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Great Barrier Reef

It was Tori’s birthday and her special present was to go snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef! We had to go on a 2 hour boat ride to get out to where we could get into the water. We spotted a whale on the way and named him Wally! He was showing off his tail flippers mostly, so we didn’t see his head but we believe he was pretty young because of the size of the flippers. The Great Barrier Reef was FREEZING! I had to come back to the ship early because I felt like I could get frostbite and the flippers were giving me cramps. I also didn’t want to get kicked in the face with flippers any more.

When we got back to the hotel, apparently some girls had “paranormal” activity and they thought some Australian boy stalkers or ghosts had broken into their room and taken their keys. And some people’s belongings ended up in different rooms and their suitcases were unlocked although they had locked them. There are perfectly good explanations for all of that; the maids, themselves, rumors, and seeing things because they are tired. Honestly, I think they were making mountains out of mole hills.

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Capricorn Caves & Dreamtime Aboriginal Culture Centre

We had 2 hours of free time at the hotel but we couldn’t swim or get wet. I did table tennis, then we all did mini golf. When we were done, it was time to go to Capricorn Caves. At the cave, it was pretty much just walking through a rainforest and caves. We went through a skinny cave by candlelight, but since I didn’t have a candle, and the person in front walked too fast, and the the person in back had to stop, I was left me in pitch dark so I hit my head, but at least Heather had her camera for a little light. We also learned that guano is bat poop and is used for make-up in some countries around the world! I really hope it’s not in America!

After that, we went to Dreamtime Aboriginal Culture Centre where we learned about the Aboriginal culture, watched a weird but cool aboriginal dance and saw the didgeridoo being played. It was really cool because you can make different animal noises like the dingo, kookaburra and kangaroos riding motorcycles! We also learned how to throw boomerangs, but I wasn’t very good so I bought one to practice in the backyard.

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Brisbane>Yepoon

We were on the bus with Jeff for about 9 hours to get from Brisbane to Yepoon. For lunch we stopped at Gin Gin State School and it was 100 years old!!! Did you know Australia has the most in common with Florida than any of the 50 states? Why? Because of the crocodiles and hurricanes (cyclones in Australia). That’s what I learned in school today!

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Brisbane Beach & Aquarium

We ate a really good breakie (breakfast) in a restaurant by our hotel and the toast and eggs were really good! When we got on the bus, we found little clip-on koalas on our seats that Jeff (the coach driver) bought us. Then we went to a mall to buy everything that we forgot or lost. We made a little surprise stop on to the beach on our way and played in the water, made sand castles and played in the rain. There was a pirate play-set at the top of the beach that we played on too! The girls had taken it over but didn’t even follow the dying rules in our game. But even still, the Resistance took it over.

After our fun at the beach, we went to the aquarium. We got to watch otters swim around (they came out just for us), feed fish and turtles with peas and shrimp and watch a seal show. We also got to pet a huge cricket (I did not), hermit crabs, starfish and a baby turtle. Our guide for feeding the fish and feeling the starfish was really funny. When I was feeding some turtles and ran out of peas, I was walking toward him to get more, I smelled my hands and said, “My hand smells like pea.” He started making fun of me for it but he could tell I didn’t mind because I was laughing my head off! He’s name was Warren. He was a funny guy, but I think his accent made him funnier!

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Sydney>Brisbane, Koala Sanctuary

We made it to Australia after a long flight. At least the seat T.V.s had movies, T.V. shows, and games and music. The seats were also really comfortable so I slept surprisingly well!

We landed in Sydney where we met our manager, Alana, then we flew right to Brisbane since we had missed the first 2 days of touring we were supposed to do in Sydney. When we got there, we went to a Koala Sanctuary where we got to hold koalas, feed kangaroos and see platypi and dingos. The kangaroos were really sweet and the koalas were too, but the koalas were a lot heavier than they seem. After that, we went to this canoeing club thing for dinner. It was small but everybody was really nice. The kids went outside to play tiggie (tag) in the rain; then we went inside to celebrate Mason’s “forgotten” birthday and have dessert. It was really fun but everyone was really exhausted. Did I mention Australian patties taste super good!?!

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LA Aquarium>Australia

On our second day in LA, we went to an aquarium. I had a feeling we would be going to a lot of aquariums… especially since I had a schedule!

Thankfully, our flights got out that night and we were on our way to Australia!!!

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Universal Studios

Since we had a whole day in LA before the next flight out to Australia, we got to go to Universal Studios! We got to go on a back stage tour and it was really cool! We saw inside looks at movies like King Kong and Jaws. For King Kong there was an all around 3-D  show where the screen was all around us. We were supposed to go to Australia that night, but when we got to the airport, that fight was canceled too! It took a really long time for the leaders to arrange another flight out, because they had to split us up and use different airlines (Quantas and Virgin Airlines). So we had to wait at the airport until about 4am before we got to go to the hotel. United paid for pizza for dinner, but it was 10pm before we ate it. Other people who were stuck at the airport were looking longingly at our pizza! Most of us fell asleep on the hard, cold airport floor while we were waiting.  As we were getting on the bus to go to the hotel, they found our luggage!

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Monument>LA

We were so excited to finally go to Australia after all of our preparation but we got stuck in the Denver International Airport (DIA) for about 3 hours because of United’s plane’s wing problems! It was horrible and they didn’t even tell us to get off until like 2 hours of actually being on the plane; it would have been better to at least be in the gate so we could walk around. At least I got to watch some of Surfs Up. We finally started moving right after some of us bought our dinner. The mood got better on the plane because we watched a comedy channel on the screen and it was so cute because the comedians were trying to find the cutest pets! The winner was a little Slow Moving Norris named Sonya who loves being tickled!

But because of the delay at DIA we missed our connection in LAX and got stuck in LA for a day. Luckily, we didn’t have to sleep at the airport because our leaders got us a hotel near there. Unluckily, United lost our luggage, all of it, everybody’s! But I had packed my backpack with toiletries and a change of clothes, so I was prepared!