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| Australian Aborigines |
Our final days in Cairns have been so much fun – we’ve had a
few lectures but we’ve gotten a lot of opportunities to explore the shops and
restaurants around our hostel and meet some of the locals (and the Aboriginals
who are kind of scary). Our hostel is a few blocks away from the Esplanade which
overlooks the ocean with a view of the mountains in the background. A lot of
people run along the boardwalk or participate in fitness classes on the
Esplanade which makes working out a lot easier when you have a view that
motivates you to keep pushing through – especially if you’re out there when the
sun sets. The Cairns local government funds the Active Living Program which
provides free fitness classes for all community members and visitors. We were “highly
encouraged” by our professors to try a cross fit kind of class that involved a
series of timed circuits that provided participants with a full body workout. I
didn’t realize how out of shape I was until I was dying after the first round –
probably because of the disgusting amount of “chips” (french fries) I’ve
consumed on this trip. Literally, chips come with EVERY meal. If you get order
pasta, chips will come on the side. When I get back to the States I never want
to eat them again – ok that was dramatic, I won’t be able to resist Chick-Fil-A
waffle fries forever, but I definitely need a little break. I’ve grown to
appreciate our little hostel and my top bunk. The 6:1 girl to shower ratio has
gotten a lot better – we’ve all mastered a 7-minute shower. Once we were all
showered, all 31 of us, plus our professors and Craig (remember he’s our abroad
program director), went to a restaurant named Rattle n Hum for dinner and Dr.
Mensch got heaps of pizzas for us all to share. There are some meals that are
included in the trip, but there are a lot of meals that aren’t and we have to
find food for ourselves. And like I mentioned before, food in Australia is
expensive. So another S/O to Dr. Mensch for dinner <3
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| Esplanade |
The next day, we traveled to James Cook “Uni” where we met
with Dr. Deakin who talked to us about indigenous communities and the issues of
them – such as limited access to roads and/or water and limited facilities. A
lot of Australia is considered to be a “remote” community and I think we often forget
about communities like this even though they are the ones who need the most
attention because of the lack of accessibility to healthcare. Dr. Deakin’s next
lecture focused on heat and its effects on athletes and firefighters. Some
volunteers of our group put on HAZMAT suits and some others put on fire fighter
suits. Dr. Deakin took us into a chamber that simulated the temperature that
fire fighters would most likely endure on a hot day in Cairns. It felt like
sauna and I wasn’t even in a suit – so I can’t even imagine how hot a real firefighter
must feel. He also introduced us to the multipurpose Cool Me vest which is used
to reduce the level of heat stress and promotes faster recovery. I think we
could really use the Cool Me vest as a model to incorporate some kind of similar
cooling vest for football players where heat related issues are a huge safety
concern. Our last lecture of the day was given by the strength and conditioning
coach for the Olympic Indonesian badminton team. I thought the most interesting
part of his presentation was how much he focuses on the psychological preparation
of his athletes. He carries out a daily wellness survey which looks for
fatigue, recovery, soreness, sleep, and mood in his athletes. Before each
competition, he has each athlete write a motivational word on their water
bottle to prepare the future self which I thought was really cool. He seemed to
really go the extra step to look out for his athletes and I think all coaches
could learn a lot from his techniques.
After lectures, we had a whopping three options for lunch –
McDonald’s, Red Rooster (Australia’s version of Chick-Fil-A was how Craig
described it) or a sketchy noodle house. With three mouth watering options to
choose from, I decided to go outside of my comfort zone and try the Red Rooster
– and it was nothing at all like Chick-Fil-A and there was still no ranch. Way
to go Craig. That afternoon we took a little adventure to Crystal Cascades, a
pristine rainforest waterhole in Cairns. It was one of those hidden gem kinds
of places with beautiful waterfalls and rocks that no one really knows about.
We stayed for a little while and swam and cannonballed off some of the rocks.
There was even a natural slide made out of the rocks that we all went down – I’d
post a video but I’m not tech savy enough to figure out how to do that, sorry.
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| The Daintree |
The next morning, we were up bright and early to go to the
Daintree aka the World’s oldest surviving rainforest in the world. We took two
vans, Craig drove one and Dr. Mensch drove the other… Dr. Mensch driving half
of us in a van on the opposite side of the road. Let that sink in. Both vans
had to get onto a ferry to get across the water which was kind of odd. Once we got
to the rainforest, we all went zip lining which was a cool experience but the
lines were a lot shorter than I expected. I’m a big summer camper and I go zip
lining almost every summer so I had a little bit of higher expectations.
However, the zip lining instructors handpicked our helmets out which all had different
names of movie characters or actors/actresses on them and it was funny to see
who got which character – I got Pocahontas which people tell me a lot that I
could be her long lost sister, so A+ to the instructor who strapped me up. Once
we were done zip lining, we went to the one bar in the whole rain forest and
started happy hour early. We were stuck in a rainforest with no service for the
night so what else was there to do than get lit?!?! It was honestly one of my
favorite nights of the trip so far. Back at the hostel, a lot of us go out and
do our own thing at night and the Daintree
forced us into having a bonding
experience that I’ll remember forever. The beds felt like literal springs with
a fitted sheet over them. I think the concrete ground may have been comfier –
ok dramatic again, but I’m trying to give you an idea of what my bed was like for
the night ;) I survived though, don’t worry.
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| Esplanade |
Once we got back from the Daintree, most of us spent our
free day relaxing by the pool next to the Esplanade. We don’t get a lot of unplanned
days like this so we soaked it all in while we could. We leave for the Gold
Coast tomorrow morning at 7 am – how are we two-thirds of the way done with our
trip?!?!
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