Those of you back home wouldn’t exactly call me the nature or outdoorsy girl. However, you would be happy to know that I’m determined to make my experience here in Australia full of adventure and new things. With this being said, my first approach at this would be our wonderful trip to the rain forest – a 40-minute bus ride from our hostel in Cairns. This may not typically be up my alley, but being in a new country made me feel differently about it. After all, it isn’t everyday you get to go to the rain forest and what an interesting way to spend my first real day in Australia. Luckily the weather was pretty good, no rain and the humidity wasn’t too bad either. When we arrived we went on a guided tour throughout some areas of the rain forest. It was kind of rushed because we were scheduled to see aboriginals dance in the early afternoon, but we still saw a lot of really cool plants and learned some important facts about this specific rain forest. It’s quite amazing to see such a natural beauty. Then we saw an aboriginal dance, which was definitely interesting as well. They taught us about the didgeridoo, an aboriginal instrument – I did not play this though because I’m too superstitious and they said that it was bad luck for girls to play it. This was silly, but I really didn’t want to put my mouth on it either because I felt like I was getting sick and I figured this probably was not the best way to prevent further sickness. Then we saw them throw boomerangs and these spear type things. They were very friendly and willing to answer our questions. The best part was when we got to go to the animal park after lunch. O and at lunch I tried a passion fruit, which was absolutely amazing. It was kind of odd looking but Lauren convinced me to do it. I am learning not to judge food by what it looks like before I eat it. – some of you at home would also be happy to know this. So then after we went to go see kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, crocodiles, and other interesting animals. I then bravely held a huge water python - this thing was probably bigger than me! It was really slimy and kind of gross but luckily it didn’t decided to wrap itself around my neck like it did with some of the other girls after me. The poor snake was passed around from person to person so I would understand its’ annoyance. We also got to hold and get our picture taken with a koala, an animal that I find to be quite creepy. It dug its nails into my back, which was not too enjoyable, and the picture was not too flattering, but I guess it will be a nice souvenir.
For our adventure the next day we headed out on a two-hour boat ride to the Great Barrier Reef. I was really excited for this and we definitely lucked out with beautiful weather for the day. It seemed that the worse weather came at night; I’m talking horrible down pour in the evening (one thing my dad had warned me about before I came here, “it’s like rain you’ve never seen” and “the skies just open up” – well he was right). Anyways, back to the Great Barrier Reef, I somehow got talked into a free 10 minute SCUBA dive trial that turns into $70 for the next thirty minutes if you like it – a decision you have to make under water, but I still went with it. I got all geared up in this ridiculously heavy air tank and flippers AND a rally flattering spandex stinger suit to top it. We had learned about breathing and certain signals, but I was still very nervous about the whole situation. I was the last of the group to jump in the water actually more like tip in because I was so heavy with all of my gear. We were instructed to hold onto this rope and they would gradually lower us, eventually persuading us to continue on longer 30-minute adventure. However, I kind of panicked within the first minute. My instructor tried to convince me to stick with it and I honestly did really try but I couldn’t seem to pop my ears or get the breathing down. I think my ears were kind of messed up from all the flying I had been doing in the previous days. I was a little bummed, but felt it was the best decision. There was still plenty of snorkeling to do. I saw lots of pretty fish and some awesome looking coral. We swam to a tiny bird sanctuary type beach and relaxed in the sun. Luckily I did a good job lathering up on the sunscreen because I was one of the only people that didn’t get completely fried on the trip. Sunburned or not, I think everyone had a great time. It was an experience I will always remember.
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