Well, since my last blog, we have travelled all the way up to Cape Tribulation, which is absolutely GORGEOUS - if you make it to Australia, do NOT miss this part! It's one of the only places in the world where the rainforest comes all the way down to the beach. I hope my pictures do it even a little bit of justice. We also snorkelled on the Great Barrier Reef, which was super cool. Lots of colourful fish and manta rays and sea turtles, but no sharks, thank goodness! I know reef sharks are harmless, but still.... On day we went to Port Douglas, which is a posh and a bit snobby of a town. We walked a little ways along the beach, I wanted to go into the water, but Ryan wouldn't let me because of the stingers (deadly jellyfish which are in season now) and we got around the bend in the beach and went up onto the grass to find a sign saying something like: "Do not go close to the water, crocodile habitat." Yikes!! We never did see one in the wild, and I can't decide if that is good or bad. We also visited an Aboriginal Centre, which is kinda like Wanaskawin, but WAY better. Lots of demonstrations and dancing and you can try things like boomerang throwing and spear throwing - it was very interesting. And we met up with Shellie and Jerry, my quadmate from my last year at Briercrest and her new husband, which was really fun. I hope we get to see that once more before we all leave for home.
What else...we went inland a bit to the Gemfields, where we dug for our own sapphires and gave up after an hour. It's super hard when you don't really know how deep to dig or what to look for. So we went to a tourist place, where you can buy a bucket of dirt and fossik that. Much better! We had more luck. Plus we toured a working mine, which was very interesting.
And now we are back on the coast, in Bundaberg. We are planning on seeing loggerhead turtles laying their eggs tonight.
My world is a little screwed up right now. Is is really November? It feels like July. So far, our hottest day has been 39 degrees, and it generally gets past 30 degrees during the day, and really, not much cooler at night. However, here on the coast there is a little bit of relief because we have the nice sea breeze. To see Christmas trees and lights is just wrong. I'm not counting down the days until we come home, but it did strike me yesterday how hard it will be to leave Brisbane on the 4th. This has been our home for the last five months, and this was where I had my first class, and so much learning took place here. It really will be an emotional day - mixed emotions. And people have been so good to us. My vice-principal has offered to pick us up when we drop off our rental car and bring us to her place where we can rest and her and her husband will feed us supper and take us to the airport. And if we get into Brisbane a day early, my co-op has offered us a bed at their place. How gracious these wonderful people are!!
Well, I should sign off once again. I am paying money for time, and heaven knows, we don't have much of either! Speaking of which, if anyone feels so inclined to feed us a meal when we get home, we would be extremely grateful! :)