Jourama Falls, Halloween, and Paluma Trip

So I have some trips and experiences that I want to write about, but I realise that they don’t have much in common. This post is going to be a conglomeration of a few short blurbs about these times because I don’t think I have enough to write about each to warrant a full post for each.

Jourama Falls

Kate, Alex, Emily, Rob and I took a day trip to Jourama falls, which is about 20 minutes north Crystal Creek. We headed out early Saturday morning all packed for a swim with our towels, sunscreen, and hats (classic Cancer Council Queensland slogan slip, slop, slap in action – slip on protective clothing, slop on some sunscreen, and slap on a hat). A quick stop at Woolies to stock up on some burgers, sausages, and snacks and we were off. We got to the falls around 10:30am and started off walking down the path the get to the falls. Some rock scrambling ensued, but eventually we reached some quality pools along the stream to swim in. Rob, experienced Queenslander that he is, made sure to bring a football and Frisbee to keep us entertained. The water was so refreshing, first cool water I’d felt in a while, with the strand water feeling slightly like bath water in temperature. Of course we found some large rocks, and deep pools, to jump off of and into. I swear I think I would get used to jumping off of huge rocks, but I still hesitate every time. The crucial step that I have learned to skip is the thinking part. If you don’t think about the fact that you are leaping off of a safe and stable rock out into the empty air and into a pool you know rationally is deep enough, but irrationally fear that you will bash your brains out on hidden rocks within its murky depths—then you can do it no problem. So the obvious move is to just do it (NIKE).  Somehow this crazy rock jumping is very enjoyable to me. The rush of adrenaline, the pride that I can do something really stupid but still survive to jump another day, all makes it worth it in the end. Anyways, after throwing around the pigskin (can you tell I miss my ‘Murica yet?), swimming around like fish, getting freaked out by sticks that we think are eels, actually getting freaked out by eels, and lying in the sun we decided to go cook up some lunch. We headed back to the car, and on the way saw a goanna, one of the large Australian lizards similar to monitor lizards elsewhere in the world. After this awesome encounter, we got into the car, headed a few minutes up the road to a picnic table, and then got out and cooked a delicious lunch. After lunch we drove down the road back towards Townsville and hit the Frosty Mango, home of the most amazing ice cream I have ever had (not necessarily world famous, but Kylie famous). Then we drove back to Townsville, listening to good tunes, talking, and laughing the whole way.

Once home I had to help set up for the barbeque my fellow housemates and I decided to throw for our Frisbee friends. Shout out to Drake for fronting for all of the provisions. I know that he ended up paying a bit more than his share. Set up was quick and easy, and I think the house was the cleanest it ever was, or has been, that day. The party was a great success, with a lot of awesome food, fun games, swimming in the pool, etc. Many laughs were shared, too much food was eaten, and I just had a grand time.

Halloween!

The favourite holiday with so many movies, episodes of your favourite TV show, epic stories, great pictures, and creative costumes. It honestly was a little of a letdown here in Australia. Halloween is apparently more of an American holiday. Most of the costumes were not very creative, or the person did not fully commit. I fall into both categories, but as a poor college/study abroad student, I am not too guilty. In addition, it would have been wasted effort since no one else put forth the effort. Regardless, I went as Swiper the Fox from Dora the Explorer, and Emily was my Dora. We went to the Uni bar to start our night, said hello to some friends, and grabbed a few drinks. We did not stay too long, because Flinder’s street awaited. We made it into town around 11:00 and went to the Mad Cow. We danced for a couple hours, which was quite a lot of fun, but then headed over to the Cry where our friend Hayden DJs. It was pretty empty so we basically had the dance floor to ourselves. What ensued was the worst (or best) white girl dancing you’ve (n)ever seen. We were able to request some songs, and belt them out at the top of our lungs, without any need for embarrassment. After a great night, Hayden gave us a ride to McDonald’s and then home. It was a great, semi-eventful Halloween night. I was a little sad to miss my 2^nd HallowGreens night back at St. Mary’s. At this point I will only have had 2 out of the 4 during my college days (last year I had RA duty) so I will have to go all out next year to make up for it.

Paluma Trip

One of my subjects this semester was Biodiversity of Tropical Australia. I wanted to make sure I took advantage of the unique courses offered here and this seemed like a great one to choose. We spent the semester learning about the wildlife here in Australia, the different orders, families, and species. It honestly was much more work and memorization than I expected, but I am still glad that I took the course. One of the components of the class was a field trip to Paluma, the local rainforest just an hour north from Townsville. We left on the Friday before the last week of classes and returned Sunday night. It was honestly pretty bad timing due to the large volume of work I had due the next week, but I guess it couldn’t be helped. We spent the trip on night spotlighting walks, day nature walks, categorizing plants and animals we saw or heard, and eating delicious meals and snacks made by the kitchen staff. My favourite activity was our walk when we went looking for bats. We heard all sorts of squeaks, although some were at frequencies that our puny pathetic human ears could not even begin to decipher (they literally went over our heads *buddum tsssst*). One of the coolest organisms I saw was a leaf-tailed gecko. Our guide for the outing, Conrad, was seriously one of the coolest people I have ever met, on par with Jeff Corwin (who I am obsessed with, and just kind of want to be). He hopped right into the forest and within ten minutes had found one of the cryptic geckos as if he was looking for an elephant in a kiddie pool (seriously he made it look easy). The gecko looked like a little dragon without wings, and with a really broad leaf-like tail, hence the name. It was an expensive trip, $250, and the assignments during the trip only account for 7% of our grade, but it was pretty awesome all-in-all.

That’s all for now folks. I have taken 2/3 exams at this point and this last one is going to be the hardest. Hopefully I survive it mostly unscathed. I can’t wait for freedom! Still open to any donations at my GoFundMe account (http://www.gofundme.com/kangaroocurtis) especially with cleaning expenses for my room rental coming up and the trip home! Thanks for reading!

The Homesick America-and-Australia-Lover Who is Constantly on an Emotional Rollercoaster,

Kylie Curtis

Lecture Recess aka Spring Break (Part 2)

Wednesday cont.

We arrived in Sydney around 5pm. Alex and I were lucky to be on the left side of the plane which actually turned out to be the right choice. As our flight descended we had an amazing view of the Sydney Opera house from above. We took a half hour cab ride with the most atrociously mannered cab driver I have ever met (although I’ve never taken a cab in NYC) and arrived at our hostel the Blue Parrot. It was very hard to see, with only a 4 foot gateway and small sign hanging down. Our very rude cab driver growled at us to hurry up and get our stuff, and we left the cab with a sigh of relief. The street we were staying on was quite cute with a small park and fountain down the road, shops and cafes all along the street sides, and some fairly nice restaurants. We walked through the gate, down a long ally inbetween buildings and then through a door into the hostel. Once inside the place seemed much larger and although it was narrow, it was long and extended back fairly far. The hostel had a cozy feeling, with very kind workers who took the time to make sure they knew our faces and names. Out back was a relatively large patio with chairs and hammocks. We went upstairs to our four person room with two bunk beds. There were three bathrooms and probably about 6 rooms in total each holding 4-8 people. After settling in, we all changed for dinner and decided to take a walk through the city towards the harbour. Our friend Kenny was also in Sydney, so a few texts later and it was decided that we would meet up in the harbour to grab some dinner. After about a 45 minute walk, we finally made it and let me tell you, the view was absolutely stunning. Yachts lined the sides; lamps lit the bridge, harbor and opera house. I cannot even tell you which sight was more beautiful: the bridge or the opera house. Not 5 minutes later, Kenny showed up and after some pictures with one of the best backgrounds a tourist could hope for, we scoured the harbour side looking for a relatively cheap bite to eat.  Cheap, however, was obviously an optimistic hope and we ended up walking quite a while out of our way, and far from the harbour, to hit a bar with a great burger deal. So with some great beer and tasty burgers we sat down and enjoyed a nice, relaxing meal. Some of our friends from JCU were currently in the area for Australia’s big college sport tournament. All types of sports are played throughout the week and teams come from all over the country. Our friends were on the JCU Ultimate Frisbee team, and I really wish we could have seen one of their games. After dinner we took another half hour trek to the Cockle Bay Wharf. We hit up a Lindt’s chocolate shop where I got a couple amazingly decadent truffles and everyone else got some other form of delicious chocolate. We then headed towards the club that our JCU friends were supposed to be at, but after waiting ages in line and getting in, we found our friends nowhere in sight. We went back outside and happened to see a large (6’8” tall), familiar friend, my housemate Drake. He was there with the Frisbee team, and we lucked out in finding them just by chance. Then ensued another long journey, hopping from bar to bar until we settled down at a fairly empty one, got some drinks and proceeded to have a great night talking and laughing and later dancing until it was time to catch a cab ride back to the hostel and say goodbye to our friends.

Thursday

Bondi beach! Home of the Bondi Rescue lifeguards and one of the top tourist destinations around Sydney. After a train ride and subsequent bus ride, we made it to the beautiful Bondi beach. Sitting in a cove with light soft sand and azure blue waves crashing in, Bondi is one of the most beautiful places I have been. Rocky cliffs line the cove with houses and walkways built into the sides. We spent the entire day laying out and swimming (only once or twice, the water is freezing and the waves unforgiving). I probably applied sunscreen 4 or 5 times to avoid sunburn from the hot Australia sun. A lot of our time was also spent attempting to get Alex a picture with the Bondi rescue squad, which was largely unsuccessful until the last hour we were there. A couple of lifeguards were driving by on their beach buggy and we ran over making camera motions with our hands. They pulled to the side and we snapped a few awesome pics of Alex with them (and the hugest grin on her face). After we tired of the beach, we went up and grabbed a delicious dinner at the only restaurant on the beach. Then we decided to go for a walk along the cliffside and caught a few more amazing pictures of the beach from the ocean side view. After our walk we caught a bus back to the train station, hopped on a train and headed home. That night we watched the Mary Kate and Ashley “Our Lips Are Sealed” movie where they go to Australia. It was perfect, because we had basically visited every place they had in the movie, although unfortunately for us, we didn’t have any Australian friends invite us to a yacht party like in the movie. After a day out in the sun, and a nice movie to wind down the night, we hit the hay.

Friday

The next morning we went on a breakfast journey. One of my good friends from home, Ellie, had sent me a buzzfeed post earlier in the semester with great places in Sydney to get breakfast. After scouring the list, I had found two places in walking distance and we set out determined to get a delicious Australian meal. We opted for the Café Giulia out of the two choices because it had a much more eggs and bacon kind of feel to it. After a delicious plate of eggs, wild mushrooms, roasted tomatoes and rye toast I was stuffed. My friends had the fetta omelettes and apparently they were amazing. A nice warm cappuccino rounded out my meal, and we all left walking a little more slowly than we had on arrival. On the way back to the hostel we hit the other breakfast joint on the list, but this one was a bakery. The smells were heavenly, so I ducked in and ordered a chocolate filled croissant to-go. Then we walked to the Sydney harbour once more, where my friends peeled off to catch the ferry to the Taronga zoo and I headed for the Sydney Bridge. I decided to try to save some money by skipping the zoo, and I actually had quite the awesome day walking around Sydney. I walked across the bridge and along the opposite side of the harbour to get the front view of the opera house. I sat for quite a while and ate my croissant while watching boats travel through the channel. After I tired of this, I walked through the shops in the area and settled down at a bar with a nice view of the harbour and had a couple of delicious ales. With my time almost up before my friends returned from the zoo, I walked back over the bridge, jamming to my iPod and getting a stunning view of the harbour from above. I got to the harbour just as Alex, Kate and Ji were arriving. We walked back to the hostel and changed for another night out meeting our JCU Frisbee friends. We caught dinner at the famous Harry’s Café de Wheels, where plenty of stars (Colonel Sanders included!) had visited and taken a photo to be hung on the side of the cart. After this we took a train into the city to meet our friends at their hostel. They were living up their last night in Sydney and not too long after we all headed to a nearby bar/club where we danced all night and had an epic time. Another cab ride home sent us straight to bed, knowing we’d have to be up and ready to catch our shuttle to the airport the next morning.

Saturday

We caught a quick breakfast (bagels this time! You’d understand my excitement if you hadn’t had bagels in months) and took a walk to a park with an amazing view of the Sydney harbour. We were told it was a must see, and if we had ever seen anyone with an Instagram picture of themselves with the opera house, this was where it was taken. It was very beautiful but we couldn’t stay long because we had to be back to catch the shuttle. After an amazing week in Melbourne and Sydney we were headed home. A quick flight to Brisbane, a seven hour layover, and another short flight and we were home from our vacation. It was absolutely amazing and I wished that I could have spent a few more days in each city, but I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to go and to spend it with my awesome friends Alex, Kate, and Ji. What an adventure!

I’d say we met all five goals:

1. Have an amazing time in a country 10,000 miles from home…………..CHECK
2. Be tourists to the extreme…………………………………………………………. CHECK
3. Avoid being killed by terrorists…………………………………………………… CHECK
4. Have some quality bonding time with friends……………………………….. CHECK
5. Watch the Mary-Kate and Ashley movie, Our Lips Are Sealed……….CHECK

Total Success: Absolutely, wouldn’t have changed a thing

Soz that it took so long for this to get posted. I’ve been studying for finals and what not. My first exam is later today so wish me luck!

Kylie Curtis is signing out

Lecture Recess aka Spring Break (Part One)

It has been a while since I have posted any updates on my travels down under. This is partly due to my homework load 2 weeks ago, the lack of anything I consider interesting, and then the subsequent lecture recess. Well, while I was away from my home and computer in Townsville, I was having wild Australian adventures in the big cities: Melbourne and Sydney. I’m going to go through my break day by day, which may be a little long, so feel free to read some now and come back later to read the rest. I also apologize for my excessive use of parenthesis (They are just so useful for side thoughts and my inner commentary).

The Travelers:

Kate (driver extraordinaire)

Alex (planner to the extreme)

Ji (treasured Australian native)

And yours truly, Kylie (resident comedian)

…together we form the greatest exploring group of uni students you’ve ever seen…

The Destination: Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road, and Sydney

The Mission:

1. Have an amazing time in cities that we have never been to in a country 10,000 miles from home (Ji is the exception here)
2. Be tourists to the extreme (yes, the super leaning backwards photo skills are included, as well as the selfies with the Sydney opera house because how could you not?)
3. Avoid being killed by terrorists (a little dark, but true nonetheless)
4. Have some quality bonding time with friends

….and of course, last but not least-

5. Finally watch the Mary-Kate and Ashley movie, Our Lips Are Sealed, which features them in Australia (a time-old slumber party classic that should have been left in my memories where I remember it being much better)

Saturday

After catching a ride with the lovely Jess, we awaited our delayed Townsville flight which didn’t take off until around 7:30. Catching a late flight is never fun, but it doesn’t help when it is an hour later than the original time. We arrived in Melbourne around midnight, and then had to catch a 45 minute cab ride to our hostel, Urban Central. First thing you should know about Melbourne, is how to pronounce it; like so: Mell-bin. See, Americans apparently over-pronounce everything (according to Australians). In Australia, “R”s are often left out of pronunciation, hence whenever someone says the name Carly (pronounced Cah-lee) I think they are saying Kylie. Anyways, our hostel was fairly nice, and we had booked a four person room so we could lock it during the day and not worry about our belongings being stolen. There was an issue when arrived, however. According to the hotel desk manager we were not allowed to check I n without passports. Now, with our US Driver’s licenses supposed to work as a form of identification, none of us brought our passports (seems like an easy way to lose it). Fortunately, the guy finally gave in and let us check in for the room we had already paid for, and we crashed around 1am.

Sunday

We started the day with a walk to the river which was about 4 or 5 blocks down from our hostel. One of the must-dos in Melbourne is the Eureka Skydeck, the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. So for $15 (student discount; they are very popular here), we headed up 80 floors in the elevator and arrived to a floor with floor to ceiling windows all around it. It was amazing the see Melbourne from above and around the deck they had small binoculars pointing at certain significant buildings. After our time on top of the world, we came down and walked into the main part of the city. Our first mission was to find the graffiti laneways that were in any guidebook you will find on Australia. There were many helpful volunteers with maps who would send tourists in the right direction for whatever they were trying to see. After receiving a highlighted map leading us in the right direction we decided to stop at the amazing cathedral along the way. Beautiful stain-glass windows, walls with iridescent layers of I-don’t-know-what made up amazing depictions of moments in the bible. Marble floors, pillars reaching towards the sky, and the most beautiful organ I have ever seen (making me wish I knew how to play, and that I wouldn’t be arrested immediately if I tried to do just that). The church managed to be awe-inspiring without being gaudy, and a solemn atmosphere filled the pews. We left feeling a little less earth-bound (at least I did), and a couple blocks down the road we had our next “spiritual” experience. The first laneway with graffiti was probably my favourite (probably due to the high proportion of wolves painted on the walls. Other features were a heart tree, a Buddha, Mike Wazowski and Sully from Monsters Inc. In our search for the next laneway, we came across an alley with all these adorable cafes built into the sides of the buildings on either side, with only enough room to walk single file down the alley between them. We found a few more alleys before we decided to catch the free city circle tram. The tram is always filled to the brim with tourists, because it is free, but also because of the charm of having this extremely old tram take you around the city with commentary by the tram driver on what building we were passing and what sights to look out for. We got out on the other side of the city and headed towards the Victoria Market, the largest open market in the city. We got there around 3pm, with closing time being at 4pm, so most stalls were beginning breakdown and offering up the days last goods for sale. I had strawberries for the second time since I’ve been here (they are usually outrageously priced) for $1. After an hour at the market we headed back to the hostel, arriving around 6pm. The hostel offers both breakfast, and rice and noodles, which is more generous than most hostels (although their website did lie about the free wifi). So for the first night we went to a store and bought some pasta sauce, as well as snacks for the next day on the road. We had dinner and settled down to watch “The Blind Side” on Kate’s laptop, which Ji had never seen. After the movie we went to bed, knowing we had an early morning start the next day. What for? Well, the Great Ocean Road, of course!

Monday

A 6:30am start is never on my list of to-do’s, but we had to be up to catch a taxi to the airport where we were renting a car. The rental went as planned and we were on the road by 8:30am. About an hour into our drive we hit the coast and the rest of the drive was picturesque with winding roads along the rocky coast; the ocean on our left and hills on our right. Along the way we stopped at a beach and picked up beautiful shells—the kind you would expect to see in a shop. The next stop was at a gas stating to get a car converter for charging iphones (have to be able to take pictures of the amazing views). I also bought an auxiliary cord so we no longer had to depend on the shoddy radio connection and terrible variety, and could instead listen to some real road-tripping music. Most of the GRO is the views. You travel through some cute towns, down winding roads, and through hills and fields. We had a destination in mind though: The 12 Apostles. There are actually only 6 now, but they are naturally occurring limestone rocks that have been worn away from the mainland so that they stand alone in the azure blue waters. So after a 3-4 hour drive, we reached our goal and stopped to enjoy them in all their glory. They were truly awe-inspiring, and the whole experience seemed surreal to me. Right down the road was another sight to see; the Loch Ard gorge, where many a ship had met its tragic demise. The treacherous waters, full of underwater reefs and obstacles, in addition to the high winds and strong currents, make for a difficult journey through the area. One of these ship crashes, that of the Loch Ard, resulted in the death of 47 people with only two survivors. The story is actually pretty amazing, with Tom Pearce, a young crew member, saving the life of the drowning young woman, Eva Carmichael, a passenger aboard the ship. Unfortunately for you hopeless romantics out there, Eva was engaged to another man and the two survivors went their separate ways never to meet again. Still, the gorge was amazing, and we actually got to walk down to the beach within the little cove and take a look around. Some pretty wicked stalagmites had formed on both sides of the gorge with dark, cool caves traveling back into the side of the gorge. In fact, many signs around both the gorge and apostles warned tourists to stay on the paths, due to caves underneath and therefore the possibility of falling through the roof of one of these. These warnings were ignored by a chinese couple I saw wandering off the path to the edge of one of the cliffs. I even saw the man hold the arm of the woman as she leaned off the edge to get a better picture. Not 2 minutes later, as we were walking down the path, Alex called out to us all to stop and we looked down to see a large snake crossing the path. So not only did those tourists risk their lives falling through the ground or off the cliff, but also by walking through the brush where obviously quite a few snakes are making their homes. They ended up back on the path safely, no doubt enforcing in their minds that their actions were okay, but I was really just amazed at both their stupidity and luck. Anyways, we spent quite a bit of time here, but then decided to start the journey home so we could get back before dark. We took a different way home, through the forest and countryside rather than along the ocean, but it was still amazingly beautiful. For dinner we stopped in a little town not far outside of Melbourne and ate at an amazing Italian place. We dropped the car off at the airport, caught a taxi into the hostel and then hit the hay after a long, but amazing, day.

Tuesday

Tuesday was spent shop hopping and seeing all the cool stores around Melbourne. We also took a journey through China town where we ate a very good Chinese meal. We tried to get a tour of Melbourne’s city council hall, but unfortunately the tour was filled. So we spent the rest of the day walking around, and eventually caught the tram back to the tram central where we could walk back to our hostel from. We got to have Starbucks here, which I hadn’t had since being in the states, and was therefore quite a treat (that is the white girl in me speaking, sorry not sorry). Unfortunately, on the way back we got caught in quite the rain storm and had to run basically the whole way back to the hostel. After a few months in the hot and dry Townsville area, experiencing freezing cold rain with cutting wind was unpleasant, but a little refreshing at the same time. We ate a cheap dinner at McDonald’s so that we got go out and spend our money on more exciting things. Like the ice bar in Melbourne, a few blocks down the road from us. For $20 you could go into a room with furniture and a bar made completely of ice. We also got a complementary frozen cocktail to enjoy (Yes, the drinking age is 18 here so I am legal. Honestly, the US is the one behind on the times with this one). After suiting up in Ugg boots, two pairs of gloves and furry parka, we headed into the room. It was cold, but not absurdly so. Our Townsville native, Ji, however seemed to be suffering in the “arctic” temperatures. We stayed for quite a while, taking pictures with the two cameras and playing on the fully ice, “air hockey” table. After around an hour even us US natives were starting to get chilly so we headed out. On the way home we stopped by a huge Casino to play some 50 cent games and the like. Afterwards we headed back into the freezing weather and made it home to our hostel where we passed out.

Wednesday (Morning)

After packing all our stud up, we checked out of the hostel and headed towards the bus station in town. We were flying out of the smaller Melbourne airport today, which is quite a ways further out of town than the airport we flew into. To get there, we had to catch a bus leaving at 1pm. So after a 40 minute walk/tram/walk to the station, we parked ourselves at a Starbucks, bought a drink so we could get some wifi, and waited until it was time to leave. The bus ride was around 45 minutes, but I slept through most of it and we made it to the airport and on our flight no problem. Goodbye to Melbourne and here we come Sydney!

So, sorry this is so late, I’ve just been busy with school and Frisbee stuff. Part 2: Sydney will be coming soon so stay tuned. As always, feel free to visit my GoFundMe account at http://www.gofundme.com/kangaroocurtis if you are interested in donating a few extra bucks so I can go on more adventures like this one during the rest on my time here in Australia. Thank you so much for reading and keep coming back for more!

A tired but ecstatic Uni student abroad,

Kylie “Kangaroo” Curtis

Ps. My nickname is not actually “Kangaroo”.. I wish. *hops away*

 

Cairns Road Trip

Road trip! I have only been on a few in my life, and most occurred when I was much younger. My trip to Cairns was the first road trip I have gone on with no “adults” (college kids do not count as adults). We got a ride to the airport where all the car rental places are on Friday afternoon. To rent/drive a rental car in Townsville, you have to be at least 21, so my friend Kate agreed to rent and drive the car for the duration of the trip. I just want to say that I do not know if I would have been able to follow the traffic laws of a country that does everything almost exactly opposite of the States (left left left), but Kate killed it out there. Or maybe that’s not the right word, no one died, but she did do a great job and I never felt in danger during the trip. So my companions (Alex, Lucas, and Kate) and I set off around 4:00pm heading north up the A1 highway. Of course on the way up we stopped at the Frosty Mango, an ice cream/coffee/desert paradise and got some delicious treats (coconut ice cream is heavenly). Then began our 4 hour drive through the night on roads with no painted lines. DJ Kylie kept the beats coming throughout the night, but even I was getting tired and I wasn’t even driving.

Once we finally reached Cairns we managed to get quite lost in the city, due to the lack of road signs. I want to point out that Australia, what I’ve seen of it so far, has the worst road markings I have ever seen in my entire life. If you come up to an intersection, the names of the roads are not hanging under the lights like in the US, but are on the side of the road. This wouldn’t be such a big deal if the signs that are there are tiny and you can’t read them until you are already passing. In addition, some of them were missing! Honestly the most frustrating experience we had during the entire trip was trying to find our hostel that night, and sure enough it turned out that the road sign was missing. We finally got in around 10pm, came in to the hostel and passed out so that we could be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for our 6:30am wakeup for our Great Barrier Reef trip the next day. I did not succeed in this endeavour, but I did wake up ready to see the reef that I had heard about for my entire life.

The largest system of coral reefs in the entire world! Our ride (booked through the diving company, Reef Experience) came to pick us up at 7:30am. We got to the marina and boarded the boat that would take us to the GBR. Breakfast consisted of bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches and fresh fruit. We filled out our paperwork and sat through all the safety introductions. The boat had a marine biologist on board who gave a talk and pointed out some of the organisms we might see. We reached the reef around 9:30 or 10am. As a certified diver who was not going on a guided tour, I was in the 2^nd dive group. Kate and Lucas also have their certification, so we started our day by snorkelling around the first reef, Hastings reef. The water was a deep crystal blue and felt like the perfect temperature, probably around 70°F. My first impression of the reef was how it looked exactly like the pictures and videos, but so much better. I could float and be within a meter of the top of the reef, close enough to touch it (although of course I did not). I saw tiny electric blue iridescent fish, large colourful parrot fish, tiny clownfish hiding in anemones, and even a puffer fish (unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, un-puffed). Eventually it was time for my dive! We were allowed a tank with 200 bar, and 40 minutes to go on our way. I was determined to see a sea turtle, so we headed towards the edge of the reef that the marine biologist had said was the best location to see them. About 15 minutes into our dive, I saw some movement on the ocean floor. I looked closer and realized I had found a sea turtle! It was eating some sea grass when it saw me approaching, but it stayed in place. I kept my distance, not wanting to disturb it, and so that my diving buddies, Kate and Lucas, would have a chance to see it before it decided to leave. Eventually it did head off further from the boat, but seemed pretty unperturbed by us as a whole. I am pretty sure that it was a green turtle, and when Kate puts up her GoPro video of the dive, we can try to identify it. After checking everyone’s tanks we decided to head back so we would still have 50 bar when we reached the surface (Australian law). On the way back, the diving photographer that was with us on the trip caught a picture of me giving him a thumbs up (see below).

After our dive it was time for lunch, nachos with chili, and some salad. As we ate, the ship headed to our second reef destination of the day. On the way I sat on the upper deck on the couches provided and enjoyed the warm, mostly sunny day. At the second reef, some people went on second dives, but I went snorkelling with Alex. We did some skin diving which is when you dive without a tank, bending at the waist and propelling yourself deep into the water. Alex had rented an underwater camera, so we got some good pictures of the two of us snorkelling, and of the fish around the reef. This second reef was much deeper than the first, so skin diving was very useful to get close enough to see what was going on the corals. After an hour or two, we were called back in to the boat so we could head back to shore. At this point, all I could taste was salt, my ears hurt slightly from the changing water pressure, and my calves were cramping to the point where I never wanted to walk again, but it was still one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Breathing underwater, floating weightlessly (essentially), propelling myself through the viscous water as if I were a fish was all incredible. That was my first time diving in the ocean, and I was so lucky I could have that experience at the GBR. I probably won’t get another chance to dive during my time here (so expensive), but I am so glad that I made the trip to Cairns to have this experience. The reef was gorgeous, and it made me feel much closer to the problem of reef acidification and the loss of this wonderful habitat. The life that I saw on my trip, will not be able to survive without the corals and the corals are dying with the rising ocean temperature and pH. I am just glad that I was able to see it in my life time, and I hope that current and future conservation efforts are enough to maintain this unparalleled environment.

After our day on the reef, we still wanted a chance to see the city and spend a night out on the town, so we walked from our hostel into town (~25min). We got 40% off vouchers from our hostel for a restaurant called The Wool Shed where I wanted and had a T-bone steak with salad and fries for $14.50. I also continued my search for the perfect platypus stuffed animal, which is another story that I will tell at another time. After hitting up most of the tourist shops in the near vicinity, we stopped at a McDonald’s for the first Wi-Fi we had since arriving. After this it was pretty late and we decided to go to a club that everyone who has been to Cairns will suggest you hit up, Gilligan’s. When we arrived we had to wait in a short line, when we left the line was out to the road, and not moving at all. During the two to three hours we were there, the place went from full to busting at the seams. The music was great, thanks to two DJs, and was coordinated with light shows and fog. We headed home just when most people were showing up, but with our plans for the next day, we wanted a good night’s sleep.

The next morning we left our hostel around 9am, and headed for the Australian National Park Barron Gorge. We went on a short hike across a river and to some small waterfalls. I saw some of the most beautiful butterflies I’ve seen in my entire life, although I unfortunately could not catch them on camera. We eventually headed back to the car and towards our next destination: Mission Beach home of the endangered giant Cassowary birds. The ride was much better this time since it was not pitch black and we could enjoy the mountains and rolling fields and farms. Mission beach was beautiful and we picked up some coconuts that had washed ashore. One was rotten, but we got another open and snacked on it the rest of the time there. We walked a trail hoping to see a Cassowary, but left disappointed. Right when we were about to leave the trail I saw a small dark animal scurrying towards the trees and, a little over-excited, whisper-yelled “Is that a f*cking echidna? That’s a f*cking echidna!” to which it scuttled into the trees, but not before we all got a glance at its long nose, multiple spikes, and tiny beady eyes. It was adorable, and I was amazed that I managed to see one in real life. We got a couple pictures of it huddled against a tree, but not wanting to scare it too badly, we headed back to car not too long after. The rest of the ride was spent looking at the wonderful views and singing along to music. We stopped at Frosty Mango on the way back (fatties I know, what do you expect from us Americans), and this time I got a scoop of coconut and mango ice cream, both fantastic. We got back to Townsville around 6:30pm where Kate dropped Lucas and I off at our house and then headed to return the car.

What a trip! If you are in Australia and haven’t gone, I fully encourage you to take a weekend and drive up to Cairns. If you don’t feel like renting a car and/or driving on the left side of the road, the Greyhound bus also makes trips there and back from Townsville. The reef trip we went on, Reef Experience, was really great and included breakfast, lunch, then wine and cheese on the way back. It had a 20 minute intro dive for new divers or a 40 minute dive for those that are certified divers. Extra dives were around $50. If you are staying in town, the bus ride to the marina and back is free, and they pick you up at your hostel. For $185, I think the trip was a great deal and full-heartedly suggest it to anyone wanting a GBR experience they will remember for a lifetime. Shout out to Kate for driving us there and back, and not killing us in the process! What a great weekend and a great road trip! My Australian adventure continues, and if you are interested in helping make amazing trips like this a possibility for me, and are feeling particularly charitable today feel free to donate to my cause (every little bit helps!) @ http://www.gofundme.com/kangaroocurtis . I am so blessed to have this opportunity, and will continue updating my blog! If you like what you read, keep checking in. Thank you everyone!

Signing off,

Kylie Kangaroo Curtis (wouldn’t that be a great middle name?)

 <<echidna  <<mission beach  

The Cripple and Crystal Creek

Just thought I’d tell the quick story of my Crystal Creek adventure a couple weeks back (or is it a month now? Jezoo time flies). Actually let’s start with my Age of Cripple-tude.

So one Sunday afternoon, I was attending the weekly Frisbee training for people that want to play a little more seriously and get in some exercise and practice. After a long practice with ladders, core workouts, and sprints we started into a game. Midway through the2nd or 3^rd point, I turned to cut and felt my ankle roll out from underneath me, heard a ripping sound, and felt a searing pain. I immediately began crying, of course, and had to be literally carried off of the field. I got a ride home with someone with a truck who could fit my bike in the back, and decided to just ice it and maybe try a doctor sometime later that week. After an agonizing couple of hours I asked my housemate to give me a ride to the hospital, because if the injury was anything serious I needed to make sure I had crutches or something before Uni the next day. My lovely, fellow SMCM, current housemate Drake came with me to keep me company while we waited what turned out to be a 5 hour wait. They finally saw me and the doctor decided I needed an x-ray and then I waited another whole hour for that. Finally I was given the verdict of a very badly sprained ankle and the slight possibility of a ripped tendon but no broken bones. I was given a wrap for my foot and a pair of crutches, and then headed home for bed. Luckily, my housemate was able to give me rides throughout the next two weeks while I was recovering, so that I did not have to bike to school.

So the weekend after this injury, some people from ultimate decided to do a trip to Crystal Creek. Knowing that this was a must-do during my time here, and that they might not go again for a while, I decided to go despite my injury. I spent the day drugged up on painkillers (not too many, just some Aspirin) and hiking around and up rocks and creeks and the like and although I had to be careful, I did not reinjure myself. We started the trip by stopping at Woolies (Woolworths- a grocery store chain) for some food. Then we drove up the rest of the way to Crystal Creek. We first went to the little creek and hung out around a place where the water pooled and was actually quite deep. I watched the first few brave souls to jump off of the rocks (~10m high) into the water. The competitive and adventurous side got the best of me and I decided I wanted to be the first girl to jump off. Actually jumping was the scariest part, and it took me about 5 seconds of contemplation before I literally “took the leap.” After the 1^st time, I could go again and again, but you had to be really careful because there was only one region that was deep enough to jump in. Then people moved up to the next height, twice as high as the 1^st. It took me a while longer before I would try that jump, but I eventually did. The rest of the time was spent watching people jumping off and trying to catch discs, but I do not think anyone succeeded. After this we head up to the next creek, but before we went any further, stopped for a barbecue. I got to taste kangaroo for the 1^st time, and it was actually fairly similar to beef in flavour, just leaner. It honestly reminded me of ostrich, which I had tried during my time in South Africa earlier this summer. We also had camel burgers, which were pretty great. We spent the next couple hours hiking way up the creek until we reached a huge waterfall. No jumping from there, unfortunately, but we did get some cool pictures and I stood under the waterfall, because waterfall, duh. After hiking back down to a smaller water fall, that was still quite high, I ended up jumping off of the largest drop yet. A guy from the Frisbee team, Dave, told me to go for it, and then just as my feet were leaving the ground yelled “No, stop!” My momentum had me though and I fell the long way down and landed where I had told it would be safe. I came up fine, but was so mad at Dave because in that time between jumping and hitting the water I was sure I was going to be seriously injured for the rest of my life. It turned out he was just joking, and I did not end up injured, and we all had a good laugh about it afterwards (him more than me). My friends Kate, Alex, and Emily showed up right before we all left (late as always) and took the smaller jumps. Kate brought her Go-Pro camera, so there are some pretty cool videos of us jumping. I had an absolute blast and hated leaving, but the car ride home was spent singing along to Queen and other good oldies, so I wasn’t too upset. All-in-all it was my favourite adventure in Australia so far, and hopefully I’ll get a chance to go back, or to the other creek people talk about called Alligator Creek.

Back to real time, I finally have a break from school work. I don’t have anything due for a couple of weeks and although I plan on starting work on them tomorrow, I am taking the day off today. I had two huge assignments due this past Friday and Monday, and then a midterm last night worth 35% of my grade, so needless to say I have been a little stressed. The exam went well, and hopefully my assignments will be graded soon so I can see how I did. Tonight I will be going to Frisbee and playing with my team which finally has been named: Tie Dye For What. Yes, we do wear tie-dye. We even had a tie-dye powwow with chips (fries) and Cards Against Humanity..fun times. Also my Cairns trip is this weekend! I’m trying to decide if I should do the reef dive or not while I am there. I really want to, but I also want to make sure I have money left for my spring break trip to Melbourne and Sydney.

Well all, I am going to go and enjoy my day of freedom in the wonderful Ozzy land. I will have more stories to tell, so keep checking back. I also am starting a profile on GoFundMe to try to raise money so I can take more adventures during my time here, so if you want to keep hearing these stories and seeing cool pictures, and you have some money to spare, feel free to donate @ http://www.gofundme.com/kangaroocurtis. Thanks again!

Signing off,

Kylie Curtis, Jumping-off-of-cliffs-and-stuff expert extraordinaire

Travels, Pub Crawls, Grades; OH MY!

Travel plans are on my mind. I’m on the other side of the world from home, in a new country, and I want to see the sights. Coming into this trip I had one real trip I wanted to make: New Zealand! As a Lord of the Rings-to-the-extreme fan, I had a burning desire to see the Shire (haha rhyme intended). But really, when else will I be in this part of the world, close enough to go visit? Unfortunately, I did not plan out my flights in a way that would allow this trip to happen. If I had waited to buy my return ticket to the US I could have flown to New Zealand at the end of the semester and left from there. As it stands now, I have to catch my flight in Townsville, to catch my flight to Melbourne, to catch my flight to LAX, etc. Hindsight is 20/20 and I am definitely kicking myself for not thinking this through better before booking. However, the Shire is on the wrong island for me to fly to anyways, so things may have worked out for the best. Hopefully I will get a chance to go one day, it is just too expensive for me right now.

So outside of New Zealand, where could I go? Papua New Guinea, Tasmania – too expensive. Perth and Ayers rock (Uluru) – too far out of the way. That leaves me with Cairns, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney as the big Australian cities that I should at least try to see. From what I have heard, Brisbane does not have much to it that is different from Townsville, so it is not a priority on my list. However, Cairns is another matter. It is a 4 hour drive, or 7 hour Greyhound bus ride, has beautiful rainforests, and best of all: easy access to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). It is a trip I need to make while here, and will do everything in my power to make possible. Luckily, it is possible! In a week and a half, me and my SMCM friends and two UNCW friends will be renting a car and driving up to Cairns for the weekend. I definitely want to get a boat trip and snorkel around the GBR because who knows if it will be around the next time I’m in the area (ocean acidification kills), or if I will ever be in the area again. So a snorkelling trip and hopefully a rainforest hike are in the works for me, so I will update the blog after that trip for sure.

That leaves me with Spring Break, or Lecture Recess as it is known here. I was going to go to Sydney for Uni Games and play in the ultimate Frisbee tournament with my Townsville team. However, after looking at my finances, I cannot swing the $550 for the games in addition to the $400 plane tickets and still afford food rent for the semester, which are kind of important. Instead I decided to go on a trip with my friends to Melbourne to drive the Great Ocean Road for a couple days, then spend a day in Melbourne on our return. We managed to book $40 tickets to Sydney from Melbourne, so our next adventure will be a couple days in Sydney where we can hopefully see all the tourist-attracting sights, and maybe catch an ultimate game to cheer on our team. On the flight back from Sydney I have a 3 hour layover in Brisbane, but I am not sure if that will give me enough time to see anything there other than the airport. Time will tell! Regardless I am so excited for these trips (although not so excited for the lighter wallet).

So I never talked about Ultimate Frisbee Pub Crawl! The theme: Fairy Tales, Legends and Myths. My Lil’ Red from the Hood and I (Big Bad B*tchin’ Wolf) gained a Gangster Grandma in our ranks and needless to say we were a fierce group. The crawl started at Uni bar (on campus), travelled to a nearby bowling alley, then on to Riverside Tavern, a club on Flinders street (the downtown club area) and then everyone was free to go their own ways. Bowling was probably one of my favourite parts of the night, although I performed terribly (a disgrace to my bowling-champ father if he could see me). The alley had great music playing and I think more time was spent serenading each other than actually bowling. The prize for best costume, and a trip to Whit Sundays, went to a girl from Norway who was dressed as a fox from a Norwegian children’s story. She definitely deserved it. The rest of the night was a blast, and on every bus ride between venues there was some sort of arm-wrestle or competition that had certain members rolling around on the floor of the bus (who started this tradition) and many call-and-response songs were sang. It was a great night! I’ll put up some pictures when I get a chance.

These are the only big events that have happened since my last entry. I did get a High Distinction (equivalent to a U.S. college “A”) on my history essay which are apparently really hard to get (nailed it!). I got to talk to my lovely Aunt and Uncle over FaceTime (love you both!) and my wonderful boyfriend over Google Hangout (love you as well!). I will be setting up a time to talk to my parents because I haven’t heard from them in a while and definitely miss them. SMCM started up today (or yesterday?) and I wish everyone luck with their studies this semester. Can’t believe I am almost halfway through my own semester. I will keep everyone updated!

You stay classy United States!

-The myth, the legend, Kylie Curtis, student abroad

“100 days”

So at St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM) the seniors have their “100 days” which is the marking of 100 days until they graduate. I noticed that I just passed my 100 days yesterday and realized that I am almost a third of the way through my time here in Australia. That is crazy to me! It seems like I just stepped off the plane a couple weeks ago. Since my last post I have been hard at work getting assignments finished (or started..I have time). I also had a very special visitor this past week, my boyfriend Joe, who flew 10,000 miles or so to come see Aussie-land and me. It was amazing to have him here, and I miss him already. 

We managed to make a weekend trip to Magnetic Island, aka Maggie Island as the locals call it, and hung out in a tropical island paradise for the day. It was a little difficult to get there, waiting for buses and ferries and then more buses once on the island, but we managed to get to the first beach around 10:30am. One side of the Island was having pretty large algal blooms, so we spent most of the time there exploring the surrounding rocks and tossing a frisbee around. After we had tired of that we headed out to Horseshoe Bay where the water was much clearer and I took a dip in the “icy winter” water (way warmer than the Maryland waters will ever get during mid-summer). We had a late lunch at a place called Marlin Bar and then some gellato after for dessert. They was a huge flock of rainbow lorikeets that caught our attention, and one of my friends managed to get them to land on her hands and head. Afterwards we wandered back down the beach, and then towards the bus stop and just enjoyed the nice weather, the beautiful birds, and each other’s company. The journey home was not as enjoyable (more waiting due to a missed ferry ride) but nevertheless I fully suggest everyone makes a trip to Maggie Island if they are in the near vicinity. 

Still on the lookout for a good sushi joint. Joe and I stopped at a place in the mall (which I guess was our first mistake) and all they served was cooked “sushi” and rolls with chicken. It was disappointing to say the least, considering how close we are to the ocean and the bountiful fresh seafood that must be available.

The Ultimate Frisbee Pub Crawl (UFPC) is tomorrow, and I am crazy excited for a night of bowling, drinking and a night out on the town (I will be drinking responsible–that’s for you Mom). Our theme this year is fairy tales, myths, and legends, so I and my mate (yay Australia lingo) Alexandra will be going as the Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood respectively. Hoping to make some memories!

I have to go for class, but keep stopping by and I’ll update my blog when I get the chance!

Thriving down under!!

-student abroad, studier extraordinaire, kid-at-heart

-Kylie

 

 

Entry Numero Uno

18/08/14 (dd/mm/yy – got to get used to these international dates)

So, I know this is a little late to start up, but I want to have a record of my time studying abroad in Australia. I am currently a month in, I flew out on July 16^th and today is August 18^th. I would say that I am in my “main” phase of my time here. I have passed through the initial honeymoon stage where I love every single part of everything I see, through the subsequent homesickness and now I am finally settled, and back to loving every part of the experience.

Let me just say this: Australia is amazing.

Yes the United States is also amazing, and there are plenty of parts of it that I have not seen, but Australia has a different feel entirely. Not just due to the fact that it is half way across the world, but more stemming from the people here, the climate, the brands (TImTams!! I’ll come back to these). There is a happy-go-lucky, take-your-time-and-smell-the-roses, no-hustle-and-bustle (I think that’s enough hyphens for one sentence) essence to every part of their lives. Even the classes are much more laid back, although I would not say they are necessarily easier.

The Australian college experience emphasizes a 3 year degree in your area of interest. Most of the classes you take will be in your major, there is not much room for the equivalent of minors and there is almost no room for a dual degree. Graduate school is a continuation of your undergraduate degree, which is very convenient I feel. Also, the Australian government covers your tuition until you graduate and then you can pay it back. Did I mention that Australians from Queensland (the state I am currently in) attending James Cook University (the school I am studying at) only pay around $1500AUD a year? And that minimum wage is around $15AUD. And that $1AUD is equivalent to $1.07USD. So too bad getting a job here as an international student is near impossible, but not totally undoable. I have applied to around 20 places and not heard back a word from any, although I only followed up at 5 places.

Not having a job becomes a problem when everything costs more. I have been living off campus at a share house with two fellow St. Mary’s College of Maryland classmates. We pay $150AUD a week for rent, which is pretty reasonable when amenities are included, as is Wi-Fi, and we also have full access to a backyard in-ground pool. I have been cooking for myself, and as a first time cook, it has been a learning experience. You may ask why a 20 year old young adult with two amazing cooks for parents has no idea how to cook. It is completely my own laziness that is to blame and my previous disinterest in learning to cook when I had such good food always available. Shopping for ingredients in Australia is much harder though because I have set a strict $50/week cap on grocery expenses which means I am living off of items that are put on sale. This varies from week to week so I never have a good idea for what my options will be. Luckily local fruits and veggies are always fairly reasonable so I have been consuming a lot of them. The cooking is a constant experiment, and I feel like it will continue throughout my time here, although hopefully I’ll leave with better capabilities than I came with.

James Cook University is a great tropical and marine biology institution. I am currently taking 4 subjects: Conservation and Ecology Genetics, Behavioural Ecology, Biodiversity of Tropical Australia, and Modern History (to cover my history credit back at home). I live a 15-10 minute bike ride away from school so it means that I try to only make one trip a day, and time in-between classes is spent at the library (which has a coffee and gelato shop built in—yikes, a place I try to avoid). There is a lot less tangible work during the semester, with only a couple of assignments per class due for the entire time. Most of the weekly work I do revolves around reading for classes and trying to keep up with the material so I do not become overwhelmed at the end by the huge cumulative final exams – just a tad intimidating. It is very easy to feel like you have no homework, but it is important to maintain your readings or face a terrible and most likely unsuccessful cramming session. Outside of classes Uni has a beautiful campus, although it is quite large so getting to and from classes in the 10 minute window between them tends to be a struggle. They have a club on campus that is open on the weekends from 5pm-2am (? Somewhere around there) which sometimes has themed parties, like the toga party at the beginning of the semester.

Overall, everyone seems very welcoming, but it is a little difficult to make Australian friends if you are only here for a semester. It is understandable to not want to put in effort into a friendship that will only last 5 months and then probably fade away when you never see the person again. As a result, most of the friends I have made here have been American or other international students. The exception and savior to that is the Townsville Ultimate Disc Team.  I joined this semester on the suggestions of some friends which had studied abroad here before me, and it has honestly been one of my best decisions so far. Disc has been really fun, and I have picked it up fast, but most of the benefit is on a social level. I have met many Australians and become friends with them. Some of us got a chance to carpool up to Crystal Creek, an hour’s drive north of Townsville, and go swimming and diving in the pools (I will talk more about this later on). They also have parties throughout the semester, which are great for releasing stress and meeting new people, as well as organizing a pub crawl which is coming up soon (so excited!). The friends I’ve made through Ultimate are going to last past my time here, I am sure of it.

That is all I have for today, I am going to go get some work done in the library. Thanks for reading and I will be updating this throughout the rest of my time here, so if you want to read more of my adventures here, stay tuned!

 

A student abroad

-Kylie Curtis