Cairns Excitement!

So the internet situation with where I've been living isn't completely reliable. Plus I've just been super busy, and didn't have too much time to sit on here and waste money typing up a blog. So I've been writing on word and I'm just going to copy and paste what I've recorded thus far. So sorry if there is like past tense errors and such, it was written at another time. So here ya go!

TUESDAY

Today we went to RainforeStation. It was really really fun. We got to do all sorts of fun stuff. The bus ride up the mountain was about a half hour, and once there we were literally up in the clouds. Its “wet season” in Cairns so its been pouring pretty much constantly since we’ve gotten here. Last night we walked to dinner and it was literally POURING and so we were all just absolutely dripping wet once we got there, but it was a fun first experience, so no one seemed to mind. Plus the fact that its warm…

Anyways, once we got to the rainforest, we took a tour through the rainforest on these things called Army Ducks, but I don’t think that’s how they were spelled. But we got to see all sorts of different plant life, some that was really, really old, others that was super poisonous. Once we hopped off those, we watched an aboriginal dance show, which was funny because you could tell one of the guys didn’t care at all that he was playing a character, and just chewing gum totally obviously. Then they showed us how to play the didgeridoo, throw spears and boomerangs. We all got a chance to throw the boomerang, and my second try turned out to be better than a lot of other peoples. My first try failed miserably enough that he gave me a second try. I pretty much just whipped the thing into the dirt, I mean if I was trying to kill something on the ground, it would have been dead for sure! After that we had lunch, which was really good. They had heaps fresh fruit, including a passion fruit, which looked incredibly disgusting, but since I’m branching out and trying new things here, I jumped out of my comfort zone and tried it. It is not my favorite fruit! I had like seven of them! It could have been because they were so fresh, but I’m hoping they’re all that good. Next came the wildlife area, we got to hang out with kangaroos, feed them and pet them. They were just hopping all over the place, no cages or anything. There were dingos and crocodiles too, but caged because well…you can probably guess. There were koalas too, which are the cutest bears to ever exist I’ve decided. I got the best picture of a mom and baby, it should probably be framed, and sold because it’s THAT good! Afterwards we got to hold one named Kip, too cute. They were so soft! Then we finally headed back to the hostel.

At the hostel we all decided to go swimming, despite the fact it was pouring out. I think probably all 30 of us were in pool just messing around throwing some beach balls around in the rain. It was actually really fun. A big group of us are all getting ready to go to dinner then out for the night. Should be fun, one of our leaders, Andy is going to take us to a place that is really good about accommodating AustraLearn kids, so that’s always appreciated. We do have to be at breakfast at 6:15 tomorrow morning though to walk to the marina, so we’ll see how every fairs. G’day.

THURSDAY

So last night was pretty fun. Andy took us to a place called The Wool Shed, which was an interesting sort of place. You come in and order your meal, then go find somewhere to sit upstairs, then when your food is ready you have to come back downstairs to get in then take it back up, seemed sort of backwards, but oh well. Tessa and I split a pizza, which ended up being realllly good. Drinks were really expensive, but I suppose we’ve got to get used to that. But we got coupons or a free drink and a free dessert for being with AustraLearn, and Andy got us a bunch of jugs, or their version of a pitcher. It’s smaller than our pitchers though, which seems like a bit of a rip, but again, something that will take adjusting too. I talk like I’ve been drinking pitchers at bars for years, and not two months. Later in the night they had goldfish racing. They set up two long plastic tubes of water, and then people buy a particular fish for $5 and then they race the against eachother by blowing bubbles behind them with a straw! It seemed like something I’d see at the DuPage County Fair, if I’d ever gone besides to see Brad Paisley! But nope, this is a normal thing up in Cairns, along with weekly wet t-shirt and wet jock contests…yikes! One of the Luke’s bought and raced a fish, his particular fish was called the Raging Dyke from Holland. Andy bought and raced one as well, his fish was Nemo from Australia. The fish were named by the bar, not the guys. Neither of them advanced to the next round, but it was still fun to watch. We headed back to Gilligan’s after that, and hung out at the bar for awhile. Emily and I headed in early since we knew we’d have to be waking up early for the reef and weren’t about to be hungover on a boat for the entire morning.

Morning came sooner than everyone wished at 6:15, but breakfast helped. We all then walked over to the marina, which was only a couple blocks away from where we were staying. It was probably the first time it wasn’t raining the entire time we’d been there. But it was still really cloudy, but seemed promising…I’d seen mornings like this in Aruba that turned out to be beautiful days, so I had to be hopeful, but it didn’t seem promising at this point since it had rained nonstop since we’d gotten there. But, in fact miraculously, it was sunny the entire day! And maybe you’ve heard about how Australia doesn’t really have much of an ozone, that my friend, is not an understatement. If you don’t believe me, just ask my face, which at the current time is a red that would be considered very pretty in any other instance than the current one. I applied and re-applied 30 SPF all day long, but alas, the sun did not care, and retaliated on my face. The rest of my body got a pretty decent tan though, using 30 SPF no doubt. The sun is honestly wicked hot down here. I haven’t experienced an intensity like it before.
So once on board we were told that we could do a little 10 minute trial of scuba diving for free, so figured sure, I’ll do your free little demo holding onto the ropes, that way I can at least say I dove the Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven wonders of the world. So after passing that I could take my regulator out, put it back in, and clear it, I got to move down to the second rope below, and equalize pressure in my ears. This was the part I was scared about, but seemed to be alright with. Then we got to clear our masks out. Then I was asked if I wanted to continue with the dive. I gave him a thumbs up, as in no, I want to go back up. So we go up and he asks me why, and I reply I don’t like the salty, dry taste in my mouth, and he convinces me to just come back down. So I do then feel freaked out and go right back up again. The then again decides that I must pay the $70 for the full dive. And so, against my will, I go for an actual dive in the Great Barrier Reef. My dad should be so proud…and jealous. It was actually pretty awesome and I’m so glad that he convinced me to do it. There so was so much pretty coral, that was actually alive. A lot of awesomely colored fish, sting rays, sea turtles, etc. No sharks, which was sort of a let down, but I’ll get over it. Overall, so fun, minus the burning factor. Once we got back, we had one more AustraLearn session, in which dinner was provided, one less thing we have to pay for. We then came back and repacked up all our bags, since we’d been living out of them and messed them all up. And now I’m laying in bed typing this.

I cannot wait to be in Sydney. Being here and doing all this fun stuff was awesome, but I just want to get settled in and be where I will be living for the next four and a half months. So I’m going to go eat breakfast and head to the airport! See you all in Sydney!

In terms of the whole culture shock, I'm still on the honeymoon. I love everything the Aussies do and say. Some of it is just so weird, but to them, completely normal. One of our sessions went over some ways they talk, and its just outrageous. They talk in opposite, so they'd call a redhead a "bluey" not to be confused with a bluebottle jelly fish which are also called bluies, because they shorten all their words. But just little things in their speech, rather than saying "three, fifty" they say "three dollars, fifty". And instead of saying lets have a chat, they say come have a chat at me. They say mate like its their job, but thats only because they're super nice so they consider you a friend immediately. There has been vegemite at breakfast each morning, but I still haven't had the guts to try it, its smells rank!

Ok well now I'm writing in real time, 7:00am, which means breakfast is calling. Then we're heading to the airport. So I suppose I'll see you all in Sydney!!