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Elizabeth Weatherup

I stepped off the plane at the Cairns airport immediately greeted by a warm breeze and mountain scenery. 42 hours later, we had finally made it!

Once the jet lag wore off, we made our way deep into the Daintree rainforest. I felt like I had been transported into the movie Avatar as we learned all about the plants that were beneficial for health, but also of those you would not want to be up against, such as the stinging plant. Perhaps the most epic part was a five hour hike into the world’s oldest rainforest where dinosaurs used to roam. We made our way through the rain and mud and once we made it out alive, we were rewarded with delicious ice cream and a beach walk. Although my time in the rainforest was quite the experience, the moment I had been waiting for had come as we flew out over the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) to Lizard Island.

I sat at the right seat of the plane, jealous that I would not be able to touch the controls (until the end when I did have to press the rudder pedal brakes for him). I followed the instruments as we made our base and then final approach onto the short runway. We were here!

The adventure continued as we took a tractor ride to our accommodations, which were amazing (minus the huntsman spider…yikes). Today made the peak of the experience so far with a sighting of an octopus and a sea turtle on our first snorkel on the GBR!

I am so excited to see what the rest of the trip has in store! Everyone here is so much fun and I am looking forward to more family dinners (Erin and me are cooking tacos tonight for taco Tuesday) and sunset beers!

Out of all of the amazing parts of the trip, my favorite was waking up everyday and snorkeling on the GBR. Everyday I got to see something new and on the last snorkel, I got to see a shark, ray, cuttlefish, octopus, squid, and several sea turtles which made for an amazing last snorkeling day. It was also awesome having Morgan come and speak to us. Knowing how to ID coral species made the diving much more fun (plus he makes a great birthday dinner!). I also liked feeding the kangaroos when we got to Townsville! Definitely had a blast!

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