No sleep tonight

So it is Saturday, 9:30 pm. No sleep for me tonight. In 6 hours at 3:30 am the shuttle will come to take Cat and I to the airport. 36 hours of travel later I will arrive in Boston.

But first, let me tell you about my week!

Tuesday I had my Conservation Biology exam. I actually felt really confident about it. Wednesday we went to the reef for the last time. It was a beautiful sunny day. A bit chilly with the wind out on the water, but it was such a great day. I went with Amanda, Annie and her friend Cordelia from Maryland who is visiting this last week. I just did snorkeling and didn't see any turtles or sharks but it was amazing. It went by so fast. I could swim around in the coral forever. It is different every time. I really am going to miss it. We caused a bit of a scandal when they were doing a head count and they couldn't find us. We were up getting warm in the sun on the top deck, sitting wedged between the railing and the captain's room. That night it was the second State of Origin game for rugby so we went into town to a pub called the Courthouse. We watched the game outside on a giant projector. There were so many people there! It was a good game and very close but the Blues beat the Maroons. Booo! One more game to go and they are tied 1 to 1. Thursday I went to Kuranda with Annie and Cordelia. It was an adventure figuring out how to use John's Kuranda bus to get up there but we did it! It was a lovely day of strolling through the stores and doing some souvenir shopping! ;) We were very successful with our purchases. Thursday night I had to do some hardcore studying for my last exam on Friday in Agroecology. I feel fine about that one too. After my exam I headed to Smithfield shops to cancel my Australian bank account. That night we had a final get together of all the people in the lodge who are leaving this weekend. It was a great end to the semester. I am going to miss everyone so much. I have made friends and had experiences that I will always remember....

Today Cat and I went and got Sushi Train together one last time. Then the day was spent cleaning our apartment and packing. It was very sad to put everything away. Now the suitcases are packed, the walls are empty and all thats left is to wait with my friends for the inevitable goodbyes....

Out on the reef!

Stylin' in our wetsuits.

Go Queensland Maroons :) 

And now I'm somehow on my last week

Okay! I can't believe this is my last week in Australia!! Wow.

Alright then, Tuesday was my last day at the zoo. I can't say it was all that exciting. There was not much for us to do actually. I just did the usual things. But I did get to hold a koala for a bit since it was my last day! :) Her name was Willow and she was so soft and cuddly. That was nice, and I got some pictures. At the end of the day I also went to the free-flight bird of prey show which was pretty cool. It was sad to leave but I am ready to move on. I learned a lot during my experience there.

Wednesday I spent the entire day studying for my Conserving Tropical Rainforest exam on Thursday. I literally did nothing else. That night we all got together and did a big review session using an old exam. The studying paid off though, and was definitely needed. It was probably the hardest exam I have ever take! 2.5 hours, 16 essay questions to answer. But I felt good about what I wrote, I studied hard. Thursday night I celebrated the end of my most difficult class and went dancing with my friends.

Friday was spent relaxing and tanning near the pool. It was also my roommate Sam's last day here so I hung out with her a lot. It was sad to see her go :( Saturday I began studying for next exam on Tuesday, I think its going to be pretty easy. I am very comfortable with the material. That night was just spent hanging with friends. Sunday I watched my friends do a reenactment on the Hunger Games, but thats about it! Monday I spent the day studying, tanning by the pool, and getting Sushi Train with my friends Cat and Amanda! Just a few more days!!! Getting really excited to go home.

Banded knob-tailed gecko in my hands! I love them.

Willow and I :)

Beautiful Cairns :) 

White water rafting & studying

Hello!! I had lovely weekend to tell you about. Well, Friday was uneventful, I slept in and wasn't feeling well so I went to bed early to get up at 5 am the next day for white water rafting on the Tully river! After getting ready I went with my friends Annie, Amanda, Cat and Nick on a 30 minute walk to the place where Raging Thunder (the rafting company) was to pick us up. We arrived just in time and were taken to the Adventure Tours headquarters where we checked in. There was some issues at reception where the woman was being crabby and unhelpful as we attempted to update our package to the Extreme Tully (more rapid swimming and rock jumping).We held up the whole line and she confused me with another person, Phillip Beattie. Do I look like a Phillip to you??? Well eventually we got all sorted out and were equipped with a wet suit shirt to keep us warm as it was a rainy day and the water would be cold. We then boarded a gigantic tour bus with lots of other people and took about a two hour drive north to the top of the river. Once we arrived we got off, got set up with a life vest, wind breaker and helmet before hopping onto a boat. We were lucky enough for all 5 of us to be in the same boat and get a great Aussie guide named Cal. Very funny, he made it a great day. Since we were part of the smaller extreme tour we got to go first and went at the level 3-4 rapids at a faster pace. So exhilarating! A quick look at my face in the pictures will give you an idea of how fun it was. We travelled 14 km in a little over four hours with a quick lunch break for kangaroo burgers in the middle. It was breathtaking, rafting in the middle of World Heritage tropical rainforest. At some points along the way we hopped out of the boat and got to swim through the rapids and climb up giant rocks and jump into the river! So great. Now I have to say I did experience two moments that were probably the scariest of my entire life. Going through some of the larger rapids I fell out of the boat twice. Well more like thrown out. (Mind you, Amanda was the only other person to fall out of the boat that day and she only did once, I was the laughingstock of the whole tour) The first time I got stuck underneath the raft when I tried to come up for air, for a few frantic moments I thought I was going to never find the surface. Fortunately, I did. Later in the afternoon when I fell out again it was even worse. This time the rapids swept me under the water for 10 meters and I was underwater for around ten seconds. I could see the surface above me, but no matter how hard I tried I could not reach the surface. Very freaky. When I finally popped up I was way down the river from the boat and had to get rescued by another boat who plopped me on shore so I could wait for my boat to pick me up. They found it pretty hysterical, me standing on the bank, paddle in hand, abandoned. It was kind of funny. Exhausted and exhilarated we finally arrived home at around 6:30 pm starving and ready for dinner. That night I went to my friend Ella's brother's house with some friends but I was ready to go home by 10, I couldn't stay awake a second longer.

Sunday I spent some time by the pool before going with my friends Ian and Jordon to the PhD student's house who I did the dingo volunteering for, Liz. She was having a BBQ for all the volunteers who helped her with her project. It was a lovely afternoon. We sat and talked and had some really great food! It was nice to have something home cooked. And she had so many pets: 2 rats, a bearded dragon, 3 dogs, and a kitten named Miss Pickles. When the sun was setting we walked to Kewarra Beach with the dogs and stayed there for a bit before we went home.

Today was my first day spent on hardcore studying for my exams. My first one is this Thursday. Ahh! Very scary. Tomorrow is my last day at the zoo!

Yupp, that's me screaming

And screaming again..

And again...

My friends, Cal and I

A planned boat flip, me falling in first

Study Break!

This week has been study break for exams which are the next two weeks. It has been good to just relax and not worry about class. I can't believe its almost over.

Lets see, last Friday I went to my last class of the semester, Saturday I went to AjHackets Bungy and watched my friends go bungy jumping. It was right in the middle of the rainforest, so beautiful. I did not do it because I could not bring myself to spend $150 on something that I do not find all that appealing..... That night I went out dancing with my friends. Sunday was my roommate Sam's birthday and her parents were here so we went to the beach even though it was cloudy and got lunch at a nearby restaurant. A tavern burger with everything on it and a side of chips! Nothing better. That night we hung out and watched movies and did some serious roommate bonding. Monday started off as actually a nice day so after a quick trip to uni we caught a bust to Trinity Beach. But it was actually very windy and turned pretty chilly! But it was still perfect for reading a book. I am now on the second book of the Game of Thrones series, I would recommend it to anyone! Tuesday I went to the zoo. What an exhausting day! I did my usual cleaning and handling of the snakes, met a girl who is visiting from England and volunteering. In the afternoon we got to carry around a huge Burmese python. It took three of us to carry her. See the pictures! Then we had to do some hard manual labour, moving these cement bricks from a garden and lugging them across the zoo in a trolly to the maintenance section. So that evening I was too tired to do much else! Yesterday I spent the day doing pretty much nothing but reading, until that night when I went to Zumba. It is so nice to be able to workout again! All that is left on my foot is giant red scar. Today I got up early and went to Smithfield shopping centre with Cat to pick up a few things, I got a QLD State of Origin shirt! This afternoon we have a sort of end of semester ceremony where study abroad students get a certificate for their time here. And thats it for this week, only a couple more to go.....

Bungy Jumping! 

The golden orb weaver, larger than my hand.

The lovely rat room at the zoo

Me and the Burmese python

Cute koalas 

3 weeks....

I'm not sure how but somewhere along the way I went from daily blog posts to weekly ones....

Anyhow! Last Friday I gave two big presentations, one of which was my final for that class. No more Effective Speaking!! That night I went to bed early because I had to wake up at 6 am Saturday to go to the Great Barrier Reef! Well I slept through my alarm and actually woke up at 6:55.... so I had to throw everything together super quickly so my friend Amanda and I could sprint to the bus stop and catch the 7:07 bus into the city. I don't think I have ever gotten ready so fast. What a lovely day it was! It was on and off rainy all day but the water was warm. We went to the wharf and got on the Sea Quest boat which took us out to Norman Reef. It took about an hour to get to the outer reef and am very very glad that I took ginger pills before we left! It was pretty choppy. But the current made snorkeling really good exercise! A friend of mine from class was actually working on the boat! He's from Ecuador. I started out by snorkeling, then I did an intro dive with an instructor, then we had a delicious buffet lunch, went to a new location, and I did another snorkel. It was beautiful! The colors of the corals and fish just blow me away every time! You can't get enough of it. I enjoyed the diving but I think I like snorkeling better. I'm just not comfortable with being that deep underwater, it freaks me out if I think about it too much. But its something you need to experience. There was someone taking pictures of us diving underwater so I have a good picture to share with you. It was a long day and I was exhausted by the time we arrived back at the wharf around 4:30. But the day wasn't over. That night I went to a bonfire on the beach with friends. I left early though because I was so tired!

Sunday was a day of relaxing with the roommates and finishing my essay due last Monday with my partner, Greg. I feel good about our work. We should do well.

Monday I began my final assignment of the semester which I handed in today! Nothing more until exams!!!!! I can't believe it. I worked so hard this semester it is good to be nearly done. Oh and I went swimming in the pool in the rain :) Tuesday I spent the day at the zoo. Another great day of volunteering! I love spending time with all the snakes and lizards. I had lots of free time this visit to handle whatever reptiles I wanted. And this time I didn't do painting, but gardening! I ended the day with some weed pulling. But I even enjoyed that.  It was fun working with another zookeeper who works in reptiles named Hirani. Wednesday was my last long day of class. After class we walked to the shopping center and were going to take the bus back because we had a lot to carry and then it was a half hour late! The bus actually showed up at the same time as the next bus that comes after it. Wednesday was also the State of Origin. It is kind of an all-star Rugby game. Queensland picks the best players from their state and faces off against New South Wales. Maroon vs. Blue. A very big deal here. Obviously I back the Queenslanders! They won :) And there was a great fight during the game! I felt very Ozzie watching the game with my Australian friends ;)

Today was spent doing nothing special. I handed in my last assignment and went to my second to last class! Tomorrow is the last day. Then a week off before finals begin!

Oh and here are some photos of my campus at uni! 

The boat!

The ocean!

The walk to uni from the lodge.

Cloud covered mountains at campus!

Entrance to campus

Me scuba diving and kneeling on the ocean floor! Yes that is a real fish in the picture.

One month to go!

I cannot believe I come home exactly one month from today. It is unbelievable. It has gone by so fast. I have one more week of class before exams! This week went by especially quick. I will try to remember everything I did.

The weekend was nothing special. Just hanging out with friends. I met someone from France! That was a new one I think. Monday I did work and got my stitches out!!!!! So exciting. It is so nice to be able to walk around properly again. But I'm not used to paying at the end of the appointment so I was so distracted and happy I got my stitches out that I walked right out and forgot to pay! They had to bill me, another Meghan moment. Tuesday I got to back to the zoo for the first time in 2 weeks! It was so great. I missed it so much. Lots of cleaning and snake handling. A really good day. Oh and I painted a fence for the croc park. Felt very Tom Sawyer. And I got black oil-based paint on my leg that WILL NOT come off. That night I worked on my group project due tomorrow. Wednesday was spent at Uni.... Today I did work that I needed to do and finished my group project and my final assignment for Effective Speaking. I only have one more assignment to do before exams!! Thank god. I am getting burnt out. For the first time I am actually starting to look forward to coming home. Of course I have always missed everyone, but I really miss some things now. I feel out of the loop! And I'm getting poorer by the second.

Oh and sad news. No more dingo fieldwork :( Of course I miss my last two sessions because of my foot and then she unexpectedly ends the fieldwork early! Oh well. She is having a party for all of us who helped her and I will be able to use her as a reference in the future.

Sydney on wheels

So on Saturday we got a ride to the airport for our 720 flight. I checked in and got my first wheelchair of the weekend. Woo! We even got to use the elevator. Pretty special. I thought the D they put on my boarding pass was for disabled when it was really just for domestic since we were leaving from the international terminal. Typical Meghan moment.

We got to board the plane first and I slept the whole flight it was great. Then we took a shuttle to Nomads West End Backpackers in central Sydney. After dropping our stuff we made the first attempt to get a wheelchair at a pharmacy in the world square. Unsuccessful. They told us we should go to a hospital and that pharmacies didn't do that here. None were nearby so I just gave up on it for a bit. Sushi and miso soup for lunch! We then went to the botanical gardens which were lovely, but my foot was in serious pain so we went to the Sydney hospital which was actually really pretty. But they were mean there and told us that essentially we were stupid to think they would have  wheelchairs to rent and gave us a list of pharmacies to go to. So the pharmacy people from before did not know what they were talking about. None of the pharmacies were close so we went to the Art Gallery of NSW. The paintings were amazing! From 17th to 20th century. No pictures obviously. From there I decided the wheelchair was necessary so we took a quick cab to the nearest pharmacy, got the wheelchair and took a taxi back. It was pretty funny though as we were trying to leave the pharmacy. I am in the wheelchair one minute and my friend Annie pushes me out the door, but there is ledge so it gets stuck and she nearly dumps me into the street. We were quite the sight. The wheelchair took some getting used to. We then returned to the botanical gardens and went deeper into them and started up the walkway along the harbor to Mrs. Macquarie's chair. We saw hundreds of flying foxes! So cool. There was an especially funny moment when I was actually in tears from laughing because the feet of the wheelchair fell off and Amanda had to actually use this wrenchlike tool to get them back on, we made a complete scene right tin the middle of the walkway. However, we got a spectacular view of the harbor, the bridge and the opera house. It was a lovely day, chillier than we were used to. Low 70's with a brisk breeze. We then walked towards the Opera House and got a look of it up close. At this point we came to Cirqular Quay and walked around there for a bit. We then had a long walk/ride back up to the hostel. Annie and Amanda certainly strained some muscles pushing me up all those hills.. I felt so bad! I wouldn't have gotten it if I really didn't need it. Oh, and the whole day I got weird looks whenever I would stand up to get a closer look at something or to pose for a picture. I think people thought I was a faker. Once we got back we were ravenous so we made some pasta in the hostel kitchen and then we to see The Avengers at the closest cinema. IT WAS HUGE. It was so big that we had assigned seats. Anyway, the movie was amazing and everyone should see it.

The next day we took the free local bus back down to Cirqular Quay to the wharf to catch the ferry to Manly. I absolutely loved it there. We walked (well I rode) around the cute shops and went to Manly and Shelly beach. We relaxed and tanned a little in the sun (obviously elevating my foot out of the sand). There were big waves and lots of surfers. We then walked along the Esplanade and through the markets, had a peanut butter sandwich (the main meal of the weekend), and went along the manly scenic walkway before grabbing the ferry back. We had to leave fairly early to make it in time for the rugby game at ANZ stadium between the Sydney Roosters and the Newcastle Knights. We were only 20 minutes late. I love rugby! It is a fun game to watch. And the roosters won even though they had been doing bad lately so I like to think that we brought them luck ;) That night we were all exhausted so we just chilled.

The next day Amanda and Annie woke up early to catch a train to go hiking in the Blue Mountains, I obviously could not join them on this so I had booked a 4 hour spa treatment instead. :) I slept in before catching a taxi to a tall swanky building, 99 on York Street. There I took an elevator up to the 7th floor to Ayurve Spa. So nice. I got a body scrub, body massage, manicure, pedicure and facial. It was just what I needed. Ultimate relaxation. We all arrived back at the hostel at just about the same time. Since it was our last night in the city we decided to have a nice dinner out. We had to return to the wheelchair back to the pharmacy in Paddington so we had dinner there. We somehow stumbled upon the MOST expensive restaurant possible, La Scala, but it was extremely delicious. How I love risotto! It was a perfect end to the weekend.

The next day we woke up at 3:30 am for our 6 am flight. We arrived back to Cairns at about 930 so we had the entire day still.

I would just like to say that after this trip I am officially an expert at hailing cabs!

The rest of this week has been quite boring so far. Tuesday I napped and went to the pool to tan. Wednesday I had class all day and Thursday I just did work and class before hanging with my friends.

Today I had class. I had to present a debate arguing against the world adopting China's one-child policy. I think it went pretty well. The rest of the day will be spent reading Game of Thrones!  

 The world square

Hyde Park

Good times in the wheelchair

Flying foxes!

On the ferry

Manly beach

Rugby time