A Long Way From Home

Family and friends (and anyone else who stumbles upon this blog), welcome!

Let it be known that: I have an aversion to Facebook, internet is super inconvenient to come by Down Under, international phone call charges are a joke, and I love any excuse to write. Which is why I chose to blog my experiences while living abroad.

Because I worked primarily with high school students while living in Australia, I decided to limit my daily sharing of events that included them (which was a lot), in an effort to preserve their privacy. But that didn't stop me from documenting many of the other unscripted 'WTF?' moments that collectively made up my life. Like the time someone called the police to have me apprehended for assault, or when I was verbally reprimanded for refusing service, the moment when I finally grasped an understanding of what ping pong means in Asia (hint: it is not an Olympic sport), how I came to be physically violated by wild monkeys, the truth behind 'happy endings' (spoiler alert: they're real), and much more.

In case you're wondering, let me debrief you on how I got here: My brother traveled through Darwin and loved it. He told me he thought I'd love it too. Found out that foreigners find a lot of work with youth. Sounded awesome. I emailed the principal at a local boarding school and proposed a position for myself. She told me that if I came down, she'd hear me out in person. I booked my ticket. She hired me on the spot. Now I'm in living below the belt in a country that is essentially a ginormous island populated by species that I thought went extinct along with the dinosaurs. (Seriously, I swear I've seen miniature raptors.)

Note to Readers:

Blogger is set to post in reverse order which means that the newest posts are defaulted to show first. (This one in particular–my very first post–will remain as the homepage.) The next post you'll see as you scroll down will be my most recent entry. To read this starting at the beginning and follow in sequence, use the blog archive tool on the lower left side of the page and start at the oldest date. Enjoy!

Spelunking in New Zealand

Auckland, New Zealand

We went over to NZ from Sydney and drove around the North island. There was a lot of pretty pasture and tons of sheep and cattle! We were really just enjoying the sights, vs. participating in too many activities. We did, however, spleunk. Ever heard of it?

It's also called caving and refers to the exploration of wild cave systems. We did it! And it was awesome. The water is unbelievably cold, which is why you need to wear a dry suit, and the caves are pitch black with rivers flowing through them. Did I mention the glow worms? Yep, they line the cave ceilings and look like distant stars. SO COOL!

So, Here's How It All Went Down
To start, we rappelled down a 100 ft tunnel into the depths of the cave. Then, we zip-lined in total darkness to cross a void! One of the tour guides kept pranking people at the end of the line by getting directly in their faces as they hung in darkness and silence, completely unaware of his presence and wondering where everybody was, then he'd flick his flashlight on from under his chin and scare the crap outta them! I zipped down first, so I got to witness each person's horror and relief. It was goooood. Mom, in true Mom fashion, screamed in terror the whole way down the zip line. Haha! Love her.

On the initial descent into earth's depths...

There were about 8 people in our group. Some of them had no business being there because it was obvious that they'd rather be surfing the internet in the safe, warm confines of their humble abode. Two people actually bailed out, which took us down to one guide because the other had to lead the quitters to an uneventful exit path. Thanks for endangering the group on account of your fear of adventure! 

Next, we jumped into the river and got into inner tubes. We pulled ourselves upstream for a while (a rope was affixed to the rock) to extend the trip and get better visibility of the glow worms. After we let go and floated downstream, we eventually came to an impasse where tubes were no longer effective so we ditched them and prodded through the water on foot. We swam through narrow passageways, belly-crawled under tight rock formations, and climbed underground waterfalls! Speaking of which, my mom was climbing the waterfall behind me and she fell off but was luckily caught by the remaining tour guide before hitting the sharp rocks! Unfortunately, he hurt his knee in the process and she dislocated her shoulder. She couldn't move her arm and needed to be helped out of the cave so the instructor and my dad accompanied her on an alternate route out of the cave. I was already at the top of the waterfall and I couldn't descend at that point so the person I was with and I were instructed to move forward to find the exit from the cave! It was fun and easy (although a little creepy, since the only light was coming from our headlamps).

Me, finally finding daylight as I exited the cave!

Dislocation Station

We had to go straight to a hospital to get my mom's shoulder reset. It took them about 3 hours to get it back in place but their healthcare system worked in such a way that there was no charge for her ER visit. It killed the day because the whole ordeal went well past midnight and mom was miserable with pain as we drove back toward Auckland to catch our plane home.

Looks like this is the end of the line for me. America, I'm coming home!

A Trip Down the Coast

Down the Eastern coast of Australia

I linked up with my parents in Cairns and we accomplished a lot in a short period of time! In just over a week, we:

Traveled the Daintree Rainforest
To my knowledge, I'd never been in a rainforest before. I learned that rainforests are called so because of the amount of precipitation they get, so even though I had envisioned the Amazon, all rain forest's plant life are not created equal.

We rode up and over the rainforest canopy on a sky rail and got off to explore the town at the sumit. It was mostly authentic arts and crafts vendors. To descend, we took the train.

View of an impressive waterfall from the train in Daintree. 

Visited Magnetic Island

This is where I saw my first koala in the wild! I was becoming concerned that I wouldn't see any on my trip. This island is off of the coast of Townsville and was filled with secluded beaches and minimal foot traffic. It was a nice getaway.

 I almost didn't spot this guy! 

Snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef

I refused to leave Australia without first seeing the reef! It was an ugly day above the surface, but gorgeous down below. Our 150 ft yacht was amazing and served one of the best meals I've tasted in my entire life! I need to get the name of the company so that I can recommend them to everyone I know! It also had a mini submarine attached to it that I rode in. I didn't really like the feeling of being underwater and under pressure. It was a little sickening for me, to be honest. 

I did come face-to-face with what I'm deeming a tiger shark. It may not have been a tiger shark but if not, it was a zebra shark. And if that's not a real thing, then I don't know what to say. It was big and I was snorkeling deep when it swam across my face! It was striped black and white and was long and skinny. UPDATE: I figured it out! It's called a banded shark or cat shark. Check it out here. Guess it's not that scary, after all. 

Dad, Mom, and myself, all suited up to dive!

Visited a wildlife conservatory

If you have limited time and want to see all of the wildlife that you don't often see in your home country, where do you go? To a wildlife center. And so, we did. 

I had a little too much fun with this statue:

 Shhh! They're sleeping...

There is a petting-zoo type of enclosure for the wallabies and you can go in and interact with them. I fed them out of my hand!

They're super gentle. The same can't be said of their cousin, the kangaroo!

I actually held a snake. Never thought I'd be that girl but once you've held a croc, 

you're basically a professional handler.

Tried to Take Pictures with Every Type of Road-Crossing Sign We Came Across 

I don't think there was one for crocs:

Dad tried to drive the rental car immediately after possessing it but the first thing he did was go the wrong way around a roundabout as we were exiting the airport. He pulled over and got out without speaking and I just casually took his place. It's best not to insult the egos of men, especially when they've already surrendered.

Thanks for the reminder!

Made it to Sydney

I went in the Sydney Opera House, checked out Luna Park, and visited the Sydney Zoo. The transportation system here is very sophisticated! 

Dad and I in the marina in front of the opera house

Drove Down to See the Twelve Apostles

There are only like 6 remaining at this point, but it is still pretty amazing what the forces of nature can do! Along this drive, I also spotted 60+ koalas and 2 kangaroos! I eventually stopped counting the koalas because the closer we got to dusk, the more obvious they became. Most of those pictures were taken on Dad's camera so I don't have them to share right now.

Mom and I huddling for warmth, with some of the remaining 

Twelve Apostles standing in the background

Not bad for about a week and 2k miles, eh?

Farewell, Darwin

Today I am packing up my little apartment on campus and heading to the airport to leave Darwin for the foreseeable future. A lot of my students are understandably upset and don't fully comprehend the working visa restrictions that I have to abide by. I've given them all my contact information and I hope lots of us stay in touch! I'm on to my next adventure but this one won't soon be forgotten.

Fare thee well, Darwin!

Job #3: Wrap Up

Now that I am officially no longer working there (on account of beginning my travels back to America) and there is no way for you to know which of my many charges I am describing, I will tell you some of the highlights of my experience working with these at-risk kids:

• Wanted to have privacy (understandably) so jumped out of a moving vehicle and ran away.

• Was upset that caregiver refused to take them to the mall so went outside and used a crowbar to break out the four side windows of the company car.

• Threw a brick through the front window of their house, out of frustration.

• Completely and thoroughly curse out their caregivers on a daily basis.

• Stole a car and drove nearly 200 miles inland before being caught and imprisoned.

• Threw a fit and tossed caregiver's purse into the swimming pool.

• Stole money from caregiver's wallet.

Now, let me just say that with certain kids, there are always two caregivers on duty, so as to provide protection for each other and to help control situations that may get out of hand. I am happy to report that these kids had a certain degree of respect for me–I think it was because I didn't take their bullsh*t like many of the other caregivers did. I respected them as much as they deserved it but I wasn't offering charity or one to be played. That being said, while I did witness either the act or the aftermath of all of these infractions, none of them were ever pulled on me, specifically. 

It's really unfortunate that these kids are in the situations that they are. I really hope that they will come out of the other side of their circumstances, whole and better for it.

Fresh Water Oasis

Berry Springs
NT, Australia

We took a bunch of students out to Berry Springs today. The wet season is ending and along with it, floods and inland-traveling crocodiles, so we had to kick off the season right!

There are cages positioned at the bottom of these swimming areas. AKA crocodile traps! It creeps me out to think about it. At the end of every wet season, divers set them and extract whatever crocodiles they can, then open the area to public swimming. In the wet season (about October-March), torrential rain downpours for a large part of everyday and there are spectacular lightning storms to go with it. These rains raise water levels and crocodiles are then able to swim back up streams that connect with larger bodies of water. As they travel inland, people stop getting in the water. See how that works?

In the dry season, there is quite literally no rain and the weather is pure Heaven. Crystal clear blue skies with no clouds in sight, no humidity (none that you can detect), and a caressing breeze coming off of the neighboring ocean. Day in. Day out. That is what is coming over the next few months and I'm only going to get to enjoy a few weeks of it! In all fairness, I arrived here at the end of the dry season so I did experience it for about two months, last year.

Anyway, back to Berry Springs. We were informed that a croc had been pulled from here about 2 weeks prior but that none had been seen since. Was that supposed to be comforting? These kids aren't scared (of anything--which is terrifying), so I had to puff up my chest and pretend that I wasn't at all squeamish about the whole thing.

 Crocodile management signage

Aside from the biting fish (yeah, if you held still for more than a few seconds, they would try to eat your flesh–they felt like ant bites), it was awesome! The water was clear and tasteless. The greenery around the area was beautiful and there were little rock faces and waterfalls to jump from and enjoy. One of my girls insisted on practicing her photography skills (she's taking a class) and I became her subject. So, here's a montage of her work:

 Wading in the spring (and secretly dreading the crocs swimming beneath me)

 Itty-bitty baby turtles were swimming around

 So cute!

In a canopy of ferns

 Floating in one of the three major swimming areas

 Being beaten up by a mini waterfall

Move over, Baywatch

What can I say? She captured my essence.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

I've just received word from my parents that they are going to come Down Under and travel with me as I head back up to the States! We are going to meet up in Cairns and travel down the coast before heading over to New Zealand.

Since I have so many siblings, this one-on-one time is gonna be an extra special treat! Can't wait to tell you all about it...