Mariah DeLosSantos, the Baylor University Sustainability in North Queensland student blogger, writes:

All I can say is wow. I have only been down under for a week and I’ve already had so many adventures and made so many memories. I get to hang with the coolest group of people every day and explore Australia with them. It’s never a bad time when you’re surrounded by such down to earth, spontaneous people. As soon as we made it to our first location, Magnetic Island, where we stayed at Bungalow Bay Koala Village, all 30 of us bonded so quickly. There, we got to hang out with lizards, birds, crocodiles, and even some creepy spiders!

While on the island we went on intense hikes including Hawkings Point and the Forts Walk where we spotted a few koalas and watched the sunset at the top of the hill. Although I felt like my legs might fall off during the hike, once we made it to the end, the views were absolutely breathtaking! A really great thing about Australia is the amount of places where the forest meets the ocean, so after a long hard hike, you can turn a corner and end up at a beautiful beach to swim, relax, and take in the sun. 

After Magnetic Island, we went into Townsville to stay at Reef HQ and learn about the Great Barrier Reef and snorkel in their awesome aquarium! It was pretty cool seeing tourists on the other side of the tank while we swam with the fishes in our trendy wet suits.