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Observer Down Under Continues

By Suzanne Lentell- Photo Editor

We left off three days into my abroad experience, and as of April 5th, it will be two months, which seems unreal to me. The remainder of the Fiji trip was nice, but I wanted to get to Sydney.  At the Farewell dinner, a few of our friends gave speeches while wearing the native skirts, known as Sulos, given to them by their home-stay family. We exchanged gifts and information with our home-stay families before the farewell dinner so that we could keep in touch with them.

Although I was still sick of planes, this flight was a piece of cake compared to the flight from Los Angeles. Welcome to Australia, the deadliest continent in the world. I have met many different people, including my roommate Elsa from France, Francis from Germany, a Jersey girl named Allison, and many Australians.  This is definitely an experience of a lifetime, and I am having a blast.

The surf camp was an awesome experience that had so many hilarious stories involved with it.  We learned how to surf and how to play a new drinking game while meeting Australians. Their vehicles were not very reliable, or at least they have not been for the past few weeks, according to the Australians. Getting a flat tire on the side of the Australian freeway is extremely scary, and I had a screaming roomy run up from the middle of the tiny bus and sit on my lap as if I could protect her.

Almost two weeks later, we went extreme white water rafting, which was another first of mine, and I would definitely love to go again. I was nervous at first, but Devin wanted to go in front, and we needed someone of equal weight (which happened to be me). I was happy I was in front, though. The guide told us we could multi-task because we were the only girls, and we needed to get the guys to row in sync with us. We had the best tour guide. When other groups were told to hold on, he told us, "Don't be a baby and let me see those paddles in the air!" When he actually told us to hold on, however, we knew he meant it. He said he loved us, and he made the experience even better. The river was mostly grade four but had a few grade five rapids that we did not go on because of a few deaths that had happened.  The names of the rapids were quite funny: the Birth Canal, Foreplay, Pre-cum Falls and Instructors' Revenge.  Instructors' Revenge, my personal favorite, would normally toss us out of the raft, but this time our raft took a bounce that our guide was not expecting, and he got launched instead of us and had to pull us off the raft. We were the rescuers at one point when our friends in another raft got stuck in the Birth Canal in the worst possible way. If they went in the rapids, they could have been seriously injured or killed. Our guide was never nervous until this moment, and we had to grab the raft and hold onto it until they finally were free and came to us. We were commended by our guide for a job well done, and we continued on.  Overall, it was a great and fun experience that ended up being a good team-building day.

We went to the Great Barrier Reef on the first day of our Australian trip, and it was the greatest experience. Even though I am not the best snorkeler, I decided to try scuba diving. The tanks are extremely heavy, and it is hard to walk with the flippers on, but it was still a great experience. I was terrified and did not even want to go under because I thought I was not breathing properly.  Apparently, I was, and the guide brought me on a mini trip alone to get me used to it and let me hold on to him the whole time. The next dive, I was much calmer and on my own as if I was a natural; we even did a few flips. We saw the entire cast of Nemo (well, one of Dori’s cousins), and someone else saw the three to four meter resident shark. The turtle was the greatest, and he even let us pet him.  I am glad I got to witness one of the seven natural wonders of the world before it is completely destroyed. There are hefty fines for even touching the reef with a flipper because it can cause so much damage, and you could be washing away years and years of coral.

The Blue Mountains are the home of the Three Sisters, three rock face formations that involved a little folklore story.  The views were spectacular, and the mountains got their name from the blue tint of the eucalyptus trees. We had a great tour guide and were able to go to another wildlife park and see more kangaroos, pet some koalas, and watch a 4.5 meter salt-water crocodile feeding.  Also, we were fortunate enough to see dingoes, Tasmanian devils, Emus, the endangered Cassowary, native birds, and more.

On March 26, I officially turned 21 and could drink anywhere in the country.  We went out to Cargo Bar in the city and then went out to eat at a pancake house, which was delicious.  My friends sang to me on my Australian and American birthday, and we celebrated both days (as did my mom via Skype).

In my history class, I am actually learning about the making of Australia, including the First Fleet of 1770 and the original encounter with the Aborigines. There is an interesting myth about the naming of Kangaroos that originated from the first encounter with the Aborigines. The English asked the Aborigines what these animals were, and the natives answered "kan-ga-roo." However, in Aborigine, that means, "I do not understand."  According to the myth, the name "kangaroo" stuck, so I have seen many "I don't understands" so far.

Devin and I leave for New Zealand on April 14th and stay until the 22nd. We might be doing a lot of extreme things: bungee jumping, zorbing, and sky diving.  The next excursion that we will plan before departure is to the Outback and Uluru rock because that seems to be what Australia is about. It is turning into fall now with the temperature around seventy degrees.  Although it can get chilly at night, it is still nice.

Overall, this study abroad trip has been basically a whole bunch of firsts in my life that I will never forget, and there are plenty to come.