Brace yourself my friends. A long trip only deserves a long post.
Over mid-semester break I went to Queensland with six other people. We flew over to Cairns and then road a train down the coast stopping off at Townsville where we went to Magnetic Island, Fraser Island, Brisbane, and the Gold Coast.
We only had about a week so we had to cram a lot of places in :(
It would have been a lot nicer if we could have taken more time in each place and stopped off in some other places too..but you take what you can get! And diving was the most important part so its ok haha.
In Cairns we went diving and snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef which was awesome.
In the morning, the boat took us out to the reef and on the way there it was pretty choppy. A lot of people got sea sick (actually, I think all the asians did..) myself included to some degree. Thankfully I didnt puke though! Supposedly sea sickness is kind of like a domino effect. If you see someone sea sick, you get sea sick too. And supposedly standing outside helps as well.
So, if everyone who is sea sick is standing outside then if you go outside and you're not sea sick then you will be soon enough..and that's what happened to me. Not the best feeling.
Over mid-semester break I went to Queensland with six other people. We flew over to Cairns and then road a train down the coast stopping off at Townsville where we went to Magnetic Island, Fraser Island, Brisbane, and the Gold Coast.
We only had about a week so we had to cram a lot of places in :(
It would have been a lot nicer if we could have taken more time in each place and stopped off in some other places too..but you take what you can get! And diving was the most important part so its ok haha.
In Cairns we went diving and snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef which was awesome.
In the morning, the boat took us out to the reef and on the way there it was pretty choppy. A lot of people got sea sick (actually, I think all the asians did..) myself included to some degree. Thankfully I didnt puke though! Supposedly sea sickness is kind of like a domino effect. If you see someone sea sick, you get sea sick too. And supposedly standing outside helps as well.
So, if everyone who is sea sick is standing outside then if you go outside and you're not sea sick then you will be soon enough..and that's what happened to me. Not the best feeling.
But it's ok because after that comes the fun part! We got briefed on how to dive and snorkel and how to clear your goggles if you get water in there and how to blow water out your snorkel tube thingy and it was all very exciting. To make sure your goggles don't fog up you have to spit in them and then rub it all in. I didn't believe the instructors at first. When you dive, you have to face plant into the water since the oxygen tank is too heavy when it's full and I found that very entertaining for some reason. I cracked up when the instructor said it.
I went snorkeling first and it was really cool. I don't really know what I was thinking because I tried to chase a really cool zebra looking fish but obviously it's going to swim faster than me and somehow I ended up on top of the coral that you're NOT SUPPOSED TO TOUCH. When I realized it I stopped breathing and I stopped moving and I just floated there until the waves brought me out. You'd expect some kind of "do not touch" sign or ropes around it like an exhibit at the museum at least but nope. (For the record, I didn't touch anything though!)
And then it was time to go diving!!! YAY. I got all geared up and they put a belt of rocks around me so I would sink and then I did my face plant into the water and then we went down and then we did our breathing exercises and then I panicked and I couldnt do them and I had to go back up. Yup. Welcome to my life.
I think I'm just too used to taking everything off my face and breathing normally through my nose, even when I was snorkeling, and you definitely can't do that when you're diving. Although we didn't go too deep either I could already feel the pressure difference and you have to focus so much on breathing and making sure your body equalizes every time you go down a bit and not dying that I cracked under the pressure (like my pun?)
Yolanda couldn't dive either actually so I was not alone. But she had a cold so when she blew out of her nose no bubbles came out and the instructor just thought she couldn't do it haha.
No worries though because I just did my face plant into the water while snorkeling (the only cool part about diving anyway) and either way it was still fun! According to Chris you actually got to see more while snorkeling and diving was just a cool experience. I had him take my Go Pro down with him when he went diving though and he saw a sting ray!
I went snorkeling first and it was really cool. I don't really know what I was thinking because I tried to chase a really cool zebra looking fish but obviously it's going to swim faster than me and somehow I ended up on top of the coral that you're NOT SUPPOSED TO TOUCH. When I realized it I stopped breathing and I stopped moving and I just floated there until the waves brought me out. You'd expect some kind of "do not touch" sign or ropes around it like an exhibit at the museum at least but nope. (For the record, I didn't touch anything though!)
And then it was time to go diving!!! YAY. I got all geared up and they put a belt of rocks around me so I would sink and then I did my face plant into the water and then we went down and then we did our breathing exercises and then I panicked and I couldnt do them and I had to go back up. Yup. Welcome to my life.
I think I'm just too used to taking everything off my face and breathing normally through my nose, even when I was snorkeling, and you definitely can't do that when you're diving. Although we didn't go too deep either I could already feel the pressure difference and you have to focus so much on breathing and making sure your body equalizes every time you go down a bit and not dying that I cracked under the pressure (like my pun?)
Yolanda couldn't dive either actually so I was not alone. But she had a cold so when she blew out of her nose no bubbles came out and the instructor just thought she couldn't do it haha.
No worries though because I just did my face plant into the water while snorkeling (the only cool part about diving anyway) and either way it was still fun! According to Chris you actually got to see more while snorkeling and diving was just a cool experience. I had him take my Go Pro down with him when he went diving though and he saw a sting ray!
Next stop, Magnetic Island!
Magnetic Island was a nice and quiet little place for vacation. The hostel we stayed in was nice and only a five minute walk from the beach where the waves were very calm and relaxing. I got to hold a lot of animals here which is always beyond exciting for me. And the fuzzier the better!
I did hold a parrot though. The trick was to hold a seed between your lips and the parrot would grab it. The guide called me "America" and singled me out. It seemed like he wouldn't take no for an answer so I got up to hold the bird and then I couldn't do it and gave it back so he gave me a pep talk about how everyone has to do it and how America is supposed to be this great and mighty powerful land where I come from and I can't even hold a bird and then Chris and Yolanda started chanting "kiss the bird" until I finally did it. Talk about peer pressure...
Magnetic Island was a nice and quiet little place for vacation. The hostel we stayed in was nice and only a five minute walk from the beach where the waves were very calm and relaxing. I got to hold a lot of animals here which is always beyond exciting for me. And the fuzzier the better!
I did hold a parrot though. The trick was to hold a seed between your lips and the parrot would grab it. The guide called me "America" and singled me out. It seemed like he wouldn't take no for an answer so I got up to hold the bird and then I couldn't do it and gave it back so he gave me a pep talk about how everyone has to do it and how America is supposed to be this great and mighty powerful land where I come from and I can't even hold a bird and then Chris and Yolanda started chanting "kiss the bird" until I finally did it. Talk about peer pressure...
13 hour train ride later and we're at Fraser Island, the largest sand Island in the world! It is literally an island of all sand. Even the trees grow in sand which is uncommon.
Unfortunately I dont have anything to say about it firsthand since we didn't get to see too much. We rented a car and wern't prepared to drive on sand roads where you have a lot less control, especially only a week after the accident in Tasmania. So Fraser island was somewhat of an emotional wreck for everyone. Boundaries were pushed, friendships were tested, enemies were made.
Just kidding haha so moving on.. that puts us in BRISBANE.
After all those wildlife and nature adventures we were definitely ready for the city life. I don't have any stories from Brisbane because we just walked around the city and went to a life-sized dinosaur exhibit and had a good, care-free time just how a vacation should be like haha.
I did notice something funny though. Minus the Canadian who stayed behind to tour Fraser Island, the group was split between the Americans and the British. All the Americans have blogs, and we all reached up to touch the ceiling of a tunnel we were talking through at the same time haha. Also, when we were eating at an italian restaurant all the Americans got pizza and all the British got spaghetti and judged us for not using knives and forks to eat our pizza..
Unfortunately I dont have anything to say about it firsthand since we didn't get to see too much. We rented a car and wern't prepared to drive on sand roads where you have a lot less control, especially only a week after the accident in Tasmania. So Fraser island was somewhat of an emotional wreck for everyone. Boundaries were pushed, friendships were tested, enemies were made.
Just kidding haha so moving on.. that puts us in BRISBANE.
After all those wildlife and nature adventures we were definitely ready for the city life. I don't have any stories from Brisbane because we just walked around the city and went to a life-sized dinosaur exhibit and had a good, care-free time just how a vacation should be like haha.
I did notice something funny though. Minus the Canadian who stayed behind to tour Fraser Island, the group was split between the Americans and the British. All the Americans have blogs, and we all reached up to touch the ceiling of a tunnel we were talking through at the same time haha. Also, when we were eating at an italian restaurant all the Americans got pizza and all the British got spaghetti and judged us for not using knives and forks to eat our pizza..
That brings us to our last stop, the Gold Coast! Woohoo.
We had an awesome time here. We just explored the city, took a cruise around the area, went to the beach, went to the water park, and went jet skiing/kayaking! Or, we did things involving kayaks... I don't know if I would call it kayaking exactly. And the girls had girls night + chris and rob haha.
Everyone got EXCEPTIONALLY sun burnt. I was walking around with lobsters that couldn't even walk so thank you Asian genes!
Between the animal tour on Magnetic Island, the dinosaur exhibit in Brisbane, and the water park on the Gold coast everything we did seemed to be for kids. We were definitely the oldest at everything, minus the parents. Not sure what that says about us...
We had an awesome time here. We just explored the city, took a cruise around the area, went to the beach, went to the water park, and went jet skiing/kayaking! Or, we did things involving kayaks... I don't know if I would call it kayaking exactly. And the girls had girls night + chris and rob haha.
Everyone got EXCEPTIONALLY sun burnt. I was walking around with lobsters that couldn't even walk so thank you Asian genes!
Between the animal tour on Magnetic Island, the dinosaur exhibit in Brisbane, and the water park on the Gold coast everything we did seemed to be for kids. We were definitely the oldest at everything, minus the parents. Not sure what that says about us...