Arrival

I left for Australia on JULY 17th, from Chicago... to LA, to Sydney, & finally to Cairns.
On the way we crossed the international date line, which meant I lost a day & it was really the 19th when we arrived.
The plane ride from LA to Sydney was looooong (over 14 hours).  I was practically asleep before we took off;
yet when I woke up, there was still half of the flight left!  At least the seats were comfortable.  And the guy next to me,
I could tell by his accent, from Australia, was really nice - the 5plus times that I got up to walk around,
he replied, "No worries" (pronounced No WAH-REES).

Waiting for the plane to Cairns, I met heaps of other students going through the same orientation program
(who would also be attending Macquarie Uni).  We stayed in at a backpackers' resort (which is more or less the
nice way of saying a so-so hotel/hostel), called Gilligans.

The first night we had dinner outside at a restaurant called Hoolahans.  It was really nice weather out, like 20 degrees
Celsius -which converts to 70's in Fahrenheit.  They had a live band playing, and I was kinda surprised to have
recognized that all the songs played were ones I often heard the U.S.  The plane food had been a bit dodgy,
so I went straight for the ribs & mashed potatoes!  That night we walked around a bit,
but, thanks to the jet-lag, went to bed early.

The next day, Friday, we went to the Rainforestation.  The best way to describe this is cultural experience, mini zoo &
rain forest trek combined.  The Aborigines, taught us how to throw a boomerang, showed us some hunting skills, &
showed us some of their tribal dances.
Then we got to hand feed kangaroos &  wallabies- I couldn't stop smiling!
To top that, I  held a koala & got my picture taken with it!  Lastly, we went on an Army Duck ride through the rain
forest.  On the way home, the bus drivers stopped at the side of the road to show us a view of Cairns
from the side of the hills- I was in awe.

Later, we had our own time, so some of us walked a few blocks to the beach.
It was beautiful out, unfortunately too chilly to get in the water.  That night we ate at a Mexican restaurant
(no kangaroo burgers yet!)  We learned that there is no tipping required, & the server expects you to ask for the bill,
as to not push you out of their restaurant.

Saturday the group got up early to walk to the harbor & took


this huge boat 2 hours out into the Great Barrier Reef!
It was windy & cold but the sun was still bright!  The Reef was gorgeous! I can now say that I know that first hand,
because I actually went scuba diving!  ...I may have hung on to the instructor the whole 30 minute dive,
but either way, I am still proud of myself.  We saw schools of fish, a 3 foot reef shark hiding under some rocks,
lots of huge clams (which we touched & were quite squishy), Nemo-fish and lots of other things that we took pictures
of with our under water cameras.  After lunch on the boat, we went on a guided snorkeling tour from the boat to
an island. The coolest animals we saw were 2 enormous turtles about 5 feet beneath us!
I would love to go snorkeling again...
I couldn't stop pointing things out to the people around me, because I was sooo amused ;-D