No one else woke up for Bondi, so I ended up heading down there by myself. Not too bad a trip: just 2 busses. When it pulled up, I made my way to a café called Sejuice, grabbed a cappuccino and some warm, toasted apple-cinnamon bread to warm me up as it was a bit chilly, and sat down on the tables outside along the beach. As I watched the waves come crashing along the shore and the surfing competition to my right, people started gathering around that reminded me of my mom’s Einsteins crew: you know, the locals who knew everyone, except these people had just finished running, swimming or surfing at 5am. In any event, I got talking to a nice couple whose son was in the surf competition, and just spoke about their lives in Bondi. Really nice people.
From there, I went for a mini-walk, where I found a place called “Icebergs,” that turns out to be a private swimming club. In order to be a member, you need to swim every Sunday…for FOUR STRAIGHT YEARS! EVERY SUNDAY! Totally worth it, considering their pool is a saltwater pool that is filled by the crashing waves of the ocean. (Insert Picture HERE!)
I made my way back to the hostel, showered, killed some time at the Wake-Up and had lunch with the gang. We then made our way to the airport, to Cairns, and pretty much had dinner and went to bed.
The next morning, we took a bus to a place called “RainForestation” and went on an Army Duck Tour through the rainforest and learned about…the rain forest. It was actually pretty interesting, and we got to see “the most painful plant in the world.” Then we got a chance to hang out with KANGAROOS! There was a lawn with tons of them that you could feed, pet, and with which you could just hang around! (Insert more pictures!)
We left, and hung around a place called Karunda, which just had some shops. The only interesting part was the ice cream truck run by a man who was retired from the military, and whose wife makes all of it from scratch. It was pretty damn good.
Back to the hostel, had some dinner, and then walked around the night market, which had some more shops, coffee, trinkets…etc. Then a few of us decided to go for a run along the “beach” which was really just along a boardwalk because the beach was made of mud and muck and disgusting crap. But we made our way to where all of the boats and boat-planes were, which ended up being really beautiful even at night.
Finally, the day we had all been waiting for: the Great Barrier Reef! We woke up pretty early and headed out to the boat that left at 8. A two hour ride into the water, and we arrived at an island that was inhabited by native birds (and there was actually a $7,500 penalty for crossing a rope they had set up because they were protected by the government). We got to snorkel and see the amazing corals with colors I never knew existed. But that wasn’t even the best part…I made my way back to the boat so that I could go SCUBA DIVING! Yes, they gave a quick tutorial, and we were allowed to dive. Holy shit, I thought I saw some amazing things while snorkeling. This was unreal. Turtles, reefs, colors…almost indescribable, and the pictures barely do it justice. We got to touch some of the coral and living things, and really got up close and personal. It only lasted half an hour (which went by way to quickly, anyway) but every second was a second I will remember forever.
A calming ride back with some magic tricks by the staff and some relaxation time, and we were back in time for dinner and bedtime.
I took a run along that same path we did the other night, had some breakfast, and then we all headed to James Cook University to finish up our projects and present them to the class. Everyone did a really nice job: too bad we can’t present to the Waratahs, because they were too busy with their home semi-final to hear our pitches. In any event…
We walked up to A.J. Hacket’s Bungee jumping place: the tallest tower built specifically for bungee jumping at 50 meters (I think 165 feet?). It was in the middle of the rainforest, and there was a little pond directly below. Did I jump? Well, when I post the video, you’ll find out ;)
P.S. – It was everything I imagined and more, and I got it so that just my hands touched the pond. I’d do it again in a heartbeat (sorry mom!)
Flight home, shower, bed.
Which brings us to today. I got up early again for a breakfast trip to Bondi and had planned to meet a few people again: surprise! Hung-over and sleeping. A macchiato, some toasted banana bread, and I was off on the hour-long walk from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach. Just a whole bunch of amazingly spectacular views and a nice way to see the coast. I met up with Brendan and Beth and their friend Ollie who were all driving to Uni, so they picked me up and I got a quick tour of UNSW, which was a good way to see another university. I also really wanted to see how Brendan lived and put some faces to names.
Back to the hostel to meet up with the group for lunch, and then they all decided to go out to Bondi Beach. DAMNIT! I decided instead to go walk around two local towns nearby, Newtown and Surry Hills, which were both kind of funky. Just a nice way to kill some time.
And here I am, getting ready to go to dinner at the Blackbird Café (a nice restaurant in Darling Harbor) with the group for our last meal together before we all head off to do our own thing. Hopefully tonight will be a lot of fun, as I assume we’ll all go out and have an amazing last night in Sydney.
Tomorrow’s agenda: wake up early, get to the airport, and head to Auckland, New Zealand. Another country, another day.
_Josh
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