Calvin Synod Herald, 2005 (106. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2005-03-01 / 3-4. szám
10 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD end I jumped off the zip line and had the most intense 10 seconds of my trip, as I traveled 310 feet in 10 seconds. When I landed safely I could tell that this was Australia’s biggest zip line. Again, I am really happy that I did it, even though doing these events was not mandatory, it felt great doing them all. In a subconscious way, these events were organized to “toughen us up” for the life Down Under which for most Australians is indeed tougher than life is for most Americans. After dinner that night, we went to our rooms and slept real well. The next day was an uneventful day. We just traveled by bus to our next destination at Coffs Harbour. When we finally arrived, we had free time until lights-out since we arrived late. This was probably my favorite place that we stayed. It was real nice and comfy. The program the next day started with a sunrise walk on the beach, then breakfast, and then we loaded our luggage back onto the bus and we left for our next destination. We spent most of the day just traveling. It was a good feeling arriving there after just sitting in a bus and sleeping for most of the day. Before we actually arrived at our resort (which was on a private island) we had to get on a ferry that took us there. This was a really nice resort, and something that I have never experienced before. We were shown to our rooms, and then we had free time until dinner. Basically, this night was a time for relaxing. In the morning, we started with breakfast and then we went and got our bikes. These bikes were really important because the island was so big that there just wasn’t enough time to see a lot of it if we had to walk. The bikes allowed us to see a lot more of the island. We went on a bush walk through the rainforest during the day and then we went on a nocturnal tour at night, and we became familiar with the animals that were sharing the island with us. That night I saw a wallaby from up close; I later found out that they are common to see at night there. A few of my friends and I went to the general store that was on the island, and we bought some steaks. We celebrated our last night there by having a cookout using the grills that were on the property. On the next day we left for Brisbane, which is the third largest city in Australia. We went to one of the busiest areas of the city, and we visited Brisbane’s largest mall. I was a little nervous because we were all going to stay at different families’ houses for the next two nights. I was lucky because I happened to be roomed with one of my better friends at my home-stay family. In the end, I found out that there really wasn’t anything to be nervous about because the family was really nice. We talked a lot about our lives in America, about me being a Hungarian American about our faith, churches, schools, sports in Australia. We asked questions and so did they. It was an interesting experience. We ended up playing cards until we went to sleep. The next day we were taken to a hill that overlooked the entire city of Brisbane. It was a really nice place, and I enjoyed the view. We then left and went to a different mall in Brisbane where we were shown the place where one of the family members worked. We went into Australia’s version of Wal-Mart called Big W. They used the same slogan: “EVERYDAY LOW PRICES -EVERYDAY.” We went home for lunch and we got ready to meet with the rest of the delegation for a night of fun. When we arrived, I asked my other friends how their home-stays were going. We had a night of fun, including learning how to play the didgeridoo and learning dances to it. I even bought a boomerang and I learned how to throw it. After leaving to go back to the home-stay family’s house, we played cards once again and then we said our prayers and we went to sleep. The following morning I thanked them for their kindness, gave them a few little American souvenirs, and we boarded the bus back to continue our journey. (For security reasons we had a secret code word to use if we had been in any trouble while at the home-stay. If we would have called our delegation leaders, or when they called us, if we would have mentioned the code word, they would have come immediately to fetch us from harm’s way. Luckily nobody needed to use the code word. Our host families were all really very kind people.) We then traveled by bus to Frasier Island, which is the largest sand island in the world. Very little of this island had been made into roads. In fact, the bus that took us to our rooms was an allwheel drive bus because the road was made of sand. After getting to the island, we learned of the activities available there. I really enjoyed this place also as I took a walk along the island. It looked really nice at night. Next morning we got back on the ferry and they took us back to our bus. We headed out to the town of Yeppon. Once again this was a long bus ride until we stopped for lunch at a town called Gin Gin. We continued our trip to the town of Yeppon. Once there, we unloaded our stuff into our hotel rooms, and then we headed back to the bus to go have dinner at a crocodile farm. We could see the crocodiles between courses while eating. The crocodiles they had there were really interesting. There was one named Snappy Tom, who earned his nickname after he bit the jaw off another crocodile. This was the place that I tried crocodile meat for the first time. And surprisingly it was really good (It tastes like chicken... well, not exactly). We rode back in the bus to the hotel after the fun night at the crocodile farm. We went to Olsen’s Capricorns Caves the next day. This was an interesting place with lots of different caves. The tour lasted about one hour. It included showing us an area that once was completely full of water, and another place where underground weddings were held. We were shown how dark the cave can get without any lights. At the end of the tour, there were three ways to get out; one of them was to climb upwards through very slim passages. We were told that the end of it would be like trying to climb through a coat hanger after it has been stretched out. Another one was walking through slim passages and then walking along a really short suspended bridge. The last way out was just walking back the way we came in. I chose the 2nd option, and I can honestly say that the passages were really thin, and the only light came from the candle that we were each holding. But it was a lot of fun. We explored Yeppon after the caves, and then we returned to the hotel to enjoy a day of relaxing. Our next destination was Airlie Beach. Airlie Beach is the gateway to 74 Whitsunday Islands that were named by Captain James Cook in 1770. We went to visit a representative from O.U.C.H., which stands for Order of Underwater Coral Heroes. They shared with us information about the Coral Reef and the ways we can protect it. It was a really informative presentation which included the number of different types of fish and other !
