I know this post is kind of long but it was an awesome vacation and so many of my pictures turned out well!
My school just had its mid-semester / spring break. We had September 21st to October 1st off from classes. Some of my friends and I decided to go on a planned spring break trip called 1 Fish 2 Fish. The trip starts in Brisbane and travels up the east coast of Queensland, ending in Cairns (pronounced "cans").
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| Our path up the coast of Queensland |
Our trip left Saturday the 22nd, but we had to be in Brisbane early to get on the bus.
Friday morning, my friends Lizzy, Bekah, Melissa, and I flew to Brisbane. We spent the day walking around the city. Although it was a little rainy, it was still a lot of fun. Brisbane is a really cool city! We went to this one area called Southbank that I loved. It was located across the river from downtown Brisbane and was a strip that followed along the river. The area was a mix of markets, man-made beaches, pools, water park areas, playgrounds, and parks. The man-made beaches were really cool. They were right next to the river, so you could swim to the edge of the water and look out over the river. Lizzy and I also played in the water area. It was a really fun day with a lot of walking. We went to bed early that night because we had to wake up so early the next day.
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| A cool flower archway at Southbank |
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| Man made beach |
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| Beach leading to the river |
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| Playing in the water park |
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| Water park |
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| Beaches with a view of Brisbane |
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| Brisbane |
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| Southbank |
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| Metal kangaroo that we found |
Day 1:
We went to the bus station and met up with our group and our tour guides. There were 37 kids on the program and 2 guides. As soon as we got on the bus, we headed to the Australia Zoo. Now a zoo might not sound very interesting, but this zoo was Steve Irwin's zoo. We all spent a few hours wandering around and looking at all the animals. My favourite area was the koala area. There were a lot of koalas! Every other time I've seen koalas they have been stationary and sleeping, but I finally got to see one run around and climb. I also got to see a baby koala and pet one. After seeing all the animals, we headed over to Bindi Irwin's show in the Crocoseum. Bindi is Steve Irwin's daughter and has her own show at the zoo. She performs songs and dances about animals and even did one about her dad. The style was very Disney popstar-esque. Afterwards, we watched a crocodile feeding show put on by the whole Irwin family, Terri, Bindi, and Robert. It was really cool seeing them feed the crocodiles and they also had a lot of pretty birds flying above the crowd.
After the show, we hopped back on the bus and headed to Rainbow Beach and our first of many hostels. We dropped our bags and immediately hiked to the Carlo Sandblow for the sunset. It was gorgeous! The sandblow was basically a giant sand dune with one side ending in a cliff heading down to the beach and the other side ending in a cliff looking over the town with a pretty sunset. I walked all the way down to the edge of the cliff, which was really pretty, but because the ground was all very loose sand, the walk back up was really difficult. The sunset was amazing though!
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| Our group at the zoo |
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| Crocodile! |
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| Tasmanian Devil |
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| Koalas! |
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| This one had a baby |
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| The Irwin family |
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| Bindi's show |
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| Bindi's show |
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| Cool bird |
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| The Irwin family! |
They all love crocodiles...
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| Robert feeding a crocodile |
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| and holding it |
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| Terri feeding a crocodile |
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| Bindi feeding a crocodile |
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| Carlo Sandblow |
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| Cliff down to the beach |
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| Pretty sunset |
Day 2:
We spent the second day of our trip at Fraser Island. Fraser Island is a huge island off the coast of Australia. It is relatively unsettled and completely unpaved. The "roads" on the island are the sandy beaches. We took a 4WD from the hostel, onto a beach, across the water on a barge, and then onto the island's beaches. Besides being a
very bumpy ride, the drive was cool. The ocean was really pretty and we got to see a humpback whale out in the water. The guy that was driving our vehicle was really interesting. We was from Germany and sounded exactly like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Fraser Island is cool because it is surrounded by the ocean but has a bunch of freshwater lakes in the middle. We drove to one called Lake McKenzie. It was a really pretty lake with a nice beach. We spent the late morning until lunch time hanging out on the beach and in the water. After a BBQ lunch, we headed back to our hostel to shower and leave for our long bus ride: a 12 hour overnight drive.
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| Our transportation |
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| Driving on the beach |
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| Beach roads |
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| Lake McKenzie |
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| Lake McKenzie |
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| Lake McKenzie |
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| Lake McKenzie |
Day 3:
We arrived at Airlie Beach around 6:30am after our overnight bus ride. Airlie Beach is in the Whitsundays, where we spent the next 3 days. Our hostel was on South Molle Island. In order to get there, we took speed boats through the ocean. The Whitsundays are gorgeous! The colour of the ocean is a very clear, beautiful blue. After dropping our bags at the island, we spent the day on the speed boats. Our first stop was snorkeling. The Great Barrier Reef was recently extended to include the Whitsundays, so this was my first time snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. It was really pretty! We saw lots of cool coral and fish. Afterwards, we traveled to Whitehaven Beach. The pictures do not do this beach justice. It was gorgeous. The sand was pure white and the water was so clear and an amazing shade of blue. We hiked up the island to a viewpoint that let us see the entire beach. We were basically walking on a postcard. We then traveled to a private area of the beach and spent the day in the water and laying on the beach.
Random Fact: The sand on Whitehaven Beach does not retain heat, so its really easy to walk on.
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| Airlie Beach |
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| Airlie Beach |
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| Airlie Beach |
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| Airlie Beach |
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| Our group at Whitehaven Beach |
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| Whitehaven Beach |
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| Whitehaven Beach |
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| Whitehaven Beach |
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| Whitehaven Beach |
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| Whitehaven Beach |
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| The water was so pretty! |
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| Whitehaven Beach |
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| Whitehaven Beach |
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| Whitehaven Beach |
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| Whitehaven Beach |
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| Whitehaven Beach |
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| Whitehaven Beach |
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| Whitehaven Beach |
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| Whitehaven Beach |
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| Whitehaven Beach |
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| Coral Reef in the Whitsundays |
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| Our island resort |
Day 4:
We spent the day hanging out at the resort. It was a much needed rest from all of the activities we had been doing.
Day 5:
We spent the day on a yacht sailing around the Whitsundays. It was really relaxing and fun to see all of the islands and the gorgeous ocean. We even saw turtles swimming around us. We also got to stop and go snorkeling by a beach. The fish in this area were a lot more friendly than at the other area. They wouldn't swim away when you showed up so we were basically swimming in schools of fish. That night, we drove to an area called Mission Beach.
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| Our boat for the day |
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| I'm on a boat! |
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| Our beach stop to snorkel |
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| The water was so blue! |
Day 6:
We went white water rafting on the Tully River. It was really fun! We went over a lot of rapids, under a waterfall, and floated down the river outside of the raft. Our guide also showed us huge Huntsman spiders (not the most fun experience...). From my raft, three girls fell out. I managed to stay in the raft the entire time but almost fell out once.
After rafting we drove up to Cairns. Cairns was not what I expected it to be. I thought Cairns would be a huge city with skyscrapers, but it had more of a beach town feel. One of my friends from Emory, Michelle, also happened to be in Cairns at the same time as us and staying at the same hostel so we got to meet up with her. It was really exciting! She is studying in Brisbane and we hadn't had the chance to meet up since coming to Australia.
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| Floating down the river |
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| Rapids! |
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| Cool sign in Cairns |
Day 7:
This day was called Adrenaline Day. It was intense! There were 3 separate activities that we did...
Activity 1: Skydiving
This was by far the most fun event of the day. I had signed up for the 9:45am jump, but due to weather conditions we were delayed until noon. When noon came around, they decided to let us go. After a quick instruction video and an introduction to the guys we would be jumping with (in order to go skydiving the first time, you have to be strapped to another person and go tandem), our group of seven drove out to the airport. We were belted and then loaded onto a tiny airplane. I was the first one to get on the plane, which meant that I was the last one to jump off the plane. It was really nerve wracking flying up. I was right next to the pilot and the furtherest from the door, but my friend who was next to the door said that it was partially open for quite a bit of the flight. We did get a really pretty view of the Great Barrier Reef and Cairns though. The jump that we did was from 14,000 feet in the air. It was really high up and the highest one that they offered! When it came time to jump, they opened the side door and immediately one of my friends left the plane. Everyone started jumping really quickly. It was weird seeing everyone jump because you could feel and hear the suction of them leaving the plane. When it was my turn, I sat on the edge of the plane with my feet dangling into the sky and he pushed us out. The free fall was awesome! From when we jumped, we free fell for a whole minute. When the guy released the parachute, we were actually in the middle of a cloud. Flying down in the parachute was really cool too. He even let me steer it for a bit. Surprisingly, I actually liked the free fall part more than the parachute part but the whole experience was amazing!
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| Before skydiving |
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| Out of the plane! |
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| Free falling |
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| In the middle of a cloud! |
Activity 2: AJ Hackett Bungee Swing
That night, our whole group went into the rainforest to do a bungee swing and go bungee jumping. I did the swing first. We were supposed to be in groups of 3, but one of the girls in my group got too scared and didn't end up going. My friend Lizzy and I went together. It was really fun! I surprisingly wasn't scared until we started to get pulled up. It was the most tame event of the day, but still fun.
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| Bungee swing |
Activity 3: Bungee Jumping
This was probably my least favorite activity. The jump was off a 50 meter (164 feet) tower, and in order to jump, you had to climb to the top. The walk up was really scary. The tower was attached to the bungee swing and every time the swing released, the tower shook. By the time I got to the top, I was really scared. Some how, they convinced me to do it and buckled me up. The bungee jumping harness is not really much of anything. You are attached around your waist and your feet and everything is just secured with knots. They than make you walk to the edge of what is basically a pirate plank and jump off. The fall is over a little lake and when you stop bouncing, they raft out to you and lower you onto the raft. It was really scary! I'm glad I tried it once, but I don't think I would do it again.
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| The tower |
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| View from the top of the tower looking down |
Day 8:
We finally made it to the Great Barrier Reef. We woke up early and took a boat out to the first of two reefs. At the first reef, I went scuba diving for the first time. It was really cool! Because it was an introductory dive, we went down in groups of four plus one instructor. We got to see a lot of coral, giant clams, and clownfish (like Nemo). They even let us touch the coral and clams.
Afterwards, we went to another reef where I went snorkeling. The Great Barrier Reef is gorgeous! All of the fish are really cool coloured and the coral is amazing shades of blue, green, pink, purple, etc. Its really pretty! The fish are also friendly. Because the people working on the boat feed them, the fish will swim up to the boat as soon as it stops.
Unfortunately, the rest of my day was not as fun. At the second reef, I fell down the back stairs of the boat. One of my toes got caught on something (i guess...) and bent out at a 45 degree angle. It was really painful! After a trip to the hospital and a few x-rays, they told me that I had fractured it. I'm now on crutches and it sucks!
The following pictures were all taken by my friend who has an underwater camera
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| The fish were so pretty! |
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| Maro, me, Angela, and Nehal snorkeling! |
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| The reef |
Day 9:
I didn't really get to do anything today because of my toe. We had a farewell dinner with a slideshow at night.
Day 10:
I was supposed to leave at 6:45am, but after waking up at 3:30am, traveling to the airport, boarding the plane, and driving all the way out to the runway, they discovered that one of the plane's generators wasn't working and we all had to get off. After about 2 hours of waiting in the airport, they finally canceled our flight and put us all up in hotels for the night. It would've been cool to have another night in Cairns, but I couldn't really do much because of my toe.
Day 11:
I finally made it back to Sydney!
The whole trip was really fun (besides fracturing my toe). It was a great break and a really cool way to see a lot of Australia. The trip was definitely my favourite experience in Australia so far!
