heat, in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, it was WAY hot and I was sweating the entire 3 days, but I would prefer that heat over the humidity from home. It was so nice to get to our air conditioned hostel in Alice Springs and be able to shower without sweating the literal second you turn off the shower water and then have to walk back to camp in red dirt. It was a great experience for my 3 day tour, but I’m not sure how people actually choose to live in those areas. More power to them if they do.

Yesterday was my first real goodbye to one of my closest friends here. It made everything seem so real that this experience is almost over. We had a tearful goodbye at the Alice Springs Airport (tearful at least on my side) as I headed back to Canberra and my other 2 friends headed to Melbourne. It would have been much more tearful, but I already have plans to go visit her in California in June, so it helped being able to say see you in 7 months. Still not a fun goodbye as it did remind me that our group of friends will never be altogether again in Canberra.

Also, while I feel like I always seem to make everything seem like it is perfect and nothing goes wrong, I feel like I should inform you that things do go wrong. Way wrong. It is something that you learn to deal with while traveling and you just have to take things and run with it. This is a good life lesson to take back with me, although I feel I’ve always been a pretty chill person who just goes with the flow. The latest and one of the worst thing to go wrong for me yet? My debit card being cancelled due to a fraudulent charge while I’m on the other side of the world. That was a fun thing to deal with the night before leaving for Uluru. I would love for a guy in Spain named Paul to have a miserable life for thinking it was a good idea to make a $220 purchase from the Spanish version of Amazon using my debit account. Even if not abroad, a good life lesson: Stressing over things doesn’t help. Try to make the best of things. It’ll all work out somehow. 

It is December 1st here, which means this is the month I come back home. I do not know where this semester has gone and I do not like thinking about coming home. I miss my family and friends and it will be great to see them but man...I’m going to be angry at the world for being back in the States. Ask me where I see myself in 5 years, and I can no longer even tell you the continent I’ll be on. I can’t tell you what I’ll be doing with my life. I can’t tell you anything besides it’s going to be an adventure that I am so excited for. There is so much more to life than the US, and I would give anything for more Americans to realize that. I completely understand why we have a reputation of being ignorant, and it sucks to meet people who say that about Americans. It sucks even more to know it’s so true. 

One thing I am actually excited to leave behind here is the drinking culture. I am so sick of EVERYTHING here involving alcohol. Even on our tour through the middle of the desert, we stopped to buy cider and beer. Like...Seriously...EVERYTHING involves alcohol. Other things I won’t miss: everything being so expensive, not having a car, the stupid crows and their dying baby sounds, the Australian school system, and that’s about all I can think of. 

My next adventure starts on Wednesday when I’m headed to New Zealand! That’s going to be so awesome, and I am so excited! I have an exam on Tuesday, and until then, I’ll probably just be chilling with friends and maybe studying a little. We’ll see how the study thing goes...

Melbourne and Thanksgiving in Oz

The past week and a half has been packed with adventures, as always. Adventures truly are unlimited here, and I think I will be so bored when I come home.

Last Wednesday was the last night going out to the Lighty with everyone. It was definitely an awesome night, and I never really went to bed. I took about an hour nap on a couch and then moved to my bed for another 45 minutes before having to go to class. I thought watching the sunrise with friends was a better option than getting sleep, so that is exactly what I did. I went to half of my class before leaving early because I was heading to Melbourne! There were 6 of us going to Melbourne, 2 left Wednesday, me and Katie left Thursday, and 2 more came Friday.  We arrived to our hostel late Thursday night, and I was nothing short of exhausted since not really sleeping on Wednesday, so I slept well our first night in Melbourne. (Side note: Ozzie’s pronounce Melbourne as Mel-bin.)

View of Melbourne from 88 stories up

Friday morning me and Katie got up and decided to do a free walking tour to get our bearings of the city. It was a 3 hour tour, and we got to see a lot of cool things! After the tour, we got lunch, then went back out and explored and met up with the 2 who had flown in on Wednesday. We all went and ate dinner in China Town, then headed to the Eureka Skydeck to watch the sunset from 88 stories up. It was awesome to see the sunset over the city and to see all the lights slowly start to come on. After the Skydeck, we went back to our hostel as it had been quite a long day.

Perfect tree to have a picnic under

Having fun at the huts!

Saturday, we met up with everyone for a picnic lunch under an awesome tree me and Katie discovered on our walking tour. After eating, me, Katie, Anna, and Shelby headed off to Brighton Beach to see these ‘colorful huts’ we had been told about. They are just little storage units all painted colorfully and lined up on the beach, but it was actually really cool and we had heaps of fun taking so many pictures with the huts. We headed to St. Kilda for some shopping and dinner, where we decided to try Thai food. This was my first time having Thai, and I must say, I’m a fan.

Sunday, we started our day off with some shopping at the Queen Victoria Markets. These markets are MASSIVE, and we easily spent a good couple hours just shopping. I bought some souvenirs, and they had a stand called “Americandy.” It’s so funny to see all these American products being sold like a treat. They had Dr. Pepper’s and Reeses, so you know I had to get both of those. :-) After that, me, Katie, Anna, and Shelby all went to meet up with our friend, Leah, who we met in Cape Tribulation on our week long break. Melbourne is famous for coffee and little cafes, so we wondered down an alley and found a cafe to get lunch and coffee. After lunch, Leah took us to a pub called Ponyfish Island which is a little ‘island’ under a bridge on the river. We enjoyed an expensive ($9) drink there and just hung out. Afterward, we were treated to a BBQ Ozzie style. Anna and Shelby were actually staying with a lady in Melbourne, and she invited us over for a BBQ. It was sooo nice to see a place that actually looked like a home and to have somewhere to hang out. We ate and played cards for a while before me and Katie headed back to our hostel. 

12 Apostles

Monday was a big day as we went on our Great Ocean Road tour! All 6 of our group went, and the day was filled with amazing views. The 12 Apostles was one of those things I’ve always wanted to see, but figured I never would actually see. Words cannot describe how amazing it was. It’s another one of those things that you have probably seen pictures of, think how awesome it would be to see them, but you can’t fully appreciate it until you’ve actually been there. There were several other stops on that trip, including Loch Ard Gorge and London Bridge (Google them if you’re that interested). We also got to spot wild koalas and feed wild birds! Overall, just such an amazing day. When we finally got back after being gone 13 hours, we headed to where Shelby and Anna were staying to try Vietnamese food and eat leftovers. It was such a long day, but so great!

Tuesday we revisited the Queen Victoria Markets for a few minutes, then headed to the Greek precinct to have Greek food for lunch. I loved how many cuisines I tried during this trip and how Melbourne had places for all different types of food. Greek may have been my favorite, but it’s really hard to say. After that, we went to an alley that is COVERED in graffiti. It is a legal area for graffiti in Melbourne, and some of the artwork is just unbelievable. I could have spent a long time looking at everything, but we unfortunately had to catch our plane that day. I must say, that was an awesome last thing to experience about Melbourne. Overall, Melbourne was great, just in case that hasn’t already been made clear. It was SOOO much better than Sydney. It is a city full of character, and I loved that so much!

Yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving in Oz. While it is so weird to not be at home, I celebrated with some of my closest American and Ozzie friends. It was great to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with those who I now consider family. And, not many people can say they’ve had an Ozzie Thanksgiving. It was even complete with us watching cricket on TV. True Ozzie Thanksgiving right there. 

I just got out of a final exam about two hours ago. It’s weird how much I did not study and how much I did not care. I truly don’t think you can understand the meaning of having no motivation for school until you study abroad. (Don’t worry, Mom! I know I passed!) Also, the exam was 3 hours long, but you were told you couldn’t leave in the last 15 minutes of the exam. So, I guess that means it was 2 hours and 45 minutes? I’m really not sure, but I was told that in my other exam as well and it makes absolutely no sense to me. Also, you hardly ever write your name on assignments here. It is always just your ID number, and I really don’t like that. I feel like it is so impersonal and it makes me feel like teachers could care less about students. Although, not going to lie, that’s the impression I’ve gotten so many times with school here. I e-mailed a teacher 2 times asking for help with an assignment and never got a reply. Teachers here are so not available, and I never valued office hours until they weren’t there. I guess it’s just nice knowing that teachers at home spare at least a couple hours a week for students if they need help.

Also, by now, I would have been listening to Christmas music for a good two months (judge me, but Christmas music rocks). However, I can’t bring myself to listen to it because I feel like it’s May. Christmas music reminds me of the cold, and here it’s 80 degrees (that’s 26 for all my Celsius friends who need a conversion) and I wear shorts and a t-shirt everyday. It does not feel like Christmas is only a month away. And I don’t think it’s going to feel like Christmas until I land in Tennessee and walk outside the airport and find it cold. 

I have already had a few freak out moments about leaving. It hits me at the most random times. I was scared and sad to leave my life in Tennessee for the unknown. I’ve lived there for 22 years. I’ve lived here for 5 months and am equally as sad and torn to leave all the wonderful friends I’ve made here. It’s going to be weird to go home. This is what I’ve known for 5 months, and this time, I don’t have the fact that I’ll return to this life in a few months to help me deal with leaving. Once I leave my life here, there’s no coming back. Even if I return to Oz, my exchange friends will be gone, my housemates won’t be living together in Globo Building 11, and it would be so different. I’ve not said any actual goodbyes yet, but my first one that I am aware of happens next Friday to one of my closest friends here. I already dread it, and that’s just the beginning of a long string of goodbyes.

Anywaaaays, I thought this blog would be short, but I don’t think I know the meaning of short when it comes to blogs. Oh well, more memories for me to look back on. :-)  

The Adventures Never Cease

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, so I naturally have a lot to say. It’s been an awesome few weeks, and there’s so much I could talk about! I’ve cut the list in half for the sake of anyone reading this and will just recount some of my favorite moments. 

Mystery Gang

Halloween in Australia was nothing short of awesome. Not because Halloween is big in Australia, but because my housemates made it big. We threw a house party at our place and to say it was awesome doesn’t even do that night justice. So many people were at my apartment, including people from all over the world and some who had never celebrated Halloween before! I was Scooby-Doo, and some of my other exchange friends were the rest of the Mystery Gang! The party was unfortunately shut down when the electricity to our apartment was cut off by the RA because we were too loud. Whoops. But, I would say it was successful if they had to turn our power off to make the party stop...Just saying. 

One random day me and two of my Aussie friends decided to go on an adventure to the Botanic Gardens located in Canberra. It was a nice chill day with friends and gorgeous scenery. We mostly explored the rainforest section of the gardens, and while it was awesome, having the Daintree Rainforest to compare it to made it seem not near as real. That night, I went with a group of my exchange friends for Mexican food and margaritas. This was the first time I’ve had Mexican while in Oz, and to say I’ve been craving it for over 2 months is probably putting it lightly. Most of you probably know I pretty much visit Soccer Taco weekly, so going 3 months without Mexican and margaritas was just hard. The food and margaritas were great, and I enjoyed hanging out with friends all night!

Blue Bottle Jellyfish from Beach Day

The next morning (Saturday, November 3), I got up early to travel to the coast for Beach Day! We went to Broulee Beach. This was an event that the exchange coordinator planned, and it was definitely a good day! There’s not much to say except I spent the entire day laying on a beach hanging out with friends. It was a nice day getaway from Canberra, and I’m glad I decided to go! That Sunday, several of the exchange students had a picnic lunch on a dock by the lake near campus. It was such a perfect day for a picnic!

I’m not really sure that I’ve mentioned International Dinners, so just in case I haven’t...Throughout the semester, exchange students from different countries have made a traditional dinner that represents their country or State. So, this past Thursday, my Tennessee friend and I hosted Tennessee night! It was super successful, and we introduced fried chicken and sweet tea to multiple countries. I’ve never made so much fried chicken in my life...We bought two HUGE family packs of chicken from Aldi, and I think it took us around 2 and a half hours to get it all cooked, but we did it, and the food turned out yummy and it was fun! It was just an awesome night.

McKenzie Beach

This weekend, me and 3 of my exchange friends headed to Bateman’s Bay for a beach weekend! Saturday we went back to Pebbly Beach, which was where we went last time we were at the coast (It’s the one with all the kangaroos). That night, we went over to an Aussie friends’ house and went out in Bateman’s Bay. It was cool to see an Aussie house, as lame as that might sound. Haha It was a fun night out, and we met up with those friends the next day at McKenzie Beach. I am currently super sunburned, but it’s all good. Also, I drove in Australia for the first time while we were on this trip!! I have missed driving SOOO much and driving on the left side of the road isn’t as hard as I thought it would be. Sure, it takes more concentration than it does back at home, but I am so glad I finally got to drive here! 

So, basically, I needed to write this blog because pretty soon, I’m going to be doing A LOT of traveling, and I wanted to go ahead and say all those things before I have other adventures to talk about. I also got my cartilage pierced in the last couple weeks, and I am so glad I can say I got a piercing in Australia. It just makes the piercing that much cooler. I only have a little over a month left here, which just is not ok. My goodbyes to some of the coolest people I’ve ever met will begin all too soon. I was a mess leaving TN knowing I would be back in 6 months, so I dread what it’s going to be like not being able to say “See you in a few months.” While I have no doubt that it won’t be goodbye forever, it might be a few years before I see some of the friends I’ve made here. Luckily, I will have my TN friend to go visit, so I have someone nearby who I can see! And we can miss Australia together...Anna, get ready...

It’s weird that it’s November, and I can wear shorts all the time. It’s weird to think that Christmas is actually pretty near and it’s not getting colder, but hotter. A Christmas song came on while we were playing my iPod at the beach, and the fact that it is actually Christmas music season was so weird because it was so hot out. Everything is just backwards. Driving, seasons, Christmas...It’s a reversed life down here. 

While I wish I could spend longer writing this and making it sound better, I have a huge assignment due this week that I’ve yet to start, so I just wanted to quickly write since it has been quite some time since I posted.  This is the last week of classes, which is just insane. I feel like they just started! I have to make it through this week, and on Thursday, I’m heading to Melbourne! Just because I can, I’ll give you an idea of what the rest of my time in Australia will be spent doing! 

November 15th-20th: Melbourne

November 23rd: One of my two finals I have

November 27th-30th: Uluru

December 4th: Last final

December 5th-12th: New Zealand

December 13th-14th (or close to these dates): Hopefully a trip to the coast to spend my last few days in Australia with my Aussie friends

December 17: Back to the States

I have a packed month, but it’s going to be awesome! I’m excited to visit all these places and live it up my last month here! 

Horses, Flowers, and Surfin' Aussie Land

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

Spring Break: Aussie Style

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. 

Travel buddies for the week! Shelby from Kansas, Anna
from Tennessee, Mandy from Canada, and Katie from Maryland

Lizard that was right outside
our cabin

First day in Cairns

Hahaha Awesome sign!

Pretty day in Cape Tribulation

Where we had lunch on our rainforest tour

More rainforest views

Star Apple

Look close and you can spot a baby crocodile