I awoke to the sound of the intercom saying that we would be landing in 2 hours at Sydney International Airport. After being on the plane for 12 hours, I was more than ready to arrive, even though our plane was the nicest I have ever seen.The seats could fold back automatically. On the seat ahead of us was a T.V that on it you could play games, watch T.V. shows, and movies.The company was called Quantas and on the back of the plane was a kangaroo.It was a jumbo jet. When I boarded the plan in San Francisco, by the time I got to my seat I was ready for bed. So I had ripped out a blanket from the plastic bag and quickly fallen asleep.
The plane finally coasted to a smooth stop in Sydney. When
I got out of the airplane I had to follow my mom into the customs line and wait
for an hour until we finally got through the customs. My mom said we have to
wait for another plane to take us to the Whitsunday Islands.“The Whitsunday Islands are right by
the Great Barrier Reef,” my mom said to me as we boarded the plane. This plane was way smaller, with propellers. We saw water and yellow land as the plane carried us from Sydney out to Northeastern Australia.
When we landed,
the flight attendants opened the door and humidity filled the plane.When we got out of the airport, we saw
a man holding a sign that had our last name on it so we went over to him.He introduced himself to us and led us out
to the docks and onto a small speedboat.Soon we where speeding across the water heading for a large sailboat, which belonged to one of our friends.
We spent the next few days snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef, fishing off the back of the boat, tubing on the back of the speedboats that are more like rafts with
engines than speedboats and on one day we even got to go to the pure white
beaches where we made sand sculptures and buried ourselves in the sand. The sun beat down on us all day, and at night it was cool and good for sleeping.
One of the best parts of my trip was a game of pickup football on the white sand beach. It was a close game but my team won by one touchdown.After the game we went and body surfed the waves.That day was my favorite among all the days I spent in Australia. A few nights later, we looked over the edge and saw a school of squids swimming around our boat. The squids looked like a gigantic school of fish, but with tentacles, squirming around each other. In the water, it looked like there were hundreds of them.
Of all the parts of my trip to the islands, I won't forget the beaches, the squid, or how much fun I had with my family and friends.
Garrett Rawlings (unauthenticated)
Jan 11, 2010 4:13 PM
dear Dane,
i thought that was awesome. you did a good job descriding in the first part but the end i thought you could have had more. also was the boat CAVU. it was a really good story.
your friend, garrett.
Lexi (unauthenticated)
Jan 11, 2010 4:24 PM
That was a great story Dane! i loved the description of the boat and the feeling of the vacation in general. i love your opening: "i awoke to the sound of intercom" i thought you could talk about snorkeling little more, but it was fantastic!
Curtis Griffin
Jan 11, 2010 5:06 PM
I thought that the description was really really really really good I also thought that you could talk more about snorkeling. The football game thing was cool too.
Your friend Griffin
Keegan Whitelaw (unauthenticated)
Jan 11, 2010 5:39 PM
Dane,
Dane, that was a great story of your trip to Austrailia! I got a massive picture in my head that my picture
merory in my head was full! I loved the way you desribed the way you saw the squid around your boat. I wonder
what it was like seeing those huge squid! It sounded like you trip was really fun! I bet swimming by the
Great Berrior reef was a blast! This was a great story and detailed! Once again it was a great story and
I loved it! Keep up the good work!
Your friend Keegan
Alex Feldman (unauthenticated)
Jan 11, 2010 6:31 PM
Dane,
Amazing story about your trip to Australia. The gigantic squid sounded awesome and over all sounded really fun! A little more details about snorkeling next time otherwise GREAT!!!!!
Thomas Gillespie (unauthenticated)
Jan 11, 2010 7:30 PM
dane,
cool story i loves squids there BALER =) the trip sounded fun!!!
Parker Jones (unauthenticated)
Jan 11, 2010 8:03 PM
Dane great story, I love the part about the squid and the pickup football game! Great story!!!!!!!!!
Evan Rocks!!!:) (unauthenticated)
Jan 11, 2010 8:21 PM
Dane,
I loved your story! it sounds like you had a great time on the flight to sidney. How long did it take you to reach the sailboat that belonged to your friends? And also, did you stay on the boat for the whole time or did you visit other places? I would love to know
From
Evan
Ryan (unauthenticated)
Jan 11, 2010 8:43 PM
Dane-
Your story was so well written! The words you used were very descripitive, and it seemed like you were having so much fun. The beginning made me feel like I was actually there, and I wish I was. The trip sounded very fun, and great job describing it!
Your Friend.
Ryan
Darby (unauthenticated)
Jan 11, 2010 8:44 PM
Hey Dane,
I really lieks your story. The words you used were very discriptive. You did a very good job!
-darby
Lilly (unauthenticated)
Jan 12, 2010 4:06 PM
Dane-
That is an awesome story! I loved the way that u split it into paragraphs and leaving with a sentence that kinda tied the paragraph together. At first I didn't know were the Whitsunday islands were. That made me wondering were it was so I kept reading to find out. It was short but good
-Lilly
Samie (unauthenticated)
Jan 12, 2010 4:48 PM
Dane,
I liked your story it was really good but you could of added more detail about snorkeling
I like how descriptive your words were!
-Samie
PIerson (unauthenticated)
Jan 12, 2010 7:07 PM
Great job Dane, I love the part where you played football.
though you could have added more discription about how you felt on the boat ride over to the islands.
pierson
kristian (unauthenticated)
Jan 12, 2010 7:31 PM
Dane,
being in a plain is not fun but the good part is that you get to watch a lot of movies that is the good part. Those pictures were soooooooooooooooooo cool I wish I went there. Is it kind of like hawaii? It looks a lot like Hawaii. Thats cool that you went on a sailboat
last time I was on a sailboat was when I was in Hood River and they were really small. The fun thing was that we always capsised them
any ways good job I liked it a lot.
lukas (unauthenticated)
Jan 12, 2010 7:52 PM
dane, I really liked your story about australia.The best part was when you played foot ball.
In the trip to australia you must of played a lot of sports and had a lot of fun, but I thought that you could
of wrote more about the trip over to the islands.
lukas dewolfe
Hope Perkins (unauthenticated)
Jan 12, 2010 8:10 PM
Dane,
I really liked your story. I think you should have added more about the great barrier reef. Anyway, great story!
-Hope
waverly (unauthenticated)
Jan 12, 2010 10:39 PM
Dane,
I like it when you described the beach, i also liked it when you were talking about the giant squid around your boat.
waverly
jay (unauthenticated)
Jan 13, 2010 10:23 AM
Dane,
dane like the way it really put a picture into my mind. the beach sounds like fun. that is really cool how the squid wrapped around your bout. i have never seen a gaint squid.
JAY
Olivia (unauthenticated)
Jan 13, 2010 10:28 AM
Dear Dane,
I really liked your story. I think you could have been more descriptive and you could have shown rather than told. Going to Australia sounded like a lot of fun. I think you could have told a little more about the Great Barrier Reef. Keep up the good work, Dane!
Olivia
Emily (unauthenticated)
Jan 13, 2010 10:34 AM
Dear Dane,
I love your story. I think you could have had more details. could you have talk about Great Barrier Reef more. Keep up the good work,Dane.
Conn Hannah
Jan 13, 2010 10:37 AM
Dane,
Your story is really cool. I love the way you describe the plane and getting to Sydney. I think it was a little bit unbalanced in the fact that you described the plane in great detail and then suddenly just rushed through the actual part of being on the island. Since you did such good details on the plane, I know you could have said a lot about the house you stayed in and snorkeling and everything, so I would make it a little longer by adding a little more detail to the last part. But it was really great, and so I loved it. Great story!
-Hannah
Olivia (unauthenticated)
Jan 13, 2010 10:37 AM
Dear Dane,
I really liked the beginning of your story. I thought you were very descriptive and I got a clear picture in my head. Awesome Story,Dane!!!!!!
Olivia
Jackie (unauthenticated)
Jan 13, 2010 4:35 PM
Dane, I really liked your story it was really good i liked how you said "When we landed, the flight attendants opened the door and humidity filled the plane" and at the end of the story you could have added more detail but besides that your story was really good.
sarah (unauthenticated)
Jan 13, 2010 5:13 PM
dane,
Great story. It wasn't very descriptive but it was descriptive enough I liked how u got right to the point. It must have been really fun in Australia. Good job.
Max Tanous (unauthenticated)
Jan 13, 2010 5:53 PM
great story dane! I loved the discription. I thought you could have added more about snorkling, other than that it was amazing.
Max
Blair (unauthenticated)
Jan 14, 2010 1:00 PM
Great story! I liked when you said..." A few nights later, we looked over the edge and saw a school of squids swimming around our boat. The squids looked like a gigantic school of fish, but with tentacles, squirming around each other. In the water, it looked like there were hundreds of them"
Blair
Nico Gerhardt (unauthenticated)
Jan 14, 2010 1:21 PM
Dane,
I thought you had extremely good descriptions and it sounds like you had a lot of fun. i am envious of you.
your friend, Nico
Braden (unauthenticated)
Jan 14, 2010 1:28 PM
Dane,
I liked the details and the description of that story it was a fun tripp and keep up the good work
Braden
Batman / Colby Wright (unauthenticated)
Jan 14, 2010 1:55 PM
Watson / dane,
i really liked all the description. the plane sounded really groovy!
Eliza (unauthenticated)
Jan 14, 2010 3:55 PM
Dane ,
That was really good. I liked the part when you said "So I had ripped out a blanket from the plastic bag and quickly fallen asleep" Good Job!
Eliza
Jack (unauthenticated)
Jan 14, 2010 7:57 PM
Dane,
Nice job it had great description, i liked how you described the squid when you were on the boat.
good job,
jack
carson (unauthenticated)
Jan 14, 2010 8:12 PM
dane
that was a awsome i loved the part about the squid and i would have loved to play pick up fb
carson
Alex (unauthenticated)
Jan 20, 2010 1:03 PM
Dane,
I loved your story! Awesome description, I liked how you described the squid.
Alex
sean (unauthenticated)
Jan 21, 2010 1:11 PM
i like the discriptions and i can relate to that well because i was there and it was fun
henry (unauthenticated)
Jan 22, 2010 8:12 AM
I like how you explain what you did and description
Tripp (unauthenticated)
Jan 25, 2010 10:00 PM
dane nice job, your description was Great and i loved the part were you talked about the giant squid. i also thought that it was cool that you got to go to Australia, go on a sailboat, and playing football was your favorite part.