1 Fish 2 Fish Trip - Simply Amazing!!
At the beginning of April we had a week of from uni for Easter and I decided to go on this trip called 1 Fish 2 Fish. The trip was essentially a spring break trip but since it's the fall at this time in Australia, it's technically not a spring break trip. The trip lasted 9 days and we drove from Brisbane all the way up the east coast of Australia to Cairns. I will go into detail about it below but going on the trip was definitely one of the best decisions I made and I made heaps of new friends!
There were about 60 of us on this trip and we left Brisbane early in the morning. Our first stop we were heading to was the Australian Zoo, the home of Steve Irwin (The Crocodile Hunter). On our way their our tour guides, Doggie and Byron, told us about this tradition they had
We finally got to the Australian Zoo and even though we did not spend that much time there it was really enjoyable. We saw Kangaroos, Koalas, Red Pandas, Tasmanian Devils, etc. Two of the highlights for me was getting to hold an Alligator and feed an Elephant which you can see below:
Even though those moments were awesome, the main attraction of the Australian Zoo of course is the Crocodiles. They have a stadium at the zoo called the "Animal Planet Crocoseum" and everyday do a Crocodile feeding show. The show was really cool because even though Steve Irwin isn't still alive, his wife and kids still do the show (picture below). I didn't realize how dangerous Crocodiles were before this but it was really cool. Here are some pictures from it:
After the Zoo we drove to our Hostel in Rainbow Beach. The last thing we did today was take a walk to Carlo Sandblow which I thought was spectacular. We got to see the sunset here and the best way to explain this place is through pictures:
We spent our second day of the trip at the awesome Fraser Island. Fraser island is the largest sand island in the world and one of the coolest places i've ever seen. We had to get over on a ferry and ride in these really cool looking 4WD Vehicles to see different parts of the Island. My favorite part of Fraser Island was Lake McKenzie. It's a huge fresh water lake surrounded by white sand that was just a perfect place to relax at for a couple of hours:
Since Fraser Island is the largest sand island, of course has plenty of beaches. Here is a picture of the 75 mile long beach:
When we got back from our Hostel we basically just had time to gather our bags before heading on a 16 hr bus ride to a next destination..Airlie Beach, home of the Whitsunday Islands.
That 16 hr bus ride was not enjoyable at all but everyone was so happy when it was over. This was our first of 3 days down in the Whitsunday Islands and wow..what an amazing place. The Whitsunday Islands are a collect of 74 islands and it reminded me a lot of the BVI's (British Virgin Islands). We left the main land of Australia on these "ocean rafting" boats which were so much fun. We first got a quick tour of the Islands and then we dropped our bags off at the Island we were staying at, Long Island. We then went snorkeling which was surprisingly not good or maybe i've been spoiled from all the scuba diving i've done.
After we did a short hike on one of the other Islands a spectacular view of Whitehaven Beach, which is one of the top beaches and named top eco friendly beach by CNN. Here are some pictures of it:
It was lunch time at this point and what better place to have it than on Whitehaven Beach? That's where we ate and then got to relax on this amazing beach. We also played a game of dizzy goon which was a lot of fun.
At this point it was time to head back to Long Island where we had dinner and then partied all night on the beach.
Today was a very relaxing day, we spent the whole day on Long Island and we could do whatever we want. I personally loved how we stayed on Long Island since i'm from the real Long Island back home, didn't even realize there were multiple Long Islands in the world. Anyway, there was a bunch of different stuff we were able to do like hiking, volleyball, mini golf, fishing, kayaking, and Jet Skiing. It was definitely nice not being tied to a schedule for a day so every one really enjoyed it. Here are some pictures I took on Long Island:
We went sailing on our final day in the Whitsunday Islands which was so much fun, especially since I love sailing.
We sailed all the way back to the mainland and then got on our bus to head to Tully, the wettest place in Australia, where we're going whitewater rafting. On a side note, I did get a little scared about my laptop because hundreds of ants were walking in and out of my laptop that I was charging overnight in the hostel we were staying in. I don't know why they were attracted to it, especially because there was food on the ground that they did not go to but luckily I was able to clean my mac before they invaded the rest of my stuff.
I went whitewater rafting one time prior to this, which was awesome, when I was in Wyoming but the rapids only went up to a class 3. Here they went up to a class 4 and it was definitely just not fun if not better than my first experience. If you haven't gone whitewater rafting before I definitely recommend you do it ASAP.
After whitewater rafting we drove to our final destination of the trip, Cairns.
Cairns is the most popular travel destination for people wanting to visit the Great Barrier Reef. We had the option of doing whatever we wanted in the morning of day 7 and even though we were scuba diving the next day I also did it today since we are on the Great Barrier Reef and I never get sick of scuba diving. The dives were really cool, definitely not as good as the ones I did on Heron Island but regardless, you're never disappointed when you dive on the Great Barrier Reef.
As soon as I got back I had to meet up with the rest of the group to go Bungee Jumping! Since I got there late from diving I basically had to go as soon as I got there. Some people jumped in a costume which I really wanted to do but there were none left by the time I got there. I was definitely a lot more nervous doing this over skydiving. With skydiving I wasn't nervous at all plus your attached to some one else so there is really no way to back out of doing it. When your waiting to bungee jump you are constantly looking at how high the jump is and then you actually have to jump off by yourself.
We jumped at the AJ Hackett Bungee Jump site in Cairns which is the only place you can do it in Australia. The scenery was really cool because its in the middle of a rainforest and you get to jump over a pond connected to a natural flowing waterfall. People have actually done the bungee jump while on a bike here. Anyway, the jump is 164ft/50m high and you can see the video/pictures of me doing it here:
They told me to wave to the camera and even though I was smiling I was so nervous at time time, which is why I jumped off immediately. I know if I hesitated and looked down I was going to be reluctant to do it. Overall, It was a ridiculous experience. Words can't describe the feeling when your falling but your mind is just going crazy. I definitely liked the skydive better because that lasts around 3 minutes while this lasted 3 seconds but I would easily do this again if I had the opportunity.
After the bungee jump we had time to try out the Minjin Jungle Swing there which was also really fun. Even though it's just a giant swing it goes from 45m to 1m in 3.5 seconds while going 120km/h. The scariest part about it was that once you get 45m in the air you have to pull the self release for you to fall. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of it but if your nervous about bungee jumping you might want to try this since you can do it with up to 2 other people at the same time.
Like I said before, today the group went scuba diving. It takes about 1 hr and 30 mins by boat to get to the Great Barrier Reef from Cairns. That is not that bad but the problem is the water got pretty rough so a lot of people started puking overboard. Luckily I basically never get seasick but I have to say I even wasn't feeling that great. We finally got to the dive site where I did 3 great dives. It was also pretty cool diving with other people from the trip unlike yesterday. The two coolest things for me on these dives were getting to feed the turtles because your really not supposed to but our dive guide let us and getting to see the clown fish (Nemo) in there awesome looking anemones. Here is a picture my friend Tom took of me scuba diving:
At night we did a pub crawl in Cairns which was so much fun. A pub crawl is where you drink at multiple bars in a single night. We ended up going to 5 and at each place they had some funny game that people got to play. I would describe them more but they wouldn't be appropriate for this blog. We were on this double decked bus to get to the different bars which was really cool because you could either sit on top outside or dance inside on the bottom.
Sadly day 9 was the last day of the trip. We went to explore the Daintree Rainforest, largest one in Australia. We saw some cool waterfalls and got to swim and hang out in the river.
After exploring the rainforest we got back to relax and get ready for our final night. Everyone chipped in to make the craziest jungle juice I've ever seen and after drinking it we went to our favorite bar in Cairns, The Woolshed, for our final dinner. During this we recapped our whole trip and watched this slideshow our tour guide Doggie made showing all the highlights of the trip which I will show below along with a picture of our whole group:
We ended up partying until 5am even though some people had 7am flights. I fortunately didn't fly out until 6pm so I actually rode some ATVs in the rainforest. Looking back on this trip it was definitely one of the best weeks ever. I saw amazing places, did awesome things, made so many new friends, and partied every night..what more could a college student ask for? I'm so happy I went on this trip and definitely recommend anyone studying abroad in Australia to do it because you will not be disappointed.
The pictures I took on this trip came out so well so if you have the time check out the rest on my Facebook or Flickr. My next post will be about my trip to Ayers Rock and Kangaroo Island!! It's May 27th right now and I can't believe I've been here for 5 months already and I'm leaving in less than a month..time flies by when your having so much fun.
