Sarah - Sept 09

Last Updated on Monday, 02 November 2009 02:58 Written by Andrew Lai Monday, 02 November 2009 01:03

Not only did the mid-semester break start on my twentieth birthday, but it kicked off with the annual “Jane Ball”. 

Everyone remembers their high school prom? You know, the cliché American prom, as seen in High School Musical 3? Subtract the singing, add university students, and substitute in the most expensive restaurant in the greater Hobart area and you have the Jane Franklin Hall Ball. Although my birthday wasn’t quite as I’d expected, it was still a lot of fun to spend it with all my Aussie friends. It was my first birthday away from home everyone at Jane took care of me. My boyfriend even bought me a rock with aqua-coloured accents, I couldn’t have asked for anything better. 

Spring Break 2009 “America Meets Queensland”

As a birthday present to myself, I took an eight-hour plane ride to sunny Queensland to spend the week in Cairns. Each day was carefully planned with a different tour of the surrounding areas. I may have brought a backpack with me, but I wouldn’t exactly call myself a backpacker. I was without a doubt a tourist.

It was a little unsettling travelling alone at first, but then I remembered how I got to Australia a few short months prior and this seemed like a piece of cake. When I left Hobart in the morning, it was a typical brisk 12ºC day, so I dressed accordingly. However, when I landed in Cairns during a brilliant orange sunset it was a most fortunate 27ºC. I was walking into a whole new world.

My first night was toned down as far as adventure goes. After two layovers and three flights, The next day is where it all began. I got up early and got a ride down to the docks for a snorkelling tour of the Great Barrier Reef I couldn’t believe I was actually going to see it, firsthand. I’d read about it, studied it and seen pictures, but this time I was going to have my own pictures.

While I waited in line at the reef terminal to check in the girl behind me noticed that like her, I was by myself. We were instantly friends. She and I met up every night and people did not believe us when we set we had only met that week. The entire day we both could not get over the fact that we were actually snorkelling in the reef. We snorkelled for five hours at two reefs: Saxon Reef and Hastings Reef. Hastings was my definitely my favourite because as you floated across the surface, the coral was less than a foot below you. I was terrified that I was accidentally going to bump into it,  it was amazing. I even dove down and touched a giant clam, it wasn’t smooth nor either, but quite squishy. Probably the most unfortunate aspect was that the fish were more vibrantly coloured than the coral, proving the fact that the reef is slowly diminishing. The one bit of advice I have for anyone going out to the reef; remember to put sunscreen on your back. The one place I forgot undoubtedly was the one place that burnt the most.

The next day I took a full day tour up to the oldest rainforest in the world, the Daintree Rainforest. Whenever I go to museums, I hate having tour guides, but I think tours was the best option for me. They provide everything: pick you up from your accommodation in the morning, drive you all around making sure to cover as much as possible in the eight or nine hours you have, and always have more than enough food for everyone. My Daintree tour guide took us on two rainforest walks, along Cape Tribulation and through the Mangrove Forest, on a successful crocodile-seeking boat tour, and then out to the Mossman Gorge before heading back home. I even saw a wild cassowary! I don’t think there are any worlds to describe it  the rainforest was simply enchanting.

Wednesday was asky rail ride up to the historic town of Kuranda. Unfortunately, this turned out to be my least favourite trip of the week. If I had more money to spend it probably would have been more fun, but considering I spent the majority of my budget getting to Cairns, that wasn’t happening. I did walk around the town and take in the culture it had to offer, but all the exhibits and sanctuaries I could have visited cost a small fee that I didn’t have. On the bright side, with the little money I did have, I did purchase a few rock samples instead of lunch, (totally worth it). On the way back to Cairns, I rode on the Kuranda Scenic Railway down the mountainside through the rainforest. As a “crazy-random-happen-stance,” I was seated next to a girl I’d met on the hostel shuttle my first night in the city. She’s from the Netherlands, and had just studied a semester in Adelaide. It was a peaceful ride back into the city passing by various waterfalls and other rock formations. However, the next day was what I had been looking forward to after the reef tour.

At 7.15am, I was greeted by my spunky Ecotour guide of the Atherton Tablelands. It was the largest group I’d been with all week, and this time there were people my age, but I was privileged enough to sit upfront. Once our tour guide found out that I was a uni student studying geophysics, he enthusiastically pointed out all the exciting geologic formations and a detailed history for each. You can say we got along quite well. The morning started on a cruise of Lake Barrine which is actually a volcanic crater lake! This tour had my name written all over it. From there, we ventured to the Curtain Fig Tree in Yungaburra, one of the largest fig trees around. If you’ve never seen one, you should definitely look them up. This one overtook one tree, which then collapsed onto another so the fig tree then overtook the second tree and draped it’s roots down to the ground creating a curtain all around. Our next destination was Paranella Park a manmade Spanish castle. This estate take more than 15 years to build, but also it was essentially built by one man’s bare hands. The imprints of his fingers are still in the concrete pillars. The place was beautiful, with its own waterfall, movie theatre and tennis courts. The last place we visited were the Babinda Boulders, which were massive boulders that had shot out of a nearby volcano years ago. Massive as in, they were bigger than my dorm room. Definitely one of my favourite destinations of the day.

I did not think anything could top the Tablelands tour, the guide was knowledgeable his enthusiasm never dulled. My last day in paradise was spent exploring the Chillagoe Caves, at least three hours outside Cairns. One the way we stopped at the Mareeba Wetlands, a discretely places lake settled in the middle of nowhere that vividly accented the surrounding sand-stricken area. After three days stuck in a car driving all over Queensland, I started to get a little carsick and the increasing temperature did not make the experience any better. But once we reached the caves, the heat was quickly forgotten and the camera was never put away. I had been in caves before, but there was something about this one. The formations were unreal and I could have stayed there for hours, but then I would have had to find another way home and I would not have been able to pet a kangaroo. Yes, I was finally able to do what everyone back home had been pestering me about, they’re such sweet creatures.

I went broke over the course of this one-week it was still worth every dollar. I had to sadly say goodbye to sunny Queensland, but I’m looking forward to my next Oz Adventure after finals!

Cheers,
Sarah

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