Mid-Semester Travels

Mid-Semester break is HERE!

So what am I doing?
Well let me inform you!

Tomorrow at 6:45am, I'll be in a cab on my way to the airport to go to Cairns!

I don't know if the weather will be nice, but I don't want to look and a) get my hopes up, b) be disappointed. Regardless, the weather here is so unpredictable that it wouldn't even matter!

Anyhow, I'll be in Cairns from noon-ish April 3rd through early evening April 6th. We're staying at Mantra Esplanade. It is 4/5 stars and looks pretty nice, so that's good! Our day of arrival is open for us to do whatever we'd like. Sunday we get an early start and head off the the Great Barrier Reef! Apparently you can scuba dive oppose to just snorkel, so if I can afford it and the time frame is workable, I will for sure scuba! However, I was just recently informed that you cannot scuba dive and fly within a certain timeframe, so I'll have to check that out. That evening is free yet again, though Jon mentioned an Easter egg hunt in his hotel room! Then on the 5th, the morning is ours, but the afternoon will be spent White Water Rafting on the Tully River! I've never been, but it looks like heaps of fun! Yet again, the evening is ours. The following day, we can do whatever we wish as long as we catch our flight out, which departs around 5pm. This trip was one of the top things I wanted to do while in Australia, so I'm pretty frick'n stoked. All I need is an underwater camera so that I can get some awesome pictures of the reef.

The Cairns excursion is something I paid for in my program fees to GSE, so everything is proved with the exception of a few meals and anything additional, such as scuba diving or sky diving or any additional tours.

Then I get to enjoy the 7th to relax and pack for my trip to the Northern Territory with Ryan! We are going to be in a tour group of up to 22 other individuals. I look forward to meeting new people. I hope they're as awesome as my Eurotrip buddies!

I depart the evening of the 8th and arrive in Darwin around 1:30am the 9th. Our hostile is right in the city, so it'll be easy to get to and from. We're spending 2 free days in Darwin. We'll probably sleep in the next day, then we'll explore the city. I was told there is some awesome fish feeding thing we can do. The following day, we're going to Crocosaurus Cove where we'll get to see a ton of reptiles and submerse in the "Cage of Death." It's a glass container that submerges in a huuuuuuge saltwater crocodile's waterhole. Craaaaazy. Then our tour starts the following day.
Our tour is 7 days. We start in Darwin and work our way down to Alice Springs. We get to do several little hikes in Darwin. Unfortunately, we do not get to see Kakadu, but we get to go to several smaller sites. I'm sure they're going to be equally as awesome. Oh, and did I mention that we get to camp also?
From Darwin, we'll work our way down to Alice Springs, where we'll see The Olgas, Uluru, Kings Canyon, and more. We get to watch the sun rise and set over Ayers Rock and sleep in Aussie swag under the stars. The outback is one of the best places for astronomers, so I know I'll love it.
Then we have one extra day on our own in Alice Springs and it's back to Sydney.

We return on the Friday before classes commence, so we'll have Saturday and Sunday to sleep and do homework.

And don't worry, I'm going to take a LOT of pictures!