Spring Break and Sydney...Finally

First off I'd like to apologize that it took me so long to write about Spring Break. I've been dreading it because there is almost TOO much to write about! To write this I actually had to go back and look at the schedule of what we did to remember because we did SO much. Therefore this is gonna be basically a book, so if you're not sitting down or you have somewhere to go, stop reading now!

Pre Day 1: So even before the trip started we had to fly up to Brisbane. We stayed at this pretty nice hostel, but everyone was split up into random rooms. I walked in and it looked like a bomb had hit. There was crap EVERYWHERE. So we all ended up staying in 2 rooms which was uncomfortable and terrible to say the least. Also this girl Joy on our trip got cut with some glass in the leg after a random guy threw a glass at his friend. She was convinced she needed to go to the hospital so Josh and Paige took her. 4 hours later all she needed was a band-aid. Not a great way to start Spring Break for any of us.

Day 1: We met early on a bus near our hostel. It was 16 of us from Loyola and 40 other kids that are studying in Australia. Some lived in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, and everyone was amazing. Our two "professional" tour guides were Tim and Pete, guys that became idols of mine. They were 25/26 and living the dream. Talk about the sickest job ever. Spring Break with college kids twice a year? All paid for? Sign me up. Anyways, we drove to the Steve Irwin zoo and stayed there for a few hours. It was awesome. We saw the Irwin family and went to a Croc Show just like the ones Steve used to do. It was definitely sad to see all the memorials to him and see how little his kids were. After the zoo we hit up a famous pub for a schooner and stopped to get some boxed wine (goon). Then we drove to our hostel for the next two days and set off on a booze cruise around Harvey Bay. It was fantastic, obviously. After the cruise we went back to the hostel where everyone partied by the pool until the wees hours of the morning.

Before I go on, I should explain a few of the traditions of our Tour. First there is the Sin Tin. A frequent depositor, I know all about. If you said, did, or almost did anything worthy of being called stupid, you had to throw $2 in the tin. At the end of the tour, all the money would go towards a homemade "punch" on the last night. The second tradition was the riders jerseys. There was a red jersey and a blue jersey, both terrible looking and ridiculously small. The red jersey went to the person that did the stupidest thing on that day, and the blue jersey went to the person that did the 2nd stupidest thing. A brilliant idea really. And you had to wear it all day, only taking it off when u showered or went swimming. I never wore the jersey, but Loyola maintained the top jersey for a lot of the trip. We're classy like that.

Day 2: Wake-up time was 730 and we headed off to Frasier Island and the fresh water lakes. It was an hour ferry ride to get there and we had to take off-road buses because it was just sand roads. The lakes were amazing. The water was warm, the sand was white, and we had a great time just lounging on the beaches. After a day of sun-baking we headed back to the hostel to pack for our 12 our bus ride. We had Mexican for dinner (which by the way, whoever decided that was a good idea before a 12 hour bus ride is CRAZY), and got on the bus to the Whitsunday Islands. The bus ride was absolute hell. The worst ride I've ever had in my life. But it was definitely worth it because the Whitsundays were UNREAL.

Day 3: We had to pack a 3 day bag for our island resort and headed off on some high-powered boats. We jumped some waves, did 360s and went flying through the Whitsundays. We stopped at Whitehaven beach for the day and it was amazing to say the least. Everyone drank wine all day on the beach and we tossed around the footy ball too. It was a little dusty because of the dust storm that had hit a few days before, but still some of the views we had were ridiculous. It was like what you see on postcards. After a day on the beach we headed to South Molle Island, our home for the next 3 days. That night we had a bag party, as in the only thing you could wear were the 3 garbage bags that they gave u at the front desk. They must have small trash cans here because those bags did not fit me AT ALL. We made it work, and by 3am everyone was in the pool having a great time.

Day 4: This was our day to "sleep-in." We got woken up around 8 and got some breakfast which was just okay. Nothing special really. I was hoping for the all you can eat bacon and eggs, but they had beans and toast. Weird I know. Today we just lounged around the unbelievable pool and on the beach. I won the Coconut throwing contest, something I'll be proud of my whole life. I feel like I have transitioned from boy to man after such a win. For my efforts, I got a jug of whatever girly drink I could think of (worth about $60 though!). In true Quinn fashion, I lost the ticket and couldn't get the jug (and in even more Quinn fashion, I found it 2 days ago stuffed in my wallet somewhere). That night was the Toga Party, and I'd be lying to you if I said I didn't have a great time. It was amazing. We all danced the night away, and I'd like to say I had a great-lookin toga on. A masterpiece really.

Day 5: Today we got up at 630 (3 hours of sleep) and boarded a yacht to sail around the Whitsundays. The views were spectacular, and the weather was amazing. We saw dolphins and sea turtles swimming along side us, it was spectacular. We stopped off at a little island where we could go snorkeling through one of the reefs. This is where I almost died. We anchored a good distance away, and they offered to take us all in the little motorboat to the island. Obviously, being a manly man, I thought I could easily swim there. We all jumped off, and got our swim on. Me and big Mike swam together (I knew if there was a shark I could hopefully outswim him). About halfway I decided I wasn't going to make it. That was it. I had been doggy paddling for what seemed like forever and I was only halfway there. I thought of my Dad and how he tells a story of how him and my uncle almost died swimming to a boat in the ocean. I started to laugh, therefore taking in about 3 gallons of water. Somehow I managed to make it to shore where I kissed the ground and laid there for 15 minutes. We went snorkeling through the reef and saw some amazing stuff. Basically Finding Nemo in real life. Amazing. Afterward we went sailing around the Whitsundays and jumped off the yacht a few times to cool off. It was beautiful, and words can't really describe it. That night we had a 6 hour bus ride to outside Cairns and stayed the night in a little hostel. We got in around 12, got 6 hours of sleep and got up for white water rafting.

Day 6: We hit the river for an amazing day of white water rafting. I loved it, and it was really amazing. They were level 4/5 rapids, and the water was incredibly warm. We had the 4 guys from Loyola and our 2 tour guides, so we definitely thought we'd kill this river. Turns out, of every boat that day I'd say we were the worst paddlers. Lazy, inconsistent, and not in sync at all. Just a poor overall effort. If they had hung beer in front of us, we would have paddled for days. We hit the rain forest after this and got a quick tour around which was really cool. We headed into Cairns to Gilligan's, our hostel for the rest of the trip. It was a huge place, and there were 8 of us in a room. All the Loyola people stayed next to each other and we had a huge shared balcony which was awesome. That night we went to The Woolshed, our hangout for the next 3 nights. The food was awesome and the drinks were flowing. We spent the night there with our tour guides and everyone had an amazing time.

Day 7: This was our day to chill out and do whatever. Some of the group went skydiving (too pricey for me!), and the rest of the us walked around, sat by the pool and relaxed for most of the day. At night was when the real fun started. We headed back into the rain forest to our Night Bungy Jump Party. If I said I wasn't nervous I'd be lying to you. A lot. The place was in the middle of the rain forest, with a huge bar and decks overlooking the jump. There was a big pond at the bottom and everyone tried to touch it as they jumped. The walk up was the worst. I got halfway up and said OH MY GOD. I felt I was almost to heaven. At the top they did it in order of weight, so me and the guys had to wait about 30 minutes before we could jump. That was awful. Girls were crying on the edge and wouldn't jump. Every 5 minutes the tower would sway from people jumping off and it was just scary. They finally called my name and I went for it. They wrap a towel around your legs, and then tie a rope around the towel. Then they hook the bungy to the rope. Doesn't seem to safe does it? I got to the edge, smiled for the camera, and he said 3-2-1 and I jumped. I don't think I can tell you what was going through my head when I was in the air. Everyone tries to touch the water or at least get their head into it. I went waist-deep. I don't know how, but I'm pretty proud of myself. Maybe I should stop eating. It was one of the most terrifying, yet amazing experiences I've had. Everyone said it was scarier than sky diving and I believe them! After that I went to the bar, for awhile, and calmed down. We headed back to town and hit up The Woolshed again. Another amazing night.

Day Eight: Another 630 wake-up call (same time every day on the trip), and boarded a luxury sailing yacht. We headed out for a 2 hour cruise to the Great Barrier Reef. Saw some dolphins and sea turtles again which was real cool and everyone laid out on the front deck to catch some rays. We tied up near a part of the reef and had a few hours to do whatever we wanted. We got a quick lesson on scuba diving and we all signed up to go. The 4 Loyola guys went and I had the tank and all the gear on. It was a little rough, but we dove in and they showed us how to breathe. You have to equalize as you go down, and we were going down about 30 feet. This is where I start to hate myself. We went to the side of the boat and grabbed onto a ladder to work our way down. We kept hitting the boat, and I think it started to freak me out a bit. We started to go down, and I was being so fast and was legitimately scared. I got about 10 feet down and couldn't really equalize my ears. I could of kept going but I was too scared. I think the problem goes back to the day at the other reef. I had a terrible snorkel and I kept sucking in water. I started to cough and it would get worse and I'd have to swim to shore to fix it and catch my breathe. There was no shore or place to catch your breathe when you're 30 feet down. If I was given more time, and maybe a one-on-one with an instructor I would have definitely done it, but everything was so rushed. I went like a bum but I called it quits and headed back to the top. A bunch of us went snorkeling for awhile and I took some awesome pictures with my underwater cam that hopefully come out. It was really amazing. Words can't describe how cool it was. I saw so many fish, some stingray, and luckily no sharks. Life To-Do List: Snorkel/(sorta) Scuba dive at The Great Barrier Reef. Check. I also learned that one of my worst fears is open water. We were a pretty good distance away from the boat and I just got extreme scared. I think I've seen Jaws a few too many times. We headed back to Cairns and went on a pub crawl for the night. Another great night which included watching one of our tour guides get tasered. Awesome!

Day 9: Our last day of the tour. We got up early, walked around town for a bit and then got a great lunch from PJ O'Briens, a cool Irish bar. It was $10 for Chicken Parm (with fries and a salad) and a pint of beer. Sign me up for that deal every day of my life. It was awesome. In the afternoon we headed to the Crystal Cascades to see the waterfalls and jump off some cliffs. It was beautiful and a we had a blast. That night was the last night, and the Sin Tin was emptied to make our "punch." We had a big party in the tour guides rooms, and then headed to The Woolshed for a private party on the balcony overlooking the city. It got pretty emotional as they showed pictures from the entire tour and a video. The guides had everyone give them $10 and earlier in the day they threw it all down on red. It hit and we got a $1000 bar tab for the night. They had all you could eat pizza and chicken nuggets. Maybe the best night of my life. Our party spilled onto the dance floor and into the rest of the bar. Another amazing, finally night. The next day we headed home and sadly returned to reality.

I've said this before, but words really can't describe the tour. I took pictures, but those just don't do it justice. I could argue it was the best 10 days of my life. At least an unforgettable 10 days. I met so many people, people that I'm talking to as I write this. I met people from all over Australia and from all over the US. We've already had one reunion, and I know it won't be the last. I've left many details out, as to not bore you and to give me something to talk about when I'm home. I've left details out from the nights activities because my mother probably wouldn't approve! Sure the trip cost me tons of money, but was it worth it? Absolutely. I wouldn't change it for the world. It was amazing and I'll never forget it. I'd love to leave you with a quote that sums up this Spring Break trip, my Australia trip in general, and hopefully my entire life. Be sure to live by it because I know I will.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. - Mark Twain