And I'm back from my wonderful Spring Break! Below you will find a detailed account of my travels up the east coast of sunny Australia.
Saturday, April 9th: My trip started off with a bang when I woke up extremely late to catch the train to the airport. I was traveling with my friends Megan, Keith, and John; we had to catch a train at 6:30 a.m. at the Fairy Meadow train station (a five to ten minute walk away from my dorm). Well we all woke up at 6:00 a.m. and had to hurry to the train station to buy our tickets. No worries though, we made it on the train, ready for the hour and a half ride to the Sydney Airport. We boarded our plane around 10:10 a.m. and arrived in Brisbane around 12:15. Our friends who were already in Cairns were supposed to pick us up at the airport with the caravans we would be traveling in, but that didn't really work out--we had to meet them instead where they were getting groceries for our four day road trip. Three hours, one train ride, one long walk and two buses rides later, we met up with our friends to drive to Cairns. Our caravans, or rather mini-vans, were so great! There was a small sink and cupboards in the back and the whole middle section could be converted to either a huge bed or a table with two benches. We set off for our first destination--Inskip Point. We drove five hours to reach our destination; upon reaching Inskip Point (located in Harvey Bay) we found the caravan park we'd be staying in for the night. The caravan park was literally right on the beach (it was dark out, but we could tell by the sandy ground and sound of crashing waves close by). Actually, there was so much sand that one of the caravans got stuck trying to pill in to a campsite. It took six people about 20 minutes to push our van out of the sand! We pitched two tents (three people slept in each caravan and two people slept in each tent) and went to bed almost immediately (traveling is tiring).
Sunday, April 10th: We all woke up early and took a walk on the beach we were parked near. There we saw several people fishing and three WILD HORSES! The night before we had seen two (and almost hit one of them). Even though 8 people were taking pictures of them, the horses never moved. We all got dressed, ate breakfast (cereal and milk), brushed our teeth, and packed up the vans fairly quickly. About ten minutes from the campsite was a ferry to Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island. Naturally, we wanted to travel to this island to take in the vast amount of beach. We walked to a ferry, which at first glance, looked like an industrial ferry which carried vans and trucks across to the island. Being innocent tourists, we rode on the ferry to Fraser Island (the island was actually so close you could see it from the coast). We didn't plan our arrival to the island very well because the point at which we landed was just a regular beach, several kilometers away from the sandy pictures found in tour and guide books. So we spent about 3 hours at Fraser Island, walking along and laying on the beach. At 11:00 a.m. or so we left and got back on the road to head to a town just short of the Whitsunday Islands. We drove for about 5 hours before we stopped for dinner on the side of the road. We made quesadillas for ten people with just a small propane tank and one pan! So there we were, ten college students, cooking quesadillas in the parking lot behind a gas station. Gotta love it. We got back on the road and drove for another three hours; instead of stopping at our intended destination (just short of the Whitsundays), we continued driving on to the Whitsundays. By the time we arrived near the marina where we would leave for the Whitsunday Islands, it was about 1:00 a.m. and unfortunately, there was no where to park our caravan for the night. After being denied from 3 caravan parks, 1 marina parking lot, and a McDonald's parking lot, we settled for parking on the side of the road. Seven people in our group fell asleep... myself and two other girls were too scared to fall asleep so we kept turning on our van flashers for two hours! Not a fun night. We left the side of the road at 5:15 a.m. to drive to a McDonald's parking lot--thank God they let us stay there for the morning!
Monday, April 11th: After brushing our teeth and washing our faces in McDonald's, we drove to a marina to board a big boat, which took us around the Whitsunday Islands. Our first stop was Day Dream Island, which was home to a mini tourist-like resort. We swam in a nice pool and layed on the beach for a long time. We got back on the boat and traveled to Whithaven Beach, which has been virtually untouched by man! It was so wonderful. They made us wear these "sting suits" so we wouldn't get stung by jellyfish (we actually found some on the beach--they were tiny, clear jellyfish the shape of small ravioli's). For two hours we played frisbee and swam in the ocean. After getting back to shore, we stayed at a caravan park in the same town. For dinner we made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, as well as "mi goreng," the Australian version of Ramen noodles.
Tuesday, April 12th: We woke up at 6:45 a.m. and headed on the road towards Cairns! During our six hour drive we stopped to eat lunch and climbed Castle Hill. We also stopped at three of the "Big" objects located between Brisbane and Cairns. The three big things we stopped to take pictures with were a mango, a bird, and a rain boot. Unfortunately, we didn't stop for the big mower or big bottle of rum earlier in the road trip. We arrived in Cairns at about 8:00 p.m. (after about a half hour of getting lost trying to find our hostel... actually we got lost a lot!). My friends Keith and Megan and I stayed at a hostel separate from the rest of the group; it was so cute--they decorated everything with Australian animals and the kitchen, bedrooms, and bathrooms were very cozy. They gave us a voucher to eat at a local restaurant/bar, so we took the shuttle from the hostel to the restaurant at 8:40 p.m. After eating we met up with friends and experienced some Cairns night life!
Wednesday, April 13th: We all woke up and went to the nearest Coles (a supermarket) to get breakfast. Instead of going on an $80 tour to several waterfalls throughout the rain forest north of Cairns, we just took our caravans on the tour route. So, from 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. we visited six really cool waterfalls throughout the rain forest. Some we saw from afar and some we were able to go directly underneath. That was actually the first time I've done that--swim underneath a waterfall and look at the world outside from inside the waterfall. We also went to a local lake; it was SO nice to swim in fresh water! Many local kids hung out at that lake, so they showed us a tree you could jump off of into the water. By the time we visited the last waterfall it was dark out, so we couldn't really see it; however, we did see a ton of lightning bugs on the walk back to the car. Nothing like walking on a path through the Australian rain forest surrounded by flashing lightning bugs. We went back to our hostels and had more fun later that night with all our friends from the University of Wollongong (who were also in Cairns)!
Thursday, April 14th: Due to financial restraints, I couldn't go bungee jumping with some of the people I was traveling with. However, I did have a GREAT did with my friend Keith; we walked around Cairns all day exploring the local sites. Keith and I first went to a museum that was showcasing Torres Strait Islander artwork (Aboriginal Australians that lived on the North coast). Later, we helped clean out our caravans and got lunch with a few of our friends. After lunch, we went to an animal sanctuary that was actually located on the top of the Cairns Casino. The sanctuary was actually pretty small, but there were so many animals. One of the reasons they could fit so many animals in such a small space was because they let a lot of the animals just run around free! No cages or pens. Yes, the 7 foot saltwater crocodile was in a tank, and the koalas were in a special area, but pretty much everything else scampered around the floor and air... birds, possums, wallabies, and ducks. Definite highlight of the day was cuddling a koala! We really only held them for 10 seconds, but it was really wonderful nonetheless (I'll be posting that picture to Facebook soon.) After the animal sanctuary, we went to the casino, the lagoon (a huge pool area), and ate crepes... lots of crepes. We also went to the local market, which had a lot of cheap souvenirs.
Friday, April 15th: The start of our reef adventure! We boarded a small boat, which actually really wasn't that small at all, which took us to the boat we'd be staying on overnight. On the smaller boat, we all went snorkeling once. If I never go snorkeling again it'll be okay because I went SNORKELING ON THE GREAT BARRIER REEF! What a life I lead. The coral was so beautiful and the marine wildlife was so abundant. At some parts, the reef was so close to the top of the water, that when you were floating you could touch the reef with your hand. Actually, when I was that close, I got really scared I was going to kick the coral and break it (so I didn't go in shallow parts like that often). After our first snorkel trip, we sailed to the second boat. The crew on our ship was great--they were so inviting and friendly. The first thing they told us--no shoes on the boat! About twenty minutes after we arrived on the boat it was snorkel time again! Every 1.5 hours or so, it was dive time. Embracing spontaneity a little bit, I decided to go scuba diving on a whim! Three of my friends and I went diving (we were first-timers; a bunch of my other friends on the boat were scuba certified). As soon as I jumped in the water I sank, which was kind of scary because I had this huge oxygen tank on my back. The guide soon swam over and inflated me... He taught us how to blow water out of goggles underwater and breath into the mouthpiece. So after approximately five minutes of instruction we were ready to dive! Kind of sketchy looking back now. But it was AWESOME! Our guide took us approximately 15 meters down. We got to go in between some of the coral formations, touch a sea cucumber (actually toss a sea cucumber around), and swim underneath our ship. Diving was unexpectedly very painful; every three meters down you went you had to equalize your ear pressure. So every few minutes we had to blow hard and pop our ears... not a very comfortable sensation. Regardless, I'm glad I had the opportunity to scuba dive. We had both lunch and dinner on the boat; the food was actually really delicious. In between dives we layed on the sun deck and went in the hot tub. At night, a lot of my scuba-diving friends went night diving. After they came back from night-diving, we all went up to the sun deck and layed down, staring up at the starry night sky. That was also really special, to be laying out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, with ten of your best friends, looking up at the clear night sky.
Saturday, April 16th: Saturday carried out much like Friday... snorkeling every two hours and eating and sun bathing inbetween. Every time I went out I was usually with someone different, sometimes I was by myself. I saw a sting ray, two sea turtles, a huge eel (probably 6 or 7 feet long), and tons of fish. For those of you who've seen "Finding Nemo," I saw many "Nemo's" (clown fish), "Dori's," and "Gill's." I also saw so many packs/herds/groups (?) of fish. Some were all black and quite large and some were small, blue, and silver. We were sad to leave the boat and the crew at the end of the day.
Sunday, April 17th: Time to go home! Keith, Megan, and I left our hostel at 3:30 a.m. to catch our 6:30 a.m. flight. Needless to say we were tired for most of the day and sad that our wonderful vacation had ended. But... we were all excited to head to Melbourne in five days! (which I'll be writing about next)
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