Mid-Semester Break

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.

We then went to yet another Fan Palm Forest. The experience was even better the second time due to perfect weather. I was hoping to see a Cassowary again, but no such luck. Regardless, the forest was absolutely stunning and had the effect of making me once again feel like I was walking in a prehistoric era.

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.