Blog to friend January 9th 2010 11:23 a.m.


Well that sucks I thought that I was getting the right number. It’s so stressful trying to figure out the whole international calling thing. Although the person from Australearn did say that it would be a good idea for the people that you talk to the most to get a calling card. Anyway, I am at a hostel in Cairns and we have to pay for Internet so that is why I have not been on. Not to mention the fact that we have been getting up at like 6am every day, getting back at like 7pm and then I have either been tired and fell asleep, gotten sick or went out. It was nice to see that people still remember me lol. So now that I am logged off of the Internet and actually have some time to write I can give you the run down.
The flight was good. Very long. We had a good selection of movies and whatnot to watch. For dinner on the plane I had chicken with pasta and for breakfast some sort of quish thing. We got off the plane and it was like the blind leading the blind. No one knew where to go but we just tried to follow the signs. We got to the fist part of customs where we declared what we had just fine with the carry on and such. However we went to get our checked bags, which took a long time for mine to come out because apparently every 2nd person has a large red suitcase lol. Their real problem was when we went to the second part of customs. The line was freaking huge and by the time we got through it we had to run to the Quantas domestic desk and the plane was already boarding. The people were good at getting us as quickly as possible and after a little running we made the plane on time. The last flight was about 2 hours and we watched All About Steve which I saw in theaters and didn’t really like all that much but figured what the hell. I originally had an isle seat and ended up switching with someone because they wanted to sit on the isle to talk to their friend and thank god we switched because the view out the window was amazing. We flew over the Great Barrier Reef and the coast, which was breathtaking. As we were landing I began to realize that there were mountains along the coast that came to meet the water. It is amazing and beautiful.
So the first impression of Australia was HOT. We got out of the terminal and to get to our luggage we had to walk outside. Awesome. I was sweating the moment I walked outside. We went to get our luggage only to discover that because we had gotten to the plane so late they would be late as well. This ended up being about 100 of the 150 of us. But the luggage came later that day so all was well.
After filling out claim forms for the luggage we took a chartered bus to the hostel. The place we are staying is very nice despite the fact that I have to share it with 5 other people that have exploded suitcases. There is a salt-water pool, palm trees a bar and AIRRRRRRR.
We had a bbq later on in the day, a welcome session and dinner. I split a pitcher of beer with someone that I had meet earlier that day and had fish and chips. I ended up almost falling asleep with dinner and falling asleep on the way back to the hostel.
The first day I surprisingly didn’t have that much trouble waking up. We woke up around 7am or so and headed of to an actual hotel where we ate breakfast and had meetings through out orientation. Breakfast was interesting. I tried vegemite which is yeast left over from making beer and is apparently like peanut butter over here. I will NEVER try it again. After a session with our leaders about Australia we went to a place called Rainforeststaion. It is something like a Aboriginal theme park. They took us around played a didgeridoo, showed us some examples of weaponry and threw a boomerang. We got to try and I was not successful. However, one of our leaders picked up a green ant that collects sugar and tastes like a sour warhead. Guess what. It does ☺ We watched a Aboriginal dance as well. Then we took a ride on one of the land and water vehicles and the guide showed us some dangerous plants like one that draws silica out of the ground as it is growing and then when someone walks but it, it will get into their skin and burn and itch for up to 6 months. I think my favorite part was when the guide shut off the engine and hopped on the hood of the vehicle and was just casually showing us a native plant. Then we ran into a parrot that talked to us and took our pictures with kolas. They are very cute. We saw lots of kangaroos that ate out of our hands and hopped around the park. Also we watched a HUGE saltwater crocodile eat his lunch of a dead chicken on a pole. Also we were the first ones to see a pregnant Koloa that when the baby is born will be adopted by Australean. That night when we got back some girls and I went out by the pool. I started to feel nauseous and went to go take a shower to wash of the sweat. However it was one of those you just know moments and I was sick for the rest of the night. I felt 100x’s better when I woke up in the morning. Which was good because it was our free day. I chose to book a white water rafting trip through Australearn. One of the girls that is in my room was also on the trip and thank god she was because her friend came by knocking on the door at about 6am saying that the bus was going to pick us up in about a half hour. Seeing that I didn’t call to confirm because I was sick I was very thankful that he did come by. I woke up my roommate and grabbed all that I thought I needed and ran out the door. I made it and so did she. It was long trip away from Cairns and towards the river. We passed a lot of sugar cane fields and banana fields. I didn’t care that it was a long ride because I just stared out the window the entire time. WE got to a transfer point and we got some safety information and I had to end up renting water shoes. Oh well. I also had the best chocolate chip muffin that I have ever had and pineapple and orange juice. It was another longish trip up to the actual river but again I didn’t care because I was staring at the jungle scenery. WE got to the river and brought everything down and of course I fell on a rock. Anyway we had a great day on the river and I ended up in a raft with some other people from Australearn and I bonded with them, which was nice. We didn’t fall out and didn’t tip over either. I jumped off a rock and hurt my neck I am still waiting for it go away. I also went out to a bar with the two girls that I bonded with on the raft. It was interesting.
Today we went back up into the rainforest and did some community service and potted native plants and planted trees.
We had another session at the hotel downtown and had some time before the bus came after the meeting so we went to go grab food after waiting for a while we ran through the torrential rain that started when we were waiting for our food to catch the bus. It has been down pouring for about 4 hours strait and I’m pretty sure that I have never seen rain this hard and long before.


Anyway that pretty much brings everything up to speed.