Arriving in Australia and going to the Rainforest

When I got off the plane is Brisbane, Australia after a 14 hour flight, I was feeling great. A few hours earlier I'd woken up from an uncomfortable 5 hours of in-and-out sleep in which my personal space was not exactly respected by the Aussie woman next to me. I woke up to a delicious breakfast of an unidentified egg product along with a white coloured sausage and some green stuff. Everybody on the plane (myself included) was beginning to give off a less than pleasant odor. At least when we landed we wouldn't be stepping out into 90 degree heat. Oh crap I forgot. 

These pictures do the humidity no justice.

After this, there was a painless flight to Cairns (apparently pronounced |Cans|) for our Australearn program orientation. Though me and the other 29 American students I'd met did come scary close to missing the plane. None of this mattered one bit. We were all just amazed that we'd finally made it.

The next day we had the pleasure of going to a nearby rainforest park. We basically got to see all the animals that a tourist wants to see when they come to Australia. Luckily I'm a tourist so I was really excited to see them.

This is a cane toad and its habitat. Apparently if you pick one up you are 

legally obligated to kill it. I let this one live.

Anybody out there who enjoys putting bugs in their mouth might enjoy this next bit. I saw wild ants. But about twenty or thirty times cooler than the ants I'm used to. These ants have green bums that have a citrus flavor when licked. I'm hoping this fact was discovered for survival purposes rather than boredom. Either way, people were lining up ready to have a taste of ant bum. I genuinely wanted to taste it myself, but I got caught up in taking pictures of what they were doing. I was so fascinated by this that I took a completely unnecessary number of pictures. It got to the point where I was verbally abused by people I had met within the previous 24 hours. "What's your deal with the ants?" "Woah, like ants much?" But they were pretty much body surfing. I'll let you decide if it's as cool as I thought it was.

I'm not stupid. I know what everyone wants. Boo the cane toad. Boo the stupid ants. Don't worry. You can stop your uninterrupted scroll down now and give the index finger a rest. It's time for kangaroos, crocs, and koalas. 

It may sound dumb, but I was pretty hesitant to run up to a kangaroo, give it a huge bear hug, and put my fists up pretending to box with it. If you've ever taken advantage of the tool they call "Youtube" and searched for kangaroo attacks, you would be hesitant too. If one of those things attacks you, forget about it. They can stand on their tails and thrust all four sharp, hairy limbs at you at once. Try to defend that. You can't.

Luckily, these kangaroos were pretty much the most calm animals I've ever come across. They were either heavily drugged or just way too used to human contact. I felt more comfortable with them than I do with my own fat dog, Zoe. 

Here are some Koalas. I actually had a picture taken with one of them in my arms, but I only have a printed copy of it. Let's just say I don't envy the trees that have those things clawing into them 24/7.  You'll all get to see the pic eventually. 

Crocodiles are scary. I was recently watching a show that showed these huge, vicious, crocodiles and i was praying to get a chance to see a few here. I was in luck, though I was upset when I saw the size of these ones. Not quite as big as I'd hoped for.

Then I walked a little further...

...and had to change my pants.

This guy is a BEAST. Absolutely enormous. An animal like this could absolutely maul me. I wanted to see him in action but he was sleeping. That thing just looks downright dangerous.

     I found this sign particularly helpful.

On top of all this, I was taken on a tour of the rainforest and saw a show featuring aboriginal dancing. I also learned how to throw a boomerang. Needless to say I was a natural. 

If you're wondering just how amazing this trip has been for me so far, just keep in mind that this was only my first full day.