Trip to Cairns - Day 12 - Leave Cairns

Leave Cairns

31-7-2012    Tuesday    Sunny

You are What you See

                                                                                                            --- Dejan Stojanovic 

        In a blink of an eye, this trip has finally come to an end. I have to say goodbye to this lovely and city with laughter and tears. We will leave Cairns for Hong Kong tomorrow morning.




        The whole study tour was a 14-days trip to Cairns. I think it was really really short! At this moment, I wish I was one of the local residents in Cairns! So that I could stay here with my host family in my entire life time... To be honest, I am reluctant to part with this marvelous and dreamy place and my caring host family! I love the stunning nature there. The beauty of Green Island, the softness of the 


grass and the sweetness of the air made me feel that I was in a paradise!! The dearest and the most beautiful memories of this trip were all about my beloved host family. I cherish every single moment with them! Layla, Ava and Carter are my favourite kids. I treat them as my younger brother and sisters.  Alison and Daniel are my favourite host mom and dad! I have already integrated into this big family. I enjoyed the time being with them. I enjoyed the time playing with the naughty kids, chatting with Alison, talking jokes to Daniel and having every meals with them... Maggie once said, "In fact, the real lessons start when you go back to your host family" I learnt so much from them. In the past, I did not know how to express myself, now I can. I confidently to talk to my host family about my life in Hong Kong. That's an excellent cultural exchange. Once I did not care about others' feelings, and now I can! I can get along well with them in peace. I always played with the three kids crazily when I go back home. I lived happily and blissfully here. All the smiles from them have gone into my deepest heart. These blissful memories are my best present / souvenir! Anyways, all good things must come to an end, in Chinese "天下無不散之筵席". Facing the reality is what I should do. 
   
        During these days, I did not went to many spots. But I was satisfied. Why? It was because of the bright green grass, light blue sky and a few pieces of big white clouds. I was already in the most fantastic spot everyday. This three combination has created the most attractive scene in the world. They are simple but beautiful... Now, I have a some lyrics pop up in my mind,

"I see skies of blue and clouds of white

The bright blessed day

The dark says good night
And I think to myself

What a wonderful world"

Not until you once visit such a nice place, will you discover how wonderful the world is! You know, I seldom enjoy such nice days in Hong Kong! That's another reason that I do not want to leave. Here in Cairns, I can temporarily put aside my busy homework. I do not need to worry about my academic results. All of my stresses and worries magically disappear when I see such a great scene. I just close my eyes and enjoy the sweet nature here by heart everyday...     
   
        Besides that, I was impressed and delighted to see and meet people here. They are all very nice. Here comes another part of lyrics which best describe the people here.  "The colors of the rainbow, So pretty in the sky, Are also on the faces of people passing by,  I see friends shaking hands, Saying "how do you do?",  They're really saying I love you " I could absolutely and definitely feel the warmth of humanity and friendliness from people's smiles. In Hong Kong, people are so cool. At least they will not say "How do you do" to strangers! If all the people in this world smile a little more and be passionate a little more, this world will be much more better!  


     Last but not least, I find myself become more mature and wise after this journey. I grow a lot. I am growing to be more independent and confident. I learn how to take care of myself such as tidying up my bedroom and washing my clothes. I have more confidence in speaking in front of a crowd of people without stammering! That's a big improvement! In addition, I become more optimistic about life. I learnt to appreciate and love every adorable things in my life and in this world. Now, I love smiling. I want to spread happiness to everyone! Joining study tour make me experience things that are new and widen my horizons. This eye-opening journey gives me opportunities to know more about foreign cities' culture in the field of food, life style and history. 

        Lastly, I would like to wrap up this trip by saying a "Thank You". Thank you to everyone I met and everything I experienced here. And I want to say thank you to me too! A brand new ME! This journey was like the colorful fireworks, it was short, but beautiful. 

    It was just a moment of fantasy, but a memory of life!! 

 

-The End-

Trip to Cairns - Day 11

30-7-2012    Saturday    Sunny

        Today was our last normal lesson and we are going to take a EFCELT Test tomorrow. In the lesson, we learnt about Australian animals. From today's lesson, I realized that koalas and kangaroos are not the only two kinds of animals in Australia. They are a lot more! I have not heard of some of their names before! For instance, there is sugar glider which is a bit like a rat, a bit like a cat, can fly from tree to tree and eats sweet things such as honey and nectar. And one more name I learnt today was Tasmanian Devil. What a cool name! This animal is the size of a small dog but very strong and powerful. It likes eating meat. However,  I want to see a platypus the most! I know that it looks very strange! :) Hope I can have a look of it when I came to Australia next time!

        In the afternoon, we had a photo scavenger hunt! At first, I thought it was quite boring! Afterwards, I found it quite challenging as we needed to go to different places and took the required photos. It's a tired and tough task! We ran a lot today! The funniest scene today was that we did not know what a cannon is. Then, we took out a camera of a brand name "Canon"! That's humorous, right? Although that's a bit wired, that showed how creative we were! Ha-ha!

        At night, we went to night market. We first ate dinner at a Chinese food court. There was food buffet restaurant which sells Chinese food. It had been a long time since I last had Chinese food (rice and noodles)! I missed these food so much. Today, I did not need to wait anymore. I could eat plain rice, fried eggs and Chinese style wings heartily! Nonetheless, it closed AUD $15 per box! That was to say it was almost HKD $120 per a box of Chinese food!! That's so expensive. Therefore, I shared it with Maggie and Ashley. As we had not eaten Chinese food for long, we put a lot in the box. The size of the food accumulated almost doubled the size of the box! After the yummy dinner, we walked around this night market. Ashley and I went into a shop which sells handicrafts. There were plenty of anklets and bracelets. I thought there were nearly thousands of ornaments! I struggled for a long time on which one should I choose! They all were so beautiful. I wanted them all! Then I went to a facial cream shop and brought one hand-cream and 1 lipstick for my mom. It's so nice that the shop-keeper gave me discount! Soon, the night went dark. When we were about to leave, we saw a magical evening beneath the bright stars. The sky was in purple colour! It's utterly glamorous... In fact, there was a gradual change of colours in the range from purple to orange! There were different layers and colour tones! 

        After that, we went home with Maggie. Unfortunately, we got off at a wrong place! Initially, we should get off in Panorama Street on Toogood Road. Even so, It was too dark, I could not distinguish the bus stop! Finally, the driver let us off at the end of Toogood Road and instructed us the way to walk back. At first, I was so so so afraid and puzzled that we would lose our way home. Yet, when I saw the charming stars and bright moon up on the sky. My worries were gone. Maggie, Ashley accompanied me! That was a bewitchingly beautiful starry night... The sparkling stars scattered all over the sky. I felt like I was in a fairyland... What's more, I thought the sky was very near to us as if I could touch that piece of wonderful "black cloth" and plucked one star on it! I did not feel scared anymore because I had those brilliant stars with me! At that time, we were like mariners, we charted our course by the stars...

        Finally, we went home safely. But Daniel, our host dad waited at the right bus stop to pick up us for a long time! :)    

Trip to Cairns - Day 10

28-7-2012    Saturday    Sunny

        It's beach day again! Today we went to Palm Cove which is another famous beach in Cairns. We took an coach to get there. It's just half an hour journey to get there. For my point of view, it is dirty beach when compared to the one on Green Island. Even so, at the same time, it is a clean beach when compared to the one in Hong Kong. There was less rubbish. In Hong Kong, people are so impolite that little at the beach!        

        As today was a bit cold and windy, so I did not swim in the wavy sea. (Indeed, the fact was that I have been fastidious since I met the beautiful beach on Green Island...) When I put my foot into the sea water, I took them out immediately! *o* The water was freezing! I just simply walked along the coast line. I took off my slippers and stepped on the soft sand. It's so comfortable! It was so pleasant and gentle that made me feel relaxed! Oh, there was a little pier at the very end. I saw many people went fishing there! Beside the pier stands protective mountains, shoulder to shoulder. When the pier goes with the green mountains, the scenery is fantastic! I could not stop pressing the shutter button on my camera~ Everything was fine today except the weather! If it's not that windy, it would be much more enjoyable!        

        After that, I went to the Palm Cove Shopping Village. There was one small supermarket, two to three clothes and jewellery shops and a food restaurant plus a coffee shop. The villas there were attractive. I hope I can live in there someday! My life must be more relaxing and happier! 

        We left Palm Cove at about four. Yet, that did not mean today had ended. We went to watch film with my host dad , Daniel and also two Japanese girls. That's my second time to watch movie in foreign countries. It must be fun and unforgettable. After we dismissed at Cairns City Mall, Ashley and I went to cinema with some of our friends. This time we watched Batman --- The Dark Knight Rises! The film was great. Every action shots were thrilling. My heart beats were fast when the film went in the climax! This is a traditional hero film but extraordinary content. I think the directer wants to convey a very meaningful which is justice. In the film, Bad guys tries to right their wrong. They kills good people with excuses. Sadly, citizens trusts them... They all mixes up up what is right and wrong! Except Batman, he decides to save the city by sacrificing himself at the end. Nice and reflective story, right?

        However, It was a pity that there were no subtitles. I found it difficult to understand the whole story plot. In addition, it would be better if there were a lot more scenes talking about cat woman and batman. I am quite interested in their love story. Also, more action shots would be great! There could be more excitement! 

        Anyways, I am contented with such a wonderful dry and brilliant film!

 

Trip to Cairns - Day 9

28-7-2012    Friday    Sunny

        Zoo! Zoo! Zoo! We went to Cairns Tropical Zoo today! I had been waiting for long to visit zoo and see lovely animals. Either koalas and kangaroos symbolize Australia. And they are so unique that you can hardly find them in other places. It's a rare and commendable chance to have a look and even have a touch on them! Fortunately, I did that today! Do not envy me~ 

        I always think that visiting one place's zoo is a great way to learn about popular science. It is because you will be able to now some special species or extinct species of that place if you visit the zoo. By knowing what special species does a place have, you can gain knowledge on how a place's climate (temperature and rainfall pattern), air quality and natural environment affect the existence of species. So, visiting zoo is a vey good science lesson! Besides that, you can learn about different species' habitual behaviors. This absolutely widen your horizons. 

        In the morning, we first gathered at Cairns City Mall at nine o'clock. and waited for the coach to bring us there. Badly, the coach delayed for nearly one and a half hour! It's already 11:30 when we got there. Sadly, we had missed some of the spectacular show... So we grabbed our every minutes and seconds left. We rushed to see the snake show first. It's a bit disappointed that he only showed us two short snakes but not the long and giant one! Then, we ran to see my favourite animal, koala because I could not wait anymore! Even so, We got disappointed again! When we reached there, koalas were sleeping! All of them were sleeping on the trees. It's really a pity... At that time, a question came up in my mind. Why don't the koalas fall onto the ground when they were sleeping? How come they can hold the branches that tight? Their claws should not be that tough!? I still do not get the answer at this moment. Although they were sleeping, we still found them extraordinary lovely and sweet. The koalas curled into a ball and went to sleep.zzz.... That's funny and humorous! After that, we went to hand feed kangaroos! They were cute as well. Their fur was soft and snug. It seemed that it felt so embarrassed to take photos with me and that's why they jumped awsy from me! ha-ha! On the way to the exit, we saw there were dogs inside a cave! Have you ever seen dogs in a zoo? That's my first ever time to see dogs in a zoo! We were so surprised! The staff there told us they are called Dingoes. They're Australian dogs! What a interesting thing to keep dogs in a zoo~ When we were about to leave, a peacock suddenly appear behind us! We were startled by its unexpected appearance. Just in a few seconds time, we started to chase after that peacock crazily and took photos of it. I think the truth is that the peacock was actually startled by us! 

        Anyways, we were cheerful to see so many cute and rare animals today! What's more, we shopped a lot in the souvenir shop too. We bought a lot of koala and kangaroo doll!! They are beautiful. :)

Trip to Cairns - Day 8

27-7-2012    Thursday    Sunny

        After enjoying a wonderful day on Green Island. A whole day lesson became a compensation for no lesson yesterday. We were hopeless since we knew that we were going to have whole day lesson today. But than, when we reached Sebel Hotel in which we supposed to have lesson. We found that there were no more extra rooms for us to study! At that moment, we were overjoyed and pleasantly surprised! It was because that was to say we would not have lesson! Lesson was cancelled! Hurray!

        Yet, we were just day dreaming... Dan, our class teacher got a brilliant in his mind. I knew he would not simply let us go... He decided to have lesson with us outside the school! He brought us to Esplanade and sit down under a massive shade of a tree. I was shocked at that moment. "How could we have lesson in the nature!? There were so many mosquitoes, ants and worms!!" Ashley complained. Although there were insects, I did not complain. It was because this was a good chance for me to get close to the nature. In this colourful world, we human beings are not the only creatures, there are a lot more co-existing with us. We should learn to respect them and accept them. That's what I learned these days when I was in the beautiful nature in Cairns. Moreover, I particularly treasure every opportunities to get close to the nature as I will not be able to have such rare chances in Hong Kong, the "Concrete Forest"! 

       I love being in nature. It refreshes my mind. It reminds me of what should I treasure. It teaches me what is to let every man speak well of the bridge that carries him over. I realized that chasing for spiritual life is much more valuable and crucial than material life.

        In the afternoon, we went to another EF school to practise EF dance again because we were going to perform a flash mob in front of the audience at the Lagoon to draw their attention! It's a really fun and interesting activity that I had never tried before in Hong Kong. Everyone was concentrated on the dance. We did a great job today! 

Flash mob at Lagoon  <-- Please kindly click this link to enjoy the video!

        Soon, it's night time. Ashley and I went home and prepare to go to a birthday party of the friends of our host family. We barbecued together and ate a delicious birthday cake. I found their friends very nice and passionate . They treated Ashley and me just like old friends. We spent a contented and hyper night together. I ate a lot of yummy food such as sausages, steaks and pop corn! I also met some new friends there! :)

        Then, we went home to have a rest!