The first flight was from Sea Tac International to Lax. I met up with my friend Tyler who lives in La. I had a six hour lay over so I was glad to have time to hang out with him before i left. We hung out on Santa Monica pier, had a beer and then before I knew it it was time for my flight. I boarded the plane and realized this flight was going to be very long. I quickly met some drinking buddies on the plane. Half of the people on the plane were from 20-22 years of age so it was a very fun trip. My 1st week in Australia I arrived in Brisbane and then took a flight up north to a city called Cairns. I stayed in a hostil with a hundred other kids from all over the U.S. This is where many tours go out to the Great Barrier Reef. One day we went to a zoo and an aboriginal ceremony. The zoo was pretty neat. They had a crocodile show like Steve Irwins and a lot of Koals to hold. The Aboriginal Center was kind of tacky but I won a boomerang by being the only person in my group to catch one which was pretty sweet. The time I was in Cairns was awesome they had a huge skate park and at night I went out with some other study abroad kids to some of the bars. The great Barrier Reef was by far the best experience I could have had just arriving in Queensland. I went snorkeling instead of scuba diving because where we dived was shallow enough for me to just snorkle and see just as much without droppin a hundred bucks. When I was out there I saw sting rays, sharks, all kinds of fish , and I even road a sea turtle! The average temperature in Cairns was 85 degrees.