Hello from Sydney! I’ve been here for about a week and while I wish I could have blogged earlier, Internet access has been a little sporadic. I left last Saturday and after a 28+ hour travel adventure that involved four airports, three planes, three trips through security, and customs, we finally arrived in Cairns.
I’m studying in Sydney but we spent our first week in Cairns for a Culture & Adventure Program through the program I’m traveling with. This week there were about 150 of us, studying everywhere from Sydney to Melbourne to Brisbane and beyond. I think about 40-50 of those are studying with me at the University of Sydney.
Anyway, we arrived in Cairns on Monday and it was a fairly hectic day getting settled in at our hostel. It was a very long day, and thanks to jet lag all of us crashed around 9. There were six of us in a room, and I had five great roommates but it was a little crowded in that little room with all of us and all of our bags!
Tuesday brought the day most of us were looking forward to…Great Barrier Reef day!
We were on a big boat and it was a choppy two-hour ride out to the reef. But we made it and got the chance to snorkel…it was just amazing.
I wish I had pictures of the things I saw, but it was everything from Nemos to Dorys and everything in between. Everything was just right there under the surface of the water, and I felt so lucky to be able to see it all.
(It was super windy.)
That night we explored downtown Cairns a little bit and enjoyed some gelato.
It’s a cute little town (about 130,000 people) and is based mainly around tourists and backpackers. There’s also a great esplanade that lines the water.
More to come soon…planting trees, petting koalas, horseback riding, and whitewater rafting!
