So long, Sydney

By Arden S.

July 9, 2024


My time in Australia unfortunately has come to an end. After taking my last final, I lived in denial for a while over the fact that I would be flying home in just three short weeks. This semester has been jam-packed with amazing food, beautiful sights, spending time in tropical Queensland, and lots of goodbyes. On my very last day in Sydney, I went to the Taronga Zoo, from which you can see the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. In that moment of seeing iconic Sydney landmarks behind the giraffes, I didn’t even think about how it would be the last time I saw them. In my mind, I was still living in North Ryde and could just catch the T1 down into the Central Business District the next day to walk around Circular Quay for fun again.

I wasn’t expecting for my parting with Australia to be so content. I thought I would have to be dragged kicking and screaming onto the plane home. There are still so many things that I never got to do, but I’ve taken more time appreciating the things I did do, because I can remember the feeling they gave me anytime I want. But the things I didn’t get to accomplish while there haven’t been experienced yet. It’s like in a video game when an area is locked. You can see into it, but it’s kind of fuzzy and you’re not quite sure what it’ll be like to finally access that area. I’ll be excited when I can go back one day and finally “unlock” those experiences, but until then, I won’t know what’s behind the hazy screen. So, all I can do is remember the areas I did “unlock.”

This past month I got to spend a week in Cairns, a smaller tourist town in tropical Queensland. There were so many incredible things I got to experience: riding a hundred-year-old train up a mountain to a small village, walking along the esplanade and riding the Ferris Wheel, watching the sun rise over the mudflats, travelling to a resort town to spend the day on the beach, but the Great Barrier Reef takes the cake. I got to snorkel in the reef! The water was bright teal blue, perfectly clear, and the island was covered in washed up coral that sounded like sparkles when the waves crashed over it. I saw all kinds of coral in amazing huge structures, with schools of fish swimming around me. It’s so important to see these delicate and rare ecosystems to understand how important it is to care for our planet and the other animals and plants that inhabit it. It was beautiful, and I would love to get to see it again. Until next time, Australia! You have my heart!

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The historic train ride up to Kuranda, originally an aboriginal village outside of Cairns. This photo was taken at Horseshoe Bend, which was created to let the train pick up speed before going up a steep hill.
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This waterfall is called Barron Falls. You can see it’s pretty tall, but the picture does no justice to seeing it in real life. If you look closely, you can see a double rainbow from the mist!
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The water on the reef was so beautiful, especially with the mainland on the horizon. I took about a hundred pictures of just this view because I wanted to capture all of it.
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At the reef, we waded through a shallow rock pool to see some clown fish in anemone! They’re much smaller than you would think, probably only 2 cm long.
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The coral formations I swam through were absolutely massive, stretching from a good 15 feet underwater all the way up to nearly the surface. This formation is plate coral, because it’s flat like a plate. When it grows to be much bigger, it’s called table coral.

Learn more about this blogger’s study abroad program: IES Abroad: Macquarie University