The Grand First Posting: whales, wallabies, and moving in

Sorry for the delay all, but limited internet access has delayed my first posting to you all. However, I am now moved in at JCU and now have all the internet i want, so, the story begins!!

All of the flying to get here wasn't too bad. Although, for the first day and a half of my trip, i didn't really feel like i had traveled anywhere, after all, an airport is an airport, no matter what timezone you're in. The trip was full of emotional ups and downs like, listening to "On the Western Skyline" by Bruce Hornsby while sitting in the Denver airport (an up), and finding out that the long flight from LA to Sydney was delayed an hour and half (Def. a down). Despite all that though, stepping out of the terminal and into the sunny, warm, Australian air of Cairns was pretty hard to beat. It really did feel like the other side of the world, due to the sheer time it took to finally get there.

Apon Arriving, we were bussed straight to the backpackers resort that we were staying in. ("We" being the 65 Australearn students I was traveling with at this point.) After a MUCH needed shower and some rest, had an informational session, and free dinner at a local venue. The next day (July 15th) was a huge highlight.

We had the oppurtunity to get up at about 6:30 and bus to the wharf and board a boat called "Passions of Paradise" for a day of snokeling and island hopping on the Great Barrier Reef. We drove/boated away from the bay for about two hours in delightfully sunny weather toward Paradise Reef. About an hour into the journey, Our driver slowed the engines and veered off toward what he claimed was the spouting of a humpback whale. Sure enough, after about 8 minutes of waiting, we got a full glimpse of a mother humpback whale, and her calf. Even the tour crew on the boat said it was about the closest they had ever been to a humpback. They both came up for air about 8 meters off the side of the boat. Needless to say, it was spectacular.

After Arriving at the reef, we grabbed our snorkel gear and took a plunge in water with 14 meteres of visability. The sheer number and density of the fish around us was incredible. I almost felt like part of the school at times. I saw Parrotfish, meter-long Groupers, clownfish, a blue-spotted ray, 1 sea turtle, and i heard reports of petting a giant clam! The size of the coral formation we were at was astounding. The guides told us that most types of coral take about a year to grow a centimeter, and I saw a plate shaped red piece of coral that was a cirlce, about 5 meters in diameter, and about 5mm thick.

After about an hour of snorkeling, we headed back on the boat to Michaelmas Cay. An island that is a National Park, and exept for a tiny, gorgeous beach, is illegal to walk apon, or access, pending a 10,000 dollar fine. There are about 25,000 birds that live, and lay eggs on the island, and we were allowed to be within a meter of them, with only a small rope fence between us. Snorkeling off the Island, we saw more turtles, clams, and some black-tipped reef sharks.

After that, we spent the dayt in Cairns, at our leasure, and enjoyed another meal, curtesy of Australearn.

The next day we spent at the Rain Forest Station north of Cairns. This Rain Forest and the Great Barrier Reef are the only two adjacent UNESCO World Heritage Sights in the World. After arriving at the station, we were given a tour of the forest on one of the amphibias army ducks, and saw amazing forest-scapes and wildlife, including the gimpie-gimpie stinging tree, which can inject you with neurotoxins, via hairlike barbs on it's leaves.

After the tour, we got to hold (yes HOLD!) a real live koala bear. Kia is about 3 years old, and probably the cutest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. We got to have a picture taken with Kia, and i will post it as soon as i can, so you can all be super jealous. I also got to hold a 2 metere long water python, feed wallabies from my hand, and nap under a tree next to two kangaroos. Some Aboriginees taught us how to throw boomerangs, play a didgeridoo, and dance.

After all the fun at the Rain Forest, we went back into Ciarns, and Melanie and I went out for dinner at The Crown, where I had some pretty good lamb shanks for 15 dollars.

The next day (Thursday) we took a 4-hour bus ride to Townsville, and got moved in on the Beautiful James Cook University Campus. We have had a couple informational sessions, 2 trips into town, several confusing bus rides, and Melanie just got back from a great 5k run on some lovely shaded trails.

I will post pictures on here very soon, so please, please email me, check out the pictures, and wire money, but i must leave you now for a dinner of fish & chips in the dinning hall.

Love to all of you,
Matt

p.s. you wont have to wait as long for my next posting :)