Wow, what a weekend. I just spent 4 days up in Queensland, Australia in Cairns, (pronounced “cans”) one of the many places to see the amazing Great Barrier Reef. I took 3 hour flight North with 6 of my best friends here for a weekend exploring Australia’s northern coastline. We were all ready for some warm weather since it’s winter here and Sydney has been unusually rainy. We took a catamaran 2 hours out to the inner reef on a gorgeous day, not a cloud in the sky. We first stopped in Michaelman’s Cay, a huge sandbar and bird sanctuary in the middle of the ocean surrounded by reefs filled with wildlife. I have snorkeled in Hawaii, the Cayman Islands and a bunch of other places, but I have never seen anything like this before. The coral was so bright, colorful and diverse and the tropical fish were so exotic. The underwater world of the Great Barrier Reef is the only living thing that can been seen from space on Earth. I find that fact astounding. Next we sailed out to the outer reef to Paradise Reef that is exactly what its name suggests. I jumped off the boat into what felt like the Finding Nemo movie. We snorkeled in a reef in the middle of the ocean with huge dropoffs on all sides. The fish here were even more spectacular as a school of big fish (sorry I don’t know names) swam right up to us. We say sea turtles and I even found Nemo! He was hiding in coral as expected with a few other smaller clownfish. I really hope the pictures from our underwater camera come out because Nemo came right up to my hand! The Great Barrier Reef was all that I imagined and more.

On Sunday, we all jumped out of planes 14,000 ft in the air. Yes, I went skydiving. It was the biggest thrill of my life and so much fun. I would definitely do it again too. The scariest part was sitting on the edge of the plane looking down at the beautiful Australia coastline. You have to dive tandem with an instructor the first few times you skydive, so that eased my fears a little. Overall, it was amazing and a great way to see the Australian landscape and the Great Barrier Reef from above.

We did many more awesome and interesting things in Cairns and rested on the beach our last day to try and soak in that much-needed sun. Cairns was by far one of the biggest highlights of my trip so far. I’m so glad I got the chance and had the time to make it up there. Now after a week of lots of writing at my internship, another weekend is at my fingertips. I only have 2 weeks left down under so I am trying to see as much as I can. More posts soon to come!

No worries,
Jennie

It’s the middle of the work week, my last full week of work at my internship. Time sure has flown by here down under. I am currently working on biographies for the top 50 artists for each of the Australian music online magazines I am interning for. I have been doing interviews, feature articles and news articles prior to this project, but either way, I am getting to write and my writing is being published. My internship placement could not have been better.

Last Saturday, about 20 of my friends and I went to a big rugby game here in Sydney. There are three rugby leagues in Australia but I don’t know the names of them all. We went to the international rugby game where Australia’s Qantas Wallabies played South Africa. This was a really important game for both teams as it determined their rankings in the world cup I think. The game was all over the news and commercials the last week and we were lucky we go tickets ahead of time. We all got decked out in Wallabies gear and had a cookout all day on the terrace before taking the train to Telstra Stadium just outside of Sydney. The stadium was beautiful and it was the perfect night for a rugby game. Fireworks, banners and lots of cheering later, the game began. South Africa went up by 17 within the first 15 minutes but eventually, the Wallabies fought back and won 25-17. I don’t really know the rules of rugby but I attempted to figure it out while watching. It was so much fun cheering and yelling “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi” like the Australians do. I hope to get some more Wallabies gear before I return home. Must get back to writing my final paper due Saturday. No worries!

Last week I saw Othello at the famous Sydney Opera House! I still couldn’t believe I was actually at the Opera House when I was there. It is one of those landmarks that looks fake in every picture you take. Othello was a contemporary version with creative music which my friends and I loved. The play was entertaining but being in the Opera House made it so much better. It’s interesting to actually explore the inner nooks of the building since the frame is so abstract. It looks so much different up close too. At night, the Opera House lights up and glows. The white surface of it is sort of made of shingle type pieces, something you would never know until you are right at the base. My professor told our class that the Australians basically paid for the Opera House to be built and at one point called it the “white elephant,” thinking it would not bring in any money to the city of Sydney. The city was definitely paid back for the construction as the Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge are two of the biggest landmarks not only of Sydney but Australia. Just a quick update on the Opera House. More to come!