Springbrook National Park

Another amazing adventure, this time the three girls and Ben took the hour drive to Spring Brook National Park. I figured there would be a lot of hiking, some great waterfalls and views, but I had no idea that it would be so HUGE! I assumed you would park and spend the entire day hiking, but this place is soo spread out you definitely need a car to drive from one destination to another. And I was warned that the drive would be scary, narrow and windy roads, but I still couldn't have mentally prepared especially after the physical party the night before.

 The natural bridge  is a naturally formed rock arch over Cave Creek. It was formed from a waterfall which came beneath the cave and dug a pothole on top until the two joined and created the arch. The cave is also home to glow worms which live inside the caves, but you have to visit at night to see them. (That'll be the next trip)

Next we headed to an amazing cliff. We climbed over the bar to walk out and really get a better view. Crazy Ben decided to lie down and peek over the edge, he claimed it was around 300 meters down. But boyyy was he wrong. I have no idea how high up we were, but im pretty sure I could not see the bottom and when we moved to the look out side, I was very glad to have not looked off the edge of the cliff.

The last stop was the Best of All Lookouts, we obviously had to check it out. It was a bit of a drive and difficult to find but once we got there we knew it was completely worth it.

Great Day and cant wait to go back!

Graduation

Congratulations to Ben!

We are so proud to say that finally  he has gotten his first degree in business. May have taken longer than expected but as a college senior he's still way ahead of me. 
Any excuse to party and the American's are lining up. We dressed to the nine's and started our night at varsity shores, taking pics with the proud graduate. 

 From there the details get a bit hazy from all the goon and the bottle of Marker's Whiskey we got him as a gift but over all the night was a success! Except for the fact we left one important mate home by mistake. Some how in all the craziness we didn't realize our friend Aj was no in the cab with us and we took off without him! Poor Aj came down all dressed and pumped to go to find the house completely empty. To make it even worse, non of us realized until he told us the next day, oops! The group spent the night dancing away at shooter's night club that was themed out for the special occasion.

 Looking sharp as always these boys. Some how most of the group managed to go home together. Luckily Aj and Ry were nice enough to come out at 3 am to pick us up. Perhaps the funniest moment of the night was as we were driving home when someone asked where Ben and Corinna were? And just like a movie, out the window of a cab driving next to us was Ben hanging out the window! Of course Kraig has to roll down his window and lean out to give him a hug. Luckily they did not succeed otherwise we would have had a much more eventful night than needed.

Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef

What everyone's been waiting for since we got here, a weekend getaway to Cairns to go visit the Great Barrier Reef. We met the rest of the group that was coming with us the airport and failed to realize that the group was 4 other girls and only 2 guys, 6 girls and 2 guys, things were bound to be interesting. We arrived at the Cairns airport and were to be picked up by the hostel's shuttle. Unfortunately they were a no show and so we boarded the first maxi taxi we could find. We were told that the hostel was only 5 minutes away yet the driver had other stops to make in less than desirable spots in town. When we got to Gilligans it was 11:30pm and the line waiting outside to get into the bar was almost around the corner. We all rushed to get to our room so we could go out and check out the scenery. 8 people in one room with only one bath and shower is not an easy thing to do. I could tell from the start that it was going to be an interesting weekend, given the wide range of Aussie's that our hostel was attracting.

7:30 am Friday we boarded a large cruise ship to head to the Great Barrier Reef unfortunately we were accompanied by 62 other people, something I had not anticipated. It was cold and rainy and forced us to spend most of the morning sitting inside and staring out the window. By the time we had reached the reef the sun had come out and the rain had been chased away. We jumped into the ocean with our snorkel gear, putting our faces in the water to take  a look what was going on. Unfortunately it wasn't too much, the water, corals and plant life were very gray and dull, unlike what i had seen in pictures. And considering I hadn't been swimming in months i was so tired that I could only last in the water for 20-30 minutes. I did however see some different plant life and types of fish, luckily no sharks. We spent the rest of the first stop on the front of the both sun tanning and spotting the water for animals...we were lucky enough to see a giant turtle!

We headed out another 2 hours to another reef spot, a bunch of us were so exhausted from the boat and people getting sea sick that we decided to hang out inside and have a siesta! Those that did attempt to go diving were slapped with an extra 65 dollars for some complicated reason. One of them had ear problems like myself but decided to attempt the skills for diving anyway. He ended up only making it 2.5 meters before having to come to the surface and asking to no longer continue. Surprisingly he did receive a certificate for at least attempting the skills test. Which was quite impressive considering he was swimming directly next to a barracuda who had been attracted to the boat from the fish that the captain had been throwing over board. Ryan freaked out and jumped right back onto the boat. I tried to capture a photo of this, but unfortunately he was already back on board. 

We had a girls night out that night, yet there were a ton of rugby teams staying at our hostel so it was like walking into the lions den. On the other hand we didn't have to pay for a single drink all weekend...even our American boys who were with us. 6:40 the next morning we were picked up in front of the hostel. There were still people drinking in the bar...aussies are crazy!
We had to take 3 buses up to the rafting place. The first stop was the rafting company store 20 minutes away to sign away our lives and pay the surprise 30 dollar national park tax fees. We then had to drive an hr and a half up to a hostel where
we received our shoes and wet suits. Then the last half hour up the mountain to where the rafting began. It was the first time for most of us so we were all pretty excited. We lucked out with a really cool rafting guide who taught us all about the national park and told a ton of great jokes. Unfortunately this one was crazier than others that I had done so I was in for a big surprise. We swam in different parts of the stream, people jumped off cliffs and were even sucked down into different whirl pools where they were pulled under and then resurfaced further down the stream. Our guide even had us purposefully tip our boat, which I got completely stuck under and had to be pulled out. It even happened the second time when we were going over a huge rock and we all fell over board. Luckily we all survived our level 4 tour and made it out only with bruises and a few painful eardrums. Next would be a level 5 which our guide said is a 4 day camping trip in the mountains where the only way to get there is by helicopter!     

 

(Sam, Ryan, Jordan, Kelli, Ryan, Nicole, Corinna, Me)