Zoom!

After a frustrating morning yesterday, today was quite fun.  I'm working in reception now (well minding the reception desk, I'm not doing much work), but this morning I got to hang out with the kids for a bit and play a Twister-like game before the first outing.  There are photos of me on some Japanese cellphones that will hopefully never be seen by me or anyone else know.  It took some convincing to get some of the kids to play, but the ones who did play seemed to have fun.  I also got to chaperon the first group of kids for their activity of the day at Cairns Zoom.  It's inside the dome of the Casino (same as the Wildlife Dome we were at on Tuesday).  We all did the midZoom ropes course (they had me lead the way), which is a mid level Ropes Course with 27 crossing elements (hanging logs, old chairs, a rope ladder, etc.).  It was fun, but not exactly challenging (well, maybe for some of the younger kids).  By the time we were done most of them decided to do the HiZoom as well (for another $10 of course).  Because I had to leave early to come back for work I didn't do the HiZoom with them. The one guy working there decided that I needed to do the PowerJump since I wasn't doing the HiZoom with the kids.  He didn't exactly ask, and he just said, "Here, put a harness back on, we'll do the PowerJump."

I of course tried to politely hint that it didn't sound very fun, but since he wasn't taking the hint, I dutifully put the harness back on and followed him off to the tower (13 meters off the ground).  I had an inkling that I really wasn't going to enjoy this (I have a fear of jumping from heights), but I hate to disappoint people and he was letting me do it for free...  Thankfully, other than getting the courage to take the first step off the platform, the "fall" isn't a free-fall, more like an assisted descent, so it wasn't too bad.  The kids had a fantastic time and I got to take lots of photos for the kids while they were on the course.  For any of my readers who speak Japanese you can read a different perspective on the days events here at the Nova blog.  So, when I finish my shift I'm meeting Emma and we're going to dinner with Pukari and some of his friends.  Here's hoping I like Korean food!