Last day in Port Douglas

As we prepare to head back to Sydney I reflect on all of the amazing things Port Douglas had to offer.  In the past three days we have accomplished so many activities.  On the first full day here we snorkeled in the Great Barrier Reef; also part of the natural wonders of the world and world heritage site.  The second day we visited the Tjapukai Aboriginal Culture center, threw spears and boomerangs, and attempted to play a didgeridoo.  We also visited Hartley's Crocodile Farm and petted a wallaby and a koala, saw a cassowaries.  And on our final day here we rented a car and drove on the wrong side of the road to the rain forest area.  We swam in the river, much stronger than it looked, and played the tourists card while downtown Port Douglas and spent the day walking through shops.  In the evening Taylor, Jimmy and I walked down to four mile beach.  Talk about beautiful!  The ocean actually felt like a bathtub on the surface (probably because the tide was coming in).  Australia is the most beautiful place I can imagine and I will be sad to leave next week.  Our next plane ride is tomorrow morning at 5 am, so we're leaving the hostel at 3am.  Only 4 more flights to get our luggage through.  Lesson learned: pack light!

Wednesday, January 4th

At 10:30 this morning we had a lecture by Professor Christopher Wright from the University of Sydney Business School in the Education Building. He talked about “The Business of Climate Change.” It was very interesting to hear his views on climate change from an Australian point of view. He told us that Australia is one of the world’s largest exporters of coal and they export a lot of that coal to China. Australia also has a carbon tax of $28/ton of carbon. Professor Wright says $28 is not enough, but despite this there have been protests against the carbon tax. I think what impacted me the most about his lecture was when he addressed the emotional aspect of the argument. He explained how you can’t take emotionality out of the equation, but the real challenge is how do you have passion without being seen as too passionate? You don’t want to be so zealous that people just write you off and ignore your ideas.
At 3:00 pm we toured the Museum of Sydney, which details the history of Sydney from 1788, when the first European colonists arrived, through to the present day. Most of those first colonists were convicts who were sentenced and then transported to Australia. I was surprised that this museum had an entire room dedicated to surfing history in Australia, but my favorite part of the museum has to be the “Edge of the Trees” sculptural installation. This piece symbolizes the first meeting of the Aborigines and the European colonists. The vertical timbers are inscribed with the signatures of the First Fleeters and names of botanical species in native languages and Latin. In the "Edge of the Trees" from L to R are Zelynne, Callie, Katie (hidden), Alex, Jimmy, Taylor, Preston, Emily, Stena, and Danielle. Janet