I Found Nemo :)

Last week, I traveled to Cairns on the east coast of AUS with my partners in crime Ally and Amelia. Needless to say, we had an absolute blast. While I wanted to go skydiving with Ally, I respected my parents wishes and am waiting to do it when I'm back in the States. I did however have the opportunity to snorkel on one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the world: The Great Barrier Reef! I can safely say that snorkeling will never be the same for me again. We spent an entire day out on this awesome boat, traveling to the outermost part of the reef, practically where the reef and the continental shelf meet. I found Nemo, which made it an even more fabulous day. The crew on our boat told us that we probably saw several hundred different type of fish between our three snorkel locations. Plus, we saw the most beautiful coral of all different shapes and colors. It was kind of funny because we first became friends with the crew on the boat as they all laughed at me when I fell all the way down the steps on the back of the boat as I was getting into the water--graceful I know. We were also the first ones off the boat at every location and the last one's to get back on. All in all, that was an experience I'll cherish forever. Then, the next day, we went on a 4WD safari through the Daintree Rainforest. The rain forest was pretty neat considering I've never been in one before, but what I really loved was Cape Tribulation, which was at the breach of the rain forest. The cape was absolutely gorgeous and it was a beautiful day, which only made it better. We also went on a river cruise to search for crocodiles. Taking into account my extreme fear of crocs, I did surprisingly well. I did manage to spill my tea all of the place when I freaked out when one of the crocs was moving towards us, but remained calm the rest of the time. The last day of our mini vaca, we spent on a beach called Palm Cove. Again, this beach happened to be one of the most beautiful beaches I've been to in my life. The entire beach was full of palm trees; hence, why they call it Palm Cove. Really, the best part about it to me was that while we were laying on this beautiful beach, we had the view of the mountains over the water. To me, a beach combined with a mountain view is the best combination. We then flew home to study and pack of our rooms. I can't get over the fact that I'm leaving Perth at the end of this week. I'm VERY excited to go to Sydney and see all the tourist attractions, but I'm going to miss Western Australia. I look forward to talking to Ya'll in a few days!!

Cheers!