Finally a New Post!

Hey everybody, sorry its been so long since I've written. Mom cam and visited! That was so much fun, it was great to see a friendly face and be able to show her all the places and things I've come to know and love here. Before I knew it she was back home again! Then I only had a week or two of class before it was spring break. The first half was spent on a class field trip to Fraser Island for my biology class. It was so much fun, sleeping in tents and getting to know my classmates. We had to do some work during the mornings, lots of measuring vegetation and counting plants and looking at soil and stuff like that. But in the afternoon we would always go somewhere fun, a lake or a creek where we could swim. They wouldn't let us swim in the ocean because of sharks and jellyfish and dangerous currents. But we got to swim in lakes on the island, jump off sand dunes, and play touch footy in the sand. We drove all over the island in 4x4s, man our tutors were crazy drivers! Driving on the sand and on the beach was like riding a rollercoaster, bumpy but still fun. I had a great group of people to work with from my class, most of them were girls from Canada so not too far from MN! And the wildlife was great; we saw dingoes, kookaburras, and big lizards. The dingoes were really fun to see, they wandered around the beach and came really close to the cars; one even sat in front of our car and wouldn't let us drive for a few minutes! And the last night, they were right outside the fence surrounding the camp, sitting just a few feet away from us! That was definitely a highlight. The food there was great, we got delicious meals and even snacks throughout the day, they definitely spoiled us. But we did do a lot of hiking, it reminded me a lot of camping at home and made me miss it. Soon enough we had to pack up our stuff and head home. After that, me and my roommate Jen decided to go up to Airlie Beach. Just off the coast of Airlie Beach are the Whitsunday islands: 74 islands total! We decided to go on a sailing trip to sail around the islands and see the sights. We stayed for a day in Airlie and walked around the town, wandering into the little shops and checking out the souvenirs. Turns out Airlie Beach isn't actually a beach at all, since jellyfish are in the water and there are a few marinas that take up most of the coastline. But they did have a nice lagoon, a free public pool, so we decided to tan and enjoy the sun for most of the day there. Then it was time to sail! First we went around to some snorkeling sights, sailing around the islands. It was so gorgeous, the water is a beautiful light clear blue and the islands were big green and forested patches of land between the unending ocean. Snorkeling was amazing: there were tons of different types of coral and fishes swimming around everywhere. There were even big clams that shut a little bit when you swam over them. It was so amazing to see this whole different world under the water, we even got to see the really huge fish, like half the size of me! I decided to scuba dive once too instead of snorkeling again, and it was really cool to be able to go deeper and truly feel like you were a part of the underwater world. Our next stop was Whithaven Beach: a spectacular breath-taking beach on the largest island, Whitsunday Island. The sand is pure white and stays cool, it is so refined and clear that it reflects the ocean water, making the water clear and see through. The beach stretched on and on and the clear water faded into the deep blue of the water farther off shore. I could sit there for hours and never get over it. We hiked into the island to a lookout where we could see the beach from farther up. Here you could see where the wind blows the sand into sand banks across the beach, creating a beautiful view of white sandy beach swirling around the water. A lot of time was spent on the boat, sailing her and there. The sun was so hot, you couldn't escape it because there was no shade on the boat. Sunscreen was applied basically on the hour just to make sure we didn't burn. We slept on the ship overnight and the next morning we spent on Whitehaven beach, relaxing and playing volleyball, soccer, and footy in the sand. The water felt so refreshing after being out in the hot sun. By late afternoon it was time to pack up and go home, but everyone on board met at the bar later that night to catch up. There were a lot of international travellers from all around the world, and everybody had fun meeting people and talking with them. Overall, it was a spring break trip very well spent!