Well, I said I would finish my blog update some other time and it turns out that “other time” is roughly 4 hours later. Just one of those days at work where I ask anyone around me if they need help with anything and they answer in a chorus of “no, but I’ll let you know!” Meh, it happens. When I’m not UPDATING MY BLOG (which has only been today), these days usually result in me browsing the New York Times and AdWeek sites because I figure if I’m not doing anything helpful, I might as well be doing something mildly educational. Right?
So I left off at Cairns. For the most part, the past few weeks since Cairns has been kind of uneventful, more or less, with a few highlights. One of these highlights would be last weekend when a few of us took a Saturday to visit Hunter Valley, a renowned vineyard about three hours away from Sydney. It was easily one of my favourite trips in Australia so far.
The day started off rough. And understandably so, since we had to leave the lobby of Unilodge by 5:30 am to catch our train. Which meant I woke up at 4:50 am. And, quite predictably, we made it out late. Like, 5:45-5:50 late. For a 6:05 am train. After anxiously waiting for the last person to make it down, we bolted out of the lobby and caught a cab to get to Central station which would normally take 10-15 minutes to walk. Not ideal.
We started running as soon as we got out of the cab. Keep in mind I was wearing flats that are too big for me so this run was a horrendous effort. We jammed our money into the ticket machines and sprinted to the train, the whole time thinking “shit, we’re not gonna make it...we’re going to miss the trip.”
With the guidance of other passengers around us (“I think the train to Newcastle is over there! Go!”) We found the right train. Right as they were closing the door. If we had arrived a few seconds later we would not have made the train. It was quite a victory as we found seats, panting and very awake for 6:06 in the morning.
Three hours (and one nap) later, we arrived in Newcastle, where our lovely tour guide met us at the train station. She was so nice! Once she picked up all the other vineyard- goers (we were the first of her stops) she asked everyone, “so I assume you have all had nice, hearty breakfasts to prepare yourself for the day, right?”
Keep in mind this is at 9:30 in the morning. We’ve been awake since 4:50 and I had yet to eat anything amidst all the rushing and lack of places to stop for some food. So I thought to myself, crap...this wine tasting is going to be interesting.
We arrived to Hunter Valley around 10 am and it was absolutely breathtaking. The weather was perfect, mild with the sky completely blue. There were hills upon hills with grapevines, and mountains surrounding the place as far as you could see. I’ve never seen anything like it, really. Our first wine tasting began promptly after we arrived at an organic winery. I felt so classy as the wine connoisseur explained to us which wines were oaky, which were dry, and which had just a “hint of passion fruit.”
“Oh, I can TASTE the passion!” Brittany said. Hopefully he had a sense of humour about it.
After trying 15 or so wines, we were all feeling it because of the severe lack of food in our stomachs. So we feasted on bread and oil samples as much as we could before making our way to the next winery called Tempus Two, which was very modern and had a younger feel to it (techno music playing in the background? It somehow seemed to work).
Luckily the next part of the tour was a cheese tasting so that gave us the chance to try stuffing our faces a little more so that we didn’t feel too warm and fuzzy.
After one final winery in a very homey-type place (the log cabin setup actually reminded me of New Hampshire and made me briefly homesick), we finally had lunch at around 2, followed by a chocolate tasting (if you could call it that; we had four tiny slivers of chocolate! I would complain, but the rest of the tour was so amazing it hardly mattered) and a final trip to a liqueur site. Here we tried butterscotch schnapps, coffee schnapps, and a few other liqueurs, including the strangest alcohol I’ve ever heard of or tried: chilli butterscotch schnapps. Yeah...it was weird. There was even a chilli in the bottle. We downed it last, after instructed to take it fast like a shot. It burned my throat and as everyone reached for the water, I got instant hiccups! I have no idea why. But they lasted about 15 minutes before going away. So strange.
After a very satisfying, albeit exhausting day (wine + sun = nap) we took the train back and arrived back in Sydney at around 8 pm. Unfortunately I have no pictures from this trip because my camera has temporarily broken until I can get it fixed under warranty in the US, probably because of something miniscule like a grain of sand. But it was absolutely incredible and, like I said, definitely one of my favourite trips this semester.
Another thing worth mentioning: I was on TV last Monday night! Well, me and my entire Mass Media class. Our professor has ridiculous connections to every aspect of the media industry in Australia, and he pulled some strings to get our entire class to be in the audience for Q&A, a show on the ABC (think the Australian version of PBS) that has a panel of significant political figures and an audience that can ask them anything they want. The whole thing is aired live so there is zero editing, which is a very bold media move on the station’s part. This week was focused on American/Australian politics, with the American ambassador on the panel. It was fascinating and, while I would never feel comfortable/knowledgeable enough to ask a question myself, I loved sitting in the audience and watching other members go at it with very insightful, often controversial questions and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Well that’s pretty much it; I will try to be better about updating my blog before I leave in two weeks! Two weeks left....I still can’t wrap my head around that one.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
It's been a while...
So anyone who reads this has probably assumed I’ve dropped off the face of the earth in Australia. I’m sorry! So much has happened between my last post and this post, so this is going to be a novel of an entry. I’m probably going to split it up into two because really...it’s going to be long. Jeez, talk about procrastination.
Let’s see...last time I wrote anything was right after spring break in Fiji. Which was, a very long time ago. The most significant thing to happen after Fiji was undoubtedly the start of my internship at Publicis Mojo, an advertising agency in the Rocks by the harbour—I can see the opera house by stepping outside. The agency is full of young 20-somethings blasting music and clopping around in high heels or throwing foam footballs. It's crazy how professionalism and casual communication can coexist so effortlessly here. One minute they are clamouring (I’m using the computer at work—i.e. Australian spell check) to get a brief out to the client before the 4 pm deadline and the next minute, the Traffic coordinator is going around asking if anyone wants a beer.
I’ve been working in the Account department for over a month now. In the beginning, it was slow going—it seemed that either there was not enough work to give me, or the work they had was too difficult to give an intern. Still, I always have an extreme intolerance for not doing work at internships when I feel like I should be doing something, so I’ve been trying to strike the balance between seeming apathetic, spending time on gchat all day and invading their space as the overly eager intern who needs work to do all the time. This basically means that I remind my department every once in a while that I’m free, as well as let the people around me know that I can help them out with anything if they need it.
As a result, I’ve gotten more than just requests for creative brief editing and data entering (though I love data entering and editing—I’m not kidding). I’ve gotten work on different projects, from doing competitive analyses on digestive wellness brands and cooking appliances for Proctor & Gamble, to researching everything and anything I can on Broadband in Australia, the UK and the US in preparation for a huge client—the Australian government. While there have been the expected lags that any internship inevitably has from time to time, I can say that I’ve become an expert on travel wholesale companies, medical trends for 2010, Broadband, digestive health, kitchen appliances, and major Australian banks and telecom companies. If anything, I’ve realized from all this research that to get anything done in an advertising agency, you have to know a hell of a lot about countless random topics—in other words, you have to know every single thing about the client, their audience and the challenges they face in marketing.
Still, it hasn’t been just research and data entering. They've been putting me in different departments, so that I'm getting a real sense of how the agency works. Other than busy work and projects at my desk I've gone to three commercial edits and the other week I sat in on a meeting between account and one of their clients, Qantas Holidays. It was my first time sitting in on a boardroom meeting and, I have to say, it was very interesting. A lot of the stuff kind of went over my head—figures and stats and business terms and whatnot, all in Australian (and one very thick French) accents—but I still absorbed a lot about the business aspect of the industry, seeing them discuss how to reach certain targets, how to stand out from other travel ads, etc.
As for the TV commercial edits...that was a crazy experience. The first one that I'd been invited to was in North Sydney at nine in the morning—as in, I had to use my horrible navigation skills find the place myself via bus—and when I got there, it turned out they only had to edit for 2 minutes. One of the Creatives apologized saying that it took him longer to eat his toast than to edit the commercial. Later on that day, though, and the next day I went to editing sessions for a foster care commercial, the client being the New South Wales government. I felt so glamorous. Well, more like I felt like I was in the middle of a heckuva lotta glamour and I was the intern who was jussst a bit out of place, from my lack of knowledge about any aspect of editing whatsoever to my American accent that seemed crude in comparison. We took taxis all over Sydney as they chatted small talk about work, recent engagements, and client gossip/complaining (to them, Citibank is apparently Shittybank—hardy har har).
When we got to a studio, it would always be one of those trendy, industrial/posh combinations where the floors would be cement but there would be leather couches, funky chandeliers hanging from the ceilings, and secretaries greeting you behind their giant computer monitors. And all of that greeting each other by kissing on the cheek business. When we settled into the editing studio, complete with buttons and screens that took up an entire wall and more leather couches, people would pop into the room and ask if we wanted anything—lattes, sparkling water, etc—all for free. When the producer asked, "who wants lunch? Anyone? I'm dying for Japanese. Let's do sushi," I knew just how out of my element I was. But I did a lot of listening and smiling and not a whole lot of talking. Which I'm okay with, because the whole experience was a great look into the editing business when you're working with big name clients that invest a lot in their advertising. Sitting in on TVC edits was definitely the cushier side to my internship; I didn’t really have to do much but take everything in.
I can’t believe that I only have eight work days left; my last day is next Friday. While I’ve been having a great time here, I feel like there is still so much more that I could learn. Still, I’m so happy I’ve gotten the chance to gain some insight into the workings of a full service agency, especially the account sector since I’m pretty sure that’s the area I want to go into once I graduate.
Believe it or not, I’ve been doing things with my time other than going to my internship. For Easter break, my friends and I (and pretty much half of the BU abroad program—not even exaggerating) went to Cairns for the extended weekend. This trip definitely had its positives and negatives. But basically the positives were the amazing activities we took part in. The main negative was that it rained. Hard. The entire time.
When we got to our backpackers resort, “Calypso,” I have to say it was a little disappointing. It was probably due mostly to the rain but the place reminded me of Home Alone when Kevin’s family pulls up to that motel in Florida in the pouring rain. With walls painted yellow, orange and purple and a murky green pool, the place seemed desperate to make itself look brighter than it actually was. Our room was a cinderblock of a room painted orange and dark blue with two bunk beds, an A.C. and a mirror. Needless to say we didn’t spend too much time at the place.
We went white water rafting the first day we were there. I’ve gone before, but it was back in the eighth grade and I hardly remember it, except for the fact that I had to wear a wet suit. Maybe that’s why I don’t remember it—blocked it out, perhaps? Anyway, it was incredible, and pretty much as far as I like to push myself, thrill-seeking-wise. Our guide was ridiculous, pretty much the typical crazy, inappropriate Australian in his mid-twenties who we can’t quite seem to fully understand. I’m starting to see a trend with these guides.
Example number one: we’re on the bus and he’s giving us the run-down. What to wear, what not to wear while we’re out in the rapids. “Alright so for all you guys on the bus. Do you know what a speedo is? You do? Okay, good. Yeah. Don’t wear that. You could get really hurt without the proper coverage. You’ll want something loose like this bloke’s board shorts, that’s right. Okay. Ladies, I recommend you wear something very skimpy because you don’t want anything loose getting caught on rocks or something awful.”
That kind of guy. He was definitely amusing. While we were getting our life jackets and hats on for the water, he came over to our group of six. “Girls, there’s good news and bad news. What do you want first?”
“Bad news.”
“Well good news is I’m your tour guide! Bad news...we need seven of you and there are only six. So,” he said, pointing over to a 300 pound man by himself getting on his gear, “you’re going with that guy.” So yeah, instant awkwardness. How do you deal with this kind of situation? It was ridiculous. Apparently this guy has gone a few times, loves thrills (bungee jumping skydiving, etc) and couldn’t wait to get in the rapids. So we piled into our boat and Nicole was lucky enough to have to sit next to him. And I was lucky enough to try to pull him out of the water when he fell out halfway through. Of course, that failed and the guide had to help me out. As you can imagine the scene was pretty...interesting.
Also about halfway through, we stopped our boat for a bit on the side so our guide could leave to partake in various safety measures along the river. Of course, being the crazy typical Australian guide that he was, he decided to dive into the water on a dare with his friend and swim away from us.
“Where are you going!!” we shouted.
“Follow me!” “What?”
“Really, just follow me! Come on!” he shouted, laughing.
So we did, and yelled at him when he got back on the boat. Well, at least I did. I told him he was fired and he told me to shut up. Typical..
And at one point he made us go BACK into a rapid that we had already gone through, “just ‘cause we can!” Also typical.
Despite my constant screaming/freaking out, the day was really fun. I definitely felt like I faced death coming up to some massive jagged rocks protruding from the water, but that’s the fun of it, right?
The next day, we went to the Queensland tablelands and visited a few rainforest highlights. Aside from the pouring rain and tour guide, Brian, who I’m convinced was afraid of silence, it was worth the experience. Side note: he couldn’t go a 10 seconds without talking into his mic about something completely unimportant: “you know, before we go out there you might want to take water. Unless you’re fit and don’t need water so much. I don’t really need all that much water, unless it’s humid, of course. When it’s humid well that’s a different story. But today is rainy, so you should be fine. Unless you like having water with you all the time and in that case...” He was the first guide I thoroughly did not like.
Queensland is beautiful with deep green, massive rolling hills. The rainy day actually added an attractiveness to it, sort of as I’ve always imagined Ireland’s appeal to be like. Our first stop (after over an hour of Brian drawling to a sleeping tour bus about dairy farming and bananas and Queensland tourism) was at Paronella Park, a site in the middle of the rainforest crafted in the early 1900s by “one man who had a dream.” The place felt unreal; with handmade stairs carved out of stone, a castle with decades of moss growing over it, and pathways through the rainforest with such titles like “Lover’s Lane,” it really did feel like we stepped out of reality for a minute and into some romantic’s imagination. To be honest, I would have enjoyed this part of the trip much more if it hadn’t been so humid. It’s incredibly difficult to enjoy anything when you are unbearably hot/sticky and there are massive mosquitoes biting every exposed part of you. Even with these aggravations, I could still see why it was considered the #1 tourist spot to check out in Queensland.
As the day went on, we went on an elevated canopy walk, stopped at a giant waterfall, and made a few other stops including a “cruise ride” which actually ended up being another drawling tour guide taking us around a lake in a boat: “now if you look there, you will see some ducks, they are fighting for the bread I toss out as they have become quite accustomed to us feeding them. Oh, and there is a turtle right there. See those trees? They are fighting for the sun. These plants have to be competitive in order to survive...” I would have loved it if I were a 7th grade bio teacher. But I’m not and by then I pretty much had my fill on turtles and ducks.
That day was rainy, but the next day, Easter, was a total downpour. Which was unfortunate, since we were booked to spend the whole morning and afternoon snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef. Of course, there was no possibility of backing out—it was a rain or shine kind of ordeal—so we sucked it up, took some seasickness pills and boarded the boat.
The two-hour ride over was brutal. While the inside of the boat was nice, complete with snack bar and comfortable sitting areas, the waves rocked the boat so violently—and consistently—that half of the passengers got sick. All I have to say is that good thing we took those pills. Once we got there, we were advised to rent sting suits for $7 to avoid jellyfish stings (and who wouldn’t rent one? Really, they should have been free). Turns out the suits were skin tight and freezing cold from being wet. Still, we put them on and transformed ourselves into a band of Aquamen. These suits were absurd, covering us head to toe. As funny as they were, they were cold. It was the greatest relief to jump into the water which, given the wind and cold rain bulleting down on us in our soaked sting suits, felt like hot bath water. It was the biggest relief just to get into the ocean.
Once we were in, it was great. I saw more than I expected to see, from sting rays to fish that were literally neon. We were taken to two spots, one off the shore of a remote island and the other in the middle of the ocean where we just dove in. After finally getting the energy to put the sting suits back on after lunch (I was seriously just considering sitting in for the second site), the second spot was phenomenal, even better than the first. The reef was more complex and vast, spanning farther than I could really see. Of course, it would have been far more colourful if the sun had been beating down and the reef was basically limited to dull shades of red, brown, and green. But it was understandable; Cairns is in its wet season right now so the weather was in no way unexpected.
While the trip to the reef could have been made far better simply with better weather, it was still a memorable experience that I would absolutely love to do again when the weather was better—if I ever manage to make my way to this part of the world again after this semester!
The next day was spent sort of wandering around town aimlessly while Brittany and Sarah went bungee jumping—not my kind of thing, at all. As much as I was happy to have done such incredible things while I was there, I could not wait to get back on the warm, dry plane in dry clothes and make our way back to Unilodge (which at that point seemed like a luxury).
This entry is absurdly long, so I’ll be updating on more recent adventures in another post. Until then, as Australians say in response and conclusion to literally everything, cheers!
Let’s see...last time I wrote anything was right after spring break in Fiji. Which was, a very long time ago. The most significant thing to happen after Fiji was undoubtedly the start of my internship at Publicis Mojo, an advertising agency in the Rocks by the harbour—I can see the opera house by stepping outside. The agency is full of young 20-somethings blasting music and clopping around in high heels or throwing foam footballs. It's crazy how professionalism and casual communication can coexist so effortlessly here. One minute they are clamouring (I’m using the computer at work—i.e. Australian spell check) to get a brief out to the client before the 4 pm deadline and the next minute, the Traffic coordinator is going around asking if anyone wants a beer.
I’ve been working in the Account department for over a month now. In the beginning, it was slow going—it seemed that either there was not enough work to give me, or the work they had was too difficult to give an intern. Still, I always have an extreme intolerance for not doing work at internships when I feel like I should be doing something, so I’ve been trying to strike the balance between seeming apathetic, spending time on gchat all day and invading their space as the overly eager intern who needs work to do all the time. This basically means that I remind my department every once in a while that I’m free, as well as let the people around me know that I can help them out with anything if they need it.
As a result, I’ve gotten more than just requests for creative brief editing and data entering (though I love data entering and editing—I’m not kidding). I’ve gotten work on different projects, from doing competitive analyses on digestive wellness brands and cooking appliances for Proctor & Gamble, to researching everything and anything I can on Broadband in Australia, the UK and the US in preparation for a huge client—the Australian government. While there have been the expected lags that any internship inevitably has from time to time, I can say that I’ve become an expert on travel wholesale companies, medical trends for 2010, Broadband, digestive health, kitchen appliances, and major Australian banks and telecom companies. If anything, I’ve realized from all this research that to get anything done in an advertising agency, you have to know a hell of a lot about countless random topics—in other words, you have to know every single thing about the client, their audience and the challenges they face in marketing.
Still, it hasn’t been just research and data entering. They've been putting me in different departments, so that I'm getting a real sense of how the agency works. Other than busy work and projects at my desk I've gone to three commercial edits and the other week I sat in on a meeting between account and one of their clients, Qantas Holidays. It was my first time sitting in on a boardroom meeting and, I have to say, it was very interesting. A lot of the stuff kind of went over my head—figures and stats and business terms and whatnot, all in Australian (and one very thick French) accents—but I still absorbed a lot about the business aspect of the industry, seeing them discuss how to reach certain targets, how to stand out from other travel ads, etc.
As for the TV commercial edits...that was a crazy experience. The first one that I'd been invited to was in North Sydney at nine in the morning—as in, I had to use my horrible navigation skills find the place myself via bus—and when I got there, it turned out they only had to edit for 2 minutes. One of the Creatives apologized saying that it took him longer to eat his toast than to edit the commercial. Later on that day, though, and the next day I went to editing sessions for a foster care commercial, the client being the New South Wales government. I felt so glamorous. Well, more like I felt like I was in the middle of a heckuva lotta glamour and I was the intern who was jussst a bit out of place, from my lack of knowledge about any aspect of editing whatsoever to my American accent that seemed crude in comparison. We took taxis all over Sydney as they chatted small talk about work, recent engagements, and client gossip/complaining (to them, Citibank is apparently Shittybank—hardy har har).
When we got to a studio, it would always be one of those trendy, industrial/posh combinations where the floors would be cement but there would be leather couches, funky chandeliers hanging from the ceilings, and secretaries greeting you behind their giant computer monitors. And all of that greeting each other by kissing on the cheek business. When we settled into the editing studio, complete with buttons and screens that took up an entire wall and more leather couches, people would pop into the room and ask if we wanted anything—lattes, sparkling water, etc—all for free. When the producer asked, "who wants lunch? Anyone? I'm dying for Japanese. Let's do sushi," I knew just how out of my element I was. But I did a lot of listening and smiling and not a whole lot of talking. Which I'm okay with, because the whole experience was a great look into the editing business when you're working with big name clients that invest a lot in their advertising. Sitting in on TVC edits was definitely the cushier side to my internship; I didn’t really have to do much but take everything in.
I can’t believe that I only have eight work days left; my last day is next Friday. While I’ve been having a great time here, I feel like there is still so much more that I could learn. Still, I’m so happy I’ve gotten the chance to gain some insight into the workings of a full service agency, especially the account sector since I’m pretty sure that’s the area I want to go into once I graduate.
Believe it or not, I’ve been doing things with my time other than going to my internship. For Easter break, my friends and I (and pretty much half of the BU abroad program—not even exaggerating) went to Cairns for the extended weekend. This trip definitely had its positives and negatives. But basically the positives were the amazing activities we took part in. The main negative was that it rained. Hard. The entire time.
When we got to our backpackers resort, “Calypso,” I have to say it was a little disappointing. It was probably due mostly to the rain but the place reminded me of Home Alone when Kevin’s family pulls up to that motel in Florida in the pouring rain. With walls painted yellow, orange and purple and a murky green pool, the place seemed desperate to make itself look brighter than it actually was. Our room was a cinderblock of a room painted orange and dark blue with two bunk beds, an A.C. and a mirror. Needless to say we didn’t spend too much time at the place.
We went white water rafting the first day we were there. I’ve gone before, but it was back in the eighth grade and I hardly remember it, except for the fact that I had to wear a wet suit. Maybe that’s why I don’t remember it—blocked it out, perhaps? Anyway, it was incredible, and pretty much as far as I like to push myself, thrill-seeking-wise. Our guide was ridiculous, pretty much the typical crazy, inappropriate Australian in his mid-twenties who we can’t quite seem to fully understand. I’m starting to see a trend with these guides.
Example number one: we’re on the bus and he’s giving us the run-down. What to wear, what not to wear while we’re out in the rapids. “Alright so for all you guys on the bus. Do you know what a speedo is? You do? Okay, good. Yeah. Don’t wear that. You could get really hurt without the proper coverage. You’ll want something loose like this bloke’s board shorts, that’s right. Okay. Ladies, I recommend you wear something very skimpy because you don’t want anything loose getting caught on rocks or something awful.”
That kind of guy. He was definitely amusing. While we were getting our life jackets and hats on for the water, he came over to our group of six. “Girls, there’s good news and bad news. What do you want first?”
“Bad news.”
“Well good news is I’m your tour guide! Bad news...we need seven of you and there are only six. So,” he said, pointing over to a 300 pound man by himself getting on his gear, “you’re going with that guy.” So yeah, instant awkwardness. How do you deal with this kind of situation? It was ridiculous. Apparently this guy has gone a few times, loves thrills (bungee jumping skydiving, etc) and couldn’t wait to get in the rapids. So we piled into our boat and Nicole was lucky enough to have to sit next to him. And I was lucky enough to try to pull him out of the water when he fell out halfway through. Of course, that failed and the guide had to help me out. As you can imagine the scene was pretty...interesting.
Also about halfway through, we stopped our boat for a bit on the side so our guide could leave to partake in various safety measures along the river. Of course, being the crazy typical Australian guide that he was, he decided to dive into the water on a dare with his friend and swim away from us.
“Where are you going!!” we shouted.
“Follow me!” “What?”
“Really, just follow me! Come on!” he shouted, laughing.
So we did, and yelled at him when he got back on the boat. Well, at least I did. I told him he was fired and he told me to shut up. Typical..
And at one point he made us go BACK into a rapid that we had already gone through, “just ‘cause we can!” Also typical.
Despite my constant screaming/freaking out, the day was really fun. I definitely felt like I faced death coming up to some massive jagged rocks protruding from the water, but that’s the fun of it, right?
The next day, we went to the Queensland tablelands and visited a few rainforest highlights. Aside from the pouring rain and tour guide, Brian, who I’m convinced was afraid of silence, it was worth the experience. Side note: he couldn’t go a 10 seconds without talking into his mic about something completely unimportant: “you know, before we go out there you might want to take water. Unless you’re fit and don’t need water so much. I don’t really need all that much water, unless it’s humid, of course. When it’s humid well that’s a different story. But today is rainy, so you should be fine. Unless you like having water with you all the time and in that case...” He was the first guide I thoroughly did not like.
Queensland is beautiful with deep green, massive rolling hills. The rainy day actually added an attractiveness to it, sort of as I’ve always imagined Ireland’s appeal to be like. Our first stop (after over an hour of Brian drawling to a sleeping tour bus about dairy farming and bananas and Queensland tourism) was at Paronella Park, a site in the middle of the rainforest crafted in the early 1900s by “one man who had a dream.” The place felt unreal; with handmade stairs carved out of stone, a castle with decades of moss growing over it, and pathways through the rainforest with such titles like “Lover’s Lane,” it really did feel like we stepped out of reality for a minute and into some romantic’s imagination. To be honest, I would have enjoyed this part of the trip much more if it hadn’t been so humid. It’s incredibly difficult to enjoy anything when you are unbearably hot/sticky and there are massive mosquitoes biting every exposed part of you. Even with these aggravations, I could still see why it was considered the #1 tourist spot to check out in Queensland.
As the day went on, we went on an elevated canopy walk, stopped at a giant waterfall, and made a few other stops including a “cruise ride” which actually ended up being another drawling tour guide taking us around a lake in a boat: “now if you look there, you will see some ducks, they are fighting for the bread I toss out as they have become quite accustomed to us feeding them. Oh, and there is a turtle right there. See those trees? They are fighting for the sun. These plants have to be competitive in order to survive...” I would have loved it if I were a 7th grade bio teacher. But I’m not and by then I pretty much had my fill on turtles and ducks.
That day was rainy, but the next day, Easter, was a total downpour. Which was unfortunate, since we were booked to spend the whole morning and afternoon snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef. Of course, there was no possibility of backing out—it was a rain or shine kind of ordeal—so we sucked it up, took some seasickness pills and boarded the boat.
The two-hour ride over was brutal. While the inside of the boat was nice, complete with snack bar and comfortable sitting areas, the waves rocked the boat so violently—and consistently—that half of the passengers got sick. All I have to say is that good thing we took those pills. Once we got there, we were advised to rent sting suits for $7 to avoid jellyfish stings (and who wouldn’t rent one? Really, they should have been free). Turns out the suits were skin tight and freezing cold from being wet. Still, we put them on and transformed ourselves into a band of Aquamen. These suits were absurd, covering us head to toe. As funny as they were, they were cold. It was the greatest relief to jump into the water which, given the wind and cold rain bulleting down on us in our soaked sting suits, felt like hot bath water. It was the biggest relief just to get into the ocean.
Once we were in, it was great. I saw more than I expected to see, from sting rays to fish that were literally neon. We were taken to two spots, one off the shore of a remote island and the other in the middle of the ocean where we just dove in. After finally getting the energy to put the sting suits back on after lunch (I was seriously just considering sitting in for the second site), the second spot was phenomenal, even better than the first. The reef was more complex and vast, spanning farther than I could really see. Of course, it would have been far more colourful if the sun had been beating down and the reef was basically limited to dull shades of red, brown, and green. But it was understandable; Cairns is in its wet season right now so the weather was in no way unexpected.
While the trip to the reef could have been made far better simply with better weather, it was still a memorable experience that I would absolutely love to do again when the weather was better—if I ever manage to make my way to this part of the world again after this semester!
The next day was spent sort of wandering around town aimlessly while Brittany and Sarah went bungee jumping—not my kind of thing, at all. As much as I was happy to have done such incredible things while I was there, I could not wait to get back on the warm, dry plane in dry clothes and make our way back to Unilodge (which at that point seemed like a luxury).
This entry is absurdly long, so I’ll be updating on more recent adventures in another post. Until then, as Australians say in response and conclusion to literally everything, cheers!
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