Another Tuesday Blog Post: Can I Just Stay Here?

So, I left off on my last post with my free day, the end of day 11. That night we had a quiz, and then I went out downtown to go eat a good ole cheeseburger and fries (and get some wifi too). When I got back, I had to pack my carry-on backpack for the next couple of days that included a bus ride, part of the night at the YMCA before going to the airport at 3am, a plane ride, a day in Brissie, and a 10hr bus ride. Then, I just went to bed.

On day 12, we had to have our things out to the coach by 7:30 and then went for a very intense hike up a mountain. And when I say UP a mountain, I literately mean UP the mountain. I had to stop a few times up the way, but I’m proud to say that I summited Queenstown Hill (don’t let the name fool you). The views were totally worth it – you could see a 360 degree shot from Queenstown over to the Dart Pass and back around. One of my new friends and I walked back down slowly and enjoyed the views and silence/sounds of nature from the hilltop. We got to go downtown for a few hours after the hike before heading back to Christchurch. The bus ride was around 6 hours long, and we actually got a great view of the uncloaked Aoraki on the way back, along with an absolutely beautiful sunset and moon rise over the mountains. We stopped by Subway for dinner before getting to the YMCA for a night nap. The other AU/NZ study abroad arrived in Christchurch from Australia while we were there, so it was cool to see and talk to some of them. On the down side, we had a lot of work to do, so we were up until about midnight…and had to get up at 2:30 the next morning.

After a nice 2 hour nap, we all piled onto the coach and headed to the airport at 3am. We all said bye to J.P., and I finally got to talk to my mom and my sister for the first time for a little bit from the airport. We boarded our plane and took the 3 hour flight over to Brissie. When we arrived, we boarded the bus with Colin who then took us to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. I finally got to hold a koala and pet a dingo! We fed some roos, took selfies with an emu, saw some Aussie critters, and ate a steak and chicken BBQ lunch. We had a scavenger hunt in a museum and then had a surprise free afternoon in the city. I walked around with some people for a bit, and we went to Woolies, Big W, a couple of souvenir shops, and some eating places. I got some gummy snakes too! (That’s for you Lauren.) That night we boarded the bus for our night journey out to Carnarvon gorge. It started out with a flat tire…our luck with busses, but we made it! I maybe got 1 or 2 hours of sleep, but I did luckily have one seat to myself for that journey.

When we got to the gorge, Duncan and Steve (or bus drivers too) made us a yummy breakfast while we unloaded our stuff. We had a free morning, so I took a shower and explored some of the trails around the campsite and down the river. After lunch, we had some lectures and an introduction to the area with Simon before going out (for Survivor Carnarvon) to make some tools, boomerangs, and a water carrier. We got divided up into 2 teams, the emus and the kookaburras. I was on team kookaburra and helped shape a boomerang with sandstone and some leaves that felt like sandpaper. It was quite difficult, but our team ended up winning. (The only thing we lost was the rope cutting contest.) I got to throw the boomerang twice, and it actually came back! haha That night I wasn’t feeling so well, probably tired, so I ended up sleeping through dinner and getting a much needed 12 hours of sleep.

The next day, day 15, team kookaburra headed out after brekkie for a morning hike up Boolimba Bluff. It started off with a rock hop across the river, a nice walk through the bottom of the gorge, and a 300 meter dash straight up some steps to the top of the gorge. The view was great, and we got to see all the layers of rocks from bottom to top. We headed back down and made it back to the campsite at 11:30. We had some of the pasta left over from the last night’s dinner that we ate for lunch and then proceeded to work on some homework for the rest of the afternoon. The other group got back from the longer day hike around 4 and then we had dinner and went to bed. And I have to mention what we had for dinner – kangaroo. And it was good too; I shamelessly ate two pieces.

On day 16, the schedules switched and our group went for the long hike with Simon. Before the hike (and before breakfast), we had to store all of our luggage in three of the tents because check out was officially at 10am. On the 12km hike, we got to see the art gallery, Ward’s Canyon, the moss garden, the amphitheater, and the bottom of the gorge. I learned a good bit about Aboriginal history and life (from what is thought to be known) and took plenty of pictures. We got back late in the afternoon, showered quickly, and then went on the night walk with Simon to spot some gliders. It was so cool! We saw some greater gliders and some yellow-bellied gliders (and got to hear them call to each other too). We went back to the camp site, took a quiz, and had some chicken stir fry for dinner. The lights went out when we were in the middle of eating, so that was pretty exciting. We then went and grabbed all of our luggage, and pack up the bus for another overnight journey – this time to Hervey Bay airport. I shared a seat this time since I had my own for the last 10 hour journey. I guess I’m getting used to sleeping on busses because this time I actually slept for around 4 hours.

We arrived at the Hervey Bay McDonalds at 6am for breakfast. I finished up my homework that was due later that morning and chilled for a little. We then headed for the airport a couple of hours later. We discovered that our group would be taking 3 different flights, but the resort had been the one to split us up into our groups. 2 of the flights got to leave at 11, but, of course, I was on the one that left at 1pm. My friend Tori and I sat and watched Australia (the movie, of course). It was really cool to catch some of the Aboriginal references that I now understand some of the meaning behind! 1pm approached, so I grabbed a small bite to eat, checked my bag (and let it be known that I had one of the lightest bags out of the whole group), and waited to be called. When our flight was called, we walked outside to our tiny plane, had a safety briefing, and climbed on up. I got to sit in the row behind the pilot, and Caroline actually got to play co-pilot. The view of the island was so incredible from the air! The landing was a little rough (but fun, mind you), and I was a little disappointed to discover that the other group had already gone snorkeling. But the weather was beautiful, so I went and got settled in my room, got all my snorkel and reef walking gear, and then enjoyed a DELICIOUS chocolate thickshake with some friends. I had been told before by many people that I HAD to have the milkshakes, and they were definitely right about that. Afterwards, I played some beach v-ball and took a nap in a hammock on the beach before lecture. Our lectures were really long, but I was glad they were broken up with watching the sunset and eating dinner. LEI is an absolutely stunning place, and I absolutely couldn’t wait to get out into the water and start exploring.

Day 18: the first real day at LEI. We got up and ate some buffet breakfast before heading out for a reef walk at 7:30. Did I mention that all breakfast and dinners are buffet…I swear they’re trying to make me regain the freshmen 15. Anywho, the reef walk was super cool, and I got to see some turtles, sea stars, a lot of sea cucumbers, and a ton of coral. After the walk, some of us got geared up to go for the glass-bottom boat ride / snorkel off the lighthouse side of the island. (Some of the group went to their diving appointment: the island offers a little course for people who want to be able to dive in the GBR.) Pretty soon after we got on the boat, we saw a manta ray! Those creatures are so amazing and huge. We went around a little more and saw some turtles and fish and the like before jumping in. It was so cool! I took some pictures with my underwater camera, so we’ll see how those turn out. But the experience was absolutely spectacular. I got to dive down some with the turtles and fish and just snorkel around the area. Right after that snorkel, I went over to the other side of the island to snorkel the lagoon since it was high tide at 11:30. That was pretty awesome too. Everything was so close, you could literately reach out and touch it! I did get scraped on my leg by some coral but nothing serious. There is this one type of fish that Tori and I played with a little that would come out and nip you if you came too close to its home, so that was pretty amusing. I found Nemo around every turn, and I even saw an octopus. At 12:30 we had a small talk with one of the guys who does research here, so I took a quick shower before. I had some lunch (with another thickshake of course) afterwards and headed over to the hammocks to work on some things before our next lecture at 4. After lecture, we had some dinner and then had another lecture before taking a night walk at 9pm and heading to bed. We saw a ton of crabs, some gobies, cone snails, and the star-filled sky on our walk.

I woke up the next morning at 5:45 to go on the 6am snorkel. It was one of the most amazing things I have EVER experienced. I think I had sensory overload from the double rainbow behind me, the sunrise in front of me, the reef below me, and the island to my side. We saw SO MANY animals ranging from Manta Rays, green turtles, a loggerhead sea turtle, a tiger shark, some rays (including a cowtail), a black-tipped reef shark (I think that was its name), a shipwreck (I know that’s not an animal, but I had to throw it in there), and a ton of coral and fish (e.g. parrotfish plucking off some coral). And I got to dive down and give one of the green turtles a bit of a scratch, so that was pretty awesome! We came back in at 7:20, walked over to get breakfast, and then went to our 8am lecture. Some people went off to snorkel off the boat (like I got to do yesterday) or dive, but I just hung around the island, took it easy, and started a bit of the work for one of the projects we have to do while we’re here. I had another thickshake, snorkeled the lagoon for a while, went to dinner later, and then went to a lecture on turtles by John (a guy who gave us a special lecture on loggerheads). After the lecture, my group went out to collect data for the ghost crab project we are doing. We split up, and I went with 2 people to the North end of the airstrip to catch crabs and what not before heading to bed.

The next day, I went again on the 6am snorkel again, and it was great. Those 6am snorkels were probably the highlights of my time on Lady Elliot. I saw another Manta, a 12-15 foot shark, a couple more smaller sharks, some sea turtles, a lot of fish, and a lot of coral. Afterwards, I took a shower and had some breakfast. I spent the rest of the day exploring the island and working some on the project. We did go for a “behind the scenes” tour midday and learned about the resort’s efforts to minimize their impacts on the reef ecosystem. That afternoon, our group worked some more on our project before we had a lecture and ate some dinner. They threw us a pirate party that night. I went to bed at 10:30pm and it was really windy.

Day 21: back to Brissie. On Monday, I got to sleep in for a bit (until 7!) before packing my stuff, eating breakfast, and taking a quiz. I sat around and talked for a bit before my flight took off at noon. Then, I had to wait in the airport for 2 hours for the other group to come in from the 2pm flight. After they arrived, we drove for the rest of the day to Brisbane. For dinner, we stopped at this gas station Matilda place that had a creepy huge kangaroo that I of course got pictures with. On the bus, we drove past the exit for Steve Irwin Way and the zoo, so that was pretty cool. There was also some nice trivia along the way to “help drivers stay awake.” I’m not too sure how effective that is though considering the people who drive that road probably only read those signs once or twice before they just start ignoring them. When we got to Brisbane, we met to finish up our group project and then went to bed around 12-1.

At 8am the next day we had to meet downstairs for presentations. I first went to a coffee shop next door with my group to finalize some things like who was going to say what. My card was declined when I went up to pay, so that was kind of awkward because someone paid for my coffee and muffin for me. I hate when stuff like that happens. After all the groups presented, we had our last lecture of the trip and then had a free afternoon. (The presentations were a little rough because they were grilling us with questions and challenges after we finished, but I think ours went overall well.) I went with Taylor and Joel to grab some lunch, go shopping a little, and then go back to the hotel to study some. We also had fun using up my $60 left in Woolies gift cards that I got from my Qantas frequent flier miles a couple months before the trip. At 4:45 some of us met in the lobby to walk to dinner and see a dance put on by the Torres Straight Islanders. The food was pretty good, and the dance was so great. I love cultural dances, so this was perfect for me. Some of the guys from our group even got to be a little involved. After dinner and the dance show, I walked back to the hotel with a group, and we locked ourselves in my room with some caramel TimTams until around midnight working on the module and studying for the final the next day. I went to bed close to 1 after finishing the majority of my studying.

Day 23 / exam day / not a very exciting day to write about but I will anyway. I met downstairs at 8am with some people to study for the final at 12. We went down to the basement and filled out a survey and then took our finals until around 6pm. Afterwards, we went downtown to grab some food and finish souvenir shopping and then came back to the hotel at 8 to say goodbye to all the people leaving for Fiji. Sissy and some other people made superlatives for everyone in the group, and mine was “Most likely to be a secret agent.” It was so sad to see some of our group leave; I can’t believe how close we’ve all gotten over the past month. These people are pretty much like family to me now. A group of us who were still left went to get some gelato from a place downtown, and I got chocolate and caramel. It was delicious! When we got back to the hotel, I packed up my suitcase and sat on the balcony to get some free city wifi, and that’s where I’m posting from right now!

This will be my last post from Down Under since I head off to the airport tomorrow morning. I still can’t believe how quickly this past month has gone by, but when I look back, I also can’t believe how much we did!

I’m going to go ahead and say this now for all my friends and family reading this post. I am so excited to tell you about my trip and show you my thousands (literately, thousands) of pictures, but I will probably hibernate in my room for a day or two and just sleep when I get home. This trip has been exhausting, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

I can truly say that this study abroad experience has been impacting on me, and memories made on this trip will surely last a lifetime.

Cheers from Brisbane!

Megan