Funnel Bay: Like Nowhere Else on Earth (Psych!) (Hahahah Made You Walk 9 Miles)

     Let me tell you about this one time.  Actually let's restart this intro.

     Have you seen the movie, The Lion King? It is a Disney movie, arguably the best. There is this one part of the movie, where Simba has ran away from his home on Pride Rock, and has found himself in the jungle. Timon, and Pumbaa take him under their wing, and show him around their jungle home.

     The specific scene I am referencing is the part where Timon clears some leaves from Simba's view, and there is this beautiful jungle complete with clear, sparkling waters before them. It looks like paradise.

     That is comparable to the place we were traveling to during our spring break. Addie, Carson, Cal, Ryan, and I all went to Airlie Beach for part of our spring break. Close by was Funnel bay, a place we found on the internet that looked breathtaking. I am talking clear turquoise waters with almost white sand lining the oceanfront.

     The only semi-downside was that it was around a 3 mile walk there. The estimated walk time was around an hour and a half. We could easily get there no problem.

     About a quarter of the way my chacos had tightened up, I did not wish for this to happen. Nor did I know how to fix it. I already had some blisters, but now they're rubbing even more.

     Caron's ankle was hurting her as well. She toughed it out, and continued on (Shoutout to Carson for that, you're honestly really strong). We had walked halfway there, with only a little bit left to go when we saw that the next leg of the journey was a semi-steep incline. It looked like it never ended.

     We mustered up everything, and continued on. We kept the mental image of those turquoise waters in our minds as we climbed the hills. Once to the top of the hill, there was an equally long down hill portion that we all looked forward to walking on the way back.

      Finally we made it to the street where we turn left, and walk down the road to the beach. It was quite a long road. We saw a sign pointing the direction of the beach. We continue down that road as well. At last there is a billboard advertising Funnel Bay, which excites us (Pictured Below). It also displays the clear blue waters as we had seen online.

     As we continue hiking down this road we come upon this neighbourhood we have to go through to get to the beach. However, it is not built yet. There is only lots of land that are labeled as sold.

At the front of this soon to be neighbourhood is a sign directing us to walk through the neighbourhood to get to the beach. We walk down the path, and into neighbourhood.

We notice that there are construction workers staring at us. They are working on the semi-built houses that are deeper in this neighborhood. We begin to feel like we are not suppose to be here.

Suddenly Cal started speaking in Spanish really loudly. In order to deter the construction workers from approaching us I guess. We all start giggling, and laughing.

Which definitely blew our Spanish cover. Once we pass all of the construction, we are coming upon the beach.

 We are trying to get a glimpse of the place that is like nowhere else on earth.

We walk a little faster and then... we finally see it. We have finally arrived at funnel bay. It is definitely like no where else on earth. Below is a photo of Funnel bay that I took.
   

Apparently Funnel Bay is still in the works.

We all laughed out of frustration, and irony at this horrible beach.
This is the beach we walked 3 miles for. This is it. Like nowhere else on earth, that is for sure.

But how can this situation be worse?
How can our lives mimic a bad comedic movie even more?

It started thundering, the clouds turned even more grey, and our feet hurt.

We took once last look at Funnel Bay,  giggled, and stated that in 5-10 years Funnel Bay will be the place  to visit. We were the first tourist of Funnel Bay.

Our hike back was even more exhausting than the hike there. There was not a bus stop close. So we had to hike back up the mountain and down, to get to a bus stop.

The bus dropped us off close to home. We somehow ended up walking around 9 miles that day. We all decided to go to a beach we had previously been to that is close to home.

The sunset we witnessed that night was beautiful. The atmosphere was blissful and regenerating.

It was comparable to Timon, and Puma's paradise.

        Sometimes what we are looking for is closer to home than we think.

Australia has been incredible, and we are not even half way through this amazing program.

 It feels like we are halfway through though. Our classes have ended. We all are finishing our history papers that are due Monday. Our internships start tomorrow, I will keep you guys posted on my incredible internship!

I have had so much fun these last six and a half weeks. Probably some of the most fun I have had in my life.

'Moving' to Australia has been different to say the least. I am not really homesick, nor would say that I have been. Much to my parent's dismay, I am not wanting keep constant communication. I do not know exactly why. Maybe I am subconsciously preventing homesickness, or maybe I am distancing myself to grow, and learn.

 I am 19 years old, and took my first plane ride here to Australia. I had my first apartment at 18. I moved out, and started college at 17. I have been pushed to grow up.

I will admit I was not ready to move out, and start college. It was hard, I was still mentally in High School. However, being pushed throughout the last couple years of my life has enabled me to pack up, and move over 9,000 miles away from home.

What this program has helped me the most with is learning more about life and friendships. Not about how in 1788, the first fleet of British convicts and militants arrived in Botany Bay of Australia; in hopes of establishing a penal colony for Britain.

Which reminds me, I need to finish my history paper, I got distracted and started writing this. LOL Aussie Abbie signing off!