Spring Break at The Great Barrier Reef Part 2

After the hike through the Daintree rainforest, we boarded a boat to go saltwater crocodile hunting out on the Daintree River. We saw quite a few crocodiles, but it all felt a little rehearsed as the boat driver knew exactly where to find the world's smallest crocodile that was hidden perfectly behind some ferns. It was relaxing though so I just sat back and admired the scenery. I got a little carried away with the foggy rainforest mountain shots and ended up needing to delete about 10 of my 15...


On the Daintree River in our Croc Hunting Boat


Found one! I believe this was Nelson.

After the croc hunt, we headed deeper into the rainforest where we would be staying that night. The area was called Cape Tribulation, and we had hopes of climbing up Mount Sorrow the next morning. The hostel was gorgeous and super remote. There was literally nothing around us except for a general store and a dinky little bar. Two guesses as to what we did that night. We ended up hanging out with some really entertaining Dutch guys that night and learned a couple games that I will be bringing back to the States with me.


Cassowary crossing sign with a little graffiti...


Our hostel in the rainforest

Being that we woke up too late the next morning to go on the 8 hour hike to Mount Sorrow, we decided to hike down to a swimming hole for a quick dip. This day was really relaxing, and everywhere I looked I could see nothing but bright greens, reds, oranges, and yellows. It was incredibly beautiful. The swimming hole was tucked away and again looked like something out of a movie. I gave the rope swing there a couple gos before we had to head back to the hostel for our exotic fruit tasting at a local farm.


Walkway through the rainforest on the way to Mason's


Swimming hole complete with rope swing.


Exotic fruit tasting

The fruit tasting was fantastic! There were fruits there from all over the world. Some were sweet, others tangy, some juicy or creamy, and one even tasted like bleu cheese (the Durian, I don't recommend it). My favorite, however was the golden sapote which was creamy and slightly sweet. All I needed was some vanilla yogurt and I would have been good to go. The bus came and got us after the tasting, and we made the trek back "home" to Gilligan's. Entertaining side note, we were followed around by the Red Hot Chili Peppers everywhere we went in Cairns. There wasn't a single day that went by that didn't involve at least two of their songs being blared at us whether it was on a tour or at a bar. Who knew the Aussies loved the Peppers so much...

The next task on the spring break agenda was skydiving. I would be lying if I said that I hadn't been looking forward to it all week. I was nervously excited and feeling slightly insane. The first wave of panic started as we climbed on the bus that would take us to the airport. I met my tandem master Coops and realized, oh right, I'm jumping out of a plane in about 30 minutes. Normal? The next wave of panic hit when I realized there wasn't a door on our plane. Makes sense now that I'm safely deposited on the ground, but at the time very terrifying, thinking I was going to be sucked out of the airplane. Third wave of panic came as soon as I realized that by stepping onto the plane first, I was going to be the last out. As in I watched as all my friends disappeared very quickly off the edge of the plane. Fourth stage of panic, I was calm and just looking out the window after take-off, thinking Wow what great views! I was then informed that we were only at 2,000ft when I was planning to jump from 14,000ft. Taking slow deep breaths as we continued to climb, I again made the mistake of checking the altimeter. We were well above the clouds, yet only halfway there. At that point, I vowed not check anymore and just focus instead on my friends' equally terrified expressions. All of a sudden, the light in the back of the plane turned red, then yellow, and the photographer literally climbs out the side of plane and hangs on to the side as we're still moving at however fast planes move in the air! GAH! The light went green, and my friends went POOF! Finally, I shimmy my way up to the door, and dangle my feet over the edge for a good 15 seconds, looking down at the Earth whooshing past me. Gulp.


Not realizing what I'm getting myself into...


Falling out at 14,000ft above the Earth's surface. Loving it.


Landing safe and sound

I'm dangling on the edge, tuck my head back, and roll off the edge of a perfectly good airplane. The sensation was unbelievable. Ever stand in front of those giant room fans when you were a kid or stick your head out the window of a moving car? Multiply by a million and you're free falling. You reach terminal velocity in no time, and the feeling of weightless is extraordinary. Like you're swimming through a pool, but there's no pressure pushing in on you. Anyway, I've looked out an airplane's window many times and wondered how soft and fluffy a cloud actually was. Not so soft. Mostly just wet. After the free fall, we pulled the parachute at 4,000ft inside the middle of a cloud. We then proceeded to do extremely sharp turns trying to get out of said cloud so we could find the drop site. The moment we emerged from the cloud was epic. At that exact moment, the sun was glimmering over the distant mountains and I could see for miles. I ignored the incredible discomfort that the harness causes in the groin and shoulder region, and proceeded to just soak up everything I could. It was mostly farm land (sugarcane), but you could see the city and the coast not far away. Mountains looming in the distance and a flock of birds flying about 40ft in front of me. I got to steer the parachute and after a couple nauseating moves, we landed safely at the drop zone. Wow. I had just fallen 14,000ft. Willingly. In fact, I paid to do it. Insanity. Therefore, to celebrate our crazed, adrenaline hyped states, we went to a "Tex-Mex" restaurant called Cactus Jack's. We decided that as a group, we would order every drink on the menu, and then some. $477.40 later and we walked away feeling like champs.


Cactus Jack's Menu


Our bill at the end of the night

After conquering the ocean, the river, the rainforest, and the sky, we headed towards the beach for a much needed break. The last day was spent sleeping, sunning, and frolicking in the ocean. At lunch I had to splurge for a Corona because you just can't go to the beach and not have one.. We were all lying on the beach at this point not wanting to return to cold, overcast Melbourne. After briefly looking into whether or not we could transfer, we made our way to the terminal. Our flight that was supposed to leave at 1am was delayed two hours so we all ended up passing out in our seats. However, the weirdest part of this whole experience is that with web check-in, you never have to show your ID a single time. That and you can bring full bottles of shampoo, aerosol cans with lids, and razors in your carry-on luggage. You could easily tell who was American because we were all looking around confused that we weren't being strip searched or interrogated on why we have skintimate shave cream in our luggage. All in all, an epic first week of spring break in Australia. The second week in Tasmania to come soon!


Last day in Cairns


My sweet sand turtle


Delayed flight at 1am = Passed out Tierney

Spring Break at The Great Barrier Reef Part 1

Think of the MTV spring break specials and you’ve got the right picture of Cairns, Australia in your head. Our flight got in at 1am, so we were checking into our hostel, Gilligan’s, at prime intoxication hours. It was highly entertaining watching people stagger past us trying to get to their rooms, but inevitably being turned down by the security guard because they had forgotten their key. Some people wanted to stay awake all night and jump right into the party scene, but thankfully the overwhelming opinion was to crash in our super sweet bunkbeds since we had to be at the marina the next morning by 8am.


Our lovely hostel


Downtown Cairns


Cairns Marina

First on the agenda was scuba diving at the reef. We had to travel about an hour and half to get to the reef, and many of my friends struggled to fight off sea sickness. Thankfully, I was safe and contented myself by gazing out at the amazing views on the way out to the open ocean. Since we weren’t certified scuba divers, we had to have a training session before we were let loose into the water. My instructor was Villi, a crazy crazy man from Fiji. I was all ready to start taking notes, fearing that scuba diving would be super complicated and I would need to remember everything or I would risk death. Not so much. Basically, they taught us how to equalize the pressure in our ears and the hand signals for communicating under water. Done in 30 minutes after signing some forms saying that we could potentially die and get eaten by a shark. Kidding. Sort of.


Left to right: Erik, Jordyn, Me, and Brian 12m(40ft) under the Pacific Ocean!


Nemo!



The reef

Scuba diving was amazing. It is by far my favorite thing that I’ve done here. The first dive was a little scary because at first you’re on the surface breathing through a mouthpiece when you could breathe much easier if you just took the thing out. Second, as you start going down deeper, you feel the pressure building and it almost feels like your head is in-between two boards and someone keeps tightening them. You hold your nose and blow like you would in an airplane, but you often have to do that several times before the pressure alleviates. Third, you realize that you’re about 6m under water and breathing like it’s no big thing. However, once you get past that, scuba diving is phenomenal. I was in bio nerd heaven. I swam past so much beautiful coral, looked at all the fish living in the little crevices, took a picture with Nemo, stuck my hand inside a giant clam, saw a shark and pet a 3ft long parrotfish! The funniest part was that the instructor basically had a wrestling match with the fish before the fish lunged at the instructor’s fanny pack that had the fish food in it. On the second dive, we got to stay down longer because we didn’t have to go through all the training procedures and after it was over, I was planning on giving up med school so that I could scuba for the rest of my life. The third dive brought me back to reality because I had trouble equalizing the pressure in my ears and was in a lot of pain for most of the dive. I ended up pulling a muscle in my ear which was not so fun.

The next day we went white water rafting on the Tully River. I’ve been rafting several times before, but never in the middle of the rainforest. It was so beautiful, and we were out on the water for what seemed like ages. Our guide was Leon, a self proclaimed hippie, who was extra knowledgeable about the surrounding flora and fauna. He was a newer guide, and told us which rapids he had recently flipped on. And then we proceeded to flip on those same rapids… There was also this beautiful blue butterfly that decided to follow us down the river. It’s called the Ulysses Butterfly, and if you see one, you’re allowed to make a wish. I’m hoping extra hard that my wish comes true.


Wetsuit tan. Still rocking the after effect of this...


Tully River in Northern Queensland


The rafting crew


Leon the Healthy Hippie and the Emu raft


Ulysses Butterfly

On the third day, we joined a rainforest tour group and did an assortment of random activities. First we stopped at a wildlife sanctuary which was in situ, meaning you were in the animals’ cages and were walking around next to the kookaburras and kangaroos. One of our friends is terrified of birds so we had to lead her in with her eyes closed so that she could see the koala. The koala was hilarious. He let out the strangest roar I have ever heard. Also, in Australia, the only state that allows you pet and hold a koala is Queensland so this was my only chance to snuggle the adorable creature. After the koala, we pet a saltwater crocodile, more kangaroos and wallabies, and saw a cassowary up close and personal.


Koala Roar


Me and my new koala friend


Kangaroos and wallabies at the Sanctuary

After the wildlife sanctuary, we hiked through the rainforest learning a little bit about the flora and fauna there. It was gorgeous and felt very authentic as it was raining the entire time! Watching the rain fall through the little holes in the canopy was like something out of a movie. We also kept making Jurassic Park jokes because it often felt like at any moment a velociraptor was going to jump out and eat us.


Daintree Rainforest




Me conquering the suspension bridge at the top of the hike.


Left to right: Lily, Me, Annie, Phoebe