"Dancing on Tables is Undertaken at Own Risk"

Hello all! It's been a couple of very interesting and unusual days here in the sunny city of Cairns, Australia. On Friday, after settling in we were met by Tony Cummings, our very warm and laid-back academic director. He gave us a brief overview of the program and then took us for a quick tour around the city, including around the beautiful Esplanade, which reminds me a lot of the boardwalks in Cali, (except that instead of looking out on picturesque white sands, we were looking out at muddy earth. :P)

A picture of some of us venturing out onto the "beach."

At this point we were very hungry, so we set about looking for a place to have dinner. Cairns is a really beautiful city, full of lots of little shops and funky restaurants with food from all over the world. The one problem with all of these places is the prices, so we don't spend as much time shopping as you would think. For those who don't keep up with global economics like me, Australia is doing slightly better than we are currency wise. Right now, 1 Australian dollar is worth about .96 US dollars. Or rather, $100 US dollars will get you $91 Australian dollars. So things are just a wee bit more expensive here than back home. But one nice thing especially with restaurants, is that tipping is not included. The reason this is extra nice is because the minimum wage is so high (somewhere around 15 dollars i believe), that the workers are taken care of by their salaries alone and tipping isn't required like it is in the states. (Something to think about America).

A little bit of Cairns, Australia

But I digress.. We spent the rest of Friday getting acclimated and trying our best not to fall asleep so that we could start getting over the jet lag. Even so, most of us were out by 8:00 pm, but miraculously, my roommates and I still managed to all sleep until 6:30 the next morning.  (I know - we felt like grandparents).


At 7:15 AM the whole group went for our first "excursion," which was a hike/tour of the Cairns Botanical Garden. We saw an amazing variety of plant and animal species, plus some spectacular views. We also got to learn about a type of ant called the Green Ant, whose butt has a sour taste to it if you lick it, (which a couple of people in my program did). After our morning hike we were treated to a wonderful tropical brunch, complete with lots of fruit and some scones (pronounced, "sc-on-z"). Fun fact: apparently it is very bad manners to cut a scone with a knife. One should always break it open with their bare hands.

The beginning of our hike

View from one of the hills

Someone tasting the butt of the ant

We also ran into this Brush Turkey and several of his friends.

Later that night the group decided to have some fun and check out some of the local clubs and bars. We found this really fun place called the Wool Shed that was very popular. As the title of my post implies, at this venue dancing on tables was not only accepted but encouraged, and I'm proud to say I partook in this particular activity :)

This morning was a more subdued day: we had our first official "class" at a place called "Reef Teach," which is just down the road from our hostel. Reef Teach was started by a man who worked on a dive boat, who was concerned that visitors were not getting enough information out of a simple boat dive that he started this classroom, hosting information sessions and lectures for members of the public and tourists to teach them about the reef. In this same classroom my program will be meeting for our own classes, as well as attending some of the Reef Teach lectures. Today however was just for basic information and going over emergency information, including how to best avoid getting killed/injured/maimed by any of the following: crocodiles, snakes, feral pigs, cassowaries, sharks, toxic plants, stinging trees, biting insects....the list seemed to go on. (Apparently if you get bitten by a snake the first thing you should do is remain calm. And this is supposed to be facilitated by our knowledge that there's only a fifty percent chance that the snake that bit us actually injected its venom. Now, don't you feel better?)

Oh and also, we need to avoid situations involving sexual harassment and assault.

Sorry for the epically long post. But you have a few days to read it all cause today we all leave for the second part of our orientation which is a 5 day camping trip in Port Douglas and the Atherton Tablelands. (For those of you who know a little about my schedule, this is not the camping trip with the aboriginal elder. That comes later.) I won't have my computer with me, so this is me signing off for a bit. But I'll hopefully be back with some fun stories to tell you all soon. :) Cheers!

Peace, love and scones.
Katie

Below are some shots of the hostel I'm staying at. So you have a better idea of where I'm writing from. (At least for now..)

Common room of the hostel

Our beautiful pool :)