last days under the southern cross

I'm about a week away from coming back to America. As excited as I am to return, I know leaving is going to be a surreal experience and I'll probably weep for days on end when I return. Still, I'm making the most of what I can given my final exam schedule and financial situation. As my last update states, I was indeed in Sydney and it was an incredible place aka I plan on making my way back to it ASAP. I returned to JCU for a few days and did some studying. Then I made a visit to my mate, Trent, who lives in Cairns.

I met Trent through a couple of friends who have come to James Cook University under the same circumstance as me. I haven't hung out with him a lot this semester, mainly because he lives off campus, but being at his house and experiencing his town was a nice change from Townsville. He told me that Cairns is backpackers central. Obviously, there has been a lot built around the fact that its a big tourist location, but Cairns is surrounded by mountains, rain forests, and beaches galore. Plus its a great access point to the great barrier reef.

I avoided the rain forest hikes and the beach outings mainly because I've been doing a lot of beaching and hiking lately. The best thing I did there was take the hour long boat ride out to the GBR, which certainly deserves a better word than great for its title, but I digress. I remember seeing a lot of similar things at when I went snorkeling and sailing around Whitsundays. Fortunately, unlike that experience, it was bright and sunny all day long, which was perfect for seeing pretty deep underwater for when I took my first underwater journey of one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

It was an incredible experience. I saw the craziest, most colorful fish I've ever laid my eyes on. I spotted two sharks, I got to touch the inside of a giant clam, and I got bitten by a turtle attempting to feed it. Ah! I wanna go back and play with nemo and crush again. It wouldn't be hard to persuade me to live in Cairns, just so I could go diving all the time. Incredible, amazing, great are all just words that don't even come close to describing my diving experience there, but I've got pictures.

The rest of my time in Cairns I spent walking around the Boardwalk/Esplanade area, enjoying the sun and hanging out. My return was rather rough. I went straight to work and after I finished I came directly to uni to finish studying for a final I had today. Only two more finals to go and then I'll be done with another semester. Despite my bittersweet feelings about leaving, its always nice to be finished with another semester of college. I know all is well in America, what could go wrong with the Pens winning a Stanley cup?