Trip to Cairns!

Before coming to Australia, there were 2 things that I wanted to do. Number 1 was to climb the Harbour Bridge, which if you read my Sydney blog post, you'll see that I did. The second was to swim in the Great Barrier Reef. Already after just being in Australia for 4 months i've ticked so much off my bucket list. But it doesn't stop there. After waiting through my entire trip here, I finally got to see this natural beauty.

We found this hanging on a beach in Cape Tribulation.

Sunday

After being out all night and coming home at 2am, I stayed up until I had to go meet everyone at 4am to make our way to the airport for our 6am flight. Living in tiny England, i've never flown domestic before (except Sydney). So the fact that we just needed to walk straight through security and to our gate was very strange. We didn't even need our passports.

Once we were in Cairns we had a couple of hours to kill until we checked in, so we left our bags behind reception and went to chill by the pool. Me, Priya and Nikole had a quick swim and then went to sunbathe, where I fell asleep. At 2pm it was time to check in and once we were all in our rooms, we fell asleep once again. When we finally had some energy, we made our way into the city of Cairns for dinner where I finally tried the Aussie famous 'chicken parma''. At 9pm we were all in bed fast asleep after an exhausting 24 hours to prepare for our 6am start the following day.

Monday

Waking up at 6am after a month of going to sleep at 4am and waking up at 2pm was weird, but a lot less painful than I was anticipating, thanks to a sleepless night on saturday I slept like a baby. At 7am we were picked up by a minibus: we were going to Daintree Rainforest.

Our first stop was Mossman Gorge, which is sacred Aboriginal ground. This meant we needed to be 'welcomed' by the Aboriginal ancestors. The welcoming ceremony was interesting. We walked around a fire that was billowing smoke to be covered in the smoke. As long as we respected the land we would be protected by the ancestors. We then had some fun with Aboriginal face paint: Priya and I gave each other some army stripes. Next we hopped on the shuttle bus up to the Gorge where me and Priya went for a swim. Cairns is rife with Crocodiles, so swimming in rivers and at the beaches is a very bad idea, but the Gorge was high up, covered in rocks and the fresh water was cold, so Crocodiles don't swim there.

Mossman Gorge.

After the Gorge we hopped on the bus once again, now we were on our way to a Crocodile cruise on Daintree River. On our way there, our guide told us of a woman who was unfortunately killed by a crocodile on a beach that we drove past the night before. As we passed the media and police were still there. After this and all of the information that the cruise guide told us, I have a new appreciation for these fascinating and terrifying creatures.

Crikey!

Next stop was Cape Tribulation where we stopped for lunch. I tried a Kangaroo burger! (Pause for all the vegetarians that are gonna be hating on me now). It was pretty tasty, it made me think of a mix between chicken and beef.

Kangaroo burger!

We then spent the rest of the day stopping at various locations in the Daintree Rainforest, including an ice cream shop and a boardwalk through some of the forest. Daintree is also the only rainforest in the world where it reaches the sea.

Daintree Rainforest looking very Jurassic Park-esque!

Tuesday

Here we go again with another 6am wake up call. This time, I wasn't bothered one bit. I was going to do what I had wanted to do ever since I knew I was coming to Australia. It was Great Barrier Reef day.

We made our way to the docks and waited for our friends Val and Julian to meet us, then walked to the boat that we would be spending the day on. The weather was pretty grim. The first 2 days greeted us with 30 degree heat and sunshine, but the weather was now letting us down.

Once we were all checked into the boat and had been given our equipment for the day (wetsuit, snorkel, mask & flippers), we went to sit on the top deck for the 1 and a half hour journey out so sea. The sea was extremely choppy so we were being splashed and thrown about everywhere, which at first was hilarious. But after a while, one by one people were dropping like flies to seasickness. About half an hour before we reached the reef, there was just me and Dillon left that hadn't turned a nasty shade of green. My Dad gets seasick so I can thank my Mum for that one.

The staff member that gave our safety briefing assured us that the typical Great White and Bull Sharks don't typically come into the reef as it's hard for them to move around. Which was a huge relief to hear. As soon as we got the OK I threw on my wetsuit and jumped in.

I can't even think of the words to describe what I saw. It's something you'll have to go do yourself, because it was phenomenal. The reef was beautiful with shades of all different colours. There were so many different fish in different shades and sizes.

The first location we were at had cloudy water as the weather was a little miserable. Once we had lunch and moved to the second location, the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful day, which also meant we could see a lot clearer underwater. I made a lot of use of my GoPro and I can't wait to edit all the videos together.

The Great Barrier Reef.

Wednesday

Finally! A sleep in! It was only 8am, but that sounds so much nicer than 6. We checked out and left our bags behind reception again as we went into the city to get breakfast. After we had eaten we went to the Cairns Esplanade where there was a gorgeous community pool called the Lagoon. I made the most of my last few hours in the sun (there was no way I could face going home being as white as when I left). After a couple of hours we caught the last bus of the afternoon (at only 3pm?!) back to the hotel where I sunbathed for another hour.

A quick Instagram-worthy picture in the Lagoon!

Then it was time to return to cold and rainy Melbourne. There wasn't a lot of people on our flight so we all pretty much had 3 seats to ourselves.

When we were home Priya, Dillon and I dumped our bags and went to the common room to watch the new Game of Thrones episode that we had missed 2 days earlier. We didn't want to risk seeing any spoilers!

It probably goes without saying but this has been the absolute cherry on top of a fantastic adventure in Australia. It's a matter of weeks until I go home now and I can't wait to see everyone again, but at the same time, there's a lot of people here that are going to be missed.

ᗩᑎᑎᗩᗷEᒪ♥

April.

To kick this month off, we went to a Traffic Light Party (if you've never been to one, essentially you wear green if you're single, yellow if "it's complicated" and red if you're in a relationship). Usually you wear coloured shirts but this one was dress in black and you get coloured glow sticks. We had a pretty good night but the venue wasn't that great so halfway through we bailed and left to go to our favourite nightclub.

Bre, Tarrena, Me, Priya and Lou ready for the Traffic Light Party.

Unfortunately April saw me settle down with a bit more Uni work that I had to do. I keep forgetting about the main reason I came here and that it can't always be parties every night and catching up on my sleep during the day (maybe). So the partying lifestyle took a bit of a backseat this month with me trying to save up money for a trip to Cairns (Queensland) at the end of the semester too.

My building sometimes has activities for the residents to go on for free, and the first one me, Priya & Tarrena decided to go on was Go Karting & Laser Quest. We were split into 2 groups for the Go Karting and I came 5th out of our 7 in the race... I blame it on the no power steering, that was bloody difficult! We then went for a game of Laser Quest where I came 2nd out of 15, hell yeah.

So a guy from our Uni here decided to throw a party where he lives on a farm. He hired a DJ, put on a bonfire (with marshmallows), there were lights everywhere and there were many games of beer pong. The whole night is just one big blur to me but what I do remember is a lot of drinking, a lot of dancing and a lot of roasted marshmallows. At around 5am I eventually managed to get a little bit of sleep - 1 hour curled up next to the bonfire on a pile of soot. The hosts parents then made us all bacon and egg sandwiches which was amazing. Soon after we all piled back onto the bus and made our way home. All in all it was a brilliant night.

Priya, Tarrena & I after waking up next to the campfire in a field at 6am.

So yet again, we decided to go to another international boat party. You were encouraged to come in your national dress/colours, so I went in my navy top and tied some red and white ribbon to my wrist, then tucked a Union Jack into the loop of my jeans. It was a good night and after a lot of dancing on the boat we then made our way to the party bus to be taken to our favourite club, Billboards.

Tarrena (Australian), Priya (Canadian) and Me ready for the Boat Party.

The morning after the boat party, Priya, Louisa and I needed to be at the Uni campus at 9am for a trip to Phillip Island (this is where the Hemsworth brothers grew up). However after a night out, this can be quite difficult. And after a phone call from Priya at 8:55 that woke me up, I was very surprised that I even made it.
Once we made it to Phillip Island we went for a coastal walk along the beach and then up along the cliffs. The views were gorgeous. On the way back however I managed to cut my foot on a rock (as we were walking along the beach we all decided not to wear our shoes). Typical me. So then I had to walk back a mile with sand getting into my cut. Not very pleasant. When I was patched up we walked to the sand dunes where some of the others slid down on boards into the sea. After that we made our way to the Penguin Parade, where every night penguins walk 4km back to their little homes. They were adorable!

Group photo with Woolamai Beach in the background.

So I obviously wanted a permanent reminder of my first big adventure, so I went to get my first tattoo. I had a bit of an entourage/support group that insisted on coming; Kiri, Nikole, Priya and Tarrena came to cheer me on/laugh at my pain. The joke was on them though, it didn't really hurt. I got the map of Australia not only as a reminder of this awesome opportunity that i've had, but because it's also a reminder that i'm stronger, braver and a lot more capable than I ever thought. I've already said if you went back in time and told younger me that I was living here I wouldn't believe you, and I think this has made me grow up so much as a person. Don't get me wrong, I still have the brain of a 5 year old sometimes, but living here has already taught me so much.

Goodbye tattoo virginity!

So that's April. I can't get over how incredibly fast this has all gone. Here's to my last 2 months Down Under!

𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕒𝕓𝕖𝕝