Post Orientation: 07/15
Today we are flying from Cairns to Sydney and then taking a shuttle to our new school in Newcastle. These past five days have been some of the most incredible days of my life. Two of my best friends from Rollins are also doing this abroad program and the three of us decided right away to do all of the exciting things we could while in beautiful Carines.
As soon as we arrived I was taken aback by Cairns beautiful landscape. Even though it’s winter in Australia, Cairns was extremely warm, covered in palm trees and surrounded by beautiful jungles and mountains. On our second day there, TEAN organized for us to have a day long excursion at the Great Barrier Reef. It has always been a dream of mine to scuba dive on the reef, and we were lucky enough to get this amazing experience. We did a 30ft dive with the group and saw the most beautiful coral, fish and wildlife. It was also extremely powerful to see the coral bleaching in person. The dive instructors explained to us the biology of the reef and how human pollution and destruction is the main causation of the bleaching which is essentially killing the reef. Seeing some parts so alive and others bleached, was truly eye opening. I was pleased when we were informed most of Australia is very eco-friendly as a result of this, and even is mainly straw free! I know that I will definitely be more environmentally conscious after seeing the reef..
On day two I convinced my friends to do a sunrise skydive. It was hands down the coolest thing I have done in this lifetime so far. We were picked up at 5am and brought to do our 15,000ft jump that overlooked Cairns rainforests as well as the Great Barrier Reef itself. The adrenaline rush lasted a full two days and I would happily go sky diving again. The past 5 days crossed off so many things of my lifetime bucket list.
On our last day we went on a Aboriginal guided walk through a rainforest and it was so amazing getting to learn about the aboriginal culture while also getting to see the rainforest. This excursion made me extremely intrigued about the culture as a whole and I am looking forward to the two aboriginal classes that I will be taking this semester.
Our time in Cairns ended with an outing to wildlife reservation where we were able to interact with kangaroos, koalas, emus, and so many other fascinating Australian creatures. We learned that kangaroos outnumber people in Australia and that we will be seeing plenty while here- can’t wait! I could stay in Cairns forever, but for now on to Newcastle!
