Trip to Cairns - Day 7

26-7-2012    Wednesday    Sunny

        I cannot calm down even at this moment staying at home!! Today was my first ever trip to the Great Barrier Reef. It is famous for the bright coloured corals which look like flowers. It is also the world's largest home for many birds and fish. Although we were just visiting a small island called Green Island, it' charisma is boundless and superb! I live it at my first sight! Not until you visit this charming island once by yourself will you discover is beauty.

        Early in this morning, Ashley and I got up so early and started to prepared plenty of sunscreen to put on to avoid getting sunburn. And we took our swimsuits from the bulky baggage. Beach attire, hat, bathers, towel, money and a CAMERA! When everything was ready, we couldn't wait to go! We left home exhilaratingly. You know, I could not sleep yesterday night as I was utterly excited about today's trip.

        This time, we took a cruise, "Big Cat" to Green Island. When I was on the boat on the way to Green Island. I was fascinated by the natural beauty of seas and mountains there. The landscape irritated my nerves. I found it difficult get rid of that engaging picture in my mind. At that moment, all of my stresses vanished!  I thought that's the MAGIC of the nature... It's great that the sea was calm and not so wavy today so that it did not affect my mood to appreciate such wonderful thing in the world. When I arrived at the sea on Green Island, I was speechless. It's so graceful that I could not explain with words. I felt touched with the gorgeous creations from god... The sea was rippling and sparkling. I was captivated by the piece of light blue in front of me. The sea melted into the sky! The light blue sea water is crystal-clear. We could see through the water and saw different patterns of sands under water. 

        The soft wind and lovely temperature today created a marvelous day for us. We all jumped into water without any hesitation. Yet! The sea water is damn salty! We shouted when we drank a little bit sea water. Having swam for a while, I felt tired. Then, I went ashore and played with the sand. I picked up some dead corals, funny shape stones and exquisite shells to take photos.

        What's more, we joined a glass bottom boat tour as well. As the bottom of the boat was transparent so we could see through the boat. I saw many different kinds of corals. I know some of them are called plate corals which shape like a plate. Some are brain corals which look like a person's brain. What special creature they are! In addition, I saw lots of tropical fish such as clown fish. When the boat driver cast some fish grains into the sea, a crowd of seagulls flew to eat them immediately. It's hard to capture them within just a few seconds. But, I did it!  

        Today, I took a lot of mesmerizing photos to capture to capture those unforgettable moments. Some say "Beautiful scenery + Fresh air = GOOD LIFE". I can't agree more! What a memorable day in my life!

Trip to Cairns - Day 6

25-7-2012    Tuesday    Sunny

        Having experienced yesterday's lesson, I love attending lessons here! We had endless amusement during the lesson today! Why? It was because we learned EF dance today! It's a bit strange to have dance teaching instead of formal culture teaching, right? That's what I mentioned before! Freestyle lessons in Cairns! Everything goes impromptu~ At first, we thought that it would be very easy to handle just a few steps. Yet, when music started, we went into a mess! We could not recite the dancing steps properly, we could not follow the steps successfully...... Finally, we bumped into each other! Can you imagine how this chaos scene was like? To be honest, I did enjoy dancing crazily! All of my stresses disappeared! 

        After that, we played a game called Killer with our teacher, Dan. It's a good game to train our oral skills and it's definitely a good chance to strength our friendship and let us become friends. In this game, we took turn to be the host and gave orders to other player of how to play the game. So we got a lot say and that's the reason of why playing this game, Killer can train our oral skills! 

        In the afternoon, we had BARBECUE with another Hong Kong study tour group. It's not normal barbecue we have in Hong Kong! It's Australian Barbecue. Before that, our class teacher, Dan told us what do Australian usually have when they barbecue. I was surprised that they would have lobster, abalone, shrimp and steak! At that moment, I was so excited to the barbecue section. I have never had such delicious and high class food for barbecue before. Therefore, I did not eat much at lunch so that I could left as much spaces as I could in my stomach to wait for the yummy food! Haha... But then, when we get to the place in which we had barbecue, there was only one stove for nearly forty people!? And what I saw on the table were plain bread, sausages (there were a lot of sausages! They were put in a mountain like!) and onions... There was a big contrast between my dream and reality! No lobster and no steak! Although the food was not like those I imagined, I should respect this barbecue and be thankful to the staff who prepared the food for us. Then I ate a sausage bread with onions. Unexpectedly, it tasted quite good~ (perhaps I was too hungry at that time.) Simple food with unusual good taste!

        At night, we went to EF disco together. I had never been to any discos in Hong Kong before. I was not willing to go to the disco before because it normally gave me a bad image that only naughty people go. This time, I could not refuse to go as my roommate would go as well. So, I needed go... When I walked inside the disco, I felt dizzy! The glittery spotlights kept blinking and sparkling. It seemed that they were fluttering in front of me. And in just a second, they flied away! Oh my god! The room dazzled me! I think I had not got used to dance in a disco. But, everyone was utterly hyper. Theydanced crazily and they enjoyed their time there. But, I didn't... I danced like a robot. I just wanted to leave at that time. I couldn't stand anymore. Although I did not enjoy much today at the disco. I still found that the foreign students very open. They are so passionate! :)

        Today was a tired day!

     

Trip to Cairns - Day 5

24-7-2012    Monday    Sunny

        Today, we went to school on time (9:30 am). But we were having lesson in the afternoon... So our local leader, Cary brought us to a pier and went fishing! Fishing seems to be a common leisure activity in Cairns people's eyes as Cairns is located near the sea. Once people have spare time or during holidays, they go fishing! They think fishing is fun and it is a good activity to spend their time! What was the feel of going fishing in foreign countries? Here we go!

        Owing to the strong UV index, we had to put on A LOT OF sunscreen before we go to fish! Otherwise, we would soon become a "chocolate"!! Okay, ready to go! This time we did not use fish rod to fish but a roll of glass silk. And the fish grains were big shrimp! At first we all were so confident that we could successfully catch fish for dinner. We waited patiently at the pier. But, after an hour, two hours... we turned impatient. We started to complain how come we still could not catch any! We started to complain about the strong sunshine. We no longer waited peacefully. As a consequence, none of us caught fish! Nevertheless, a Mexican boy caught a very big fish! I thought he would bring it home and cook it. But he did not do so. He let the fish go. It's a pity that we could not have a try of the fish...

        Then, I went to Cairns Central to have lunch. As I was extremely hungry today. Therefore, I bought a huge hamburger at the food court there. The name of that shop should be Hungry Jack. There were cheese, bacon, vegetables and a slice of thick beef inside!! That was the best meal among those I had these days! Although the size of the hamburger was not too big, I was contented with it! It was because it's super yummy and delicious! Can you imagine the feel of having jam sandwich everyday? That's terrible!!

        After that, we had lessons in our school, Sebel Hotel! Today was my first day to have formal lessons in Cairns. I was first a bit nervous about lessons. I was afraid that I could not speak English well in lessons. I did not know if I could keep up with others. But that's why I was here! To learn English! I should have confidence in myself. :) During the lesson, our teacher, Cary, played a vocabulary game with us. We were given a few alphabets. Then we needed to use the given alphabets to make as many vocabulary as we can. That sounds easy, right? But, the alphabets suggested by Cary were hard to make up a word! That's a challenging task for us! Yet, it's fun! I like challenging myself. One thing I discovered today was that the lesson here was far different from the one in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, the spoon-fed education system only require us to recite all the information and knowledge from books. And teachers only teach according to books. Here, teachers always chat with us during lessons to let us talk more. Or they usually design games for us just like the one we played today to enhance our English level through entertainment. They focus more on active learning! I think students must feel more relaxed studying here! I love and I enjoy that kind of lively learning. 

        A surprising day with fantastic learning!

Trip to Cairns - Day 4

23-7-2012    Monday    Sunny

        This was the second day in Cairns. And it was the first day to SCHOOL! I am interested in what schools are like in Australia since I arrived Sydney! I have  millions of questions in my mind of how the school life was like in Australia! I was so excited to see my school and experience my own school life in Cairns! Unexpectedly, we had lesson in a HOTEL today! In addition, we will be having lessons in the Sebel Hotel in the following nine days! At first, I thought we were going to learn hotel manners! Luckily, we are not! Today we just did a placement test to test which English level are we in so today was not a formal lesson. Tomorrow we will be given books and learning materials to start formal lessons!

The middle one is mine!

        In the afternoon, Ashley and I went to Cairns Central to have lunch. Since our host family prepared us packed lunch today so we did not buy lunch outside. But when I opened the lunch box, I was shocked at that moment! I had no fish, no vegetables, no rice, mo meat. What I have were a toast with peanut butter and strawberry jam and a fruit! Can you imagine when a salty jam goes with a sweet jam? That's a bit strange! But I know I am gonna have the same lunch in the following days. It is because Cairns is a tropical city. It's hot throughout the year. When people bring packed lunch, their food choices will only be a sandwich and a fruit. If they put meat such as ham or bacon, they will easily turn bad after a few hours under strong sunshine! Also perishable food should not be included in the lunch box either! Never mind, that's the point of join study tour! It's to learn, respect and adapt to foreign culture! I am happy that I learn new food knowledge today just from a packed lunch! 

        After the lunch, we walked around Cairns city with several local leaders, Dan,.Cary and Kate. We walked along an outdoor swimming pool at Esplanade. The pool water there was crystal clean and in light blue colour. When the sunshine was projected on it, it became even more attractive! I wanted jump into the swimming pool at that moment! Although it is just a swimming pool, but it's far different form the one in Hong Kong. The pool there is not in a rectangular shape, it has no shape as if it is a natural beach~ 

        

        we kept walking along the coast line. On the way, we saw a piece of massive grassland. Many people had sunbath on it! I also want to sit on that nice grassland or perhaps sleeping on it would be much better! And between the sea and the coast, there is a piece of wetland. But I did not see any mangroves on it...  What I saw was that the sea melted into the sky... I can't distinguish which part is the sea, which part is the sky... At the end the the coast stands a yacht club. It's huge and occupies large spaces! I hope I can embark on one of the yachts there and go to Greenland! It must be great! Finally, we arrived at a volleyball court. At first, no one was willing to play volleyball under such strong sunshine. After that, several Spanish boys came to challenge us so my teammates decided to join! They decided to battle with them. Unfortunately, it's a shame that our team lost due to the poor skills...

        A nice day ended! :)

        

Trip to Cairns - Day 3

22-7-2012    Sunday    Sunny

         Today, we had to say goodbye to Sydney! What a sad news for us... Although it's only a short duration staying in Sydney and we have not much understanding about Sydney, we love her at first sight! Not until you once come to visit this city will you have the same feeling with us. 

        At about five o'clock in the early morning, I had to get up and do final check to see if I left anything in our room. And at half past six, we gathered at the Sydney Airport. As we got up very early this morning. I was tired and sleepy. So were my group-mates and team leader, Maggie. Therefore, we all fell asleep when we were waiting at the departure lounge. 

        After a three hours flight, WE ARRIVED AT CAIRNS! :) We walked out the airport exhilaratingly with a sweet smiley face! Oh! It's far warmer here. In Sydney, the weather was always around nine to ten Degree Celsius. It's freezing!! But here in Cairns, it's now almost twenty Degree Celsius! The weather is fine. The sunshine is warm with soft breeze. It's enjoying, relaxing and cozy... What's more, I find that people here like smiling a lot! They put a big smile one their face anytime! They give us a surely nice feeling when we are walking on streets. And it seems that they are extremely contented with their brilliant and snug lives here! I think they must enjoy every part of their lives here. Hehe, I am looking forward to living here with friendly people~

        The next thing waiting for us was a welcome party organized by our local leaders, Emma, Leonie and Milli!! Yay! I ate a lot of slices of pizza, chicken and baked French bread! They were yummy. I was full. Then, we enjoyed our happy hours of playing games together. The most unforgettable game we played was called "Koalas VS Kangaroos". In fact, it's a Q & A game. We were asked about the Australian culture and the capital cities of different countries. Poor us... We let our leaders down. Our knowledge was utterly poor!  Shame on us... But, we did enjoy the game! We became more active after the game. We get to know more about each other after playing several games!

        Soon, my host family came to take Ashley and me home! My host mum is called Alison. She is a teacher and so is her husband, Daniel! They have three kids. This is a warm and blissful family. I am sure the three kids were born with LOVE, and they grow up with CARE! It's fortunate for me that I can feel the WARMTH OF FAMILY even I am now in foreign country! I have no more home-sick now!! Beautiful Day!

Trip to Cairns - Day 2 (Sydney)

21-7-2012    Saturday    Rainy and Cloudy 

        Got pass a long full rest at the hostel, we were so energetic to start a brand new day! In the morning, we ate a "yummy and full" breakfast. We had toast and cereal for breakfast. Perhaps we had not got used to this kind of western food culture. We did not eat much in the morning. And also, some of us cannot drink milk so cereal did not fit them... Therefore, we felt hungry so soon!!

        

        Today, we went to Sydney Tower! In the Sydney Tower, I could appreciate the spectacular and dreamy three hundred and sixty degree round full view of Sydney! And you know, Sydney Tower is a very lofty building. Walking there seemed like flying in the sky! The feel was fantastic. Having a bird's eye view of Sydney was superb and grand. I would not be able to miss any little corner of Sydney! Every part of Sydney was now under my feet! How great it was! I could not control myself from exclaiming with excitement and bliss! However, as today's weather was not fine, all the photos taken were not that beautiful. what we captured were buildings with thick clouds and grey sky... But never mind, we enjoyed the dreamy scenery by hearts!

        

        And the next was our favourite time! We got SHOPPING TIME! I went to a shopping mall which is called Westfield with my roommate, Ashley. It is a very modern and enormous mall. There are good facilities such as seats for visitors, clean toilets, etc. And most crucial thing is the salespersons are nice, polite and willing to help visitors. Besides that, there are a lot of famous brands such as LV, Gucci... Moreover, there are shops selling elegant clothes, stylish shoes, mouth-watering desserts, sophisticated ornaments....  And the most important point is, they are SO desirable and attractive!!! I wanted them all. I wanna shop crazily there! But Stop! They are costly! I should not fritter money on luxury goods! So, what I did there is just window-shopping... Every time when we encountered a shop which we wanted to get in, Ashley went in. Nevertheless, I just stood outside. I dared not to go inside because I was afraid that I could not control myself. Then, change the attention to my roommate, Ashley. As she wanna buy a shoes from a brand Tomes. So we tried hard to search that shop out. However, we failed to do that! She was quite disappointed about that.

        After that, we went straight to the remarkable and well-known landmark of Sydney! That is Sydney Opera House! I had been looking forward to visiting this gorgeous place for long! Today, my dream came true! I was so excited to reach there and I cannot wait to see its grand appearance. We walked through several streets to reach there. It's quite tired but it's worth! When we were walking on the streets, I found that though Sydney is a modern city, there are still many antiquated buildings located on the streets. It's quite characteristic and special. I felt like I was in Britain's streets! That's amazing, right? On our way to the Sydney Opera House, I took photo with another celebrated spot, Sydney Harbour Bridge. The design of the bridge is excellent! It's tasteful and elegant... I was captivated and spellbound by its  outlook. After a few minutes, we arrived at Sydney Opera House! Wow!! It's so grand with tremendous momentum! Never have I seen such a superb building! I was totally impressed and spellbound by its stylish and special design. It is surpassingly beautiful. I was almost speechless when I saw this fascinated building! Not until you once get there will you marvel at its beauty...Nonetheless, it's a pity that we did not got a chance to go inside and watch a brilliant drama. That's the only blemish in an otherwise perfect thing! I must visit there once again in the future to repair this pity. 

        Soon, we walked to a place so-called the Pocks. It is called the Rocks because all the buildings there are made of rocks! That's interesting! I think this a very special place. It's quite unusual to have a place with is made of rocks in a modern city! There's a big contrast when the Rocks was being compared to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I did enjoy walking there as it gave me a mood of carefree... I could temporarily put aside my pressure. Then, we took a spectacular boat cruise to admire the scenery of Sydney. But, as we were extremely exhausted with the crazy walk and shopping today, we had no mood to enjoy the scenery anymore.... Almost all of us slept on the boat! It's pretty comfortable to sleep on a boat! :)

        Time flies, tomorrow we are leaving Sydney for Cairns. Everything seemed pass in a blink of an eye... I know I am gonna miss this city a lot.   Not only do I love its culture, but I also love its people! Everything and everyone's wonderful there. This a dreamy place where I could release all my stresses! Anyways, only when one thing  ends will another thing starts. I am looking forward to my new adventure in Cairns! Hope I can discover more, seek more and explore more there. Cairns, here I go!

Trip to Cairns - Day 1 (Sydney)

20-7-2012    Friday    Sunny  

        After having a cup of chocolate, we were ready to go! Our local tour guide, Ryhs brought us go for a stroll around Sydney. On the way, we walked through many wide streets and narrow alleys. When I was walking around, I discovered one special characteristic of foreigners. I found that Sydney residents or foreigners are very polite, nice and friendly! Although we did not know each other before, when we walked pass them, they would surely give you a very charming smile with a kind greeting such as 'How's your day?' or 'Have a good day!' I was particularly touched with that kind of way of getting along with people. No matter who I am, no matter where I come from, they will definitely give a helping hand when I am in need or treat me nicely. That shows the warmth of humanity and that's what LOVE exactly is! Nevertheless, that kind of case never occur in Hong Kong...

         Our first stop is Sydney's Paddy Market. From my cognition, Sydney's Paddy's Markets is Australia's original local Market which sells various products such as fruit vegetables, clothing, CDs, flowers, home-wears, sunglasses, jewellery, etc. Moreover, It is one of  Sydney's major suppliers to the tourist with souvenirs. There are a lot of exquisite handicrafts to buy. For instance, there are anklets, bracelets, gift wrappers, atc. I did find them attractive! Although there are a lot to buy, I did not buy much because they were quite expensive! And what's more, most of the merchandises there are things for daily uses. Special Australian handicrafts only occupy a small proportion... So that's another reason for why I did not buy much. But still, thanks to this local market, I got a chance to feel what Australian culture is. At least I got to know what kind of clothes do Australians wear, what kind of food do they normally eat! And I just discovered that they seldom BARGAIN when they purchase! :)

        Then, we reached our second destination! That is a park which is near the Darling Harbour. This park is not very large. It consists some recreational facilities and a piece of grassland. There are a little pool, a 360 degree round swing and a stone hard children's slide. That's it! Sounds so boring, right? Absolutely NO! We did have a lot of fun there. Where did "the fun" come from? It came from several nude cute kids! Although it's in winter time in Sydney, some kids still played crazily in that pool. They were drenched to the skin with cold water  in the pool! They seemed not feeling cold! But then, I dressed like a dumpling! I put on a thick wool jacket to keep myself warm! It's a funny contrast, right?

What a wonderful world.

        Nonetheless, I thought the most attractive part of this park was the bright green grassland! As it's winter time now, there's a few drops of water left on the grassland in the morning. When the sun projected it's sunshine on the grass or water drops, they shined like diamonds! It's dazzlingly beautiful and glaring! That magical scene has already gone into my mind...  If it's not wet, I must lay down, enjoy the softness of the grass and the warmth of the sunshine! I am sure that must be a great feeling! Lucky that my camera captured such a wonderful photo. You see, the trees that are green, the skies of blue and clouds of white. They are for me and you! What a wonderful world...

        Then, we went straight to a renowned spot in Sydney, Darling Harbour. When I first heard of this name, I thought that this is a place for couples! Coz the name of this place is really sweet! It was bright but breezy there. However, the weather did not affect my mood. By seeing the people walking or sitting there, I realized what life should be. What I saw there was that people walking around, holding a cup of coffee on hands and enjoying the gentle and soft sunshine... Some pigeons stepping on the stairs/ the ground made the atmosphere even more peaceful, leisurely and carefree... I think, most of the Sydney people would like to spend their afternoon like this or already spend their afternoon like this EVERYDAY!!

        After that, we visited the Sydney Aquarium. Oh, we had a busy schedule, right? Out of my expectation, there's nothing special... We can find almost every aquatic lives there in HONG KONG OCEAN PARK! So it's a boring. Only could the little penguins there attract me there. They were small and cute! I was not sure if they are good swimmers. From my observation, they seemed like swimming so hard! Anyways, they are the only special ones in my eyes! :)

        And, the next was DINNER! Hurray! I had spaghetti for dinner! A tired but contented trip today. :)