Written By River
monday, september 26, 2022
platypus sighting:
after many early mornings of going down to various creeks and ponds in search of a platypus, the long wait was finally over. a small group of four went down to the water’s edge with claire, sitting in motionless silence, transfixed by the water. at last, 10 minutes before all hope was given up, a small brown creature surfaced, ripples echoing from around it. a platypus had appeared! it had surfaced to eat its food, grinding an invertebrate between its beak. celebratory screaming and pumping of fists occurred in utter quietness with as little movement as possible, so not to frighten the platypus away. and as quickly as it had appeared, the platypus sank beneath the murky brown water again. another five minutes went by in anticipation for it to show itself again during a feeding, but no luck. the disappointment in not seeing the platypus twice was outweighed by it’s initial appearance, and the group trekked back to breakfast walking on clouds.
tuesday, september 27, 2022
fig tree & volcanic lake
the first free day off at sheoak ridge was spent visiting a nearby town and it’s attractions. our group leaders of the week planned a day full of adventure. during the drive around rural queensland, we first visited the curtain fig tree. as the name suggests, it was a huge compilation of fig trees that had grown together and fused overtime, creating a curtain-like appearance. the perfect tree for climbing as many people noted. it looked as if dozens of ropes were hanging down and were just inviting people to repel the tree. after the brief stop, was the main event of the day: lake eacham. a volcanic lake a kilometer across—that’s about two thirds of a mile for my americans— which was a beautiful clear blue with a crocodile that inhabited it. not to worry, though, we never saw it! we all ate some sandwiches for lunch, before the fun truly began. lots of swimming occurred, including a diving competition which got increasingly competitive. and after hours of fun in the water, some people laid out in the sun to dry off and relax, while others walked the trail around the lake, even going for a second loop!
wednesday, september 28, 2022
planting trees & pizza:
our afternoon work for claire and marcus consisted of clearing out guinea grass around the perimeter of a billabong in wallaby wetlands. post weeding, marcus offered us saplings to plant at the edge of the water, either palm trees or fig trees. we dug a hole, pulled out and placed a strand of hair into the ground where our tree would grow, and planted our trees. that way a piece of us would always be in australia and at sheoak ridge. additionally, we each wrote a message for our trees on a piece of bamboo to encourage them to flourish. that afternoon’s quote can be encapsulated as “wherever we go, our roots will forever be intertwined” in reference to the trees we planted which were all planted together. after a hard day of work was passion class number two: pizza making. everyone made their own individual pizzas, stretching them out by hand before preparing their pies with toppings of their choice. then they were thrown into a handcrafted pizza brick oven, cooked to perfection: crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside. a great way to end a hard days work.
thursday, september 29, 2022
davies creek & talent show:
for our second free day at sheoak ridge, swimming was on the agenda again, of course. this time we visited davies creek, out in the bush of queensland, australia. climbing to the top of some falls there was a small pool to swim in, and large flat rocks to lay out in the sun in or play card games. on our return trip, we stopped at the only ice cream shop in mareeba and got our first australian ice cream. later that night, we hosted a talent show for our hosts claire and marcus, since it was our last night with them. solo, duo, and group performances were made with a variety of skills and abilities on show—from art, to dancing, to singing, to photography, and even fire twirling! it was a night filled with many laughs and memorable moments.
friday, september 30, 2022
goodbye sheoak ridge, hello cairns:
waking up to our last morning at sheoak ridge was a bittersweet moment. it was disheartening to say goodbye to our first connections in australia, but we had cairns, city life, and wifi to reconnect again to look forward to. after our final breakfast, we packed down our tents and belongings to leave for the city of cairns. right outside of the city we stopped at the grocery store for our first supermarket trip as a group and to stock up on food. after arriving at the hostel, we discovered we did not in-fact have a booking, and joked we’d be “sleeping on the streets” for the night. very fortunately, the hostel was able to split us between two rooms, eight in one and six in another. once we had settled into the hostel, the group was given free time to do as they wished. many people reconnected with their family and friends back in the states. after that, many explored the hostel and the city of cairns. soon it was dinner time, which meant our first home cooked meal together: stir fry. all of us took on the role of sous chef for the evening, given various tasks around the kitchen to contribute to meal prep. and at the end of it all, everything turned out just fine, some might even say better than fine!
saturday, september 31, 2022
exploring cairns:
the group’s first full day in cairns was spent exploring its attractions. we first stopped at the city’s botanic gardens, splitting off into smaller groups and finding our own little beautiful pieces of nature. some of us recognized plants that we had in our own yards back home in the states, while we also saw plants we had never seen anything like before. continuing our adventure, we walked to a nearby art exhibit with pieces created by local high school students. individuals even younger than us, creating art that forced us to pause for self-reflection. at the end we finished the day with some classic ben and jerry’s ice cream.
