Heyyy there lovely people! Well these past 5 days have been full of fish filled adventure. I have spent the past five days in sunny Cairns, Australia. Now before I go any further at all I must tell you how to pronounce Cairns in case you ever go there, and do not want to be laughed at. It is in fact pronounced "cans". Yes, that is right folks.... ignore that "i" and "r"
because they really serve no purpose at all. There were a group of 9 (10 at times) ladies who decided to head up to Northern Australia for our first spring break of the school year to go snorkeling on the great barrier reef. When we arrived we found our hostel, which said it included
linens, gave us only a sheet.... good thing it was between 30 and 37 degrees C the entire time.... except of course in the middle of the night, but that is a different story. Also, I do not know about anyone else, but when you thing Great Barrier Reef you think of ow amazing the beaches
must be.... well you would be wrong. There actually are no beaches close by at all. There are just muddy shores which could be infested with crocodiles....
interesting. Luckily Cairns has this huge man made lagoon, which is safe to swim in (see picture above and to the right) and has a sandy shore on one side, with an infinity pool effect looking out into the ocean. It was really nice needless to say, I felt like I was chilling by a pool at a really nice resort.
Our first full day there we just lounged by the lagoon and surveyed the little town with all of its shops, cafes, and restaurants. It was really nice to just lay out in the sun and know that we had no agenda, no places we needed to be. It was very relaxing, just the break I needed in the middle of this very long, daunting, study
abroad trip I am in the middle of.... (sarcasm.) The girls in the photo to the left starting from the left are my
roomie Meagen, Natalie, and myself. Do not be mislead this was in fact not a nude beach.... although I hear they do have those here.... I will not be visiting one though,
haha. Well day 2 was snorkel day. I took so many pictures on the boat out to the reef, which is about an hour and a half trip one way
surprisingly, it was hard to pick which one to show you, but I choose this one because it is a look back at the
mountains to the south of Cairns with come nice tropical fog settling, so
beautiful. Well the boat ride out was
absolutely relaxing. Just
an hour and a half of open ocean, lounging on the outside deck looking at the beautiful colors of the sea. Our first snorkeling spot was at a reef they do not get to go to much
because the wind and currents usually do not allow it. It was amazing. The reef is massive and colorful, as are the fish. I sadly did not have an underwater camera with me, but some of the other girls did so I will try to put some of those up when they get them processed. Needless to say you can tell God ad fun creating the ocean life,
because it is absolutely breath taking. After this we got back on the boat for a
healthy catered lunch, which was one of the best meals I have had my entire time in Oz, so that was fantastic. Our second snorkel spot was known as "the fish bowl" and indeed it was a fish bowl. The reef entering in was fairly close to the surface of the water, but after you swam over it a bit it dropped down to this massive bowl shape carved out of coral. It was full of brilliantly colored fish. However the current at this spot was going away from the boat and it was super
strong, so it took all of
everyone energy to get back to the boat,
haha. Thankfully everyone made it. This was also the spot with the "scary coral". I had my head sticking above water and I was chatting wit Meg... the current was super strong so it was moving us the entire time... pretty soon I realized it had pushed us so there was coral barely below our feet so I decided to start swimming again to get away from it. Well when I put my face in the water I was a bit startled
because all I could see in any direction was this crazy coral that looked sort of like millions of intertwined fingers. It is very hard to explain, but it would be the perfect setting for an under water horror movie,
haha. None the less it was very cool, and of course I made my way out with out any problems what so ever. The boat ride back was amazing, especially after 5 hours of snorkeling, it was really nice to just lounge about. The picture to the left is Sarah and I enjoying the ride back to shore. I do have to say this was my first real hostel
experience. The first
night was the hardest.... not knowing it got cold and having to put on a million layers and
cocoon in my sheet to stay warm. Plus there were four of us sharing a room with another random girl who was not very friendly, and I am pretty sure she moved everything she owned into that room. And she was super loud any time she got up or went to bed, which was always at the crack of dawn.... but
regardless it was an interesting experience. I loved the buildings at the hostel tough. The only rooms with doors were the bed rooms and the toilets. Everything else was open to the elements. It looked like a tropical oasis, shaded by palm trees with 4
hammocks and a mini pool. It was a pretty cool place to get to stay in. We met some random people, most seemed pretty nice. I do have to say I have never seen so many guys walk around in
their underwear.... no shame in Australia I tell ya. Also, random side note, I have never seen so many people make out in public before, on trains, beaches, in the middle of the street (I kid you not), on park
benches, in cafes.... oh the snogging,
haha. Its awkward when they are blocking doorways doing this and your trying to make your way through...
regardless this only happened
once, but I feel like it could easily happen again. Anyway... our last night there Sarah, Meg and I ran around the town to take random pictures and do some exploring. It was a really fun
evening full of laughter and silliness, and Meg finding out that "in that one picture it looks like I have two legs"
hahaha. Oh dear. This trip once again taught me a lot about myself and a lot about God. I am such a weirdo. I like to have alone time and it is hard for me when I cannot easily get it. Do I
isolate myself or suck it up?
Meh. Well I will leave you with his last picture just so I can brag a bit about being tan,
because lets be honest here this never happens, and this is maybe the second time it ever has,
haha.
Plus, who does not love a nice headless statue? I know I sure do. People on the street were
lagging at us for posing with him... that is always funny. Thanks for reading!
and a day and a half back. I thought it was going to be a long trip, but it turns out the bus ride there flew by! I sat next to my friend Sarah the entirety of the ride out there, and it was so much fun, I did not sleep once. We talked about a loooot of stuff currently going on in our lives, listened to music from a few years ago we both loved (odd stuff, hardcore, old popular alternative songs, and some current indie stuff) and sang aloud shaking our heads and what not, it was silly and awesome. We also listened to two sermons from my church back home on men and marriage and women and marriage. It was amazing. We both tried so hard to fight back the tears as we were realizing so much about ourselves and humanity, our generation and how messed up things are. I could go on about this for quite awhile, and some of you have already gotten an earful and I apologize, but I would love to talk about it more so ask me! Well as we got closer to Trilby Station, we made a few stops for photo opps. This was a mine in a town called Cobar. I have never seen a mine from the top before, they are pretty sweet. Can't imagine working outside in the Australian sun though. Ick. We also stopped by the Darling 
river, which also runs through our Outback home Trilby Station. Let me tell you right now, I have never seen a muddier river.... when I found out this was our option of where we could swim I said no thank you! Maybe I should be a tad more clear, it was not the mud that scared me away, it was the fact that many students in the past had gotten intestinal parasites from the river.... that just does not sound like any fun to me! Plus, come to find, there was a pool if we really needed it. This shot from the river was taken from Trilby, a 200,000 acre sheep farm, swarming with kangaroos and emus, in the middle of absolutely no where. A two hour drive to the closest corner store. Crazy. Well their land was so amazingly beautiful, from the sunsets, to starry nights, to the strange attachment and wonder which came from the vast nothingness and massive blue skies. Our first whole day there started with a walking tour by Liz, the owner of the land responsible 
for the guests, (her husband Gary takes care of the animals and land). She showed us a sheep shearing barn, taught us about how that worked... sadly there were no sheep in there at the moment, I guess that only happens once a year. They are so far away from civilization that the area they live in has something called the flying doctor. Each home has a vast array of different vaccines labeled with numbers, so if anything happens you call the flying doctor and he will walk you through what to do and determine if it is bad enough for him to fly out there to help you out. Mind you this is all free.... the vaccines, the service, everything. *Ahem, cough, U.S. you suck at health care, cough cough* Any who, Liz and Gary's property is so big they have to use a plane to heard their sheep and look around making sure everything is alright. He owns two planes and two helicopters.... they fly to get into town because it takes too long to drive. What a lifestyle.
We had campfires every night and made smores and shared life stories, it was a great bonding time. Our second day there we were split up into two groups and when on a driving tour of the property. This was probably my favorite activity of them all. We drove around for four hours stopping at different places, taking millions of pictures, and getting to experience the feeling of being all alone in the middle of this red stained land. This shot to the right was our bus ride out there, amazingly all four of us roomies were on the trip, which was pretty cool. Might I point out Kelsey in the far back right, cracking up... love her. And poor cat who had dust flying in her eyes so she could not keep them open for the picture. Good thing I just bought handy dandy eye shields, aka massive purple sun glasses. They also helped to keep out the flies, which seemed to attack your face every five seconds out there. Anyway, our tour was amazing. We had a very good group of people who helped make for some really funny stories, my personal fav was taking a picture of Wes jumping off one of the old abandoned cars and getting a sweet mid air shot, then an even sweeter falling on the ground with his feet up in the air shot. Do not worry folks he did not get hurt! We stopped in the middle of no where multiple times, we found some
old abandoned cars, some man made body of water people out there use to use for drinking, and Liz and Gary's previous house. The amazing thing about their old house is that they just let it be. You can walk right in and find dishes in the cabinets, newspapers on the table, clothes in the closets, the beds are fully made, the shower has old shampoo, you get the idea. It is amazing that they could just let it be out there, no worries about vandalism, and since it had been there for 30 years nothing seedy had taken place, which is something that would never happen back home. Their biggest concern is making sure the doors get closed so that animals do not get in. The purpose for leaving the house out there is so that if anyone gets stranded hopefully they will stumble across the home and be able to survive a bit longer than if they were stuck in the hot 
sun alone. This picture to the right is from the bathroom sink, I got so many fun shots of this house it was hard to figure out which one to post, but this is one of my favorites. It gives you a good idea of how the red dirt just takes over out there. Let me just mention 4 days later, I am still blowing my nose and the red dust has not seem to have fully left. It was really fun as we were driving along out there to spot kangaroos and emus running around freely. Emus are probably one of my new favorite animals, watching them run is so humorous. They are basically this big blob of feathers bouncing up and down with tiny little legs and an even skinnier neck. I wish I got close enough to one to take a picture. Well the rest of our trip was full of hanging out enjoying the people and the property. We had the option of sleeping outside every night, however I did not make it through the first, haha. Meg and I decided to give it a go, and the first half hour of just laying there being mesmerized was totally worth it. However the night turned into an icy cold, rocky, uncomfortable adventure very quickly. So around 5 am Meg saw that I was awake as well and asked if I wanted to go in. I had been wanting to go in forever, but we only had one flashlight so I cold not just leave her. Well some other girls got up to
go in as well, and well I could only find one shoe. This normally would not be a problem, but the outback is infested with nasty burrs that hurt and get in your socks just by thinking about walking outside. Such tricky little guys. So I finally came to the conclusion Will was asleep on my other shoe... but being that I was exhausted and freezing and needing to go to the bathroom I was in a very odd state of mind and the thought of waking him up was stressing me out, haha. Meg came over telling me to just wake him up, and Kelsey came over saying the same, but both of them strongly disagreed to the thought of helping me and walked away. So after about 5 minutes of getting even more cold I finally started tapping him, which took awhile. When he finally started to move I said "Will, I need you to roll over" then his head shot out of his sleeping bag and he 
looked at the sky and said something along the lines of "Oh my gosh it is sooo beautiful"...... haha. By this time I was cracking up, and I just repeated asking him to roll over to which he replied "roll over?" then just started rolling and rolling. Thankfully my shoe was under him so I just took off. And apparently he kept rolling for awhile, so I found out the next morning, haha. Well I have rambled on for quite a bit about this trip, but one thing it really did was finally give me the feeling of being in Australia. I know I am here, but I have not felt like it 100%, but the red dirt, and absence of people, and abundance of new life, finally gave me the feeling of "wow, I am really here" which was amazing. Also, getting to go stay out there for three days really made me realize why Aboriginal people are so in love with their land. It has this captivating power which takes over you that you cannot put to words, it is amazing. Despite the burrs, flies, and lack of sleep this was my favorite experience so far on my Australian adventure. I could go on about it forever, and will share much more upon my return. Thanks for reading and I will leave you with a few more pictures...
Oh the red dirt, I cannot get enough!!!! Above were our tours tire tracks... below was edited a tiny bit just to enhance the colors, but I think it is one of my top 3 favs from the whole trip. The one below that was the sunset on the field behind our cabin the first night there, amazing.
