Air Travel, Cairns, and first week of Australia

Firstly let's talk about the air travel here from Boston. In total I was on an airplane, or stuck in an airport for 30+ hours. The worst was taking 4 airplanes just to get to Cairns, Australia, but surprisingly the 15 hour flight from LAX to Brisbane was the best flight. Considering on the long flight I watched The Social Network followed by Due Date, and after watching those movies I fell asleep to Muse.  On top of all this entertainment, they provided dinner and breakfast!  But, when I later arrived in Brisbane one of the beagles sniffing my luggage thought I smuggled something.  Other than that, overall it was a great air travel experience, other than the 4 airplanes I had to go through.

Cairns, the first thing I noticed when I stepped off the plane was the humidity.  Being in a tropical, humid climate was definitely odd considering the high back at home was a fantastic 25 fahrenheit.  Once our group of Australearn students arrived at our hostile, first piece of paper we got was our agenda for the week.  Other than the Rainforestation day where we get to hold koalas and pet kangaroos, everyone was excited for what we called "Reef Day."  Reef day was when we set sail out to the great barrier reef, and got to either scuba or snorkel above this natural world wonder.  Then there was the dreaded community day, which is great to give back to the community, but not so great in a 85 degree weather, humid, and being out in the sun.

For a quick summary, first came Rainforestation, which was pretty cool.  We got to see parts of the Cairns rainforest, as well as petting kangaroos, and holding koalas.  Which, I have pictures of in the slideshow at the bottom of this post.  Then came community day, which we had to weed a small lot, dig 200 holes, and then plant 200 trees, followed by watering them all.  Long story short, was great to give back to the community and all, but it did suck being covered in dirt, sweat, and just wanting a shower.  Finally, the best was Reef Day, which for me I wasn't as excited as everyone else originally.  Until you get to the Great Barrier Reef you realize how only few people get to do what I was about to do.  I did not have an underwater camera sadly, but the experience was amazing!  I got some pictures of the fish and the boat below in the slideshow.

These first two weeks in Australia have felt more like a vacation than studying abroad.  But, now that I've arrived at Melbourne after yet another flight, my journey as a Study Abroad student begins...