Hamilton Island....

You may remember a previous blog post about my adventurous weekend in Melbourne. I was fortunate enough to explore the city, road trip the Great Ocean Road, and spend the weekend with my friends Lynda, Jess, and Ally. That weekend was amazing and this past weekend was round 2....but this time the adventures took place at the lovely Hamilton Island. Here is a picture-summary of the week....

Hamilton Island is within the Whitsunday Islands, located on the northeastern coast of Australia. The sun shines, the water is warm, and the people are beautiful. Above is a snapshot from the Island's beach.

There are very few cars on the island. Instead, the buggy (a.k.a. the golf cart in the States) is the ride of choice. You can literally buggy around the entire island. Above is a picture taken on the evening of my arrival. We all buggied up to top of Hamilton island and enjoyed this beautiful sunset.

The following morning our crew sailed out to another island to enjoy Whitehaven Beach. This beach is located on the eastern side of the uninhabited Whitsunday Island. This means that no one lives on this island (at least no one outside of the large lizard-like creature we spotted and a few other creatures of nature). Thus, Whitehaven Beach is its own private beach. Additionally, the beach is recognized for its extremely white sand and is often listed as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

An unexpected fun moment from the trip came during a game of bingo we participated in. The majority of the prizes were free drinks from the bar. We did not win any of these rounds, but Lynda did win the grand prize! She won the Bongo round for a day trip of snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef! And then to top things off, Lynda was kind enough to pass the trip to me. The next day, Jess and I got to cruise out to the Great Barrier Reef for a snorkeling sesh and some reef gazing. We spent the whole afternoon in the water exploring and chasing fin. (and yes we did find Nemo....no joke...we saw a clownfish like Nemo above) Also, here are a couple quick facts about the Great Barrier Reef (GBR):

• The GBR consists of over 2,900 individual reefs
• There are over 1,500 different types of fish
• The GBR is visible from space

And to complete the weekend in Hamilton Island, we PARASAILED!! Above is a picture of Jess and I tandem parasailing. Surprisingly, it is an extremely peaceful activity. We floated 30 meters above the island and could see all the different routes we had taken the previous days on the boat trips.

All in all, the week was a blast. I can't say enough good things about the week. The activities, inside jokes, great food, buggy, and hanging out made for a wonderful trip. Plus, it was another opportunity in Australia that I was able to enjoy and one that very few (if any) other exchange students get to experience.

Lastly, I leave you with a video of nature. There were a handful of sandflys on the island. These bugs have a painful bite/sting and everyone once in awhile they are smacked by a backhand swing. Jess took this sandfly down. Then a team of ants worked together to carry the much larger bug up a rock wall to their home. The ants are moving this dead big without any help. It was impressive to watch this teamwork and communication....