I can’t get over how much I love this place. It’s freezing cold, but every time I turn my head I look straight into a work of natural art. Makes the cold seem like nothing. We got to wake up a little later than normal this morning…8AM instead of 6:30AM. We didn’t know what to do with all the extra energy. The day started off with a self-made breakfast and then an intro lecture about New Zealand. There was a lot to learn, but about 87% of it was interesting, so the hour and a half flew by. After our lecture, we went to look at two extreme sports companies (jet boat and bungy jumping) to see how they met sustainability qualifications for the country of New Zealand. Our in-country field guide works for the organization that determines that, so he was able to get us a tour. The jet boat place was located in a stream that looks exactly where they shot the Rivendell scenes in Lord of the Rings. I was pretty sure that it was the same place, but then again everything looks awesome here so it could have been some other perfect river and forest. While there, I tried out some of the local Kiwi food…chicken flavored chips. I have a new favorite. Also, we learned that on their recent visit to New Zealand, Prince William and Princess Kate came to this exact jet boat station to do the ride. I was going to do that activity on my free day just for the chance to sit in the same seat as them, but I decided to go horseback riding instead. We’re going on a long trail ride through the entire Lord of the Rings and Narnia scenery. Will, if you’re reading this, then stop crying…it is that awesome though. After seeing the jet boat company, we went to a bungy jump place where the first actual bungy jump system in the world was created. They created the technique by watching a tribal ritual in Vanuatu. We watched a video about it (theirs didn’t have springy bungys…). Anyways, the spot was incredibly beautiful (like everything here…even the tap water) and we spent some time there taking pictures and watched some people bungy jump. I definitely will consider bungy jumping this jump at some point, because it looks awesome, but I decided that I want to do it when the water you dip into isn’t freezing cold (this means I have to come back to New Zealand in their summer months Mom and Dad…I’ll start saving then…). We had free time after that, which we used to go to lunch at Ferg Burger, allegedly the most famous burger joint in the world. I got a gluten free bun so it was a little different, but I still start salivating every time I think about it. Those burgers are as big as your face and taste like Shangri-La. We walked around Queenstown a little longer, and then came back to our hostel to do homework and have class. Afterwards, we went back into town to walk around a little bit. I got some cool souvenirs for Alex, Andy and William (not telling what they are you goons) and got a delicious gluten free orange cake from the bakery next to Ferg’s (they own it too coincidentally). We had dinner and hung out for a little longer, and then everybody either split off to go to bed or go back out into town. I chose the early bedtime tonight. Even though I have hardcore FOMO, we leave for Doubtful Sound tomorrow morning, so I want to get a good night’s sleep. We’re there for a full day and two half days (travel), and then back in Queenstown. Looking forward to everything, but I probably won’t have wifi there, so I’ll post that day’s blog when I get back to Queenstown!
Day 12
We woke up at 2:35 AM this morning to leave Brisbane. Our flight from Brisbane to Sydney got into the airport around 5 minutes before our flight to New Zealand was scheduled to leave. We ended up running as fast as we could to our new terminal only to just make it onto our plane. Then, we ended up holding up the entire flight for about thirty minutes because they had to transfer our bags. We were definitely the most popular people on the plane. The flight was pretty uneventful until some horrible turbulence. Apparently it looked like I was suffering from a hernia the entire time (my fear helped everyone else calm down, though, so I shouldn’t complain). When we finally landed in New Zealand, all of the negativity of the day was forgotten. It was freezing and rainy, but the second I got off the aircraft and was surrounded by the beautiful mountains, I said, “I’m home.” It really does feel that way here. Queenstown is a beautiful city surrounded by Middle Earth (Lord of the Rings reference). We got to stop at an overlook and see the entire city and surrounding countryside and it was enough to take your breath away. We checked into our hostel, went to buy some food (all organic…they don’t exactly have fast food here), and then ate a group dinner. Afterwards, we got some homework done and then went to appreciate the nightlife of Queenstown. It really is a remarkable place and I can’t wait to see what it has in store for us!
Day 11
It was sad to leave Lady Elliot Island (LEI for short) today. We went in two separate flight groups, so I got to stay a little longer than some people, but it still didn’t feel like enough time. I plan on making it back there some day, potentially forever, but we’ll see how that works out with my future career. After flying back into Hervey Bay, we took a charter bus back to Brisbane. On the way, we got to appreciate the truly beautiful land of the state of Queensland. I’m talking rolling hills, mountains, trees, fields…the works. They even had a double rainbow, which would normally be amazing, but they seem to have a lot of those here. Seriously, we see them everywhere. We also stopped at this small town gas station if you can even call it that. It was more like a shopping mall than a gas station and was equipped with lots of awesome food and one giant kangaroo statue (definitely got a picture). By the time we finished our scenic bus ride and got to Brisbane it was already 7:00 PM our time. We quickly checked into our hotel and then hit the town for some dinner. One luxury food court later, we walked around the city for a little while to appreciate the nightlife and spectacular city lights and then it was back to the hotel for bed. We have to wake up in 4 hours to board a plane to New Zealand. Booyah.
Day 10
Well, all of your positive thoughts worked, because I made it to the 6AM snorkel and it was potentially the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. Starting out, we saw a bunch of sharks and rays and then it got better from there. A giant manta ray came and swam past us and then, suddenly, we came upon a pod of dolphins at this ship wreck right off the reef. We snorkeled with them for about 30 minutes and got so close to them that we could have touched them if we wanted to (we didn’t because apparently they can attack if provoked). The dolphins plus the fact that there was an amazing sunrise to one direction and a double rainbow to the other made our guide, Nigel, scream out, “This is the best day ever!” (his name is really Dave, but we call him Nigel because he sounds like Nigel Thornberry…he responds to it). I snorkeled two other times, once in the open ocean again where we saw a bunch of amazing wildlife and a moray eel (it was gigantic…I think Alec peed himself), and once in the lagoon where we saw everything amazing again. I think I’ve probably touched about 10 sea turtles now…they like me. While we were out in the lagoon, a girl named Megan accidentally head butted one of the turtles. It was fine, but Alec started laughing underwater and almost drowned. It was hilarious. We saw another amazing sunset and are now about to present our final presentations on ecological relationships on the island. My group chose the “buff banded rail”, a bird on the island, because it is incredibly annoying and always steals everyone’s hash browns off their plate at breakfast. Katie, Derek have both been victims (I put that part in because they asked to be included…). Anyways, today has been another amazing day. I’m so sorry that we’re leaving tomorrow, but they say New Zealand is pretty incredible too. Hopefully we see some kiwi birds. Deuces.
Day 9
I planned on waking up for a 6AM snorkel session this morning to see giant rays and sharks, but seeing as it was at 6AM, that didn’t happen. I do regret that though, because those that went said it was amazing, so I am planning on waking up tomorrow morning for it. Send positive thoughts my way. Anyways, today was INCREDIBLE. I snorkeled three times today, once in the lagoon and twice in the open ocean. In the lagoon, I saw a bunch of amazing fish, another sea turtle, urchins, and my instructor found a den in the coral where three nurse sharks were chillin. Definitely got a pic…don’t worry. We’ll be getting all of our underwater pictures on Friday when we leave. In my open ocean snorkels I saw a lot as well. My first one was a little unsuccessful, because I wasn’t paying attention when they said not to wade out to the entry point of the reef in your flippers. It took me like 30 minutes to get out there and I wiped out on a bunch of dead coral and got cut up pretty badly ( didn’t face plant, but almost). Then, on my second open ocean snorkel, we went out on a boat. This was so that we could get to the iconic “coral gardens” more quickly. I got pretty good at free diving out there and got to go down about 30 feet to see the incredible wildlife. I swam through schools on schools of fish, saw some white-tipped reef sharks and this one bull ray. Coincidentally, this is the kind of ray that took Steve Irwin from us. I didn’t hold it against him, though…he was down too deep for me to confront him. Anyways, after all this snorkeling I’m probably going to turn in my application to Animal Planet any day now, so I should be on good terms with any wildlife that could come my way. We followed up this last snorkel with watching the sunset. This was hands down one of the best sunsets I’ve ever seen. I’ve attached a picture below for those of you who are visual learners. Despite getting stung on the face by some plankton (this isn’t a joke…I looked like I had a Mike Tyson tattoo) and that one coral incident, today was relatively injury free and absolutely perfect. I can’t wait for tomorrow, especially that 6AM snorkel. Deuces.
Day 8
Today we arrived at Lady Elliot Island using a small island hopper plane. Even though I was in a state of near cardiac arrest, I must admit that the view was pretty sweet. Once we landed, we went straight into an orientation session on the snorkel sites of the reef and where not to go. Also, apparently there are a lot of dangerous animals around the Great Barrier Reef, so we were advised to watch out for those. After our orientation, we went to put our stuff into our “bungalow tents”, buy internet (you do that here), and get our snorkel gear. We went into another orientation after purchasing our gear on how to snorkel and then were off into the reef. A lot of people stayed behind to get scuba certified so that they can go on a dive or two while we’re here, but I said there’s no way in heck I’m gonna pay $140 to stay underwater for longer with a metal tank on my back. I was not disappointed. Right as we got into the reef, I was blown away by the amazing amount of colorful and weird looking fish and organisms. Animal planet doesn’t do it justice, it’s literally like a page out of a science fiction novel or something. I got to pet three different sea turtles, saw a reef shark and got stabbed in the knee with a piece of sharp coral all in my first day. I don’t regret saying no to scuba at all. Besides the living organism now trapped in my leg, the day was pretty cool and it’s far from over. We’re about to go to a lecture on corals and then take a “coral walk” to check out some of the animals that live in them at low tide followed by dinner and another lecture. Our days here are structured around being in the water, so a lot of the learning goes on at night. Anyways, I have to run, but I’m looking forward to the rest of our time here. Hopefully not too many more injuries.
Day 7
Today was our last day in Carnarvon Gorge. My group did the short hike up to the top of Boolimba Bluff in the Gorge today. It was just a short hike up a vertical staircase to an amazing view. We could see the entire gorge and everything else for miles around. In an attempt to conquer my fear of heights, I crossed over the safety barriers to look down the drop of a couple thousand feet. Then, I fell off the cliff. Just kidding, but I almost did. I can’t say that it really did anything for my fear, but the view was still amazing. Our teacher attempted to teach us about the different rock layers present in the gorge geology, but that went exactly how you would expect it to. After our short hike, my group went back to camp and had the rest of the day to do our homework and study for our final quiz on the area. At 5:45 our time, my group went to go spotlighting with our guide Simon. Basically, that’s tramping out into the dark rainforest to look for “gliders” while trying to avoid giant ants and bloodsucking mosquitoes. It was pretty cool, but also a little painful (lots of ants). Then, we came back and had dinner (steak, hotdogs and kangaroo meat…for those with diverse pallets). Our final quiz was one of those quizzes where you could know everything to know and yet still not do so hot. Regardless, I feel like I learned a lot. Hopefully my GPA survives this lot though. Anyways, we’re on our way to Lady Elliot Island now to find Nemo. I’m sad to leave Carnarvon (mostly because all I saw of a platypus was its den), but I’m excited for the next phase of our adventure. Deuces.
Day 6
Today was clutch. Woke up to some creature from the lost world screeching its head off about territory or something. Then, when Alec finally quit making that noise, there were so many birds making cawing that I decided to wake up anyways (there really was a creature though…the Alec thing was a joke). I ended up being glad I woke up, because the sunrise was beautiful. Planning on attaching pictures when I finally get wifi. We went down to breakfast where our cook, Steve, immediately shouted out, “OY! WHERE’S MISTA GLUTEN FREE!?!” then proceeded to give me way too much food to eat. He’s been saying this every single time we have food served and it’s become a bit of a running joke amongst the group. I agree with them…making fun of other people is pretty hilarious. After breakfast we split into teams Emu and Kookaburra for our hikes. Team Kookaburra had a short hike, and then free time today and team Emu, my team, had a 9-mile hike through the Carnarvon Gorge territory. This hike was so incredibly breathtaking that I forgot to be afraid that there could be snakes in the bush (Australian word for woods…). Our field guide, Simon, knows pretty much all that there is to know about everything (I reckon he could make a spaceship out of a rock…just sayin), and he kept us informed of every animal we came across as well as the unique history of each site we saw. Some of these included: the Art Gallery (Aboriginal artwork on rock walls), the Amphitheatre (a cave and canyon carved into the rock by ancient fault lines and water…apparently koalas fall into it a lot and have to be helped by rangers), the moss garden (literally what it sounds like), and the hell hole (a spring and a bunch of rock pools that were the farthest thing from hell). Everything was beautiful and we got to really appreciate the incredible biodiversity of this area because we were surrounded by expanses of beautiful rainforest, scrublands, grasslands and soaring mountains all within the same area. This is conducive to a wide variety of wildlife and way too many kangaroos (they’re cool though). Thoroughly overwhelmed by this day and profoundly blessed by the beauty of God’s creation.
Day 5
Today, we arrived in Carnarvon Gorge. I’m having difficulty accessing wifi, so these are all probably going to be posted at once. This place is incredible. We’re staying in the middle of the campgrounds in tent/cabin structures surrounded by forest, grasslands and a crapload of kangaroos. A lot of the girls on the trip have called this “glamping”, whatever that means.
Upon our arrival, we were served a hot breakfast by our in-camp chef, Steven, and Colin, who has stayed on with us to help. He drove us around to several of our activities today. We were given a start-up lecture on the history of the gorge by our Carnarvon teacher, Simon Ling, and then walked down to the riverbank to engage in an aboriginal survival contest. We were split into two teams, Wombats and Dingoes (apparently both can be taken as an Australian insult even though wombat seems way more offensive), and told to make stone tools for cutting rope, a water-carrying device and a boomerang. We had to make stone shards for rope cutting, tie broadleaves together to carry water, and shave down a boomerang from wood (Simon gave us a little help on that one). Sadly, the wombats didn’t win, but we came close. It was a very interesting experience that made me very happy to be from the first world.
We went on a hike in the actual gorge of Carnarvon Gorge. It’s supposed to be the home of the legendary rainbow serpent, deity of the aboriginals, but I didn’t see it anywhere. We did see some awesome rock formations and cliffs though and had to swim through ice cold water numerous times to keep going through the gorge. It was a difficult, but rewarding climb and we got to see views that looked straight out of National Geographic. After our hike, we came back to camp for dinner, and then drove out to the outback for stargazing. I’ve never seen a sky so clear. We saw the entire Milky Way, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, plus a dark shape in the Milky Way referred to as the emu. This is because it looks like an emu.
All in all, pretty clutch day. Looking forward to the 9-mile hike tomorrow.
Day 4
Today was our last day in Sydney. We had our group sustainability debates this morning and then checked out of our hostel at 10 AM. After our checkout, we had some time to kill, so we grabbed lunch at a food court in a nearby underground mall. Food courts are much different here, mainly because the food is good. Then, we were on our way to the airport.
At the airport, we barely had to go through security. I probably could have smuggled a wallaby through and they wouldn’t have said anything. We ate at another food court for something to do and then took off for Brisbane. The flight was pretty uneventful, but I was obviously still pretty worried about it. I’m facing my fears, but flying still makes me a little uncomfortable. It’s on my list of least favorite things along with Nickleback.
Upon arriving to Brisbane, we went straight to a charter bus piloted by Colin; a hilarious Auzzie who kept insisting his name was Colin, not ‘Colon’ (I don’t think he realized that we knew…). We stopped by the supermarket, Wollworth’s, to grab the essentials we needed for our lunches for the next four days in the Outback. Hope I got enough, because if not, then it’ll probably be kangaroo and termites for me. Finally we finished off the evening with a group dinner at an Asian place in Brisbane. The lady had to make special gluten free food for me, which was nice, but I couldn’t stop laughing because she kept asking me if I wanted tofu even after I told her that I didn’t (you had to be there).
Now we’re on a bus heading off to Carnarvon Gorge on the edge of the Outback to stay for three nights. It’s a 10-hour trip and we’re supposed to be finishing the mountains of schoolwork we have assigned, but sleep sounds so much better. I’m finishing this up and then going to finish my reading and catch some shut-eye. All of this Chinese food is going to make things interesting on our cramped bus ride. Wish me luck. Also, I probably won’t be able to post this until I reach civilization again, so you’ll get several blogs at once. Try to contain your excitement.
wcnichols17 