Rainforest to Reef

Next stop on the East coast of Australia was Cairns! A 10 hour bus trip north of Airlie Beach (which we took overnight to optimise time).

All of my travels throughout Queensland (the state above New South Wales) took me past cane fields! It is harvesting season so we also shared the roads with trucks hauling cane.

Mossman Gorge and the beginning of our rainy day rainforest tour. The Daintree rainforest is the oldest in the world and it definitely did not disappoint in its awesomeness!

The sun came out for Cape Tribulation, the place where Captain Cook started to have all of his sailing troubles when he 'discovered' Australia in 1770. (People neglect the fact that the aboriginals actually got here long before Cook). Mangrove trees were everywhere in the rainforest, they are up there on my 'cool tree' list right alongside ghost gums. 

Another cool 'tree', the Strangler Fig. This plant grew around the trunk of another tree and eventually killed it off!

These basket plants feed on things that fall into them.

Time for some crocodile hunting. This big guy was just one of the many crocs we saw on our river cruise. His name is Scarface and he is the alpha male. With 5km of territory, 6 girlfriends and a whopping 4+ m length, he is the undisputed ruler!

That's Lumpy, he's less intimidating than Scarface.

And we head straight from rainforest to reef! Our second day in Cairns was spent exploring some of the outer reef with it's amazing and colourful creatures.

This clam is hundreds of years old!

The sand here is 90% parrot fish poop!

Found Nemo!! Did you know that anemone and jellyfish are from the same family? And that clown fish have the ability to change sex in certain circumstances!

High Five to the star fish.

Decided to try out an introductory scuba dive to see if it would be something I join my sister in doing in the future. Loved it! Also note the massive fish photobombing me!

The dive was worth it even just for the green sea turtle spotting.

Got about 3.5m down.

A fun day on the reef all around.

And here is a quick video cruise of the reef. When I asked about the impact of tourism on the reef the answer that I got was that we do barely a fraction of harm that something natural like a cyclone can do to it. It is a very hearty living thing, the worlds largest living organism to be exact, and it is much more in danger from the results of climate change.

After a morning of skydiving (refer to earlier post) a quiet afternoon at the Cairns tropical zoo was in order ordered. This is Jack, I love him more than I have loved a lot of things and wish that there was a way to keep him in a eucalyptus tree in my home forever. They really are happy to cuddle and they hold on tight with their extra thumb! Did you know that no two koala bums are the same, they each have a distinctive pattern. Koalas also have a super hard plate on their backside, aiding them in sitting in trees for hours on end in total comfort.

One last kangaroo hang out session.

This is a wallaby, an under-recognised aussie creature. They are quite cute and stoutly, and seemingly docile but they can run super fast and are powerful when they are upset. They also have a hard plate on their bums but in their case it is so that they can wedge themselves in the mouth of their burrow, backside out, and stop anything from getting in without getting hurt!

Cairns was truly and unforgettable stop.

Review of the STUDENT part of exchange.

Well the student part of the exchange has been over for what seems like a very long time now (in reality it has only been a couple of weeks). I think it is high time I do a bit of a reflection on that aspect before it fades into a distant memory!

Here are some comments on the exams (being most salient in my mind). First of all, there is an allotted 10 minutes of  'reading time' at the start of every exam. During this time you are forced to confront your fate without the opportunity to start answering questions in any way. I found this practice to be much more stressful than practical but I suppose the time could be used to devise a strategy to manage one's time most effectively during the actual writing period. The second thing that was different from my previous exam writing experiences was the fact that seats were assigned! Sure we mark down our seat numbers in some of our exams at home but we are never fated to a particular seat. Finally,  there was a lot more writing than I was used to. I think this can be blamed on the fewer teaching assistant marking hours we have at the University of Guelph. I was still able to employ some of my years of multiple choice experience however!

Ultimately I think I fared pretty well on the exam portion but we will have to wait and see my final grades before I can say that with ultimate certainty.

That provides a pretty good transition into a discussion of how my grades fared during the exchange process...

Although I have no final marks I know that they will be lower than the marks I have received at home. I partly account this to the marking criteria of the University of Sydney,  being a world class university I have found that it was much harder to get very good marks there, although it also seemed to be harder to fail. However, I believe the predominant reason is one faced by exchange students around the world, the daunting challenge of balancing fun, excitement and experience with academic hard work! This is something that they don't worn you about as much as they maybe should. Along with being thrown out of every routine you have developed over your uni career you are constantly faced with adventure and opportunity that contribute just as importantly to your exchange experience. Striking a balance was what I found to be key to the success of my exchange. Being realistic about the strains that are put on your normal academic functioning but also keeping in mind that it is the academics that have brought you across the world are key to leaving your place of study satisfied with your accomplishments.

I have absolutely loved and appreciated my time at the University of Sydney and think that I have gained some valuable insights from studying under a different roof. I am, however, excited to head back to finish up my degree at the University of Guelph. The smaller campus in a quieter city, McLaughlin Library and reliable campus internet are things that I have grown to love and build my academic life around, not to mention living in a place inhabited solely by uni students!

So, armed with my USyd jumper, I will head into fourth year with a new appreciation of my life at U of G and an added work ethic resulting from my semester of relative leisure and distraction!

Sailing the Whitsundays

The best way to see the iconic Whitsunday Islands is on a sailing trip departing from Airlie Beach. Our boat of choice was the humble Eureka II. We were 13 passengers on a converted racing sail boat on a 3 day tour of the area. Our skipper, Mel, has been in the area for over 20 years and had great knowledge of the best places to check out.

Over the three day trip we saw dolphins, whales (spotted by yours truly over my morning coffee on the bow of the boat) tons of fish and some spectacular coral! The wildlife was just the cherry on top of a couple of days of beautiful weather and some of the most spectacular beaches and scenery in the world. I have to say this sailing trip was the perfect way to relax and unwind from a stressful exam period.

And commence the photo montage;

Our vessel. 

 Although it was not jellyfish season we still wore stinger suits just to be safe!

This was at a stop called 'The Fish Bowl'.

Bedroom for 3.

Whitehaven Beach. 

The sand is mostly silica, giving it its white colour and making it cooler to walk on.

Whitehaven beach is 7km long and is located on Whitsunday Island.

We had a beautiful morning to play around in the water and lay in the sun.

Whales!

We were privy to a real sailing experience, happy I packed some Gravol!

Don't be alarmed, we were anchored. 

Sunset Cove.

More Lingo

Of course, there is more! I think that the list could just keep growing and growing as I am constantly bombarded with new words and expressions. I have listed some of my favourites/commonly used word or phrases. I have also received, as a parting gift, a book of Aussie slang from a friend I met here and will enjoy sharing it with you when I return!

cup of warm beverage = cuppa eg. "would you like a cuppa?"

nineteen = ninedeen

lot/many = heaps

prescription = script

pharmacy = chemist

raisin = sultana

hostel = backpackers

squash = pumpkin

excited = keen

ground meat = mince

smash = accident

no problem = no worries

Alex = Xan

season (TV) = series

liquor store = bottle shop/bottleo

Pies, Pies, Pies!!

If I have experienced anything to be very Australian it would have to be the meat pie! The tradition surely has British roots but the Aussies have taken them to the next level and they have become very ingrained in the culture here. I'm sure you saw me chowing down on one in an earlier post about footy games, but these tasty treats can also be found all around the city and at all roadside stops. You're not hard up if you're craving a pie!

Now besides the generic beef pies you can get everywhere there is also a place called 'Pie Face'. This company has definitively capitalised on the pie market and taken things to the next level offering pies in every flavor combination you can think of, all decorated with funny faces.

Now some would argue that the REAL pie experience doesn't end with just tomato sauce, behold, the famous Harry's Tiger;

I had to give it a go!

Despite the pie having a bit too much pepper for my taste this was a delicious endeavour!

I have definitely become a Pie Person since coming here and these will be on my list of things to re-create when I'm home. 

 

The 'choc-top'

I bet you will never guess where these bagged, hard chocolate covered, ice cream cones make their appearance in the Aussie lifestyle...

I'll give you a hint, they are often grouped with popcorn in combos...

Yes THE MOVIES! How strange. But they are quite delicious.

Just like jumping out of a plane!

I have found a few minutes in a backpackers place in Cairns to check out the 100 goofy photos that were taken of me during my 14,000 FT SKYDIVE YESTERDAY! Can you believe I did it? I hardly can. It was a bit of a spur of the moment 'you only live once' decision to careen head first out of a plane flying above the clouds but, to be fair, extreme sports are a huge part of the life down here so I thought I would try my hand at them during my final weeks in the country.

24 hours after my first introductory scuba dive (more to come on this) Jennie and I strapped in for a different kind of diving. Despite my limited history in this area of extreme sporting and my huge dislike of roller coasters I found this whole experience to be quite surreal, it never really sunk in that it was actually happening and so I didn't get as scared or nervous, as I expected I would. I must say about 5 seconds into our 60 second free fall I got worried, but at that point there wasn't much to do about it but trust in Carl (my tandem dive master who has logged over 10,000 jumps) and enjoy the ride, and that is exactly what I did! After breaking through the clouds (and grabbing a quick taste) the views were amazing and the 4 minutes to the ground were quite breathtaking.

Now don't get yourselves in knot, through this experience I have learnt that I am not really one of those adrenaline junkies and this experience did not convert me. It was truly amazing and I'm so glad that I did it but I don't think that I will be itching to jump down from my Korean Air flight onto Canadian soil!