Alex's 3rd entry - P.S. Australia = Awesome!
So what did I do on my break? Well, first let's start with before the break. After I settled back in from Tassie I did some research and booked some more trips. This time I booked a trip to Sydney to meet up with some friends studying at Sydney Uni. Which is exactly where I'm going next. Not only am I getting a wonderful glimpse of Melbourne and all the culture there is here, but I'm getting a wonderful view of the bush as well. Ok, so maybe not the bush but definitely a town not even Australians have really heard of. The place is called Merimbula and the airport is about half the size of the one in Tassie ok. The thing is tiny. There's only one terminal. The only airline that flies out of it is REX. REX only flies to small nowhere places from bigger cities so when I say this place is remote, I'm serious, it's tiny.
We stayed at a camp ground in the small community of Pambula, right on Pambula beach. The best part about it is that SUNY Brockport came back together. For those of you that don't know, SUNY Brockport is my uni back in New York. It has the largest variety of Australia programs in the entire SUNY system so there are students from Brockport and the rest of SUNY scattered all over Australia right now. There are people at University of Southern Queensland, Melbourne Uni, Sydney Uni, Southern Cross Uni, Canberra, Adelaide and of course right here in Swinburne. We all came together and camped among wild kangaroos. I mean really wild, these marsupials aren't part of the camp ground, 100 per cent wild. They love scratching the tents too which makes it that much better. The Brockport crew went surfing, kayaking, mountain biking. We also went on an aboriginal hike and horseback riding. It was literally a action adventure camping trip to kick off the week and a half break. I loved hanging out with them (and half the reason I booked the flight back to Sydney because a lot of them are in Sydney).
However, the better half (and by better I am by no means downing that trip but you'll understand in a second) was the second half of the break. Cairns. Cairns (pronounced 'cans') is the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and at the tip of Queensland, so it's literally across the country. This trip I didnt do alone. Nope, a bunch of us international kids got together (with some of our Brockport friends in Adelaide) and went to the Reef. Why not. We had Nadia, Kristen, Amanda and I from the US (at Swinburne) our friends Becky and Rachel (from the US via Adelaide Uni), their friend Kirsten (from Canada via Adelaide Uni), Jeff and Dave from Canada (from Swinburne) and Paulo and Ale from Italy (also from Swinburne). It was a great combo of cultures that's for sure.
We lived it up too. The first day we went on a waterfall tour and swam in the waterfalls at Milla Milla Falls. There was a ton of water coming over it, but swimming through the waterfall was a great feeling and it was quite the rush. I felt really accomplished coming out the other side. The next day we rode a hot air balloon for a half hour, saw the rainforest from above on the skyrail and held koalas at the koala park (It's illegal to hold or touch a koala in Victoria so since we were in Queensland, we did it).
The highlight of the trip was the all day excursion on the Great Barrier Reef. They aren't kidding when they say it is quite possibly the most beautiful place on earth. Although I couldn't find Nemo I found a ton of other fish just as cool. Sting rays, barramundi, a ton of colorful fish, these funky giant angel fish things, star fish and a ton of coral. Not a single one coral looked the same. Did I mention a ton of giant clams? Those things are everywhere. The boat ride was incredible (I burned, I forgot my sunscreen) and good news, I wasn't stung by a jellyfish. In fact I didn't even see one so don't let jellyfish turn you away from coming to Australia.
Then as if you can't top that, I did. One word. Skydiving. To make it even better. Over The Great Barrier Reef. It was the biggest rush of my life.
You don't even have time to be afraid. I'm deathly afraid of heights ok, scared to death, but I felt incredibly awesome in the plane. The scariest part is when there are people in front of you and you just watch them disappear into the sky. You look down for them, but you can't find them anywhere. It's pretty insane. You think that you'll get that feeling in your stomach, but you really don't. You get used to it so fast it's just an amazing experience. Everyone should try it, it's so worth it.
Bungee Jumping the next day. 50 meters, 154 feet from above the ground. This was the next day and that wasn't as fun for me. Although I'm really happy I did it (and for the record I did it once) but I wouldn't go climbing back up the tower if I had a choice. Once again, I'm afraid of heights and that was really high to just jump off the edge of a tiny little plank. I was so happy I did it though. I would've been so upset if I didn't. That was one thing about the week that I loved. I pushed myself to be outside of my comfort zone and found that I can do anything I put my mind to. Even if I'm scared to death of it.
That was the incredible break. There's only two months left of this excursion and I still have so much to do. By the time I post again I will have seen (if things go to plan) Adelaide, Sydney again and The Gold Coast. P.S. Australia = AWESOME!
We stayed at a camp ground in the small community of Pambula, right on Pambula beach. The best part about it is that SUNY Brockport came back together. For those of you that don't know, SUNY Brockport is my uni back in New York. It has the largest variety of Australia programs in the entire SUNY system so there are students from Brockport and the rest of SUNY scattered all over Australia right now. There are people at University of Southern Queensland, Melbourne Uni, Sydney Uni, Southern Cross Uni, Canberra, Adelaide and of course right here in Swinburne. We all came together and camped among wild kangaroos. I mean really wild, these marsupials aren't part of the camp ground, 100 per cent wild. They love scratching the tents too which makes it that much better. The Brockport crew went surfing, kayaking, mountain biking. We also went on an aboriginal hike and horseback riding. It was literally a action adventure camping trip to kick off the week and a half break. I loved hanging out with them (and half the reason I booked the flight back to Sydney because a lot of them are in Sydney).
However, the better half (and by better I am by no means downing that trip but you'll understand in a second) was the second half of the break. Cairns. Cairns (pronounced 'cans') is the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and at the tip of Queensland, so it's literally across the country. This trip I didnt do alone. Nope, a bunch of us international kids got together (with some of our Brockport friends in Adelaide) and went to the Reef. Why not. We had Nadia, Kristen, Amanda and I from the US (at Swinburne) our friends Becky and Rachel (from the US via Adelaide Uni), their friend Kirsten (from Canada via Adelaide Uni), Jeff and Dave from Canada (from Swinburne) and Paulo and Ale from Italy (also from Swinburne). It was a great combo of cultures that's for sure.
We lived it up too. The first day we went on a waterfall tour and swam in the waterfalls at Milla Milla Falls. There was a ton of water coming over it, but swimming through the waterfall was a great feeling and it was quite the rush. I felt really accomplished coming out the other side. The next day we rode a hot air balloon for a half hour, saw the rainforest from above on the skyrail and held koalas at the koala park (It's illegal to hold or touch a koala in Victoria so since we were in Queensland, we did it).
The highlight of the trip was the all day excursion on the Great Barrier Reef. They aren't kidding when they say it is quite possibly the most beautiful place on earth. Although I couldn't find Nemo I found a ton of other fish just as cool. Sting rays, barramundi, a ton of colorful fish, these funky giant angel fish things, star fish and a ton of coral. Not a single one coral looked the same. Did I mention a ton of giant clams? Those things are everywhere. The boat ride was incredible (I burned, I forgot my sunscreen) and good news, I wasn't stung by a jellyfish. In fact I didn't even see one so don't let jellyfish turn you away from coming to Australia.
Then as if you can't top that, I did. One word. Skydiving. To make it even better. Over The Great Barrier Reef. It was the biggest rush of my life.
You don't even have time to be afraid. I'm deathly afraid of heights ok, scared to death, but I felt incredibly awesome in the plane. The scariest part is when there are people in front of you and you just watch them disappear into the sky. You look down for them, but you can't find them anywhere. It's pretty insane. You think that you'll get that feeling in your stomach, but you really don't. You get used to it so fast it's just an amazing experience. Everyone should try it, it's so worth it.Bungee Jumping the next day. 50 meters, 154 feet from above the ground. This was the next day and that wasn't as fun for me. Although I'm really happy I did it (and for the record I did it once) but I wouldn't go climbing back up the tower if I had a choice. Once again, I'm afraid of heights and that was really high to just jump off the edge of a tiny little plank. I was so happy I did it though. I would've been so upset if I didn't. That was one thing about the week that I loved. I pushed myself to be outside of my comfort zone and found that I can do anything I put my mind to. Even if I'm scared to death of it.
That was the incredible break. There's only two months left of this excursion and I still have so much to do. By the time I post again I will have seen (if things go to plan) Adelaide, Sydney again and The Gold Coast. P.S. Australia = AWESOME!