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 2nd 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
kyliecurtislivingdownunder 