Wet and Wild Spring Break

What a Spring break in the Oz! So let me start from the beginning. The day before I was scheduled to depart I received my itinerary for the week: Great Barrier Reef, rainforest, waterfalls, party bus, free day, minji swing and bungee jumping! Sounds amazing until I realized that instead of having the last day as the free day it got bumped into the middle of the week. So now my 3day live-aboard for diving overlaps with a day of the group trip to Cairns. Which at first was kind of upsetting, but, after realizing that my worst worry was whether I went on a swing in the jungle or out to dive the barrier reef, I decided everything would be fine.

The group of 8 of us was shuttled to the airport. Now you can bring food and drink on the plane with you! Toto we are not in the states anymore! I was told to carry the lighter in my checked bag on with me…(say what!?) The boarding was split so that if you were the last half of the rows you were guided outside along the plane and runway to the back of the plane. During the flight up I experienced the worst turbulence yet. Now this was tower of terror status, where I watched my soda lift off the tray and stay mid-air for a fraction of a second before bouncing off to the floor. My friend basically jumped into the boys lap next to her. It was quite intense. I have now decided my rule is don’t worry unless you see O2 masks deploy.

                Never the less we arrived in Cairns, Queensland, The tropics. Stepping out of the back of the plane, you hit a wall of humidity and heat even with the cloud cover. Colin, our guide for the week took us to our accommodations, a backpacker style hostel and bar, names Gilligans, before walking down the street for a welcome dinner at another restaurant. The tropics lived up to its name with thunderstorms and rain alternating with clear skies throughout the night and day. No wonder why it is so green here! At dinner there was free Bacardi tastings which ended with me winning sunglasses! O yeah. After 3 more bars/clubs we turned called it a night, so we could get our early start to the reef cruise.
        The Ocean Spirit sail catamaran took us out for a day of scuba and snorkeling on the inner reef. I got to see a crash coarse, and was blown away by how little people are told before being thrown in the water. We found lots of colorful fish, giant clams and NEMO! At first it the lowish vis and colors were a little disappointing but for just having a cyclone and all the flood water running back into the ocean this reef was closest to shore and getting the brunt of it all.

Next we took a day to drive up to Cape Tribulation and explore the Daintree rainforest and spot some crocodiles. We also went past Snapper island which was where some of the WWII series 'the Pacific' was shot. Due to all the rain they were still getting we almost got stuck up north because major road kept getting flooded over, and it wouldnt have been the first time that a 1 day excursion turned into 3 days. Luckily that was not the case.

Strangler vine, there was a host tree inside there before...

 Tuesday was another day trip but this time we visited the Misty Mountains and the Atherton tablelands to see the waterfalls and swim in lake Eacham, a volcanic crater. The rain was a lot less forgiving but it was still amazing. Here is the Milla Milla falls that we got to swim in and behind!

Tue night our group joined the Ultimate party bus which took us around Cairns to about 5 different bars. There were people from sweden, germany, england, denmark and of course the usa. the night-long game involved the girls each getting a nut, the guys each a bolt, and trying to find your match. this forced you out of your own group. Each destination also had a game or contest as well. It was just a fun, entertaining night around the city.

Wed was our free day, so a group of us decided to go whitewater rafting, or actually swift water rafting. the main river was so over flooded it was not raftable so we took the less intense river which was a nice day drifting down through the tropics. Idont think half of the group could have physically taken anything more considering they were still feeling the effects from the party bus ending only hours before. After rafting we were supposed to continue to skydiving but the weather turned against us after a beautiful morning so it was cancelled. 

Instead i went to a presentation on the Great Barrier and got packed for my early morning with the live-aboard. Our ship, the ScubaPro I, took us to the outer reef for 3 days of diving. Over all the water was abit rough but at 29C (84F) its hard to not like. Of course we were stuck between a storm to the north and also to the south causing a "very rare and unusual" SW wind, which is the only direction that doesnt allow the reef to protect us. But even still on the first dive we jumped in and found 2 turtles sleeping on the coral! amazing. even witht he so-so viz the colors and sea life were absolutly amazing. I had to learn some metric conversions in my head to list off after every dive for the crew and really got to practice my navigation since my 27yr old asian buddy was not the most experienced diver (although she followed quite nicely so i basically did whatever and she would simple tag along with her camera). I got some very nice pictures on my first dive and started to figure out my strobe as well. the rest of the day i dove without it. Luckily that night i pulled all my pics off, remembering my last liveabord, because on the first dive on friday it flooded! =( the second fatality. This was upsetting but it couldnt ruin that i was diving the GBR.

A sleepy turtle

close up to a giant clam about 4' long!

What was amazing was that you only had to visit 2 or 3 sites to get many different dives! On one reef you could get multiple dives and see a variety of sites by just heading in a different direction off the boat. So in the end it was amazing, I loved it and I have now officially dove the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

Since the rest of my group left 2 days earlier I was on my own in Cairns. I went  back to Gilligans where I bunked with a 19yr old girl form Denmark who was backpacking, a boy from Sweden and another from Dublin, Ireland. I met up with everyone form the live-aboard for dinner and then hungout with my new roommates and the rest of the Dublin boys from next door. My last day was a tight fit on time because I went right out to the Mijing swing that i missed on Thursday. Luckily i was able to rebook it. Swung through the jungle and watched a few people bungee jump before the shuttle dropped me off an hour before my flight took off for Sydney!

This was the official half-way point of my Studies abroad. The rest of the time will fly by and Ill be home again! All my love to those at home!

--xoxo Julie

Fun Facts:  The Great Barrier Reef is the only living thing that can be seen from space and can only live in water higher then 68F

Most vines in the rainforest cannot even support their own weight, never mind Tarzan swinging on it

Nemo got his name from the type of fish he is which is an: Anemone fish