My Australia trip! @myaustraliatrip - Tumblr Blog

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We had a great panel of women talking about their periods and menopause and leadership.

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(the last gif)

Day 9 was our last day, and we took a trip out to the beach, and after that, we went into the rainforest and hiked a little way, and then swam in the (extremely cold) water near a gorgeous waterfall. Even though it was really cold, I forced myself to stay in the water because, when's the next time I'm going to get to swim in the rainforest? We just hung out in the rainforest, and when we went back we had a going away get together at the Woolshed Pub. No one stayed very long because we all had early flights but we all wanted to say goodbye to each other because most of us had gotten extremely close in just the 9 days that we spent with each other. It was a very bittersweet ending to the trip!

Day 8 was Great Barrier Reef Day! This was the absolute best day of the trip! We took a boat ride out to the reef, which took about an hour and a half to get to. Of course the ride there was beautiful, but once we got to the reef, I can't even describe how amazing it was. You could see the reef from the boat, and there were so many colors that were visible from the surface. We dove in three different spots, and for all three dives I had a guide, which is much better than unguided dives because you see so much more since the guides know where all of the different species are located. I'm so glad that I got scuba certified this summer, because this meant I didn't have to stay with the large group and go through the training and all of that. And it also meant more diving! The only sad part about this trip was that my camera couldn't capture all of the colors of the reef. Some of my pictures look like the coral was white, when in reality, none of it was. But either way, it was still so beautiful and I'm so glad that I went!

Bungee Jumping!

Day 7 was bungee jumping day! We rode a two layer bus to the rain forest again, and we all got to bungee jump and go on one of those glider swings for free. Bungee jumping was definitely one of the scariest moments of my life, but it was also one of the most fun. I got up to the platform and automatically thought "I can't do this" but when you finally do jump it is the most amazing feeling. We all just hung out in the rain forest and watched each other jump and swing, and it was very relaxing actually. The view from the platform was one of the most amazing views I have ever seen in my life. I walked up the hundreds of steps after I jumped just to take pictures of the view! It was the third time I had to walk up, since my friend and I didn't think things through and we wore our shoes up to the top, which are restricted while jumping. So by the end of the day I had a good story and a pretty good leg workout. Anyways, here are some pictures of my jump and the view, and the video will come after this post!

Day 6 of the trip was spent white water rafting down the Tully River, a gorgeous river that flows right through the rain forest. I don't have any white water rafting pictures because I didn't bring my camera onto the raft (because I forgot to bring the strap for it and didn't want to lose it). White water rafting was so exciting! I have never been before this trip, and I have to say that doing it in the rain forest for the first time was the right decision. The scenery was gorgeous and at certain points of the trip, the guide let us get out of the raft so we could just float beside the raft down the river. It probably wasn't the safest thing to do with jagged rocks all along the river, but oh well. It was very fun :) At one point, the guide pulled us over to a rock so we could check out the spiders that hang around in the rain forest. We pulled over to a huge rock and saw five spiders that were at least four inches across. I thought they were incredible but not everyone on the boat was so thrilled so we didn't stay long. After that we finished rafting down the river and we were able to rock jump off of a big rock that was probably 10 meters high, and that was definitely the best rock jump I've ever done :) The scenery was just so beautiful and it's not possible to describe how amazing it really was. We were able to take one last swim in the river before getting out, and when we did get out we unfortunately had to get back on the bus and drive to Cairns, but Cairns was one of the most amazing cities I've ever been in, so it was all worth it.

These pictures are from the drive to Cairns. Some are a little blurry because they were taken from inside of the bus, but the drive was so pretty I wanted to upload the pictures <3

Days 3 through 5 were spent on the Whitsunday Islands. The first day on the islands, we went speed boating. The speed boating was fun, but I think the highlight of the day was going to a section of the Great Barrier Reef and snorkeling. The coral was so amazing, it was absolutely unreal. I have never seen something so beautiful in my life. I felt like I couldn't take enough pictures of the reef, but the sad thing is that the vibrant colors don't all come out on photos, so it's really one of those experiences that you have to actually witness to get the full picture. After snorkeling, we went to a beach called White Haven Beach, which was the prettiest beach I have been to so far. The sand is so incredibly white and the water is so clear that you can see stingrays hundreds of feet away from you in the water. It was so beautiful. We had lunch at this beach and we just hung out there for the day. The next day, we just had a free day on the Whitsunday Islands. We had a whole island to ourselves for these three days (besides the resort staff), so it was so relaxing not having to worry about other people. The second day we just hung out by the pool or by the ocean and it was a very relaxing day. On the third day, we took a yacht out around the Whitsundays and back to the mainland. By the time we got to the mainland, it was late and we just drove a few hours to our next hostel for the night. All in all, the beaches I saw in these three days were the best I've ever seen in my life. Pictures don't even begin to show how amazing they were in person.

The next couple sets of pictures were all from these three days!

Day 2 was spent on Frasier Island. Two very large jeeps picked up the group at our hostel, and we drove to the ferry that took us to the island. The island was all sand, and the ride was incredibly bumpy, but it was extremely fun because it was like being on a roller coaster the entire time. A few people that sat on the window side got bruises from the ride, but everyone had an extremely good time anyway. Half the ride was on the shore, and half was in the rain forest. We drove to Mackenzie Lake, which is a freshwater lake in the middle of the island that was so incredibly clear and beautiful. Because it's remote, there wasn't a lot of people on the island either which made it the perfect spot to hang out for the day. Because we were in the rain forest, the plant and wildlife were incredible. Some of the plants looked like they were straight out of a Dr. Suess book. The island was so beautiful and the beach was breathtaking. Once we got back to the hostel, we all took quick showers and ate dinner, and then we got on the bus and started our 12 hour overnight trip to our next destination.

The first day of the tour was set aside for the Australia Zoo. This is the zoo that Steve Irwin owned, worked, and lived at. It was pretty special for me to be able to visit this zoo since he is pretty much responsible for my interest in nature. I used to watch him all the time as a child and it was just amazing to be able to see the zoo he built. His family (Terri, Bindi, and Robert) were there and they put on the crocodile show which we got to watch, and that was pretty cool too even though it was more geared for younger kids.

After the zoo, we headed to the first hostel we stayed in, which was about a two hour drive. When we got there we got unpacked and settled, and then we took a short but beautiful walk to the largest sand dune that I've ever seen. It was one of the most beautiful sites I've been to. We went to the side of the dune that overlooked the ocean, and then we came back up and watched the sunset, which was also one of the most beautiful ones I've ever seen. It was truly a gorgeous site, and it was so relaxing. I'll post the pictures of that in my next post, since there isn't enough room in this one!

I'm back from One Fish Two Fish!

I'm going to be creating separate posts for what I did everyday instead of making one long post. I might not post all of them in one day since it will be very time consuming, but they will all be posted!

I'm in Brisbane :)

I'm staying in a hostel in Brisbane for the night. Tomorrow I'll be meeting my tour group for One Fish Two Fish. For those of you who don't know what the trip is, here is the link -

https://www.colourfultrips.com/trip-134-One-Fish-Two-Fish-Spring-Break-Trip

The trip includes some really awesome stuff, so I'm really excited to go! I won't be able to get on the internet for about ten days, so I won't be able to update the blog until I get back, but I'll post a bunch of pictures when I get back!

So excited to be going to the Great Barrier Reef :) I've been waiting for this moment for about ten years now!

<3

On Friday I did the Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb with two of my housemates and my advisor! Monmouth paid for us to go, which is good because it costs $218 per person to climb the bridge! Either way, it was so fun. It was a beautiful day and the views were amazing. I wish I had more pictures, but cameras and any other loose objects are not allowed for safety reasons, since we were about 500 feet in the air. We climbed to the tallest point of the bridge, and looked out into the harbor. It was so beautiful. We could see the Opera House and a huge portion of Sydney, along with both sides of the harbor. Once we got to the top, it was extremely windy, and it's a good thing we were harnessed in because some people were having trouble keeping their footing because of it. The wind was about 80 km/h when we were at the tallest point. A lot of people were complaining about it but it was such a nice day and I thought the wind just made it more fun to be honest. The guy leading us through the climb was so funny and made us laugh the whole time but also gave us some interesting history too. (It turns out the the Opera House took 4 times as much steel to build than the whole bridge did, because they made the bridge hollow!) The whole experience was so fun and the views were amazing. I'm so glad we went, even if we did have to get up at 7am on a Friday.

Oh, and please do take a look at the very fashionable suits we got to wear on the climb. They may not be pretty, but they were really comfortable :)

<3

This weekend I made a trip to Reef Beach! I decided to take a day to myself and find this beach that I've heard is good for snorkeling. I had absolutely no idea how to get there once I got off the bus stop so it took about an hour to find, but once I got there it was definitely worth it. Reef Beach used to be a nudist beach in Australia, until nudity on the beach was banned in the 1990's. Because of the bad correlation people have with the beach, almost no one goes there anymore so there was a lot of room to explore. There were a lot of tide pools and I found some sea urchins, starfish, crabs, snails, and some other organisms that I couldn't identify in them. It was basically a marine biologist's dream. I brought all of my snorkeling gear with me but I didn't end up snorkeling. I went in the water, but once I was in I saw some jellyfish and they were pretty numerous so I didn't think it was a good idea since I didn't know what species they were or if they were dangerous or not. But I still had a great time and I'll probably go back once the weather warms up a little bit :)

<3

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