So.Much.To.Discuss!

Holy cow, I have a ton to blog about today!  I have about 3 weeks worth of excitement, oodles of photos, and tons of updates on my life abroad.

First of all, it's flippin' hot here and I'm dying.  Actually, no.  I'm melting.

Cairns has begun to experience the buildup to the ever ominous wet season.  A period, (from what I've gathered from everyone's tellings), is a time of wet, hot, sticky, icky, grody living.  With a dash of sun every once in a while, and the potential hope of a flood that results in days off work, and kayaking down the street...hmmm...

With the recent 70+ humidity days, and 85-88 degree F weather, the zoo, (and existence) has practically been a sweat bath from start to finish.  I can assure you that I look GREAT every single day. Bleck. And yet, I still love it here!  When I'm not melting.

Momma white and brother recently left this past friday, and I truly miss them tons! :( It was a difficult goodbye that's for sure, but the time that I had here with them was AMAZING, and we were able to do so much!

(Mom even brought me a care package of all my favorite things!)

  

And Jason enjoyed his FIRST LEGAL BEER.

While the fam was here we went to the beach, Cape Tribulation, the Daintree Rainforest, a couple of local waterfalls, the tablelands, more beaches, the zoo, the Great Barrier Reef, and several other places! Annnddd we ate and drank. A lot.  I think I put on 5 lbs in a week alone.

Oh well.  I'll just sweat it all off here.  HA.

Anywho, I have many many many photos of the fun me and the fam bam had, and of the beautiful Cairns they were able to experience!

One of the first days that the fam was here, I took them to the zoo. YAY!  Have to say, my fellow coworkers provided mom and Ja, with the VIP tour, for sure!

Koala Family Photo!

Mom loooovveeedd the koalas.

 And the Kangaroos.

Jason loved his reptiles, and was able to see a large variety of the reptiles at the zoo.
He was pretty happy with the Reticulated Python.

And Iggy.  My handsome man.

Mom and Ja were even able to pole-feed a couple of the crocodiles

So cute!

And hold a couple of the baby alligators.

And, of course, I introduced them to Theo.

On another day, we went up to Port Douglas, Cape Tribulation, and the Daintree Rainforest.  Port Douglas has some gorgeous beaches, and after some fun in the sun, we drove an hour north and went on a crocodile cruise on the Daintree River.  The first time the fam has ever seen wild crocodiles.

The oceanside drive on the way up!

We're such a cute fam.

Port Douglas

Arrived at our crocodile excursion destination and this is what we see.
Uhm, ewww.

And we see these.

On the boat cruise!

Croc sighting! 2-3 year old Estuarine Crocodile.

Another day was spent enjoying the beach down at Etty Bay, which is about an hour south of Cairns. The road to Etty Bay is notorious for Cassowary sightings and we were fortunate enough to see some! My first wild Cassowary sighting as well!

Momma Cassowary...

...and chick!

Down at Etty Bay.  Beautiful waters.

Perhaps my most favorite of days with the family, was our day out at the Great Barrier Reef.  Words cannot describe how wonderful the reef is, and how happy I was to share it's beauty with the fam!

Love snorkeling!
Except when I misjudge how deep in the water I am, and I end up inhaling the ocean.
I'm the picture of grace and sophistication.

Terrible underwater camera does NOT show how pretty the reef is.

Preparing for my first dive with the brother and a fellow diver from Germany! 

Back to the surface and incredibly happy!

I truly have soooo many more photos of the adventures me and my family had while I was here, but if you keep up on facebook, then you've seen the majority.  As I said before, it was absolutely amazing having my mom and brother here, and I could not have wished for a better time with them.

In other news, the zoo has welcomed a new animal by the name of Sari.  Sari is a young Binturong who is easily one of the coolest looking mammals I've ever seen.  Although, I have not been able to feed/handle him myself, I have still been close enough to appreciate how awesome he is!

 

Sadly, I only have about a month left of my internship here at Cairns Tropical Zoo.  I will be spending the next couple of weeks in the Mammal Department and will then spend my remaining two weeks in Reptiles.  I truly cannot believe how quickly time has gone here and how close I am to finishing my internship!

Which brings me to my other news!

I am in serious consideration of staying here in Cairns for an additional year before returning home to the States.  I absolutely love it here and the people I've met, and am not sure if I'm ready to come back yet!  It's a big decision to make, and I'm nowhere near sure of what I'll do, but I have started looking into the process of applying for a 12 month Work and Holiday Visa.  I've been putting a lot of thought into taking an extra year to work and make some money to pay off loans, (and hopefully travel a bit more), before embarking on the path of veterinary medicine.  Applying for a work visa in Australia is an expensive and slightly scary process, but is so incredibly exciting as well!

It will, of course, be very hard to live so far away from family and close friends, but it may just create a reason for you all to come visit me! I can assure you that if I stay, anyone is absolutely welcome to visit :)

Besides that momentous decision making process, I am full of excitement for next week's Sydney and Stereosonic trip! I leave wednesday and will be experiencing the big city and all of it's wonderfulness! I will be gone for a full week and hope to do all of the touristy Sydney things, (i.e. the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, etc), in addition to Stereo and a variety of other things.

For those who don't know what Stereosonic is, it's a huge music festival that, (this year), lasts for two days.  Main headliners are: David Guetta, Skrillex, Alesso, Nero, Afrojack, Calvin Harris, Krewella, Zedd, Stafford Brothers, and many others.  Obviously, I'M SO EXCITED.

All in all, life is superb and great, and so full of opportunities for me and I truly couldn't be more grateful.  I'm not sure where these next few months will take me, but I do know that I couldn't be any happier with life at the moment.

Miss you all and until next time,
Cheers!