Cairns Part 2: Remember that time I drove on the left side of the road and nobody died?

Innisfail!

On Wednesday, 8 of us embarked on the road trip of champions.  Our van was basically a sports car, and smelled delicious by the end.  The first day we drove south from Cairns down the coast to a town called Innisfail (tee hee, sound it out…. So much maturity).  After lunch/exploring Innisfail, we drove south towards Millaa Millaa where we spent the night.  Along the way, we stopped at a bunch of different waterfalls, and went on a hike where Sheila, Laura, and Katie almost got eaten by a super poisonous snake.  Oops.  We saw a platypus at one of the waterfalls!  They’re nocturnal and usually not spotted in nature like that, so we felt like winners.  We also made an impromptu stop at a cheese farm with happy cows.  Obviously necessary.  Millaa Millaa was an incredibly small town, and the campsite we stayed at had rooms with no doors.  It was nice bonding time though.  We epic feast for dinner and accidentally turned the TV on just as Glee was starting which was kind of wonderful. 

Claire, Noah, Laura, Me, Mark, Katie

The next day we woke up explored a giant fig tree and crater lake in the morning.  Then we drove towards VOLCANO LAND, or the Undara Lava Tubes.  On the way, we stopped at this strawberry picking place where the lady let lots of annoying small children pick strawberries, but not us.  It was confusing.  But then we had time to go check out another dairy farm with chocolate so it was okay.  Back to volcano land, the Undara Lava Tubes are the longest lava tubes in the world!  The Undara park was also our first experience in the outback, which is kind of like the part in Lion King when Scar is the leader except fun.  The lava tubes were unreal.  And don’t worry; I didn’t act nerdy at all.  Because I don’t do things like that.  After our 

Volcano Land

tour of the lava tubes, we starting driving up to Port Douglas, where we spent the night.  On the way, we stopped at hot springs that were kind of sketch and in the middle of a trailer park.  Another oops.  After dinner we stopped on the side of the road to look at the stars.  This may or may not have turned into an epic dance party. 

coolest road sign ever

In the morning, we explored Port Douglas and had a feast of champions, then headed up to Cape Tribulation where we explored for awhile.  We were fortunate enough to experience a monsoon (after giving a presentation on monsoons I declare myself an expert in the subject).  We hiked around in the rain for a while and took pictures of some sassy road signs.  Later in the afternoon, we went kayaking.  Although during peak monsoon time, this was one of the road trip highlights for sure.  Noah had a particularly fun experience, being the only member of our group who capsized into shark-infested waters.  I think this was the last oops of the trip. Unfortunately, once kayaking was over we had to drive back to Cairns, get to sleep early, and wake up for an equally disgustingly early flight back to Sydney.   

Cape Tribulation.

FUN FACT:  There aren’t really any large mammalian predators in Australia.  This again reflects the low energy, nutrient poor environment.  Cold blooded reptiles have much lower energy requirements, and therefore can be sustained more easily in environments with lower energy.  

Dance Party.

Cairns Part 1: SPRING BREAKKKKK!

6am ish at the airport.  Happiest camper award.

Sorry for the delay, I was busy being studious and intellectual, of course.

Daintree Crocodile Tour

For our midsession break, the Colgate group went up to Cairns (pronounced cans) in Queensland.  We were fortunate enough to have flights so early that we needed to catch a 4:15 am bus to Sydney on Saturday, September 26.  Due to such high levels of stimulation and excitement in the morning, we decided to take it easy in the afternoon and explore different parts of Cairns, including the harbour and a local market.  Luckily, our hostel was shared with all Colgate people, so there were no questionable shenanigans taking place. 

too bad the crocodile ate us.

The next day, we took a group tour in the Daintree Rainforest.  Throughout the day, the goal was to learn more about not only the rainforest, but also the Aboriginal lifestyle.  We started the morning with a crocodile tour.  It was cool, but we only saw two crocodiles and one of them was kind of wimpy.  However, afterwards we hiked to a waterfall and hung out there for a while, which was fantastic.  After this we had lunch in the middle of nowhere.  I got to try ice cream made out of random fruits whose names I don’t remember, but it sounded something like jackalackalalkaja.  It was delicious.  In the afternoon, we learned about how Aboriginals hunted for food.  This included learning to spear fish and trekking through muddy mangroves to find other sea creatures.

Colgate Group at the Waterfall

  Where it was a bit too killing things intensive for me, I certainly enjoyed spear fishing salad from the bottom of the ocean with some of the other vegetarians.  Wandering through the mud was exactly what I wanted to be doing with my time.  Our guide told us that if we got all muddy the bugs would stay away.  Where I’m pretty sure this was a lie, seeing as my bug bites were still going strong up until a few days ago, scampering about in the mud was definitely a highlight of the day.

Champion.

On Tuesday, we finally made it to the Great Barrier Reef!  I went on two dives with Karen and Claire.  For some reason we were trusted to frolic about on the bottom of the ocean by ourselves.  It was so much fun.  We saw tons of massive clams and sea cucumbers, as well as a wide array of fratty neon fish.  I found Nemo!  I made sure he made it safely back home.  At night, we all had a group dinner and then had fun Colgate karaoke time.  Burnett told us we were better than his 1996 Australia Study Group, but we’re not supposed to tell anyone this because they would be upset. 

FUN FACT: Turtles can breathe through their butts.  They suck in water then extract oxygen.

Learning to Spear Fish.