Alyssa Lai, 2011 North Queensland student blogger, writes:
G’day, mates! (I still have to get used to being called ‘mate’ all the time!)
We have spent the past four days on BEAUTIFUL Magnetic Island, pictured left. I still can’t describe how breathtaking the scenery is here. It’s definitely nothing you can find in the United States. There are several hiking trails that we have access to, and we have explored around 10 kilometers of them
. Of course, the trails are steep and dangerous. Standing at 5’2″, it’s more like bouldering than hiking for me! By the time we got to the top, I was huffing and puffing, but the view was definitely worth the hard work. Plus, we spotted two koalas while hiking back down to the shore!
Of course, it hasn’t been all fun and games! We’ve learned about the management that goes into maintaining the Great Barrier Reef, and we have toured ReefHQ, and aquarium of the Great Barrier Reef, seeing clown fish, sea turtles, and coral reefs! We’ve also spent some time studying the Aboriginal culture in class, receiving lectures from natives. It really is interesting and sad how the indigenous people have a history that parallels the Maori people over in New Zealand and the Native Americans in the U.S. We’ll be staying a couple of nights with an Aboriginal family, so I’m sure we’ll be learning much more about their culture.
Today, we visited rock wallabies (a smaller version of a kangaroo), and we spent almost two hours just sitting with them and feeding them. We were lucky to be able to see a mother wallaby with her baby in her
pouch, pictured right! It was much different than I had imagined it would look like, because before, I had only seen them in cartoons. It was amazing being able to pet them and hand-feed them.
On a different note, Australians have become my new favorite people. I love meeting new people here because they are all so nice and hospitable. They genuinely care when you have a question that needs to be answered or if you just need help with anything. Their lifestyle is so much more laid back and unhurried than the United States. I think we can all take a leaf from their book. One of their trademarks is that instead of saying “You’re welcome,” or “It’s okay,” when you thank someone or apologize, they say “No worries!” and you can tell it comes directly from the heart.
As a side note, we found out that the word “fanny” is offensive here. Must remember not to say that in any context…
Summary-
1.) Find Nemo-Check
2.) Feed wallabies-Check
3.) See koalas-Check
What’s next? A six-hour drive to Yungaburra tomorrow morning! And tomorrow night, we’ll be going nighttime canoeing to spot some tree kangaroos, which I am really looking forward to!
Cheers!
