More Cairns!

I spent another day just walking around the tiny city and on the esplanade.  It’s still sunny and warm here so it’s perfect weather for walking around.  :-)  I got my iced cappuccino and banana bread from an awesome cafe before walking and all was well.

I also did some shopping.  I of course had to go to the Roxy outlet store.  I only brought 2 pairs of shorts with me and since it is in fact hot here I needed another pair to wear.  So I picked up some board shorts (my favorite) and a t-shirt that says “Roxy Australia” on it.  Oh, and you can’t have a complete outfit without some Roxy “thongs” (aka flip flops). :-) I also picked up a few souvenirs for myself and family at the local gift shop.

After I shopped I went and walked the esplanade again and took more pictures.  There’s not much more to take pictures of here so you’ll all have to wait for the rainforest and Great Barrier Reef photos.  

Enjoy the photos! The rest of my intern group comes tomorrow! Can’t wait!

Stork 

shark! (j/k....i don't know what it is)

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dredging 

Cairns!

FINALLY here!!! I am done flying on ten million bajillion airplanes!

The best greeter I got leaving the Cairns airport was Benny the drug sniffing beagle.  He checked all of my bags, but due to me having dogs he spent a longer time sniffing them than he probably does on other bags. I don't think that made his handler happy, but I told him he was good dog anyway. :-)

The taxi ride from the airport to the hostel wasn't bad either since sometimes taxi rides can be pretty scary. The old guy was nice and waited for me to get checked in before he left me and my bags.  And yes they drive and walk on the "wrong side" down here. I should be used to this by now, but I still can't walk down the wrong side of the sidewalk. I gotta see what is in the windows!

So far it is pretty tropical here. The sun is shining and temp is warm. There doesn't seem to be too much humidity unless I am just used to it.  There are palm trees, one of which is giving me shade while I sit outside on our little balcony. I say our because I am sharing a room with 5 other girls. Not too sure who they are or where they are from. I quickly met them as they were walking out the door to go party the night away. I know they are from another country because they were speaking another language as they came back to the room at all hours of the morning.  They have come and gone again - I guess while I was out searching for lunch. I am pretty sure they are here for one more night - then new roommates shall arrive (hopefully it will be students from the internship program).

So Cairns so far is a little tiny city. I walked a few blocks of it while searching for lunch. There were tons of scuba diving stores, fancy restaurants, and your usual gift shops much like the ones you find in the Caribbean. I am going to walk down to the Esplanade or tomorrow if there are no good free trips provided by the hostel.  My travel book says the Esplanade has several shops that are cheaper as well as cafes.  It also is a beach type area, BUT the Cairns section in the travel book says not to go into any of the waterways due to dangerous crocs. It's even in it's own little warning box. So I'll be shopping, eating, and taking pics of the water from afar. :-)

There seem to be all kinds of people walking about.  You got your business people, your tourists (you can tell apart because, like me, we walk on the right side of the sidewalk), your people who sit on steps and street corners watching other people. So it's kind of a mini NYC (stress the word mini).

The hostel I am staying in is right across from a movie theater, commonwealth center and apple store called iShop. The backdrop behind some of those buildings are mountains - not sure which mountains or if they even have a name. My guess is that they are part of the rain-forest.

I haven't seen any of the Australian critters....yet, but you can sure bet I checked under the toilet seat for spiders before using it! And so far I can't answer the question about the water in the toilet swirling the opposite way because the toilet here flushes like the ones on cruise ships - makes you think you're going to get sucked down too!

Well I think this is all for now.......It's 2pm-ish here so that means it's after midnight at home. Time to go sit by the pool. :-)  I do have wireless now so I am not restricted to 30 min sessions or to a computer with a letterless keyboard. :-)

Haven't heard too many Aussie sayings except for "no worries". It pretty much means what it says. :-)
Enjoy the pics - more to come tomorrow or later!

Bathroom....i left out the pile of underwear behind the door  - ew

Room

my bunk right under the A/C...all i have is a sheet for a blanket...glad i packed sweats!

end of room to balcony

hmmm....so i think the cookies left sitting on the shelf in the closet is a bad idea??

balcony

commonwealth center

cinemas

iShop place

view down the street

hostel sign

view of room from balcony - girls are messy!

11 days and counting.......

In exactly 11 days I will be boarding a plane and heading to the wonderful world of "Oz".  Australia is also called Oz and I imagine that it is in fact quite wonderful.  I will be leaving Newark, NJ at 5:30am on May 28th with stops in Texas, Hawaii, and Gaum before landing in Cairns, Australia at 11:20pm on May 29th. Yes, that's correct, I lose a day and half to traveling in a plane or two.

Once I arrive in Cairns I will be making my way to a hostel called The Northern Greenhouse.  I will stay here until June 4th.  One might not have nice visions come to mind when they hear or see the word hostel, but I assure you this hostel is far from those visions. I'll have internet, free breakfast every AM, free BBQ dinners, access to a pool and much more....all for $28 a night! Can't beat that! My own pictures will follow in future posts, but for now these were taken from the internet.

While I am in Cairns I will have to participate in the Bridging Cultures program which is the intern orientation.  This program will take place June 1st through June 4th.  Our fist day will just be filled with the arrival of other interns, receiving our cell phones, getting to know each other and then dinner at a local place called The Pier.  On day 2 we will be participating in a dreamtime walk with the Aboriginals, watch a traditional Aboriginal dance, and visit a wildlife park where we can feed kangaroos (or just roos as they are called) and get our picture taken holding a koala bear.  On day 3 we will be spending the day out on the Great Barrier Reef snorkeling and diving the world's largest living organism. On Day 4 we will all be getting ready to head to our other accommodations for the remainder of our internship. I will be back on a plane again and headed to Sydney where I will reside until August.

The place I will be staying at is another hostel called Jack's Place.  I will be living with other interns in a suite style room.  We will have our own bedrooms with a shared living-room, kitchen and bathroom. Jack's Place is about 30mins, by train, to my internship site so I will quickly become a "commuter" again. I will have pictures for you all as soon as I get there. The video is also of Jack's Place.

This is all you get until I arrive! ENJOY!

Internship of a Lifetime

I am enrolled as a veterinary technology student at my current college and one of the requirements for this major is to complete an internship.  Since this field of working with animals is not new to me I have already had the experience of working in small animal clinics.  You would think that seeking out a clinic to do an internship would be easy because all I would have to do is drive up and down the main road through town and find about a dozen clinics on either side of the road to apply at.  I never seem to like easy or easy never seems to like me so I decided to look for something further away. Real far, as in Australia far.  I started "googling" internships abroad and found several programs, but only one of them had actual veterinary internships.  This program seemed very competitive because all they kept telling me was "make sure that you turn your application and other materials in early".  So of course I turned everything in early and was accepted into the program. So off to Sydney, Australia I go!

I will be gone for almost three months and will be working in a small animal clinic. Sure it will be just like working in one of the clinics down the road, BUT it's in Australia! It's an internship of a lifetime and who knows when I'll ever get the chance to go again.