I spent five weeks in Australia. It was my first time flying to another country, second time flying in my life and the longest I’ve ever been away from home. What I experienced was life changing. At the end of our trip I left Australia with a feeling of sadness, as if I was leaving a loved one behind. I’ve gone on fun trips and vacations before and while it was always sad to leave, it never felt like this. Australia made an impression on me and I feel connected to it, something that I guess may fade over time but right now, a week after being back home, it still holds strong. I know this feeling was created by the intimate, deep immersion I was lucky to experience in multiple areas of the country, most of them raw and natural with little distraction from the outside world. It’s very difficult to fully explain how wonderful an experience this was so I’ll attempt to do the best I can by breaking down each part of it. Sydney I visited Sydney for three days and stayed in a hostel that was an old Victorian-esque house which felt both unfamiliar and cozy. I went out on my own and spent time with strangers that eventually became friends. As an introvert, this type of thing never appealed to me but those first three days in Australia showed me that I can handle the unfamiliar and the uncomfortable. I rode random buses and trains, walked up countless stone stairs around the city, watched surfers at Bondi Beach and ate at tiny, cute cafes for every meal. This is where I immediately became hooked on traveling and experiencing a brand new culture. Brisbane Brisbane reminded me a lot of home. The bustling scene packed with restaurants, shops and fashionable business people was reminiscent of downtown Austin. The hostel we stayed in was like a dorm with clean, plain rooms but lots of fun decorations and interesting people. I felt grounded in Brisbane and often had to remind myself I was actually in Australia. I loved the city because it gave me something familiar packed with some things new. I indulged my love of cooking in the magnificent shared kitchen and got some ingredients I needed from nice strangers. Between the kind backpackers, people I met in the city and my other group mates there was a comforting sense of togetherness that accentuated my time spent here. Lady Elliot Island LEI was honestly the most physically uncomfortable part of the trip because the constant rain mixed with daily snorkeling made me feel like I was never quite dry. It was cold and windy and our small tents didn’t feel fully secure in the storm we experienced in the first two days. Despite the minor discomfort, LEI is where I feel like the reality of the trip and the beauty of Australia fully hit. I felt the stress of everything I’d been carrying from school, graduation and other things melt away with each snorkel, my first time really watching a sunset and just walking around the serene island. I didn’t wear a stitch of makeup the entire time and let my hair air dry, which is usually a nightmare but transformed in the ocean-salted air. I felt truly comfortable in my own skin and more beautiful than I have in a while during those three magical days. Carnarvon Gorge Visiting the gorge was my favorite part of the trip and was where I learned the most about myself. Journeying into Carnarvon National Park felt like traveling back in time — the huge trees and ferns were gorgeous and just hiking down the trails for hours at a time proved to be therapeutic and educational. Being completely surrounded by nature and learning so many details about the plants and animals that are so abnormal to me was awesome. I surprised myself by being okay with the high physical demands and claustrophobic gorge adventures and felt confident and triumphant when we left. Lamington National Park This part of the trip was the most surprising because of how abstract it felt to be in a rainforest but also only a couple of hours from the big city and being able to see high rises from the mountain top. At first I was terrified of the park due to warnings about ticks, leeches, spiders and snakes but my first hike through the thick of the forest dispelled any worries. I thought visiting Carnarvon felt like going back in time but the feeling was even stronger in Lamington. The trees were massive and towering, the plants and vines so thick that the sunlight from above barely trickled down to the path where I stood. The forest carried an incredible smell, like hundreds of flowers mingling together to form a mysterious scent that I’ll never quite place but will always remember as being delightful. My heart aches when I look at photos of my trip and small memories of trying new foods, city sounds, unfamiliar bird calls, tripping over roots and rocks and my own feet at every new location and the overall kind and gentle culture of Australia flood my mind. I had the most fun, challenging and one-of-a-kind experience of a lifetime that I will never forget. I made more friends than I have probably in my entire life, tried more things than I would ever dare to before and felt happier, more comfortable and more alive than I ever thought possible. I'll miss Australia dearly, but one thing is for sure though: I’ll be back! I don’t know when or where or how but I love that place so much, I’m counting the days until my next visit. Until then, I'll take the lessons I've learned about being happy in the simplest ways, loving and treating the earth and people with respect and always being open to the unknown.
Cheers!
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Imagine, sitting by a toasty fire in a quaint wood-and-stone lodge, sipping a cup of tea and trying to get warm after a long, cold day. And you’re in the middle of a subtropical rainforest. It may seem strange to be cold in the rainforest but this is the type of weather happening right now in Lamington National Park, a protected area in Queensland, Australia. It’s the winter season and it’s normal for the temperature to get pretty cool throughout the day. Through lengthy hikes, exploring and a long trek up a very serious hill to the cabins every day, cool weather was delightful and appreciated. We spent three days in Binna Burra Mountain Lodge, a historical haven inside the park, and got to experience the strange irony of a relatively untamed wilderness just 45 minutes from a booming tourist area — The Gold Coast. You can see the massive high rises from a lookout behind the lodge and the feeling of not quite being totally submersed in the local environment stayed with me throughout the trip. Hiking through the forest was another story, though. It looked and felt like a jungle, with towering trees shading the snaking vines and shorter plants below. The temperature changes drastically as soon as you enter a trail and continue along the path—the canopy above steals most of the sunlight from everything below. If I wasn’t with a group the whole time I might feel lost and frightened in the intimidating setting, but with a knowledgeable guide and endless unfamiliar flora and fauna to learn about, I stayed excited during every excursion into the forest. Our mentor was Barry Davies, an exceptional nature guide, ecotourism expert and bird enthusiast. Five minutes down a trail without a stop and explanation of a plant or animal nearby or a charming story from Barry was rare. I didn’t realize how helpful a skilled guide would be until our first hike. When we first arrived at the park, some of us took a short hike down a trail and, while we saw some amazing things, we passed many others. Barry took us down this same path the next day and pointed out where certain spiders lived, different birds and their corresponding calls, told us how old some eucalyptus trees were (a few are over a thousand years!) and filled our time to the brim with facts on scientific and cultural aspects of the forest. Barry seemed to know everything about the forest and loved sharing it with us. One of the things I found most interesting that I learned about and witnessed in the rainforest was the simultaneous sense of fragility and strength it conveys. The forest has serious measures in place to keep it healthy and preserved. However, a main feature of the rainforest is that things often die, fall apart, or get seriously damaged but it still moves on. Huge, ancient trees fall down often but the wood degrades quickly and is useful to animals and the soil. Plants die off and sometimes fires sweep through, but the forest remains strong.
Even though it’s is a place that needs to be protected, I found it powerful and enlightening to see this magnificent rainforest and its raw, unapologetic strength. Of course, human influence and damage needs to be monitored and kept at bay but seeing the forest and all of its glory gave me a strong sense of hope that it can withstand much of what may be thrown at it. On one of our hikes, we visited a place called Tullawullal that hosts a cluster of Antarctic Beech trees, some of which have roots that could be over 5,000 years old. The forest and all it contains has been around for longer than I can almost comprehend and I have faith that it will be around much longer, and, with hope, someone else will be standing over those same roots in another 5,000 years, contemplating time and nature and life and the beauty of such an ancient, ethereal place. rWarning: This post is not for the faint of heart. It involves waking up before 5 a.m., heavily demanding physical exercise and very cold, very muddy and very large spider-infested waters. That being said, there’s a happy ending, so please keep reading! For the last three days, I stayed in Takarakka Bush Resort, a camping ground inside Carnarvon National Park. The park is the largest in Queensland and is home to Carnarvon Gorge, which is full of breathtaking cliff side views, grassy hiking trails and tons of wildlife. In order to properly visit as much of the park as possible in such a short time, we had some serious touring and hiking planned. This is the part of the trip I was most nervous for. All my life, I’ve never particularly enjoyed exercise, running, hiking or anything that required significant physical exertion. So, as excited as I was to explore this gorgeous landscape, I was equally as terrified. My first test was in Warrumbah Gorge in which physical exertion, icy cold water, giant spiders and narrow, looming stone walls combined into what you would think would be the perfect scenario to send me straight to an insane asylum. I was surprised, though, when I realized I was having the most fun I’ve had in a while and each new challenge felt awesome to conquer. I waded through chest-high, breathtakingly cold water, scrambled up stones taller than me, shimmied sideways with feet on one wall and hands on the other, and passed at least half a dozen spiders about the size of my hand. I had been telling myself I would be afraid, I’d freak out and have at least one panic attack on this trip and here I am, doing the scariest and most physically demanding thing I’ve ever done, feeling better than I ever had before. This feeling was strained a bit when our next challenge was meeting our guide at 5 a.m. to hike over a mile and then 300 meters straight up the side of a cliff. If someone had told me this was something I might do one day, I’d laugh. I’d think “I could never do that,” and until I actually did it, I still believed I couldn’t. It wasn’t easy, but I did it. Hiking the first part of the trail wasn’t too bad, but once we got to the challenging part, hiking straight up tall stone stairs for a solid 20 minutes, it was excruciating. I had blaring music pumping through my headphones to encourage me and didn’t stop until my legs physically wouldn’t lift to the next step. Gasping, sweating, shaking and almost crying, I made it to the top and raced a little bit more along a straight sand path to see the first rays of sunlight hit the side of the gorge. It was beautiful, and it was worth it. The last big challenge in Carnarvon was our all-day hike, which lasted from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m and covered around 10 miles. It was absolute cake compared to the previous adventures and was made up of bursts of quick hiking to different places in the park and resting while our wonderful guide, Simon Ling, educated us about the science and cultural aspects relating to that area.
Coming into this trip, I would say the excursion to Carnarvon National Park was what I was looking forward to the least. Up until my feet touched the ground and my eyes took in the beauty surrounding me at the campsite, I was nervous and wanting it to pass quickly. Then, after only a day there, I grew sad and even held back tears on one hike as I was looking out over a stream and the gorge, knowing I’d have to leave soon. It may sound cheesy, but every part of Carnarvon is magical. The Aboriginal rock paintings and engravings, the massive gorge, the crazy kookaburras and adorable kangaroos were the most amazing things I’ve ever experienced. A small part of me wanted to stay in my little taka (tent) and never leave. I was terrified to go to the outback and dreading the physical challenges it would bring but it turned out to be, so far, the most exciting and favorite place I’ve been in my whole life. I feel that I have a deeper respect for nature and its preservation now and I’m continually more and more ecstatic that I’m taking this wild and wonderful trip in the land down under. This is an open apology letter to sharks. You’ve been treated unfairly and have been made out to be something you’re not, which is a blood-craving monster looking to kill any human around. I’m guilty of playing into the “sharks are scary” stereotype but my recent stay at Lady Elliot Island off the coast of Queensland, Australia gave me a new perspective on these fascinating sea creatures. A few hours after hopping off the (tiny) plane onto the island, which locals call “LEI,” our group squeezed into some wetsuits and rode a boat a little bit away from the beach shore for our first snorkel. I don’t feel extremely comfortable in the water so at first, it was a nerve-wracking experience. Once I found the courage to jump in and look into the water, I was amazed by the beauty of the Great Barrier Reef. There were groups of coral around 20 feet below us and stretched as far as I could see in any direction. They were all different shapes, sizes and colors. Graceful green sea turtles floated over the reefs and dozens of different types of fish fluttered in and out of the coral. At one point, a large school of Trevally, a medium sized light blue fish, gathered under us. The joy of the moment turned to sheer personal terror when our guide, Tyrone, said “Oh look, there’s a shark under us!” Of course, all that’s going through my head is the “Jaws” theme song and I’m mentally planning out how I’m going to live the rest of my life with at least one missing limb. I took a few deep breaths and looked in the water. It was a blacktip reef shark, and though it wasn’t giant the way I was imagining, it was pretty long, about five to seven feet. Some people in my group swam closer to get video footage and take photos. This is the first in several moments on the island that changed the way I view sharks and other parts of the ocean forever. The shark was beautiful, graceful and completely non-menacing. It was only around for a few minutes until it quickly swam away, probably frightened by our large group. I wasn’t scared anymore, and it felt amazing.
Sharks are just one part of the magic that makes up the Great Barrier Reef. They are an important part of the ecosystem and play a meaningful role in the balance of fish and other animals living there. Unfortunately, sharks and the reef are under attack. By what? Us. Humans. Due to high levels of greenhouse gases being put into the air by human activity, the ocean has warmed a few degrees and is at risk of warming more and more every day. A few degrees doesn’t seem like much, but it’s detrimental to the ocean and especially the coral reefs. Something called “coral bleaching” happens when the ocean gets even a little bit too warm. The living animal that makes up coral are small polyps that build and live on the reefs and provide an entire home and ecosystem for other plants and animals. During coral bleaching events, the polyps get “stressed out” and push out important algae that have a mutually beneficial relationship with the polyps. What’s left is pale, sickly white coral that may completely die from the change in the water around them. Climate change is real, it is happening, and it is killing one of the most beautiful, precious and significant areas of the world. Without the reef, huge amounts of plants and animals will be without a home, shelter or food. Thousands, if not millions of people will lose their jobs and the world will lose a beautifully diverse wonderland that will never be able to be replaced. My time on Lady Elliot Island connected me to the Great Barrier Reef in a way most people may not get to experience, and I’ll never be able to shake the love and respect I have for it. So sharks, I’m sorry for being so scared of you, and that others are too. And to fish, turtles, coral, sea cucumbers and every part of the reef, I’m also sorry. I’m sorry human activity is killing you and your home and I hope that someday soon, people all over the world will take serious action to reduce the destructive impact they are having on you. I’ll do the best I can to not be a part of the problem, to fight and educate others on how they can stop contributing to climate change, to share my experience of your beauty to others, and for those reading this, I hope you will too. Yesterday we took a trip to Noosa Heads, a small town that’s divided by the Noosa River, which flows through the town into the ocean. Our tour guide explained that the area is a biosphere and has strict rules in place to preserve the natural state of the land. We started our journey at the top of a lookout where we could see the mouth of the Noosa River, which was surrounded by sand, like a beach. Our guide explained that there are special machines that pull sand from areas nearby and push it along the riverbank and beach to make it more accessible and attractive to tourists. We walked along a trail and ended up in the main part of town, which is lined with shops, hotels and restaurants but none of the buildings are more than a few stories high. This is because of part of the regulations set in place by the city council, which prohibit large or flashy architecture that would overshadow the forestry and surrounding nature. Noosa is full of wildlife that I’ve never seen before and some I’ve never even heard of. When we first got off the bus at a national park, I saw a brilliant rainbow colored bird called the lorikeet. Tons of them live in the area. We also stopped to see a huge colony of flying foxes, which are large bats living very close to the city center in a section of trees.
Exploring and learning about Noosa Heads was incredibly interesting because it highlighted the fight between making a beautiful place attractive to outsiders and businesses but also preserving it’s natural essence. It was sad to learn that the city council has to fight continuously to prevent large businesses from taking over the town and that they are often taken to court for it. Despite the fight though, it really seems that the people and council of Noosa Heads are keeping persistent and doing a good job of standing up for the land they call home. One of the biggest components of Australian culture is that of the Aboriginal people that were indigenous to the continent before English settlers came and took over the land. I’ve definitely heard of the term “Aborigine” before but when I came to Australia I didn’t know much else beside the history of the people is similar to that of the American Native Indians. On Monday we got to speak with an Aboriginal woman named Mary Graham who lives near Brisbane. Mary’s first lesson about her culture was very interesting and effective. We started by introducing ourselves by name, our major and other small details. Mary introduced herself by first saying the group and land her mother is from, and the same for her father. For Aboriginal people, land is one of the most essential and important parts of their identity and culture. In Aboriginal culture, or at least in Mary’s group, there is no belief in any certain god or the existence of heaven and hell. Instead, Mary said, the treatment of land is the center of spirituality. She said that taking care of the land your family lives on and being able to pass it down after you die is a main aspects of the Aboriginal culture, instead of focusing on securing your place in a certain afterlife.
Mary’s lecture brought a very enlightening and refreshing perspective to not only what it means to be Aboriginal and details of the group’s life and practices but also a deeper meaning to climate change and how it affects different people. From my own upbringing and understanding of American culture, land seems to be something that isn’t an important part of identity or spirituality. Instead, land is seen as a product to acquire, whether for a new business or to put a home on, land is treated with a more capitalistic approach. For Aboriginal people, land is everything. As Mary said, the quote “I think, therefore I am” would more appropriately be “I am located, therefore I am” for Aboriginal people. Though Mary’s lecture didn’t touch on the scientific details and specifics of how damaging climate change is to the earth, her explanation of the deep connection between Aboriginal people and the land shed light on, in my opinion, an often under represented angle of this issue. For some people, land is a living, breathing, and spiritual being that they center their entire lives and culture around. Climate change isn’t only destroying land and threatening the lives of people all around the world, but it is also threatening the spirituality and most sacred beliefs of a large group of people. And that deserves to, at the very least, be acknowledged and taken seriously. My trip-to-Australia story seems like a day dream. I took a one and a half hour flight from Houston to Dallas, then 17 hours to Sydney, which while extremely long but incredibly comfortable and easy. For some reason, the flight I took straight to Sydney was pretty empty and my original seating got switched, allowing me a whole three seat row (that doubled as a bed) to myself. Now, let's rewind a bit to the weeks leading up to the trip. This semester was my last at the University of Texas at Austin. I technically graduate at the end of summer, but I was allowed to walk across the stage in the spring ceremony. While walking across the stage and nearly gradating was amazing, I had no idea how stressful lining up plans for moving, graduation day, driving home to Houston, a graduation party and flying out all within days of each other would be. It seemed like I was moving, packing, unpacking and running thousands of random errands all day for two weeks straight, but once I finally got on the flight to Sydney, all of the stress fell right off of my shoulders. I slept, ate pretty good food for being on a plane, and caught up on a favorite show. Sydney was quick but fun. The part of the hostel I stayed in was an old house with some added touches like outside door locks and bunk beds to make it more secure. The room had amazing character in the hard wood floors and Victorian-esque light fixture. I hit all the major sights like the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Opera House, The Chinese Garden of Friendship and Bondi Beach. The food was all delicious and included a variety of tastes from typical Australian like meat pies and Tim Tams (heavenly small chocolate-coated cookies) to different Asian cuisines like Thai and Chinese. Getting around on the buses and trains was super easy and even fun as I got to see more of the city. Overall it was a fantastic introduction to Australia that made me look forward to the rest of the trip even more. My good luck continued with a smooth flight from Sydney to Brisbane on Saturday and I got to see a few more things and eat before the program officially got started. My first solo flying and traveling experience has so far been close to perfect and I am beyond excited and optimistic for the adventure still to come! According to the MIT Technology Review, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced the establishment of a $1 billion clean-energy innovation fund ($760 million in American dollars) that will invest money into businesses and technologies that aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Now, if you just read that and though “Uh…okay? So?” Here’s why it’s a big deal. First of all, Australia is one the most vulnerable developed countries to effects of climate change. In recent decades, the country has experienced devastating wildfires and extreme degradation to coral reef systems due to rising temperatures and shifting, volatile weather patterns. Australia also heavily relies on coal to power two-thirds of its electricity, so a new fund that supports climate-friendly initiatives is being celebrated as a positive move by many. Another reason why this is a big deal is because of Australia’s political history of dealing with climate change. Before Turnbull, Prime Minister Tony Abbott was known for his skepticism of global warming and strong support of the coal industry and staunch opposition to a carbon taxing system.
Ultimately, it’s strange to see such abrupt differences in political action on climate change within a few years in Australia, but maybe this can be seen as a glimmer of hope on the horizon. For those in positions of power still standing in the way of climate change action, perhaps support for common sense changes to reduce green house emissions is just around the corner. I'm sure you've heard of it. Climate change, global warming, climate disruption...these are all terms for how weather patterns on Earth have been drastically changing. Some people argue that varying weather patterns are natural and have occurred throughout history, however, the rapid, intense and specific changes we are witnessing today can only be scientifically and logically explained by human activity. So what about human activity causes such a huge disruption in our natural climate patterns? The answer is greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, being added in huge amounts to the atmosphere by activities like deforestation and the mass burning of fossil fuels. Because of what’s called the “greenhouse effect,” these huge amounts are being added to the atmosphere at rapid rates, and once they hit the atmosphere, only part of the heat absorbed by the gases is released into space. This results in a steady rise of global temperatures that cause the melting of large quantities of ice, rising sea levels that threaten both poor and developed civilizations and increasingly dangerous hurricanes and storms. As we’ve seen in recent American politics, global warming is a concept that isn’t taken seriously by some groups due to belief that the science is inaccurate or conflicting or that taking action to prevent further damage will be too expensive and harm the economy. Though controversy surrounds the issue of climate change, we, as humans, can no longer ignore the blatant effects of it on our world. Confusing or not, the bottom line is that our global climate is changing, and, unfortunately, negative effects will only continue to become more detrimental to people, animals and habitats all over the world. |