Got up pretty early this morning and had breakfast a the hostel and chatted with AJ on facebook. Not a bad start to my day! In an effort to prevent any stress induced drama I planned a mini-workshop for when we arrived at out hostel. I am simply amazed at how well such a large group has gotten along during this whole trip! We have had some minor cracks in the glue holding them all together so we fixed those today.
For most of our group the only thing they have in common is this trip! They problem solve, plan their day, coordinate splitting up for a few hours, meals, excursions all through sub groups within the group. I am proud to say today's meeting went really well and honestly it was more of a preventative measure than necessary. If you nip it in the butt early in the mumbles and grumbles they are more likely to cease. With 8 days left we don't need drama to start now! I hope every group in the future gets along this well!
Today we flew to Cairns, super smooth fight, good movie, awesome nap, and a popsicle. Go Qantas! The descent sucked because we hit some air pockets resulting in minor turbulence. Even minor turbulence for me is an insta-headache since I get motion sick. Oh well...I survived, lol. At the airport in Sydney I was a little embarrassed to be American. There was a group of four that had arrived in Australia that day and were on our flight to Cairns. The woman on the phone kept saying they are going to Carns...it is pronounced Cans. It was a little odd to me they didn't look up how to pronounce it before coming. I know I used the talking pronunciations online for a bunch of stuff on this trip! Just goes to show how most of us just travel without prior research!
Our hostel in Cairns can be described in one pretend word: fantasmagorical! This place is absolutely ridiculous. We have an open air kitchen, pool and spa in the courtyard, an outdoor pool table, super comfy hammocks and to top it off...Target is across the street! We tried to swim upon arrival but the water is cold. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
Tonight we went to Tjapukai, an Aboriginal cultural performance and dinner. It was interesting, some of the students got to go on stage and participate, and the food was awesome. To be honest it was a little bit hokey, but it showed how poorly the Aboriginal people are viewed by mainstream Ozzies. Think Native Americans vs Americans. In New Zealand the Maori culture is heavily preserved and respected. Here...they are mostly hobos and street performers. Really quite sad. Especially since Aborigines are the oldest culture in the world.
Tomorrow is going to be sun...the pool...a little shopping and the EMILY'S BIRTHDAY!!!! Emily is 21 on June 26 which is tomorrow for us. She doesn't know it but she gets to wear a sash tomorrow and Sarah and I are going to make a cake. I also have two 12 packs of fake mustaches we are all going to wear. Love it.
Well I am off to pass out to the warm breeze going through my window. I love tropical lands. Waking up to palm trees and huge hibiscus flowers doesn't suck at all!
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