Daydreaming

July 20, 2012

DAYDREAM ISLAND, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – What a great conclusion to our day, on a private island resort! Ahhhh… but let’s start at the beginning.

This morning we were up early for our departure, and once again the students did a pretty good job with it. We had a quick breakfast and then hit the A1 north. Most of our day was spent traveling on the coach. I checked a bunch of the students journals and it was good to see how great all of them are doing! A few of the girls journals were really something fabulous – they will be able to keep this and enjoy it for the rest of their lives! A few of the boys need some work, but the good news is that there is plenty of time to catch up and improve!

We eventually made it up to Mackay, the sugarcane capital of Australia. About halfway between Yeppoon/Rockhampton and Mackay the fields noticeably shifted from cattle to sugarcane, and right now they are pretty much a fully-grown 14 feet tall. We had lunch at Cane Land, which sounds like a cheesy toddler’s holiday-themed park, but recognizing that is an American-centric way of thinking, Cane Land is named as such for the very logical reason that the city is built on sugar cane exports. Cane Land is actually a brand new mall that would have fit in over in Dubai, it was so new and spotless, although it was a little small for that. In any event, we had vouchers at the food court, and many of the students tried new things. I tried my hand at some Australian fast food, Red Rooster, a chicken-themed place that is probably best compared to Chik-fil-A in the US.

July 20, 2012 - At the OUCH presentation on the Great Barrier Reef.

After lunch we continued north on the A1 into the Whitsunday region of the coast, and finally turned off the A1 towards Airlie Beach, where we visited OUCH, a private NGO that is dedicated to preserving the Great Barrier Reef through education of marine biology. We learned about various types of coral, fish, turtles, whales, sharks, and the other plants and animals that collectively make the Great Barrier Reef the largest organism-built structure on the planet, visible from the moon! A few people made donations – mostly some spare change – and then we continued over to Shute Harbour, where we unloaded the coach, locked it up, and then hopped on a ferry from the mainland!

Sunset from Mermaid Beach, Daydream Island - stunning!

About 15 minutes later, we arrived at Daydream Island! On our arrival we all received a lei of seashells, and noticed we had gained another 30 mins of sunlight by driving northwest all day, which was a nice realization! We took some pictures with a few mermaid statues at the north end of the island, while watching the sun set over the bay – a beautiful ending to a long day of travel. After dinner, we had a movie screening at an outdoor theater on the island, right on the ocean. On our walk back to our rooms after, the stars were so fabulously bright that not only could you clearly make out the Southern Cross, but we could see the entire Milky Way in splendid glory – truly a sight to remember!

Okay, so this isn't from Australia, but the Milky Way was truly spectacular!