This has been a very busy few days. So much crammed into not a ton of time and it is taking it's toll on a large part of the group. People are getting sick, some are tired all the time, and some are hungry all the time. We're still getting along really well, but some are needing more alone time since we're constantly in contact with each other.
While some things like that are happening, this trip just keeps getting better and better. Friday the 29th, half the group went to and off-site area to help plant trees and the other group (mine) found seeds on our access road and planted them and took a tour of the restoration sites around the center. It was very interesting and fun at the same time. Then it was time for lunch, but not at the center! We drove to Lake Barrine, another crater lake, and ate there and got to walk around. We saw a carpet python chilling but the lake in the grass. He was just trying to get some sun. Unfortunately the internet is not doing so well here so pictures aren't readily available for me right now.
Saturday was a really fun day! We got to celebrate TREAT's 30th anniversary. TREAT is Trees for the Evelyn and Atherton Tablelands and is a program where they plant seedlings around the tablelands area and keep an eye on them as they grow older. It has been working really well in a lot of the areas and is supported by many of the local community. I thought it was great that the community supported this program and continue to today. From TREAT we went back to Lake Eachem and hung out there for an hour and then went back to the center. Here we relaxed (finally!) even though we all should have been working on our homework.
To cap off the day, some of us made chocolate chip cookies and played volleyball before dinner and then went to the pub! This was a night a lot of the group was looking forward to just so we could talk to some locals and make new friends. We had to take a bus to and from the pub because it was in a different town, but it was definitely worth it while we were there. We met a lot of fun locals who taught us better ways to say words, like g'day, and were just all around great people. When we got back to the center, we had to walk down the access road. This shouldn't really be called a road at all. It's more of a gravel path up and down hills with potholes all over the place. A few of us had planned to do a 'naked rainforest run' because this was written in one of our cabins and we followed through. It was an obscene amount of fun to run through the rainforest like that: completely free.
Sunday was our relax day and it was well spent. I woke up and made hash browns for some of the group and pretty much continually ate all day, wrote a paper due that night, played volleyball, and worked on getting a tan. "Hole in the ozone...cook me." This quote has held true so far and will continue to carry over unless I get too burned one day.
Monday was our trip up to the Daintree. One of our interns told us that it would be really hot and humid while we were up there, but we lucked out and had great weather! It was dry and sunny for most of the time we spent there. We got there late at night and just ate dinner and went to bed. But the place we stayed at was an awesome hostel, with different cabins and buildings separated by gravel paths through the rainforest.
Tuesday was another full day of driving and walking around the Daintree. We went to a discovery center place with an arial walkway and a tall tower so we could see the canopy of the rainforest we were walking through. It was very interesting to actually be up in the tops of the trees for once. From there we went to a fan palm forest and then onto a homemade ice cream shop. This wasn't any homemade ice cream this was bush tucker ice cream! This means it is made with fruit and/or nuts from the bush (rainforest) and the four flavors I had were awesome! I don't remember what they all were, but I think they were blue berry, jack fruit, walnut, and sour sop. They were delicious!
Then we went to a beach for our last field lecture from our professor Justus, who's from Kenya. It was a short lecture and then we had time on the beach at the Cape of Tribulations. It was beautiful there despite the overcast weather we had for the first time in the Daintree. Some of us started climbing some rocks around the bend, but stopped because it might have been a sacred Aboriginal initiation site, where women weren't allowed.
Then we had a night to ourselves, but a group of us went to the nearby pub in a hotel and hung out there for awhile. Again, we all were greeted with open arms by the patrons of the pub and became friends with all of them. We met the owner and his family and even his dog, who while we were there ripped the head of a rat off outside the hotel. The owner told us that the dog was a people dog and anything else on four legs or that flew it would attack. It seemed to be true because he was a very friendly dog.
Wednesday was a little less busy, just a lot of driving because it was time to go back to the center. The first thing we did this day was take a crocodile cruise down the Daintree River. We saw four adult crocs and many little babies. The alpha male of the area nearly attacked a younger male that was sun bathing on the bank of the river, but when he caught a glimpse of Scarface the young male took off down the river. We were hoping to see a crocodile fight, but the young one was far too young to even think about challenging Scarface.
Our last stop on the way back to the center was probably the coolest in my opinion. It's a place called Mossman Gorge and is an incredible river in the middle of the rainforest. We got to swim in the cold waters here and it was just perfect. Our student affairs manager's favorite place in all of Australia and one of the interns second favorite places. For me I think it has to rank up there too. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to swim in water that makes your hair feel dry even after you've been underneath. Just spectacular.
Back at the center we got to celebrate the fourth of July with some sparklers and an American flag cake, which was delicious!
Thursday and Friday were the last days of our class when everyone was scrambling to finish the papers and study for our exam on Saturday. This has been the trip of a lifetime and I've made some amazing friendships that I plan to keep forever! One thing I'll never forget was what the owner of the pub in the Daintree told us: "When you get a group together that's this good of friends, you can't lose touch." I really like that because we've known each other for now a month and the fact that he can see what good friends we are after just that amount of time is awesome!
Only two days left of this amazing trip with some lifelong friendships made and built upon. I don't want it to end and I can't believe it's almost over, but I guess it's about time for me to go back to America so I can visit everyone at their schools during the next year! It's going to be fun with everyone visiting each other around the country and just making more unforgettable memories! This is a great group of people and I'm so happy I got to spend the past month with all of them.
