The last week of classes was fairly uneventful since
everyone was preparing for finals. After enduring the stressful ordeal of
excessive studying, I was pleased to find that the act of taking the exams was
much less taxing than the preparation. Sadly, the end of exams meant saying
goodbye to Rohan, our Natural Resources Management professor. Siggy (our
Rainforest Ecology professor) and Justus (our Environmental Policy and
Socioeconomics professor) would stay and become our research advisors for
directed research projects and Amanda Freeman would take Rohan's place. We were
all sad to see Rohan go, but we knew we would see him again at community night
at the end of the semester.
After exams ended we were rewarded with a five-day mid
semester break. We were driven to Cairns and then immediately dispersed to
catch buses, pick up car rentals and enjoy our freedom. The van we rented was
much more comfortable compared to the vans we are accustomed to being
jam-packed into so it was a nice change. From Cairns, we drove to Port Douglas
with no real plan in mind. After arriving we split up to find a hostel and
stumbled upon Parrotfish Lodge. With free internet, a Wii, a pool, a pool table
and a ping-pong table all for just $25 a night, we couldn't turn it down. After
settling in, we went to explore the beach. It was nice, but we were prohibited
from swimming due to the possibility of stingers (jellies).
The majority of the next day we spent exploring the town. It
was not very crowded since we were there during the week so it was more
pleasant to walk around. The tranquil mood, modest design of the shops and
laid-back attire associated with proximity to the beach reminded me of Martha's
Vineyard, the island near my hometown which I have visited almost every summer
since my childhood. It was a nice little town, but I am not the type to settle
in one place for too long.
After spending the second night at Port Douglas we packed up
and headed towards Mission Beach. On the way we stopped at a nice overlook and
ended up climbing down the rocks to get to the Ocean. The beautifully colored
rocks again reminded me of Martha's Vineyard since they resembled the
incredible naturally red rocks of Aquinnah. The waves added to the quality of
the place and made it ever more tempting to swim in. Inevitably a few of us
ignored the danger of stingers and took a quick dip.
Satisfied with our road stop, we hopped back in the van and
proceeded on our way. Our next stop was Barron Falls, which I must say trump
the Ithaca Gorges that I am accustomed to. The stunning landscape and vast
amount of water flow made the sight spectacular. A true tropical waterfall if
I've ever seen one. This was probably my favorite view from break.
Our last stop before Mission Beach was Kuranda. We had
learned from other students who had visited that it was very much a tourist
town; everywhere you looked there were stores selling the t-shirts, boomerangs,
postcards and aboriginal art. It was comparable to Cairns in how congested it
was with shops. They had a few other attractions like birdworld, butterfly
sanctuary, koala gardens and even a venom zoo. We browsed the shops playing tourist unashamed and I broke down and finally bought a boomerang.
After all those stops, we finally made it to Mission Beach
and immediately found a hostel called absolute backpackers. So we parked and
checked in and then prepared for the beach. Unlike Port Douglas, there were
operational stinger nets so we were permitted to swim, and swim we did. The surfing was alright,
but mostly it just felt nice to be able to swim in the ocean again. During the
semester the only place we are ever able to swim is at Lake Eacham, a crater
lake near the Centre for Rainforest Studies. Though freshwater is nice, nothing
compares to the wild, temperamental water
of the sea.
The following day, Will decided to go Skydiving. Though I am
generally up for anything, skydiving is on my list of things I will never do,
mostly because I hate planes not because I am scared of falling. Hang-gliding
is definitely something I would do. For either lack of interest or monetary
reasons, the rest of us decided to let him have the glory of being the only one
to skydive over the Great Barrier Reef. Greg and I went to watch and take
pictures from the Beach while the others stayed at the hostel. As we were
waiting, a dog with a collar but no apparent owner approached us. Her name was
Lola according to the tag and she was quite interested in my boomerang. This
made it slightly difficult to practice throwing it since she was constantly
trying to steal it so we had to distract her with pieces of driftwood or
whatever we could find.
Once we saw Will we abandoned boomerang-throwing practice
and immediately went into action photographing and filming his descent. Luckily,
his bright yellow shorts made it easy to distinguish him from the others.
Seeing his expression after landing, you could tell that the experience was
breathtaking. You could not ask for a better view than the coast of Australia
for your first skydiving trip and if I ever were to skydive I would probably do
so there.
