aussieland adventures

cute kangaroo!

so, finally an update on the final day in cairns! i've been attempting an update every day this week but have failed due to the need to study.. imagine that, studying! psshh! :)
anyway, without further adieu, the third day.. in cairns.
the third and final day in cairns was another monumental day. it was a day full of rain forest exploration. after departing at the crack of dawn, a.k.a 7:30 in the morning, the first stop we headed to was a wildlife park where we were able to feed kangaroos and pet koalas! it was a really neat experience.
the kangaroos just came up to us like any domisticated animal would, and looked at us with cute "puppy" eyes when they wanted food. it was so much fun!
it was mating season so there were a lot of kangaroos with joies in their pouches.
i learned that females can give birth to one joey, while carrying one in their pouch, while having a joey on the outside, so basically a weird kind of staggered triplets! what a handful!
after the kangaroos, we went to a presentation of one of the koalas at the park. many of my group got pictures with him but i wanted to wait until i can hold one :) i learned that they have white bottoms for a form of camoflauge. i don't know of how that would work since they live amongst trees, but God does, haha..

after that we boarded the bus again and headed to the Daintree Rainforest for a bushwalk (hike) through the forest. i felt like Tarzan or George of the Jungle or Mowgli. it was really awesome to be walking through it since i had always wanted to but am unable to due to the location i decide to call home. as i learned, that rainforest contains 30% of frog, marsupile, and reptile species in Australia and 65% of Australia's bat and butterfly species. it has 20% of bird species in the country that can be found in this area. i can't remember the exact techinal name for the rainforest but, when i asked our tour guide, Scotty, what the difference was between a jungle and a rainforest, he told me the exact scientific term and said that if my friends and i could remember it at the end of the day, he would give us a surprise. we remembered and, the surprise:: a packet of veggiemite! awesome :X
throughout the day, when we would get back on the bus, whoever was last would have to eat a packet of veggimite. luckily, i was never one of them but, my friend scott was! it was hilarious to see him have to suffer through it.
Scotty also explained how boomarangs are made out of the roots in a certain tree in the rainforest and the tree trunks were used as "cell phones" to the aborigines.
while we were in the rainforest, we went down to the spring where we were suppose to go for a swim, but it was wayyy too cold for me so, i just try to talk with Norman. he was an aboriginal man who hung out in the rainforest frequently. it was hard to understand his english a bit but i do know he tried..

after the rainforest, our final stop was Cape Tribulation.
Captain Cook arrived in 1770, after coming in from an exploration voyage up the north Queensland coast. when his ship the “Endeavour” went aground on a reef, it was the beginning of his tribulant times and he named the reef "Endeavour Reef," as a reminder of his wreck. he named the rock behind the reef "Mount of Sorrow," and the cape "Tribulation," because it was not one of his most enjoyable voyages..
it was an absolute beautiful, sunny day and i wish we could've swam in the oceanand that is extremely dangerous since there are an excessive amount of Box Jelly that migrate to the shore..

after that, we were all extremely tired and ready to go back to Cairns where that night we were to watch our skydiving videos. i'm really glad i decided to take this trip. it was one of the most amazing weekends of my life and i am truly blessed to have been able to go.

here are some pictures for you:
xoxox
dusti alynn.