Brower Power

Friday was our first day in “cairns,” but we stayed about 30 minutes north of the city in Palm Cove in a cute family owned resort RIGHT on the beach. The whole area is absolutely beautiful. It has a very tropical feel to it with the ocean and mountains covered in rainforests surrounding it. We had the evening off, so after lunch I soaked up some sun. Unfortunately there were “Beware of crocodile” signs everywhere, soo I was too scared to go in the water, but I did catch up on some zzz’s and took a nice beach nap. 

Saturday we were off to the Great Barrier Reef!! Despite the fact that we had to wake up super super early, I was super stoked. We did a catamaran trip, so we had a two hour boat ride out to our first reef spot. We were served morning tea and had lots of time to relax on the nets, get some sun, AND get soaked from the waves! Once we arrived at the reef, Dan went off for his certified SCUBA and Ryan, Mom, Dad, Keanu, and I started our snorkel. We took a little boat over to an Island because it was pretty choppy out and it was much calmer over there, and while we were waiting for my dad to get the next boat over one of the workers shouted “turtle!” I pushed my goggles on super fast and swam over to the area. Since it was super windy visibility was kind of low, but all off a sudden there was just a big sea turtle right in front of my face!! I knew right then and there that it was going to be the coolest snorkeling ever (well, actually it already was after seeing that turtle!). I went back to start off with everyone else and the reef was so cool. There was a ton of coral species and a lot of really beautiful fish. Ryan and I saw another turtle just hanging out in some coral, so we watched him for a bit. Eventually I kind of got lost from everyone, but I saw yet another turtle and got to chase it around for a bit which was fun. I kept trying to reach out and touch it, but they can actually swim much faster than I expected!! I finally found Keanu and we snorkeled around some more, saw yet another turtle, and then snorkeled back to the boat. We explored some more and he showed me some cool coral species he knew about from SCUBA. We also saw another turtle and this one was a lot more courageous. We got to swim around with it for quite a bit with our hands resting on its shell. It was pretty unreal because I feel like I always see those photos or things in movies and I’m like “nahhh…that doesn’t really happen!” BUT IT DOES! After our first snorkel we had an extremely delicious buffet lunch and boated to our next spot. This spot was a lot more choppy, so I got tired pretty fast. It was really cool, though, because there were a lot of deeper drop offs, so you could swim down and around. There were a lot of different fish species here, too, and at one point I got stuck in a giant school. After we were all snorkeled out we went back for yet another snooze in the sun. Once we started heading back, one of the workers brought out a lot of photos and discussed the coral and fish species we saw, so that was really to figure out what you were actually looking at! About halfway they also put the sails out and we were cruising! Since the wind was so strong we went almost the exact same speed as when we were motoring! That morning we went out for dinner at one of the local restaurants and had yet another early night since we had a BIG day ahead of us….again!

 

 



So, when I call this “Brower Power” I really mean it. In 30 hours, we were about to conquer snorkeling and SCUBA'ing the Great Barrier Reef, ATV’ing the rainforest, skydiving Cairns from 14,000 feet, and bungee jumping.

Let’s start with ATV’ing. We were picked up at around 6 to 6:30am and driven up to this family owned business. It was a beautiful drive up the mountains through the rainforest. We geared up and then did a little warm up drive around their practice trail. Then we were off! We literally got to ATV through the tropical rainforest, up and down winding hills, through mud pits, and over creek beds. At some points the ATV was literally 1/3 underwater!! It was a really fun way to see the rainforest!

Next up was our skydive. Ryan, dad, Keanu, and I were jumping from 14,000 feet this time! I was pretty relaxed since I had already done it, so it was fun to watch everyone else deal with the nerves. Keanu, who hates the stomache dropping feeling, looked like he was going to be sick. Ryan just kept saying “I cant believe I’m jumping out of a plane,” but was super stoked, and dad was just pretty excited and calm. After the jumpers came back and rolled up their chutes, which by the way is pretty nerve-racking to just watch these guys pack their own chutes (HUMAN ERROR!!), we were off to the airport. After we got our goggles and harnesses all set up and were briefed on what to do, we were off to the plane! There were the 4 of us and 4 other people and we were all doing 14,000 feet so we just went straight up. It was an absolutely beautiful with the rainforest, mountains, and the ocean. Then WOOSH…..doors open and first persons out!! It was exciting to be in the middle this time and get to see the people going out of the plane since I was 2^nd last time and had no time to think. Ryan and dad went before me along with two of the other people, and it’s funny to get to see their faces when scooting to the edge of the plane. Also, people literally just get sucked out of the plane as if they are like…being vaccumed up. Then I was up and out! I took one last look at Keanu, who still looked like he was going to be sick, then we were flipping out of the plane door and we were off! I’m still absolutely obsessed with the adrenaline and feeling of the free fall and this one was probably 20 seconds longer. I also didn’t black out this time and can remember it all, which is good! Lol There was definitely one point that I had to like..stop and stop smiling and screaming to catch my breath because everything got so dry with the longer fall and also it was super windy out (Our jumps almost got cancelled!!) Then the chute came out and I actually got to steer it this time! Embarrassingly, though, I wasn’t strong enough to pull down the ropes, so we could only go right since that was his free arm that he could help me out with. Landing was a bit stressful with the wind and ropes got tangled around my face, but all was well and it was pretty smooth for me! Ryan had a pretty bumpy landing, though. So, 2 activities down, 1 to go!!

Initially, Keanu, Daniel, and I had signed up to do a canopy swing because we could all 3 go on it together. Once we got to the place, though, and Daniel saw that you could get dunked in the water when you bungeed, he was sold. Keanu was going to switch to bungee as well, so I just told the girl I no longer wanted to do anything. As I have said before, bungee was fun, but I only needed to do it once in my life. However, the girl wouldn’t let me cancel, so here I was just having devoured lunch and being forced to bungee jump. Even worse, this was the kind that went across your ankles, and that absolutely terrifies me. The ONLY reason I was capable of doing the other one was because it was around my waist. So anyways, I just run up there and want to get it over with. I was going to go first, then Keanu, then Daniel. But of course, they call our names and Daniel goes. Then Keanu goes. Then they finally call my name. At this point I actually thought I was going to puke. Actually, just writing this I’m getting nervous!! So the guy is like “how are you doing today?” and without hesitation I tell him “not good.” I should have lied because this just gave the guy opportunity to mess with me. I knew that I would be physically incapable of hobbling off that edge with the harness around my ankles, so I asked him what my options were. He said I could hobble to the edge and jump off, he could hang me off forwards and let go of the rope, or he could hang me off backwards and let go of the rope. I couldn’t jump. There was no way I was going t hang off that edge looking down. So, backwards it was! I scooted to the edge and slowly leaned back. I’m so unhappily happy at this point, so I tell him I’m ready, and he insists that I’m ready when he’s ready! So, I’m just here, hanging over this ledge and am going to fall and have no idea when! I’m literally begging the guy to just drop the rope, and finally put my hands up to my head in exasperation and BOOM…..I’m falling and bouncing and falling again bouncing again and then my hair is falling out of the bun and going everywhere and I can’t see anything because of hair and all of the blood is rushing to my head and then finally the guy at the bottom grabs me and plops me on the boat and I can breathe again! So, this time, when I say “I’m scarred for life and I’m never bungeeing again,”  I mean it! After our jumps we had to get some celebratory “we’re alive” beers for surviving the days activities. 

 

 It was our last night together, since Dan left for L.A the next morning and Ryan, Mom, and Dad left for New Zealand, so we went out for our last family dinner at a restaurant close to our resort. The next morning Dan left quite early, but the rest of us just hung out until our van came to pick us up. We had one last lunch at the airport then their plane started boarding for NZ.

I was really bummed about everyone leaving, but it was such an amazing time to be able to share my home (Sydney) away from home (Madison) away from home (The Bay) with my family and experience something as beautiful and iconic as the Great Barrier reef with them. I couldn’t be more lucky to have such a loving adventurous family who is willing to fly across the world to see me. The 10 days I had with them were definitely the 10 best days I’ve had while abroad and despite the fact that I’m not looking forward to leaving Australia at all, I am looking forward to being back home with them!