I've been living in Cairns, Australia for roughly a month and a half now and have finnalllyyy decided to create a blog. I initially had the great ambition to create a blog before I left the US, to document each and every single moment of my experience here, and yet when actually experiencing it all, you tend to forget about the internet, and writing, and anything remotely academic related. HA. This is what I get for graduating and saying PEACE for a year. The progress of my veterinary school application is obviously going quite splendidly! (A completely separate blog post there, I can assure you). Anywho, I attribute most of my new blog work to my bestie in Uruguay, miss Kelsey Bradshaw. I've been reading her blog, and decided that perhaps, I should stop being lazy and create one as well. So here you have it! A blog by meeee. Now, I've never been much of a writer, but I figured what the hell, why not, can't be that terrible... right? Hmmm...
Now this first blog post is going to be a weeee bit long, (lots and lots and lots to summarize here), but if you can struggle through it, I can assure you that the subsequent posts will be much more manageable.
Okieeee, let's get this going. So, Cairns is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. The land is beautiful, the people are beautiful, the wildlife, the beaches, etccc. The area is incredibly tropical and although, it's the dead of winter, the weather has been 75-85 every day. Absolutely perfect! Cairns is the vacation hot spot of Australia, for the most part. Tonsss of people come here to travel and vacation from every part of the world. In my first week alone, I met backpackers from Germany, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, Ireland, Scotland, and obviously Australians. The variety of people here, truly gives Cairns it's own unique feel from the rest of Australia.
Alright, so I'll go ahead and get this one out of the way right now. HOLY GOD THE AUSTRALIAN ACCENTS. I love them, undoubtedly love them! I've adjusted myself to them pretty well by now, so I don't go completely awestruck and drooly whenever an Aussie decides to start talking, but I am certainly still full of appreciation for that sexy accent. Mhmmmm. Lovin' it.
Okay, continuing on now. Besides the beauty that is Cairns, and the relaxed, vacationing atmosphere, and beyond fun nightlife, (sorry parentals and my liver for all of my partying, it's truly too much fun to ever stop), the real reason why I am here, is alas not to party, but to intern at the Cairns Tropical Zoo. An experience that has been absolutely phenomenal.
Currently I work in the reptile department, Monday - Thursday, 8am - 3:30pm. I work with and assist the reptile keepers in cleaning, maintaining enclosures, designing enclosures, feeding reptiles, collecting food, leading tours, discussing reptiles with tourists, and so much more. My first day, although seems like forever ago, was completely fantastic. After learning the morning routines of cleaning the reptile viewing area, the enclosures, feeding everything, and a couple of other husbandry responsibilities, I was given my first true task. YES. The task was to clean out the small alligator pen. Sounds boring, but definitely was not. 8 little alligators, ranging from about 1.5 feet to 4 feet in length lived in the pen, and I needed to go in there, with them, and drain the pond, clean it, and fill it back up. Easy peasy right? Yes, actually it was. However, as a brand spankin' new intern, the idea of climbing into a tiny little pen with 8 hissing alligators, (although small, still...THEY'RE ALLIGATORS.), was completely crazy sounding. There's no way in hell, this would happen in the states. No way Jose. Definitely not. So of course, I loved it! Having that be your first experience at the zoo, set me up with some great excitement for sure.
Since that first day, I have obviously gained a huge amount of experience and knowledge in reptiles. I will be continuing to post about my job at Cairns Tropical Zoo, but as not to bore all of you with my first and extremely long post, I'll leave it at that for now.
Having been here for these past several weeks has truly been a fantastic experience. Coming to Cairns without knowing a single soul was thrilling, enlightening, and only slightly nerve-racking. I have been so completely blessed with this opportunity, and am certainly planning on, and have been, having the experience of a lifetime!!! There's truly so much more to write about, but I feel that this first post shouldn't be a frickin' 150 page novel. I'm excited to share my adventures with you and hope that you all enjoy my random, sporadic comments, decisions, and adventures, as much as I know I will.
And of course, keep in touch my friends and fam!
Cheers,
Nicole
No comments:
Post a Comment