Follow the Journey

During the past week we were given three free days in Cairns Australia. All though these were supposed to be seen as days to get some relaxing in, we packed them full of fun activities, including an awesome road trip. We arrived to Cairns late at night and many of snuggled into bed, while a few of us ventured out into the city to find the night market. The next morning we piled in our rental van (YES!) and drove to Behana Gorge which was about 45 minutes outside of Cairns. You would think finding a gorge would be an easy task… but no. Our directions (thanks to Will) sounded something like this; Get off highway and turn right at first road, follow the 5 palm trees, find the waterpipe and follow it to the gorge, if you go over a bridge, you’ve gone too far. We passed over many bridges, which caused us to turn around a few times in confusion, but after a long search, we found it. The hike up to the gorge was hilly, but soon became incredibly worth it as we spotted the gorge below us. We ran down to the rocks and ripped off our clothing (yes mom, we were wearing bathing suits). All of us got in and started splashing around in the refreshing water. By some natural force of nature, the boys went off together and the girls all laid around on a rock chatting about our lives. That night the girls and boys decided to split up and have a “girls night”and “boys night”. Girls night was super fun and all of us went out to a club called “Woolshed”and took Sprite shots and we danced the night away. On the other hand, the boys went and got massages and walked around town. Overall, it was a very very fun night. We woke up in the morning ready to go to Josephine Falls. Some of our group was feeling a bit drained and on low energy, so our van consisted of Hannah, Bridget, Margo, David, Lina, Avi, Lauren, and me (Jen). It was raining quite a bit, but that didn’t stop us from getting in the water and discovering the natural water slides that were in front of us. We took turns going down the water slide solo, then only a few people at once, and then as a whole group. Each time we went down, we would have to get out by climbing up the slippery rocks doing something resembling an Indiana Jones crawl. After, we got back in the van and drove to a place called “the boulders” which basically just had some really big boulders. It was a very pretty hike and we got to see some beautiful butterflies along the way. That night looked pretty much identical to the night before with some exploring of Cairns, and then a good night of sleep. When we woke up, many of us were feeling again, a little bit out of it and wanted to trail behind. Our plan for this road trip was to just go and if we see something cool, we would stop. So after stopping at the market in the morning for some fresh fruit and lunch necessities, Avi drove me, Lina, Bryan, Olivia, Tiff, Will, David, and Bridget to wherever our van would take us. Our end destination ended up being Port Douglas which was a beautiful town located near the water. We walked around the market there for a while, ate some lunch, and stopped at a bookstore before heading back to the hostel to join our sick friends. That night we had dinner together at a pub and shared in some laughs before we would be busy with conservation work and splitting up into two separate groups. Now, usually splitting up people for 4 days wouldn’t be traumatic, but you must understand that we have spent the last 2 ½ months together, and this was almost as bad as telling us that we would never see eachother again. We got frozen yogurt together and said some quick goodbyes since the next morning we would be getting up early to head off for Conservation Volunteers of Australia. It was a great few days and we are excited for the next chapters ahead of us, but we will miss our friends in the other groups so much and can’t wait until we can be reunited again as one big family.
Love from Cairns,
Jen
(ps. I miss you Mom and Dad, give Gussy and Lucy a big hug for me)
-Jen