Looking back on my trip to Aussie there isn't a single thing that I would change except perhaps make it longer and change the weather on a few days, but that's just getting picky on my part. the trip as a whole was defiantly a experience of a lifetime that I am glad I was able to share with a great group of people. I was so excited to finally be in the trip it took the first day and a half for me to finally come to terms with actually being in Australia. Touring the Healsville Sanctuary was a great first taste of both the wildlife and the people but the first major impact for me was when we had dinner at La Camera. Both the menu and some of the differences in word meanings made it finally seem real that we weren't in Kansas anymore. This as well as meeting with the head of Primary Industries and learning about the impressive National Livestock Identification System in place were two of the biggest impacts and first impressions I had.

My birthday at Gilligan's

    Although I can't pick a favorite, the farm visits were a very high ranking portion of the trip. All of the visits helped me gain a little more insight as to what the average rural Australian family or farm are like, something that just touring the main tourist sites would never convey. Going off the beaten path and staying in small cities like Wagga Wagga and Albury were also a favorite part of the trip. although the hotels may not have been quite up to par with those in Sydney and Melbourne, but locals were very welcoming. They all were people that our group could connect with more since we had small towns and or agriculture as common backgrounds.

Dinner cruise in Sydney

  Towards the end of the trip were some of the most memorable and fun times, especially when the whole group celebrated my birthday at Gilligan's in Cairns as well as surprising me with a cake at dinner. The most indescribable sight we saw, however, would have to be the Great Barrier Reef namely the bottom of it while scuba diving. As soon as we returned home, as a matter of face before we even left I was ready to go back and do more exploring in what had quickly became my favorite place I have ever visited. I can only hope to go back someday and spend some more time in Sydney and go out to the Reef and Green Island again for sure. 

Our scuba diving group

Last day in the land down under

This was one of my favorite days of the entire trip, looking back on it I still can't hardly believe that we actually were on the ocean floor in the Great Barrier Reef. We started off the day getting on a boat that took us to Green Island where we spent two hours on the beach and getting our crash course on scuba diving. Even though it was raining and not that warm we had we still made the best of our time and adventured around the island. I found myself having multiple photo shoot with many of the Asian tourists. Not understanding why so many people wanted pictures I asked one of the fellow KSU students that had been to China and she explained that for them it was a rarity to see people with blonde people so it was a goal of theirs to get a picture with a blonde american girl.

From there we took another hour ride to the Reef where we spent the afternoon scuba diving, snorkeling, and going down in a semi-sub. After getting used to the pressure change, scuba diving was one of the most amazing experiences that I have had my whole life. None of my pictures do the coral or the fish justice.  The only downfall of the day was getting a little sea sick on the boat because the waters were pretty rough. Three Thirty the next morning came way to early, no one was anywhere near ready to get up and no where near ready to come home.

My Birthday!

Day 8

May 30th

Fire making

Most of the day today was spent in the air for us as we had a three hour flight to Cairns in Northern Tropical Queensland. We arrived around noon and then went to the Tjapukai Aboriginal cultural center. Highlights included boomerang and spear throwing demonstrations,  a didgeridoo performance, and hunting / natural foods lessons. It was very entertaining to learn and practice throwing the spears and the boomerangs from real indigenous people. 

Boomerang throwing

The weather hasn’t been in our favor however, it has been raining off and on since we got here which hasn’t made for the best sight seeing but hopefully things will clear and warm up before we hit the reef. Tonight we are heading to a bar called the Salt club that is known world wide. The next on our agenda is dinner at The Fish which is said to be the best place for sea food in the city. Last but not least we will be hitting the downtown area to celebrate my birthday and one of our last times out in Australia.It’s hard to believe that we have been gone for eight days, especially since we didn’t get a May 22nd with the international date change.  

My Birthday cake!