I spent the first week of my time in Sydney with the other TEAN program students at an orientation in Cairns. We did all sorts of fun stuff like visiting the Great Barrier Reef and exploring the tropical (Florida-like, really!) Northeastern Australian city. By far, my favorite thing of the whole mini-trip was the sunrise bungee freefall I did. I ABSOLUTELY screamed like a baby haha!! But it was very cool to symbolically begin my 5 months on the other half of the world with a “leap of faith.”Spectacular view of one inlet of the Blue Mountains, which is humorously much more like a wide canyon than mountains so-to-speak! I immediately fell in love with the waterfalls and the hiking, and the Eucalyptus forests covering the national park just overwhelm your lungs with crisp, clean air.One of the other activities we did on our Orientation was visit the Daintree National Rainforest. The hour long coastal drive North from Cairns is hands-down prettiest drive of my life. I spent the whole bus ride staring out the window!!As both a biology major and an avid photographer, one of the things I love about plants is their ability to beautifully combine symmetry with asymmetry. I loved how the orbital symmetry of the agave plant I found walking along a road in Manly played with the lighting in this photo!A month in and I already have found a personal hideaway at one of the most popular beaches in the world. The limestone bluffs make excellent hidden lookouts to gaze north along Australia’s coast and see Manly Beach (out of frame to the left).I’ve always been a Eucalyptus junkie.
