Cairns

Although my time in Cairns was short lived (due to my insane travels described below) it was a good time. Originally scheduled for a 3 day orientations weekend, with trips to the Great Barrier Reef and the rainforest, I only spent 1 and a half days missing the Great Barrier Reef. I did get to go to the rainforest though, to a place called Rainforestation that was literally 20 minutes outside cairns. Cairns is a cool place in that you can be inside the city with 10+ story buildings, nightclubs, malls and restaurants then 10 minutes outside be surrounded by sugarcane (and sugarcane toads—which it’s the law to kill on sight) and 10 minutes further and up a mountain to be in the rainforest. With a zoo-like animal sanctuary, actives like how to throw a boomerang and play a didgeridoo with aborigines, and army duck tours through a rainforest set-up it was a quick immersion into Australia and Australia’s wildlife and plant life. The wildlife park was probably the best part of the day with kangaroo’s up-close, koala’s, wombats, barramundi, crocodiles, cassowary, snakes, and a lot of the other animals in Australia that can and will kill you (and the signs made sure you knew it). I spent the rest of my brief time in cairns touring the small town/city enjoying the cultural intricacies of Australian life. Oh, and I saw Dark Night with a bunch of people (yeh, 2 days before its release in America).