It didn't rain in the rainforest...

Our little nook!

When I first heard the program I came to Australia with organized a group trip to the rainforest in Binna Burra for the weekend, I pictured giant trees with monkeys and parrots and tigers everywhere. Looking back on that now..why would I think there would be tigers roaming around Australia..BUT this weekend was just as amazing and, don't worry, I saw just the animal I wanted to see:]

I also thought we were going to be sleeping in dirty bug-infested log cabins, but I was very pleasantly surprised! Claire and I had this cute little nook complete with coffee and tea and shampoos and things. Reading that now it doesn't seem that cool but if you've spent the last couple weekends in hostels you would understand. In fact...even our dirty apartment at uni is no where near as nice as these cabins.

Claire and I

After settling in, we realized how completely starving we were. It was about 4:30 and dinner wasn't until 6:30. We started joking around that they better have a feast for us...and if all they had was "American style hot dogs" (these weird red hot dogs that they try to pass off as American) than we would slap them in the face with it and say "NO". Well..be careful what you wish for, because by the end of it we were begging them to stop bringing out the pizzas. We were a little skeptical at first because there were only three tiny pizzas for both large tables of hungry Americans, but once those were gone they brought out more...and more...and more..until our program advisor literally asked them to stop. Just when we thought we couldn't eat another bite, though, they brought out the ice cream. Ok, us poor uni kids aren't gonna pass up free ice cream, so naturally we ate that too.

Just hanging around

The next morning, I still wasn't even hungry, but forced myself to eat because I knew I would regret it if I didn't with the activities that were to come. We were split up into two groups, one going to the high ropes course and the other on a guided hike through the rainforest. My group did the high ropes course first. Luckily I'm not afraid of heights, but the first course we did was a lot more difficult than I expected it to be. We had to walk across a wobbly wire, reaching for ropes hanging down along the way. The next one I enjoyed much more because I could actually stop and look around and appreciate the view, because it was basically a horizontal ladder you could easily walk across. As we were being belayed back down, each member of my group did spider-man poses in the air. It was so much fun!

Molly and I doing the flying fox:]

Next, the groups switched and it was time to do the rainforest hike. The group who did the hike before us said they didn't see any koalas on the hike, so I wasn't really expecting anything, although I certainly had my hopes (it is actually very rare to see koalas in the day time, they typically only come out at night). So, we are walking along and our guide is telling us about all the poisonous insects, plants and animals in Australia (if you're wondering what they are it's EVERYTHING..literally don't touch anything in Australia, it WILL kill you)--and our guide stops for a moment and says "Ok, three free Tim Tams to the first person who spots it". Everyone looks around and there it is...you guessed it...a cute little furry nugget of a koala taking a nap in a tree!! My time in Australia was made. We also got to see a huge black python just a bit off the hiking trail. I can now say I'm not really phased by insects or snakes considering what I've come into contact with here. Just the other day there was a huge green python in a bush about 10 feet outside of my apartment...the snake guy had to come get rid of it. Just you're typical Aussie day.

Black python

That night, we had a bush dancing lesson. When I pictured bush dancing, I thought we were going to be painted and dancing around a fire with bongos playing...again, my expectations were way off. Bush dancing is basically just line dancing. We learned the different steps and danced to the upbeat music and it was SO much fun! We also played a game called knights, mount, cavaliers, where you have a partner who you dance with as the music plays and once the controller of the game stops the music and calls out one of those three positions, you and your partner have to get in that position and if you are the last couple than you are out. My partner Hailey and I along with Claire and Cierra made it to the finals--so of course we had to have a dance battle. The controller of the game was impressed by Claire and Cierra's synchronization but equally impressed by mine and Hailey's hair flipping and robot, so he called it a tie (we still won though, obviously). The rest of the night was spent sipping on wine in a cabin with some of the greatest friends I've ever had:]

Koala!!

Claire and I on a vine swing

The next day was zip lining, or flying fox as they call it here. I've never zip lined before and I loved it! We went right over some trees and a pond. We also had the option to go a second time, and we could do two people at a time if we wanted, so my friend Molly and I went. When you go with two people, you have much more momentum so you go even faster and you hit the stopper that moves you back in the other direction even harder. As we rapidly approached the stopper we screamed and laughed and grabbed onto each other to brace ourselves and SMACK! Back we go. I wish I could have done it even more times! The rest of the afternoon was spent taking in the amazing view of the overlook back at the lodge. It was so clear that we could see all the way to the Gold Coast.

As we were driving back, we spotted some people paragliding over these gorgeous mountainous views, and now we are determined to do it! I can't wait!

Cheers!