SPRING BREAK RECAP
Tuesday, October 4th, 2005So I have quickly realized there is no way to verbally, and more importantly, concisely sum up an INCREDIBLE 10 day spring break trip (especially one up the east coast of australia), thus, I will let the pictures do most of the talking. I posted and captioned all 175 of them on my snapfish account in three different albums, and if you play them in slideshow view, you will be able to follow along with all the days and nights of the 10 day trip! (www.snapfish.com username: tlswartz@wisc.edu password: miss you click on the “photos” tab and my albums are in blue) But in brief summary, since I always seem to have something to say….;)
We began our “Extreme Adventures” (aptly named tour) in Brisbane, Australia, where I flew in late friday night after a long day of work in Sydney Friday afternoon. After a few hours of sleep, me and six of my friends/roomates from school joined the rest of our 50 person tour group aboard our double decker bus early Saturday morning to begin our tiring, but incredible 10 day journey. The 50 students traveling with us were from different universities all over Australia, so it was nice to meet new people. We also had two fearless tour guides, Alice (23) and Brian (26) who were bigger kids then most of the rest of us;) Although it got irritating at times traveling with so many people and having a set agenda (not to mention two overnight bus rides and staying in four different hostels over the course of 10 days) it was well worth it to see some of the incredible sights we saw.
The trip started off slow as we were all adjusting to one another, the lack of sleep, and an incredible lot of time on the double decker bus. But a trip to see steve irwin at the australia zoo the first day, and an outing to Fraiser Island (the largest sand island in the world) home to the most beautiful lake (complete with beach) I have ever seen (lake mackenzie) helped calm initial complaints/anxieties. That is, until, on day three, after a LONG overnight bus ride we are told that we have to pack everything we need for three full days on a remote island in one, small tote. (including outfits to go out, shoes, beachtowel, suits, sportswear, shampoo, sunscreen, makeup, camera and the list goes on and on).
After some problem solving, and 50 incredibly stretched out zippers, we boarded a sailboat and sailed 4 1/2 hours on the Whitsunday Islands (off the coast of australia and some of the southern most parts of the great barrier reef). We finally arrived at Whitehaven beach, one of the five most beautiful beaches in the world. And it was SPECTACULAR. It was the most beautiful place i have ever seen in my time on earth. After what seemed like way to short of a time, we boarded the boats for another 2 1/2 hour sail to our accomadation on a remote island on the Whitsundays: South Molle Island.
Since the accomadation was a resort and hostel, (although we lived in the hostel part), the next two days we were living in luxury, taking advantage of a beautiful pool and three outstanding buffet meals a day. We had free time one day (which i used to kayak and relax poolside with danielle, britt and some drinks) and we sailed again on the second day to snorkel a bit before returning back to Arlie Beach (no longer on the islands.. back on shore) to kill about 7-8 hours before boarding the bus at 1:00am for our second all night bus ride of the trip!
We arrived bright and early at the Tully river for a day of white water rafting level four (out of 6) rapids. All seven of the girls I came with and I got to be in the same boat with an awesome tourguide brenton. WE HAD A BLAST. This day was my favorite of the trip (until the ones that followed it). We laughed and got thrown around by the boat all morning and afternoon before boarding another bus to take us to our final destination: Cairns, Australia.
The final 4-5 days of the trip we spent in Cairns (which is very far south.. so extremely hott). By the time I got here, I already had an incredible tan, but needed to invest in some heavy duty sunscreen to avoid severe blistering! The sun here was brutal! Our hostel was AWESOME. The rooms were marginal (as they always are) but the hostel was complete with pool, bar, internet cafes, places to eat.. etc. It was a GREAT atmosphere!
upon arriving, Me, bree and rach are informed had to room with three of the guys in our group because there had to be six people per room and we were the odd women out. They ended up being hilarious guys (from the boston area.. Maurice (Mokey), Jack and Ben) and we had so many laughs with them in the days to come. (Nick knows not to worry.. it was nothing like that;)) In Cairns, we had a day of free time, spent a day snorkling/scuba diving the great barrier reef and another day cliff jumping (although I did not partake.. i was too tired/sick of being in a bathing suit when that day came).
I did, however, participate in an exclusive bungee jumping party we were thrown at a bungee jumping park in the middle of the rainforrest. Our group of 50 got a free bungee jump and bungee swing (mingon swing) if we wanted and almost everyone did both. I definitely took the plunge;) Dove head first of the plaform into the night sky with the cord at my ankles. It was NUTS. I bought the DVD of the jump for proof;)! The highlight of Carins had to be the last night of the tour, however, where we had a farewell party at our favorite bar there, the woolshed. They closed off the huge patio for our group and we all got a free drink upon arrival. That was the only night of the whole trip I really drank heavily (since we had to be up at around 630-700 every single morning but 1-2) and we all just had a blast.
My friends and I stayed an extra Day in Cairns, which I used to completly relax. I got my first manicure and pedicure ever, got my hair trimmed (since it was dead from 10 days in the sun, saltwater and chlorine) and then the girls and I had dinner at a cute little mexican resturaunt before heading to bed SUPER early for a 6:30am flight the following morning. The trip definately wore me out, but it was incredible. The pictures are a testimant to the fun we had, yet it feels nice to be “home”. Now a busy month of october with school/work piling up.
HOWEVER!!!! For anyone still reading, I found out when my one exam fell, and it is on November 23rd. So I’m going to forgo the week in New Zealand (for multiple reasons..but mainly b/c i dont want to travel there alone and also just really want to be in the states with my family and Nick for thanksgiving) and if all goes well, should make it back in the brookfield area after 36 straight hours of travel just in time to catch some pumpkin pie;) (so early evening on thanksgiving.. NOV. 24th). The flights are already booked!
Traedogg