For my break I spent 5 days (Wed-Sun) in Cairns (pronounced Can-z)…it’s where the Great Barrier Reef is. It was probably the best 5 consecutive days of my life….
DAY 1:
There were 11 of us from BU that went, which ended up being the perfect number. We met outside our apartments at 1pm on Wednesday for a 2pm flight. Not kidding. Our bus got to the airport around 1:30 and we checked our bags, went through security and were at our gate no later than 1:40.
Australia’s emphasis on airport security is = to the amount of effort Henry puts into his school work (aka none) (sorry buddy) (not that you read my blog…)
Wednesday night we had pizza and beer at this cool pub and signed up for skydiving and bungee jumping (which would take place later in the week).
Oh yeah, we stayed at this place called “Gilligans.” Some described it as a “nice hostel,” which I think is an oxymoron? The hotel accommodations were probably the only/most negative aspect of the trip. I shared a room with 4 girls (that = 3 bunk beds) that smelled like my grandmothers house (sorry Baggs) + a million old wet towels.
The hotel was conveniently located above, what we were told was ,“the hottest club in town.” I’m having a really hard time creating an image for yall. It was very MTV/Florida spring break. A lot of themed costumes, spiked hair, unbuttoned shirts, etc. They also had several fun extra curricular activities planned at night, for example, “Miss Wild” and a bikini contests.
Bottom line...Crobs, this place was your nightmare.
DAY 2:
We woke up at 7am and made our way to the boat that we were going to be on all day. We took about a 2-hour boat ride out to the reef where we went snorkeling, went scuba diving, laid out, took naps and had lunch. The boat was pretty nice and the best part was that the closer we got to the bright blue water the clearer and sunnier it got. Scuba diving was SO awesome! I saw an awesome baby stingray, met Nemo, Dory, Nemo’s friends, Mr. Ray, a human-sized clam and saw so many cool colors on the reef. It was seriously such a perfect day. And we got champagne on the ride home : )
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| Becca, Me, Greg, Leona, and Julienne |
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| Frying away on the deck |
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| Nemo!! (photo cred: Maggie) |
DAY 3:
We woke up early again and got on a bus and met our tour guide, George. George was a very sweet, well-informed and proud Aboriginal man with A TON of stories. He even wore a microphone headset thing to maximize his voice so no matter how high you turn up your headphones and try to sleep, his voice would relentlessly fight its way through to your ears and up to your head and form a huge migraine. He was extremely nice though and we of course all gave him RAVING reviews.
SO, George drove us outside of Cairns to the Daintree Rainforest. We swam in this awesome gorge and walked through the jungle, which I actually really liked! Super green and lush! Kings, you would of liked it (it looked like that weird blade of grass desktop background that comes with your computer that you love so much). I was deathly afraid we were going to see a snake but we didn’t and I continue to thank God for that. We also went to the “Daintree Wild Zoo.” It was more like a huge empty trailer park with cute kangaroos, a super jealous emu and some very mean crocs hanging out. There were also these ADORABLE dingo pups!!
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| This turkey came out of nowhere and went through someones bag and found a pad (as in tampon/pad) and puts it in its mouth and pranced around everywhere with it in its mouth. It was hilarious. |
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| my favorite tree |
After the “zoo,” we went to this gorgeous beach and had lunch. The ocean water was SUPER hot, which I, and I alone, believed was kind of gross and reminded me of taking a bath in dirty water. With that said, the water was gorgeous and the beach was seriously out of a movie. It was really small and deserted and had a bunch of mountains in the background. It was basically where they filmed “Lost.”
The coolest thing about this place was the crab balls…not the crab’s balls …but the little tiny balls that they crabs would make when they would go in and out of their little holes on the beach. It was like the whole beach was covered in tiny balls (the size of peas) that made these crazy firework-like designs. It was so bizarre.
After the day in the rainforest, we headed back home and celebrated Leona and Lindsey’s bdays and Pete (our group leader that was with us this whole time, who was super great) was so sweet and went out and got a cake and sparklers and we all had a big celebration! Then Leona, Joe and I (we were the only ones not going skydiving at 7am the next morning) went out and celebrated bit more..
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| Happy Birthday Leona!! |
DAY 4:
The next morning I slept in late….which sadly, was not a theme throughout the entire trip. After the majority of the group got back from skydiving, which everyone LOVED, (I didn’t do it cause I went last year with Kings and Baggs) some of us went to hold koalas. It was seriously the most amazing thing ever. EVERYONE needs to do it.
My koala was named Hogan. He was 6 years old and had a huge belly and was super tired. He lived at this koala/kangaroo sanctuary thing with 5 other koalas. His only guy friend, Phin, was asleep. However, his best female koala friend, Tim Tam, made a special appearance. Girl koalas are significantly smaller than males, just FYI. I thought TT (her nickname) was a baby when they first brought her out. SO cute! Even all the guys were dying over how cute they were. I really want to cry thinking about how they are stuck in that artificial habitat though. It is really sad. They are for sure my new favorite animals and I wish I could convey their love through my computer screen, but I cant. So, make sure you hold a koala before you die. It was AMAZING.
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| Hogan and I xoxo |
The rest of the day I laid out by the pool and got fried and read a horrible book by a so-called, “comedic Southern belle.” (I should have known not to read it when the quotes on the back “praising” this novel said, “her tangy style is sure to make you LOL” and my personal favorite, “This woman is more than funny, she’s Carolina funny”). However, it was still a perfect day!!
That night was our last night so we all got dressed up and went out. After having between 1-7.5 vodka cranberries at “the hottest club in town” we went to a bar called The Woolshed. This quickly became the most enjoyable evening of the trip/possibly of my time abroad thus far. This bar was insane. Everyone was dancing on tables (including a 71 year old woman – not kidding) and they were playing some great American throwbacks. SO we danced into the wee hours until I couldn’t dance anymore and I needed food ASAP {Enter McDonalds snack wrap #57}.
DAY 5:
The next morning we woke up and happily checked out of our “hotel” and headed to the bungee place. The first thing we did was the “jungle swing.” My impression of this so called, “swing” was that we were going to pair up and glide through the jungle and it was going to be a great, enjoyable ride. Wrong. Very misleading. After strapping on what I would consider the most atrocious uniform of all time (think: one of those things you put over your bodies when you get an XRAY + a diaper + knee pads + a hair net + a helmet), we were raised up above all the trees and given a beautiful view of Cairns. Sounds great, right? Well the second step was for ME to pull the rope that “released” us. I have never been so scared (little did I know what I was going to be doing in 45 min). I pulled the rope and we literally dropped straight down…and we were facing the ground, which made it super scary. After the initial drop however, it was SO much fun!
After that, I signed up to bungee jump. I LOVED LOVED LOVED sky diving and I thought if I could do that I could bungee jump. Wrong (again).
I climb the 5 miles worth of stairs to the platform (16 stores high). Leona was the first to jump, then Julienne, then Lindsey, then Jully…then it was my turn. There was about a 10-minute process of putting your harness on and tying your feet together, etc. During that time you are a foot away from the edge and anticipating your jump. The 3 girls before me literally jumped within 15 seconds of getting to the edge. I have no idea how.
I got up to the edge and put my toes over it and couldn’t let go of the bar/the man’s shirt. I had my feet over and everything and was looking straight down at all the people (who looked like ants) staring up at me. I started BALLING hysterically and screaming, “FUCK” (sorry) and literally couldn’t breathe and eventually (after about 13 minutes of everyone waiting for me) had them untie me and I refused to jump.
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| There were TVs inside for the people not bungee jumping to watch a close-up of people jumping off - so everyone got a close-up view of my PANIC ATTACK. |
After calming down a little bit (still completely crying though), SWEET SWEET SWEET and selfless Maggie agreed to go tandem with me. Which was super nice because she paid for a single jump and got a DVD and pictures for just her and gave it all up just so I wouldn’t regret not bungee jumping. SO, now I HAD to jump cause I had Maggie’s “once in a lifetime bungee experience” in my frikkin hands.
So they tied us together and counted down from 5 and I seriously held on to her tighter than I knew possible. We jumped off the platform and were in free fall for multiple seconds before the bungee cord caught our feet and yanked us back up into the sky for yet another free fall.
SIDE NOTE: I decided to wear a superman cape in order to possibly feel more empowered (also to add drama to my pictures). The cape had the OPPOSITE effect.
It not only choked me as I awaited my death/jump, it swallowed my face whole while I was plunging 150mph towards the ground….which ultimately prevented me from seeing and breathing.
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| The cape engulfing my face- not quite the "dramatic" picture I was hoping for |
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| literally would NOT let go of Maggie |
It was BY FAR the most terrifying thing I have ever experienced. I am glad I did it BUT I would never say that was “fun” or a “must do before you die” kinda thing. It isn’t. It was unnatural. It was terrifying. It was far from peaceful. I would never ever go again.
The other horrible part was that I told the stupid guys at the top that my grandmother had bungee jumped and they (who claim to be “trained in psychology and will encourage you and help you all day if they have to”) told me (after I wimped out the first time) that “I was letting my grandmother down.” I hated them. I think it was a pretty mutual hatred actually.
My friend Julienne enjoyed her jump so much (I cant possibly imagine why) that she went up for a “level 2” jump. She climbed to the ROOF of the platform and they tied her waste (not her ankles) and she SPRINTED across the roof and jumped off. I am speechless to this day. It was seriously the most insane things I have ever witnessed.
So yeah, that was the trip. It was amazing and I got to do so many amazing things everyday and I am very grateful for that! As my other sweet sweet friend Becca likes to say (not being sarcastic at all), “I am very glad I got to share that moment with you.”
I will check in with you in a week or two and let ya know how my internship is going!!!! Hope everyone is doing well and make sure to tell my dad and Henry HAPPY BIRTHDAY on October 14th. It’s very important that you do that.
Love/Miss you!!!!! Xo, Bess
PS- Thanks mom for the package!! I found myself really relating to the magazines that featured Oprah, Ellen and Rosie O’Donnell on the cover. MISS YOU!!
