Orientation in Cairns (Week 1)

G'Day!

Well I have been here for two weeks now and have yet to start this blog, so I figure better late than never. This country is unbelievable. From the sights, to the beaches, to the people, everything is amazing! So let's start from the beginning...

When I got to the airport in Boston I met up with Lucy and Taylor, my friends from URI that were going to Australia too, and while we were sitting in the terminal we realized there were a whole lot more of us going from the Boston area to catch the group flight than we thought. It was comforting to immediately meet people! The flight from Boston to LA was delayed an hour, very annoying. Then once we finally took off the flight to LA seemed to last forever. I think it was the longest part of the trip, because the flight to Sydney flew by! When we were in LAX, all of us met up with each other and grabbed food before the next flight. This was the first time all of the AustraLearn kids were together. We then got on a huge plane and settled in for our 13 1/2 hour part of the flight. It was long, but thank god I had an aisle seat and could comfortably fall asleep for most of it! Once we got to Sydney everyone enjoyed their first Australian beers and waiting for yet another plane ride to our final destination. That flight went fast too, and before we knew it we were in the hot and humid Cairns, Australia.

Our week in Cairns was one that I don't think I ever want to re-live, even though it was one of the most amazing weeks of my life. Why was it the worst? Well, for starters as soon as we got there we had to drag all of our bags a solid mile in the most humid weather any of us had ever experienced. From there, we had to stay in Serpents Hostel, where our air conditioning didn't exactly work. Picture six college girls, with 2 huge suitcases each, plus carry ons, in one room with 3 bunk beds and no AC. However, through it all, I still think it was an awesome week. How many people can say they snorkeled in the Great Barrier Reef, pet a kangaroo, held a koala and traveled to the rainforest all in one week's time? Only as many students that have ever gone through AustraLearn to study in Australia! Even though I am scared of animals, I thought our day at the rainforestation place was wicked cool. I loved the baby kangaroos, getting to see some aboriginals, and seeing a crocodile get fed! The best part was posing for a picture, holding a koala- that's claws dug into my arms and grabbed my hair! The dingos were funny, and the signs for them were even better. A few days later we returned to the rainforest and we had a community service day, where we were giving back to the Aussie community. We planted trees in the rainforest for the Karamunda birds. This was a nice thought, but it seemed like we weren't doing much, as we didn't get immediate results and many of us were lost in the mix of it all.

Our day on the reef was awesome, even though it rained a bit. We snorkeled and saw cool fish of all colors, and even cooler coral type of things. I loved the rainbow fish personally. It was crystal clear water but choppy, so it was quite a struggle to snorkel. A few people got sick but like my friend Elle said, "I threw up on the 7th wonder of the world! How many people can say that?" On our cruise back to shore it turned into a booze cruise, with about 75 American college kids playing drinking games on a boat... I'll let you picture it for yourself.

Needless to say, that week we spent our nights at the local bars, a favorite of everyones being the Woolshed. The best night of the week though, was our first two-story bus bar crawl that all of us went on together. It was wild. We went to 5 different bars, and got drink specials at each one. Everyone was dancing and going crazy- it was a lot of fun and good bonding for all of us.

After 6 days in Cairns, we all dragged our luggage once more to the airport and boarded the plane to Goldie- The Gold Coast- where Griffith University is located. More to come on this adventure in the next post!

Keep up with your Aussie slang so you'll understand the future posts everyone!

Love Love Love xoxo