Mid-Semester Break!!

Now that I've got some time to sort through photos, I want to tell you about my mid-semester break adventures. I arrived home with over 500 photos, more than 25 mosquito bites, and a tan that makes it seem like my butt could glow in the dark. Too much information? Maybe.

I started my trip in Cairns on the 24th of September. Cairns is in the northern tip of Australia and was about a 2.5 hour flight from the Gold Coast. I spent 6 days hanging out in and around Cairns, which is a backpacker's haven with $2 meals at the pubs, a ton of hostels, a great walking path along the waterfront, and lots of amazing nature to explore. 



 

Cairns doesn't have a beach, so a lagoon was constructed at the waterfront to give everyone a place to hang out and cool down. In summer time, the weather in Cairns frequently reaches 40 degrees or more!



One of my favorite photos from the trip. There was a festival going on at the waterfront, and both this little girl and I got our faces painted.



I scared the camera out of focus.

One of my favorite spots in Cairns included the Night Market, which is open every night from 4:30 pm to 11 pm and has cheap asain food buffets which go on half price after 9 pm. I also really enjoyed Rusty's market, which is a farmer's market full of beautiful locally grown fruit and veggies and was luckily just around the corner from where I was staying.

Cairns is also one of the best places in the world from which to see the Great Barrier Reef. Of course, I took full advantage of my proximity to the reef, and spent a whole day snorkeling and diving at the outer reef, and I have a few hundred underwater photos and a sexy wetsuit tan to show for it. (I'll put up a bunch of my underwater photos from my Great Barrier Reef dive in their own post). Cairns is also within close proximity to the Daintree Rainforest, so I spent a day driving along the coast and up into the Daintree National Park where I saw some of the most amazing, enormous trees.

Gorgeous vines and trees.



I spotted this guy digging french fries out of a garbage can at a rest stop.

I also took a day drive about 3 hours into the middle of the country away from the coast where I really got a taste of what the outback is like. I saw lots of small, secluded towns that could only be reached by dirt roads and were populated by cattle farmers. I even saw a kangaroo!! That wasn't in the Zoo!! And we didn't run it over in with car!!

"Falling in love rocks"



Mossman's Gorge



After my time in Cairns, I jumped in a campervan and started heading down the coast. (Down means south, and the further South you get the colder the weather, which seems to go against my instincts).

I think I've bombarded you with enough pictures for now, and I've got numb-bum, so I'll share pictures from my campervan travels in another post.