Sydney Starters

At the beginning of the week it rained, and I thought to myself this is good. Rain is the start of an adventure. Always the start of an adventure.But, the week went on and the adventure didn't seem to come. Things happened. I met people. I went out. I had fun. But, in all of it there was an underlying loneliness. My adventure felt meaningless and boring because I had no one to really share it with. And, I reminded myself that was just rain. Rain doesn't start adventures, it takes storms for real change to happen. So, I prayed over and over that God would help my adventure to start, or at least make a bit more sense. 

Today, something changed:

1. I signed for an apartment

2. I got a call back for a job interview

3. I skyped my sister (who witnessed the second one happen)

4. I got to ride a vespa around the city with this kid
5. I went out to a concert with people and made plans for tomorrow

Tonight, it rained again. But this time, it stormed. And somehow I feel settled again. I haven't moved into my apartment yet, and I don't actually have a job, but tonight it stormed. And really that was all needed as a reminder. God's little push that he's watching and the adventure is still yet to come.

Psalms 25:16-17

Turn to me and be gracious to me,

for I am lonely and afflicted.

 Relieve the troubles of my heart

and free me from my anguish.

Matthew 8:24-26

Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

A Week of Summer: Cairns

Cairns, the city that lives an endless Summer. Cairns isn't a giant city, but a perfect backpacker's paradise. Wtih tons of hostels, clubs and weather that can't be beat it's not wonder so many of the people i met there ended up staying longer. I was there for a grand total of 5 days, but nothing all that exciting happened until about day 3 so we'll start there.

Day three took me to Kuranda to ride over a rainforest in a skyrail and see a lovely village fille dwith marketplaces and crafts galore. I honestly probably sould have bought more souvenirs there given the number of options I had, but i'm tryin to hold out until the end to get that stuff, so unfortunately I didnt pay too much attention. Kuranda was actually quite beautiful in terms of the forest as I watched it from above, but even more stunning was the ride back. I took the scenic train ride from Kuranda all the way back into Cairns. And while that hadn't been my original plan, missing my bus ended up being a blessing in disguise given the magnificent views from the train windows. Waterfalls, rainforests and a stunning backdrop of beach and city. It was amazing. Definitely got me back in the swing of things after a few days of laziness and just walking about the city.

                                                  

                                 

Day four was by far my favorite day of my week in Cairns. I went for a snorkeling trip on the Great Barrier Reef and ahhh it just couldn't have been better. I had gone for the cheapest option I could find and ended up on a boat filled with people that were all about twice my age--with the exception of course, of the crew. At first I was a bit annoyed that I wouldn't have anyone else to hang out and laugh with for the day, but God immediately took care of that one. Not long after stepping onto the boat a lovely German couplel sat down beside me. Somehow we got onto the topic of how I spoke German and for the remainder to the day we chatted auf Deutsch about where we'd been, where we were going, fears of snorkeling in the open ocean, their children, where I had studied abroad--they were from Munich and had actually heard of Dorfen! success! --the Middle East, and how valuable travel was. Unfortunately about halfway through the trip, one of the women on the boat got quite sick due to the waves and i got a bit of a shower. Luckily it wasn't too much or I don't know that I would've made it without throwing up either. 

     Anyways, by the tie we got there I had befriended one of the crew members who happened to be Italian and once in the water he was great about pointing out all the best spots to check out the reef. Having been so freaked out to go snorkeling in the open ocean I let a few people head out before me so that I could follow them in. I figured if they were fine I would be too. haha I guess  used them as my personal guinea pigs for my own sanity. Once in the water however---oh my gosh. It was INCREDIBLE. The coral was brilliant with color and the number of fish...it was insane. I even got to see a turtle and some reef sharks! I grabbed a pic of the turtle but wasn't able to get any of the sharks unforunately=( We stayed out for an hour or so and I probably couldd've stayed longer except that I was definitely ready for lunch. So we finally boarded the boat, had some lunch and then got the chance to head to Green Island for the afternoon. 

                                             

                              

                              

                           

     Green Island is a beautiful island off of Cairns that happens to be have a small zoo on it. Excpet this is no normal zoo. It houses the worlds largest croc in captivity, Cassius, who is 5.5 meters long. Oh, and all of the crocs in the exhibit, including Cassius aren't jsut random Crocs. Oh no, these are Crocs with a history. All of them have at some time or another been killers. There was an entire wall of papers about crocs that had killed people, or been caught, opened up and foudn to have arms and legs inside of them. GROSS. But also creepily fascinating. After enjoying that for a bit we all made it back to the boat to sail back to Cairns.

                                     

    As we sailed  home I got the chacne to chat with the skipper and the 3 crew members (Italian, Kiwi and Aussie) about how they got on the boat and ended up doing what they were. All of them had at one point just fallen in love with scuba (the Aussie guy had gone for the 1st time just the year before) and then proceeded to travel around the world in pursuit of the best dive and sailing spots. They love what they do and get to take people out for long trip to get them certified, learn to sail and dive some of the most beautiful spots in the world. Amazing. Honestly, if I hadn't booked my flight already, I would've seriously considered staying and trying to get a sailing license. I love the water so much. Being there makes it so easy to see why people stay.

Anyways, my final day I headed up to Cape Tribulation and into the Daintree Rainforest. It was honestly a stunning, albeit bumpy drive up. We got to spend a while hanging out on the bech at Cape Trib and eventually headed home. We also hit Port Douglas for a bit, which was eh okay. Overall the best part of the trip was getting to chat with  the others. I met a lovely Parisian and was able to grab dinner with her, an Argentinian and thies great German girl who had also been on the tour. Dinner was delicious and we ended up following it up by a hilarious night of chatting with some Aussie Navy guys at a nearby bar before heading back to our hostels to get ready for the next day. Oh, did I mention it was ladies night? success. I have officially hit 3 ladies nights in a row--cheap drinks all day baby.

ACCENT UPDATE: Unfortunately, I still have not been hanging out with too many Aussies so my accent is still crap. On the bright side ich habe eine wette verloren mit eine Freund in meiner Hostel. Also, ich hatte fuer den Ganzen Woche nur auf Deutsch gesprochen wenn ich mit ihn waren. Also, mein Deutsch ist jezt ein bisschen besser als es war eben eine Woche vor. (I lost a bet with a friend in my hostel. So, I had to speak German whenever I was with him for the entire week. So, my German is now a llot better thn it was even a week ago! yay!)

Whitsunday Dreaming

Oh I have far too many wonderful things to say about the Whitsundays. However, after a long bus ride to get there....Airlie Beach was not immediately exciting. It's a super small town that, unfortunately (or fortunately) for me you can get to know in about a day. So, when I got in on Monday, that was the first thing I did. I wandered what came out to two major streets along the marina, hung out at the beautiful lagoon and did some shopping. Nothing all that exciting, but I needed a relaxation day after Fraser Island insanity=]

Airlie beach doesn't happen to have an actual beach, so they've made a rather large lagoon in the middle of the town where people can hang out and swim and just generally have a good time. And so went my whole first day there. Tuesday, some friends from Fraser got into town and so we all caught up  at the lagoon before heading out to dinner and drinks together. $13 for a steak, chips and a salad? yeah. that happened. backpacker's paradise.Anyways, I had booked my 2-day 1-night Whitsundays sailing trip for the next morning so around the other girl and I headed to bed.

And so began the adventure....

DAY 1: Sailing Out

We headed out to the first place that we were going to snorkel. It took about an hour and a half to get there or so? Maybe I made that up. It seems like forever ago now. But it was a beautiful trip out. Unfortunately we didn't actually get to SAIL out as we needed to make time, and there wasn't much wind, but getting there was unforgettable nonetheless. Once we got there, our crew gave us a quick overview of the snorkeling and diving situation. Me, an Aussie girl and a Spanish couple all had chosen to dive at our first snorkeling spot. So as everyone else got geared up with their stinger suits and snorkels we waited for the dive boat to let us know we could head on over. I have to admit that I was TERRIFIED. First, I am legitimately horrified at the thought of seeing a jellyfish or shark. Second, you're not supposed to snorkel if you have congestion and whatnot--you're underwater breathing in anyway possible is important. I wasn't dying of a cold but I had had a bit of congestion the day before which added to my already oncoming freak-out sesh. So, while I put on a brave face prior to getting in the water (hey! i've snorkeled before! I can do this! no big deal!) I was actually internally completely losing it. Our skipper took us over to the dive boat where we got a brief safety and guidelines instruction from an incredibly enthusiastic Aussie dive instructor. Afterwards they suited us up with our admittedly VERY heavy dive gear and hopped us in a boat to the beach so we could practice the skills we'd just discussed before going on our dive.

during the practicing of the skills, I couldn't quite get one of them right--so add that to the list of my things to freak out about while being underwater. But, after this quick session to determine that we understood generally what we were doing he took us under the water to see some coral and fish! Now Michelle and I (the Aussie girl) had assumed that we would go on a short dive--come up, determine everyone was okay, and then continue on the longer 45-minute or so dive we were to do. YEAH NO. What actually happened (p[robably for the best honestly) was that once we were in the water after the skills session, we were IN. There was no i'm done i'm getting out. Well, okay. You could do that if you wanted to but then your dive was over for good. But it ended up being so incredibly wonderful!

One of the first things he did once the instructor got us down there was clap two rocks together and called a fish over. I swear this fish was basically a puppy. It would come right up to you and let you pet it, and play with it and push it around...it was so funny. Also..it was GIGANTIC. I mean at least 3 -4 feet long and maybe 2 feet high (do you say high for fish? that seems strange). Anyways, as silly as it sounds, playing with Elvis, as he is known helped calm me down tremendously. Which, at this point was rather good because I had been pretty much hyperventilating up until then hahah=]

After our scuba adventure (everyone else had been snorkeling at the time) we headed back to the boat to move to our next location where we would be able to hop in with some more fish and coral. I've really loved getting so many chances to scuba and snorkel. Especially because it makes me so nervous, each time has been a bit of a boost and it's getting slowly easier. It's so silly to love the water and being on boats so much and yet be so scared of the animals in it hah. Ah well. I'm getting better!

Finally, after our second snorkeling session we headed to the place we were going to anchor the boat to sleep for the night. On our way we got to watch a bird scoop a fish out of the water. SO EXCITING. hahah having written it out it sounds a bit dumb. But it was amazing!! hahah That evening, Joost, the Dutch guy who was one of the crew made nachos and we all sat out drinking whatever we had and enjoying the insanely beautiful stars. I seriously have never seen so many. It was surreal to be floating in the ocean (which seems endless) and looking up only to feel as if you are drowning in sky as well. I have never felt quite so small. It was incredible and I wish i could go back right now.

Eventually we all headed to bed. I'll admit I was on the earlier end. It had been a rather long day, and with no lights available...it seemed much later than it was. I feel the need to justify going to bed early on vacation. But, i love sleeping on boats and honestly going to bed early was just a nice treat.

                                                                                                                                          

   

sorry but can we just compare the size of my hand to the size of the fish?

                       

                                                                                                           

DAY 2: Whitehaven and Returning to Airlie

The second day on the boat started with a bang to say the least. My bunk was in the middle of the ship right next to the kitchen with these 3 Brits. So Joost started getting breakfast ready around 6:30ish whilel playing some music quietly. Okay, fair enough. A lot of times at camps and things (beach week? hahha) people will play music that gets slowly louder to wake everyone up. HAHAH NO. Joost went for the straight loud approach. At some random point he decided to just turn it up a lot (while smiling and laughing to himself) much to the dismay of me and the Brits. Nonetheless, we got up, grabbed some food and were just sitting and eating breakfast as the captain made his way to Whitehaven Beach for the morning. Unfortunately the water was a bit rough and there was a hatch above where we were sitting. So, in a wonderful moment of hilarity a HUGE wave came down through the hatch as one of the Brits yelled and jumped up from his seat with his breakfast. ahhahhah We all about died laughing. It was spectacular. And we were all nice and awake then. Nothing like having the ocean come down on your breakfast to get you up and going!

Anyways, we finally made our way to Whitehaven beach and oh my goodness. I can't even begin to say how incredible it was. We had about 2.5 hours to kill there and spent them VERY well. My pictures don't do the beach justice...so please google whitehaven beach to get the full experience. The water is insanely clear, and the sand is so white and powdery that you have to be careful not to get it in electronics as it will completely destroy them. We also weren't allowed to track it back on the boat cause it's so hard to get rid of. But it made for an incredible place to spend the morning. the water came in waves on one side of the beach so you could run into the ocean, while the other side was a large shallow pool of water that you could just sit or walk around in. Of course, with this type of setting, you can't let things go to waste. So, we naturally took a shameless number of jumping photos and pyramid shots, and just generally ridiculous pictures. (sidenote--I have none of these pictures because I didn't want to ruin my camera...so you'll have to wait for those pics to appear on facebook)

                                            

                                          

                                         

What we didn't get pictures of though---well at least I didn't--were the big sting rays and smaller sharks we saw swimming around. The boys had seen them and I immediately demanded to know where they were so i could also chase after them hahah. Thankfully one of them was willing to lead me to where they were so I could freak out about how close we were. Then, finally after a day of silliness, we headed back to the boat for lunch and the ride back to Airlie Beach. 

Since we had been unable to sail on the way to our snorkeling locations the day before due to lack of wind, we decided to do so on the way back. It was so beautiful. BOATS ARE THE BEST. I've actually always thought that, but being there pretty much solidified it. Anyways, the best (albeit the most intense) part of the ride home was when we hit a bit of a storm the last 10-15 minutes before shore. But, thankfully between Joost, the captain and the Brits, we did quite well. And, to top it off we were informed that every Whitsundays Trip gets free pitchers (and discounted ones after) of beer at the bar next to our hostel! SUCCESS. So around 7:30ish or so we all met up to have dinner and enjoy all of our drinks. OH and ALSO....there was a club like 3 doors down that was having its grand opening and you could get in free before 11pm. So due to my insatiable desire to dance...myself and a few of the others headed over to the club for the rest of the evening.

In all seriousness, my Whitsundays trip was probably the best trip I have ever taken. We had incredible views, a phenomenal crew of people, wonderful weather, and it ended with free drinks and a chance to dance. God knows me so well.

DAY 3: To Cairns!

Unfortunately the end of my time in Airlie Beach meant waking up VERY early the next morning and catching a greyhound to Cairns. curses. (it was worth it though...Cairns was great..i'll catch ya up next time)