A Scuba Finale

Our last few days and the resulting last blog, oh how far we have come...
On the heels of Meghan's last post, we had just finished the scuba classes and tests in Cairns, and our next (and ultimate) adventure was on a "liveaboard" boat, scouring the depths of the Great Barrier Reef! Following a two hour shuttle boat ride out to the liveaboard, we got settled into our rooms, had a quick lunch, and were straight into our scuba gear for our first afternoon dive. Conditions were sunny, the water was relatively calm, and we were positioned over one of the best dive spots on the GBR, and surely in the world, Milln Reef. Split into two groups of six, and of course buddied up, we had a quick snorkel around the side of the boat to an anchored rope at the front to guide us to the ocean floor during our first descent. On the surface of the water, our senses were flooded with the hum of the boat, the ever-present lap of waves, and constant bobbing in the currents. However, once underneath the chaotic exterior, we were enveloped by a blue serenity. I was personally nervous about being out in open water, yet my mind was changed completely once floating peacefully, weightless through a calmer world. This was different from the snorkeling-like nightmare I had predicted. In fact, within seconds of submerging, we spotted a white tip reef shark just 10 meters in the distance. Somewhat like a fox encountered in his own forest habitat, the shark gliding coolly away. Conquer shark phobia, Check! From then on we went through our routine test of removing and collecting our regulators (mouthpieces), filling up and clearing our masks, and trying to calm ourselves in order to steady our breathing. Upon returning to the surface, we all agreed the dive was a resounding success.
A couple hours later we embarked on our second dive, which consisted of descending free of a guide rope, running through more tests like shared breathing, and gear removal. We also made more wildlife spots like a giant clam, Titan Trigger fish, and Sea Cucumber.
Exhausted, and full from a good dinner, many of us called it a night and relaxed up on the sundeck, while a brave few (James, Katie V, Connor, Joseph, Adam, and Heather) chose to go out on a night dive. Along with miles of courage they brought underwater flashlights with them to not only guide their way but to also direct a gang of red bass to their evening meal (illuminated smaller fish).
Waking early the next morning (5:30!), we all engaged in dives at six in the morning and again at eight. On these we explored the reef further and observed some more awesome marine animals like sea turtles and a moray eel! Additionally, on the latter of these dives we had a camera man come along to film us perform underwater stunts and show messages we had written beforehand to our families. Later in the day we all got to watch it a have a good laugh.
We were finally awarded our certified Open Water Diver cards by our Instructor, Ethan, and some chose to do a final, unsupervised, dive in a new spot. Bravo! Ready for dry land, we boarded the shuttle boat back to Cairns certified diving Extraordinaires. Getting back to the city in the early evening, we got our own dinners and ended the day with one of our final group meetings back at the Caravella hostel. Sad!
Our last day as a group we spent lounging on a nearby beach and tying up loose ends around Cairns, culminating with a group dinner out. Those of us flying back to the States will make for the airport at 2 am tonight, eager to reunite with our loved ones.

Fanzcarpediem, we have loved ye
As for everyone in this wonderful group, its a definite "see you later"

-Gordie

Cairns!

BULA(bringing that one back)family and friends!

Since our last post,we have finished up a relaxing week at the Chenrezig Buddhist Retreat Center, where we learned about the various teachings and traditions of the Buddhist religion. Once we ascended "the hill", a(very steep)hill which set the boundaries of the center, we were asked to adhere to a set of Buddhist guidelines:
1. Avoid killing (all creatures - including ants)
2. Avoid stealing (that which was not specifically given to you)
3. Avoid lying
4. No sexual contact(including hugs)
5. No intoxicants
Though seemingly obvious social guidelines, the rules were surprisingly hard to follow - the mosquitos taunted us as if they knew they would not be swatted.

Daily activites at the center included gardening, maufacturing miniature "stupas"(holy artifacts meant to be a physical manisfestation of Buddha's mind), and yoga with our incredibly serene and patient hungarian teacher Tiag. Our vegetarian (eek!) meals at Chenrezig consisted of a light breakfast and dinner, with a filling and delicious lunch. At night we laid relatively low, watching Buddhist themed films, reading, and once attempting to follow an advanced lesson in Buddhist theory,taught by the centers "geshe", an enlightened Tibetan monk. We also partook in a two day seminar focused on creating better relationships, inspired by and following Buddhist teachings. Through meditations and examples from her own life, our teacher Alyse showed to us how to eliminate anger and destructive feelings from our lives, asking us to take and value people for who they are, rather than who we expect them to be.

After our relaxing stay at Chenrezig, wedeparted for Cairns on our 30 hour (yes, you read correctly) train ride. Staying on an overnight train has been a dream of mine, ever since I saw "Some like it Hot". I was pumped, and the ride did not dissapoint. Though mildly claustrophobic at first, our triple-sleeper train compartments proved cozy habitats, accomodated with a bench that folded into three bunk beds, a sink, and a trash can. Train activities included reading, card games, college essay writing, and filling the tiny rooms way past their capacity for rediculous hangout sessions. The rare half hour stops were almost comical, our group bursting out of the train doors, spilling out onto the train platform to stretch, walk, do pushups, and dance to Michael Jackson tunes. We made it though our cabin fever however, to arrive safe and sound in Cairns, our final destination of the trip.

Our first day in Cairns was spent milling around the boardwalks of this seaside city, peering into the various shops and restaurants. The following two days were spent in "scuba school", where, you will be happy to learn, we all passed our written and underwater tests. Tomorrow we ship off on a scuba overnight aboard the Cairns Diving Center's dive ship, to explore the Great Barrier Reef, and earn our "open water dive" certifications.

Looking forward to a great last week, but also to seeing our families once again!
Cheers to the last leg of our incredible trip!
-Meghan

Beach time at Noosa

Hey everyone!
We arrived in Noosa four days ago. The first day we were all just getting settled in from a long week at groovy grape. Once we got to the beach we were all just relieved to have some down time to relax from two long weeks of waking up early. The second day we got a chance to sleep in, but most of us woke up around 8 because everyone was so excited to go check out the beach and swim in the amazingly warm ocean water. We spent most of the day laying on the beach sun tanning and walking around the little town. The weather was perfect for swimming in the ocean, it was a awesome way to cool down from the hot weather. Some of us got a little sunburned but not too bad. That night we had pizza for dinner, which was amazing and by the end of the day everyone was starving. The hostil we are staying at is the YHA and its around a 3 minute walk to the beach. The hostil looks like a little beach house. Its blue and kind of old fashioned. At night they light the Tiki torches and they have colored Christmas lights around the hostil. The third day a bunch of us took surfing lessons and had an amazing time. Those that did it said the instructor was great and was willing to take them out later in the day for a second time for free! Lets just say they jumped at that opprotunity. After spending some more time at the beach some of us went into town to the internet cafe to upload pictures onto facebook and we all ended up around the computer laughing at all the pictures we have taken over the course of the trip. Today we are heading to Chen Rezig, the Buddhist monastery, for a week of yoga, meditation, and Steve Irwin's zoo!

Some information we learned about Chenrezig was that the land was first purchased in the 70's as an overgrazed pasture and was completely barren. Today, thanks to the many monks that live there, it is a lush rainforest, covered in trees and exotic plants. (Thanks Brandon, our trivia master).

Cheers,
Katie B.

P.S.
We will upload photos in a week, sorry for the delay!

Our Groovy/ Grapey Adventure

Hey FANZ families, and fans, this is Connor trying to update you on our groovy recent trip happenings. So our first day of the Groovy Grape, we woke up early, and met our wacky driver Robert, a purple haired Jack Sparrow look alike. We also met 3 Germans, Hanz, Franz, and Ahnold, just kidding, Henrick, Sabina & Yens, 2 Swedish girls, Jo and Jenny, and 2 Scottish girls, Hannah and Vikki. Each group was a team, we, of course, TEAM America, Team Germany, etc. And then we were off. The first day we stopped at a WWII memorial for lunch, and then took a short hike to look at some Aboriginal cave art. After that we headed to our lodging for the night, a refurbished infirmary that was originally used for tuberculosis. We had an amazing barbecue; kangaroo, beef, sausages, salads, and the veggie kebabs for Heather.
Next day, we woke up somewhat early, and took a hike on the main road, while some road bikes. Robert picked us up afterwards, and we stopped at a hostel that had a shady pool and we made our lunch for the day. We drove some more into the wild wild Outback and we arrived at our oasis in the desert, a famous bar with many driver's licenses, business cards, assorted women's underwears, that were along the walls. There was even a business card from someone at Fordham University in NYC! That night we made a huge bonfire out of old railroad ties, and slept under the stars in comfortable swags, I'll explain those later.

We woke up to the sun rising and flies on our faces, what a nice wake up. We then headed off to Cooper Pedy, a mining town that was widely known for it's opal mines. We went to the mining mueseum and saw the thrilling movie The Story of Opal, award winning to say the least. We toured through the mines, and then went to a kangaroo rescue, where we got to feed older kangaroos, and hold younger ones. That night we went to the famous pizza place, John's Pizza, where we were greeted with a barrage of pizza pies that filled the whole group up. Some headed off to the underground hotel and some went to our underground hostel built into the side of a mountain.

We woke up early the next day, 4:30 to be exact, ouch, and went up to a lookout point that Rob knew about to see the sunrise. We were in for a long drive, since we were headed to Uluru, formerly Ayer's Rock. We arrived in the afternoon after lunch on the road, and we quickly unpacked and hopped into the pool. That night we watched the sunset on Uluru, with cheese, crackers, carrots, and hummus. We slept another night under the stars.

Next morning was another early one, 4:45, to see the sunrise on one of the adjacent large pebbles. We hauled up coolers, and had pancakes, cereal, and coffee as the sun rose. After that we headed to our hike of the day, which was a 6k walk around the base of Uluru. We got up close and more personal with the rock later when Robert took us to some of the notable Aboriginal ceremonial spots. After the hike, we went back to the site, to prep it for the other Groovy Grape driver's birthday, who would be staying there that night as well. Then we went on a secret mission, to sneak into the local resort's pool. To say the least, no one was wounded in action and the mission was a great success, very NICE. That night, we had another huge barbecue, sung happy birthday to J.P., the other driver, and had a great time with our fellow Grapers. Before we fell asleep though, we hauled our sleeping gear, swags and sleeping bags, up to another lookout point to see the sunrise on Uluru.

The sun rose really early, some of us might not exactly remember, but it was a beautiful sight. We came back, ate breakfast, and set out for an 8k hike through a series of large rock formations, the most famous of which is Kata Tjuta. Robert informed us of how they formed, and the legends that were behind various areas of it. He also told us about the local plant and animal life that lived around our hiking trail.

We had an uneventful evening in Alice Springs last night. We rested up, got most of the dirt from the outback off our bods, and had a last group meal. Some of the group went out to a bar, Bojangles (to have gingerbeers of course) and some headed back to the hostel for an early night.

Tomorrow we head for the beach at Noosa!

A Group Divided

Hello fellow FANZ followers. Here to report another exciting week is Blogman Brandon, giving you the latest updates on our recent happenings.

Halloween night proved to be an interesting one at that, where our female group members dressed up in whatever exuberant articles of clothing they had while the males choose more simple costumes like cop, cowboy, detective and a duplicate Nick. Sydney was hopping with characters to say the least and it was just as exciting as watching all the city-goers as it was to get dressed up ourselves.

The next morning we woke up early to board our flight to Adelaide where we met our representitive from CVA (Conservation Volunteers of Australia). After a brief safety and information meeting at the CVA office, the moment we had been dreading arrived. For the first time during our trip, the group would be split in half to persue two different projects and not see each other for the rest of the week. We said our goodbyes and parted ways.

My group consisted of Myself, Meghan, James, Katie V, Joseph, Mike, Nick, and Heather. We had a 3 hour car ride to Mt. Remarkable camp site where we would be camping for the week. During this time our campsite was visited by 2 emus, nicknames Tony and Bernice, a family of kangaroo, Cookaburrows, and a giant lizard. During the days we would work in fields getting rid of predominetly 2 invasive species, The Boxthorn and the Iceplant. Both from South Africa, these species of pants are competing with native plants and are causing much harm. We all adorned flynets and giant hats to shield us from the bugs and sun. We were a sight for sore eyes.

The other group (aka Team Hard Core), consisting of Gordie, Wyatt, Conor, Kathleen, Katie B, and Adam had a 7 hour drive to their homestay. There, their project was to survey the number of plants in a given area. This consisted of walking up steep hills and slippery slopes to get the job done. This groups accomodation was much different then the campsite and needless to say we had two different experiences.

We are reuinited and back in Adelaide safe and sound! Now onto the Groovy Grape and our tour through the Outback!

Trivia from the week:
-Flinder's Ranges (mountains in South Australia) have "heaps" of fossils (called ediacaran for those intrigued) from over 550 million years ago. They are the first forms of multi cellular life. Very few other places around the world have these.
-In South Australia, most of the rivers run inland. Therefore, due to the buildup of salt (and iron) on the land, there's a red coloring--picturesque!
-Australia is one of the oldest continents
-South Australia is the driest state in the driest continent in the world.
-And, believe it or not, Australia is the same size as North America
-"Kathleen" is a Greek name, meaning pure, and is also the name of the best trivia master EVER.

Hollaaaaaa!

This is Blogman Brandon signing off, untill next weeks addition of FANZ Carpe Diem.