Monday, February 27, 2006

Happy Birthday Dad!


To my beloved father,

I hope you have a wonderful birthday filled with lots of presents, food, and fun....oh, and lots of cake. To commemorate your birth 29 years ago (give or take a few years), Ash and I have decided to eat an entire chocolate cake. Think of it as an Australian celebration in your honour. You don't have to thank us, we gladly did it.

I wish I was back home celebrating with you because we all know that it isn't a party without me. I guess Val can be my better-looking stand-in. Anyway, have a good one! I love you.

Jess

Chocolate cake consumed: 1/2
Tummy aches: 1

Friday, February 24, 2006

God Bless America

Hello Hello!

It's been too long. Sorry for the lack of updates but it is Orientation Week at the university. Yes, I'm actually here for school. The university is pretty cool. It's a mixture of modern architecture and old world charm. Ash and I had to sit through a couple of information sessions and a welcome meeting for all international students. During this ceremony, the emcee would call out a country's name and everyone from that country was asked to stand. There were about 88 Canadians here. How many Americans do you think are here too? About 550.

Damn.

No offence to Americans, but we just don't like to be naturally lumped with you because of our lack of Australian accents. We like to be identified as Canadians.

Case in point: Ash and I signed up for this Students Abroad Club. It's this club that allows many international students to meet each other and hang out. The first event was this mix'n'mingle at a bar/pub called The Regatta. We've passed by the bar many times and always wanted to check it out. So here was the opportunity. When we got there, we had to fight the urge to kill ourselves. It was filled with Americans. You could point each and every one out of the crowd. The girls were so loud, shrill and obnoxious and they were hardly wearing clothes. The guys were in their ubiquitous button-down shirts, jeans and loafers/dress shoes. All they needed was a yacht club blazer. As I waited at the bar to get our drinks (which was chocolate milk for all of you who were wondering), American guys kept cutting in front of me. If it wasn't for this Australian guy who told the bartender that I was next, I would still be there. Ash and I really don't have anything against Americans. We've met some really nice ones throughout our lives. But these ones....it's a new breed of heathens.

I have never seen Ashleigh down her beer (i mean, milk) this quickly. We wanted to leave as soon as possible. The only thing was that it had begun to pour outside. It was either we remain in the bar, which we have aptly named South Dakota, or we get drenched while waiting for a cab.

It didn't take us too long to dry off.

Other than that, this week has been pretty easy-going. We're just not looking forward to actually starting to be useful somehow. I'll keep the updates coming and finish off the remaining two days of our Cairns trip.

Jess

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Crikey!

Alright, I must interrupt my recap of our vacation up in Cairns. Two days ago, Ash and I went to the Australia Zoo. It’s the most famous zoo in Australia due to the lovable and crazy Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. His father actually owned this zoo when he was a little boy…and the rest is history.

We set our alarms for 8am, so we could be there bright and early. The shows started at 10am. That’s a good 2 hours to get there. We got there at noon. There is definitely something wrong with us. But we got there just in time for the popular crocodile show in the Crocosseum. I know what you’re thinking. Was Steve Irwin performing the show? Unfortunately for us, he wasn’t. We weren’t giving up though. He could be caring for other animals or performing other shows around the zoo. The show was pretty cool regardless. The crocodile was huge!




Right after, I had an urge to take a picture with a big python. Sunstroke? Dehydration? Or just plain crazy? A little bit of each I’m guessing. At first, I wasn’t scared at all. Snakes never really scared me. Then as I was lining up (yes, other people were suffering from sunstroke too), I remembered someone telling me that snakes can sense fear. That’s when I started to feel a little nervous, which set into motion a vicious cycle of trying to calm down, only to become even more nervous because I couldn’t calm down.

That’s when the zookeeper placed the 40-pounder around my neck. Gulp. I found out that it was a female snake, about 15 years old. It started to really wrap around me. Hey, I’ve seen Anaconda. I know where this is going. Okay, smile for the camera. And that was that.



That right there is a fake smile.

Anyway, we walked around the zoo. We saw other crocodiles and two really cute camels. Did you guys know that the humps on the camel don’t hold water? That’s what I’ve always assumed. They actually contain fat according to the zookeeper. So a camel is not that different from me. Only it’s called a butt for me.

After a quick lunch, we took a safari shuttle to the Tiger Temple, where all the jungle felines were. Looked like something straight out of an Indiana Jones movie. We sat in the suntorium for an exciting tiger show. These tigers are such beautiful creatures.


Look at that beauty. They look so dignified without even trying. Kind of like me. That was Canadian sarcasm for you.



Have a look at one of the zookeepers doing the show. Could it be? THE Steve Irwin?!?! No. To our dismay, it wasn't. We were heartbroken.

Anyway, there was another zookeeper that was constantly playing with the tigers. He made them jump and play in the water. All of a sudden, one of the tigers, let’s call him Siegfried, charged at him. He pushed him to the ground and almost into the water. We all gasped. Ash and I thought he was in big trouble. But he just got up, brushed himself off, and continued playing with Siegfried. Um….are you kidding me? If I was almost mauled to death by a tiger, I would have a beautiful new tiger rug in my living room. Just kidding.

How could you kill such majestic creatures?

After that, we went to an elephant feeding. These guys were so cool. They seemed to be a little camera shy though...


But they came around. Here is Ash feeding Sabu, the biggest of the three elephants. She was so cute.



After we fed the elephants, we headed back to the suntorium to see the cheetah show. It wasn’t as exciting as the tiger show, but the animals were still so beautiful.

We wandered around a bit and bought popsicles. As we were eating them, we stumbled into the Kangaroo Haven, which is pretty much just an open field where you can roam with the roos. Big mistake. The kangaroos were staring at our popsicles. They thought we were there to feed them. We have never eaten popsicles that fast in our lives. Oh, the pain.

On our way out, we encountered something that was quite chilling.

Ash and I were just walking and all of a sudden, this head pops up from behind a fence. I think this guy wins the award for the world’s most evil animal. That is a face only a mother could love. We still have nightmares about him.

That was our day at the zoo.

Jess

Steve Irwin sightings: 0
Emu nightmares: 2

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Gummy vs. Scarface


Day 5: Cape Tribulation Cont’d…
It’s funny. Under last night’s conditions, we both slept like babies. I think it was just our bodies’ defence mechanisms. I guess if you’re unconscious, you’re not registering how many bugs are crawling on you. When we woke up, it was a bright and sunny day. Maybe today would be better. We decided to spend to morning on the beach. Let me tell you, it was one of those moments that you never forget. The beach was deserted save for us. It was all ours for the entire morning. We set up shop underneath this giant tree and just sat there. It was stunning. I know I’ve been complaining about how God hates us and how our luck is nonexistent, but really? At that moment, we were both so grateful we were there. We are two pretty lucky clams.

When the afternoon crept around, we got back on the tour bus and headed to the Daintree River. We were going on a crocodile boat tour. Maybe this time we’d finally catch a glimpse of the resident creatures of Australia. We saw a lot of bats in the trees. There was also a little frog that snuck onto the boat. We named him Leroy Brown.



Finally, our guide turned the motor off. He told us to be quiet and just pointed in front of the boat. There he was. It was this massive 4.5 metre long crocodile. It was eerily quiet as he swam by our boat. There wasn’t even a ripple when he went by. I have never seen a croc this close up before and it was creepy. Ash grabbed my shirt to pull me back from the banister. Apparently, I was so caught up in the moment, that I was leaning a little too far over the edge. These crocs are notorious for jumping out of the water and biting their victims. Good on you Ashleigh. Then the creepiest thing happened: the croc submerged itself. Now we had no idea where it was. The guide told us that his name was Gummy because he had no teeth. That came as a slight comfort. But we were told that we should still practice caution because he could still crush us to death and swallow us whole. Back to being terrified.

We sailed on and saw Gummy’s arch enemy, Scarface. He got the name from a fight he had with Gummy. They’ve fought several times over territory. Man, what we would have given to see a croc fight right in front of us. The guide told us a really funny story. A couple of years ago, one guide had taken a boat full of senior citizens out on the croc cruise. They were enjoying a nice sail when they saw a boar on the edge of that water. And before you could say “Shuffleboard”, Gummy launched himself out of the water and chomped down on poor Piglet. As if that wasn’t bad enough, because Gummy doesn’t have any teeth, it had to fling the boar around until pieces of it flew off. These poor grandmas and grandpas had front row seats to this massacre. They were all horrified but told the guide to go in closer because they wanted a better picture. Hilarious.

After this croc cruise, we drove to a beautiful lookout point. See for yourself.


Apparently, this is the beach where they filmed the opening scene of the war film, A Thin Red Line.

After taking a couple of pics here, we went to the Mossman Gorge. It’s this breathtaking fresh water gorge where we all went for a cool dip. The water was so invigorating. It rivals the water in the purest Canadian springs. That was the best bath I have ever taken. Hands down.


Now that we were squeaky clean, we headed home. That night Ash and I went to this pub-like restaurant called “Rattle ‘n’ Hum”. We both ordered the Barramundi, which is a very popular local fish. The portion size was nothing short of monstrous. It was as if they caught a killer whale and served it up to us with a smidge of lemon. And you guys know us; we can handle our food. We left feeling painfully full and ashamed we couldn’t finish our food. And what did we do to sooth our pain? We headed straight to the nearest ice cream parlour and got ourselves a cone. Nothing like ice cream therapy. We had planned a night out on the town, but right when we got back to Gilligan’s, we passed out. Party animals.

Jess

Mosquito bites: 21
Crocodile sightings: 3 (yeah!)
Pounds of fish eaten: 2

Ash & Jess vs....The Entire Animal Kingdom


Day 4: Cape Tribulation Retreat
This day was quite interesting. We were really tired after a full day of rafting, but we were looking forward to living in the rainforest for one night. We got picked up by our Cape Trib Connection tour bus and guess what? Tom and Matt from whitewater rafting were on the tour too! Small world. So, we headed up to a wildlife sanctuary for some fun tidbits about the fuzzy creatures that reside in the forest. We saw these flying nocturnal squirrels…who were sleeping. The keeper decided to wake one up and let people take pictures with it. Some poor lady in front of us was holding it for the perfect photo op when the darn thing urinated on her. It was like opening the floodgates. I didn’t know these little guys could retain so much water. Well, at least we knew that he was safely empty for our pictures. But of course, right when it was our turn, it decided to fall asleep. Great. The keeper had to bring it back to its cage for its “precious” sleep. So, in the end, we didn’t get one picture.

Next on the bill was a short walk through the rainforest. We learnt a lot about the native trees and plants there. Saw a couple of bugs. Got stung by a lot of mosquitoes. We then headed to where we were staying for the night. In order to do so, the bus had to take a ferry across the Daintree River, which is inhabited with at least 600 crocodiles. Perfect photo opportunity. Upon our arrival, the crocs must have sensed Ashleigh and I because none of them could be seen. I truly believe that all the animals in Australia have made a pact to taunt and tease us.

Anyway, we arrived at The Cape Tribulation Beach House, our accommodation for the night. Don’t let the name fool you. It wasn’t a beach house. It was more like a bug-infested dungeon. Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. We told ourselves that it would be okay because we would spend the entire day outside. Um….not quite that simple. It was a blistering 35 degrees outside. The humidity probably upped it to about 40 degrees. Any Canadian would melt.

So, we decided to go to the beach. The nice water would cool us down. As we approached the beach, it was like the gates of heaven opened.



There are no words or pictures that would do this place justice. It was utterly breathtaking. The water was clear and blue. The beach was pristine. The waves were calm. The jellyfish were everywhere. Yup. Because it was mating season for the jellyfish, they were all hanging out near the coast making swimming impossible for any sensible human. Now these were the box jellyfish that had enough stinging power to kill you in 90 seconds. Once again, taunting and teasing. It was torture to be right at the edge of paradise and not be able to just jump in. We were like the kids who have their dirty little faces plastered against the candy store window.


How could you not fall in love with this place?

In order to fill up our time, we decided to sign up for this really interesting exotic fruit tour. The tour consisted of a little walk through an exotic fruit plantation while learning about each kind. Then we would be given free samples of them! I was never one to pass up free food. So, after all the money had changed hands, we waited in the lobby (which was really just a bench outside) for the bus to pick us up. Then the receptionist comes to tell us that the tour was cancelled due to lack of people. You see, we were the only two people that signed up and it wasn’t worth it for them to run the tour. Dear God, what have we done to upset you so?

So now we were in a little pickle. We wanted to go to this natural swimming hole everyone was talking about, but we found out that it would take us at least one hour of walking in this blazing heat to get there. Let’s blame the extreme heat and not our utter laziness. Lucky for us, one of the “hotel” employees overheard our dilemma and told us he could drive us there. Was this some cruel joke or had our luck changed? It turns out that it was the latter. What a sight to see. It was this stunning little fresh water creek. We both took a little dip and became completely rejuvenated afterwards.

It was now time to go back because we had also signed up for a “Croc Night Walk”. Yes, we willfully signed up to hunt wildlife and crocodiles while walking through the rainforest at night. It looked like fun when we signed up...in the light of day...in a air-conditioned reception area. But at least we can call ourselves crocodile hunters now.


We got the tour started when Hanz, our tour guide straight out of a cartoon, came to pick us up. We headed to the edge of the forest and he gave each of us a flashlight. We saw a lot of scary creatures: a python, a freaking huge spider, a forest frog, forest dragons, and pretty much the entire cast of A Bug’s Life. Have a look:

But no croc in sight. And on top of that, we were required to cross this ravine lined with slippery rocks. Ash slipped and fell into the water taking her cute little digital camera with her. Oh no indeed. We wanted to check if it was still working by turning it on immediately after it hit the water (which according to Michael, her brother, would be the worst thing one could do). Trust us to do whatever we could to make our lives as miserable as possible. Not surprisingly, the rainforest claimed its first casualty.

When we got back to our cell….I mean room, we were greeted by two spiders, a whole colony of flies on our bed, and tiny lizards. It was as if we had checked into the Hilton. We just ran under the covers, kept the linen tucked in, and poked our heads out. The least amount of skin exposed, the better. On top of that, it started to pour outside. Torrential downpour. We couldn’t close our window because one of the spiders had spun its web over it and we would ruin it if we did. So picture this: you have this 10 x 10 cell with lizards running around a bed that is neatly made with only two heads poking out of it, all the while having water seeping in from the window that is guarded by a spider.

That was our night. Jealous?

Jess

Mosquito bites: 17

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Splish, Splash, I Was Taking A Bath


Day 3: Whitewater Rafting through the Rainforest
How do I start with this day? Ashleigh and I have both agreed that this was by far our favourite day in the entire trip. It was such an eye-opener. Please bear with me, this one is going to be a novel.

It began with us waking up at 5:30am….because every sane person knows that waking someone up at an ungodly hour and throwing them into swift rapids and jagged rocks will always end pleasantly. We were picked up by the “Raging Thunder” rafting company bus and it was packed with other tourists. So we weren’t the only crazy people who had death wishes (see Mum & Dad, Mr. & Mrs. Warren).

We headed up to the Tully River, which is known for the best whitewater rafting in Australia due to its surroundings and rapids. This river twists and turns itself through the rainforest, which makes for beautiful views. The Tully River is made up of grade 3-4 level rapids. According to the brochure, these rapids are moderate technical rapids with the need to hold on at times and continuous need to manoeuvre the raft with the possibility of overturning. The scale goes up to grade 6, which probably consists of “kiss-you-ass-goodbye” rapids. We’ll just stick to grade 3-4 rapids thank you.

On the bus, we were supposed to be shown a video on safety and what to do when you fall out of the raft. Pretty crucial stuff. But of course, why would one expect anything to go right when Ash and I are involved? God hates us. The VCR was malfunctioning, so one of the guides got up and briefed us. So, what was supposed to be a 10-minute video was now condensed into a one-minute speech that no one could hear over the microphone feedback. After this quasi-safety lesson, we were then give liability forms to sign. It was pretty much like, “If you get injured or lose a limb, don’t sue. If you die, don’t have your dad sue.” Comforting.

So, we finally reached our destination. There were at least 12 river guides setting up our gear. Ash looked out of the bus, pointed at the most chiseled man out of the bunch, and said “I want him as our guide”. That’s my girl! We got out and met the rest of our crew. There was Matt and Tom, two friends from the UK, and a couple from the UK as well, Steve and Katherine.

And finally, for one brief moment when God was probably not paying attention, our luck changed. Our guide turned out to be Vince, aka the chiseled man that Ashleigh pointed out earlier. Score! But what was embarrassing was the fact that earlier I thought that one of the British guys was our guide and walked straight up to him and asked him if he could tighten my helmet for me. He had this strange look on his face and tried to help, but didn’t quite fix the problem. I was thinking in my head, “Great! This is the guy who is supposed to lead us safely down the river?” Oops.

Anyway, Vince helps all of us with our gear and finds out that Ash and I are from Canada. He then tells me that he will have to ask a question later. Okay….. So we head down the forest towards the river. Once we get to the tip of the river, it really hit me. You see these yellow rafts, which are tied to these wooden pools, thrashing about in the river. You can hear the crashing water down the river and either it was my adrenaline-induced delusions or just the wind, but I thought I heard people screaming. Oh boy.

We hop into the raft and Vince introduces us to Hacky, a guy who is training to be a river guide as well. He was going to paddle with us, which was fine with us seeing that he would be another person that could save us. Vince then goes through some safety procedures with us. And once again, they are far too quick and vague. He teaches us some manoeuvres that are crucial to stay afloat. There are moves that require the entire right side of the boat to jump over to the left side and vice versa. There’s also the “tell my mother I love her” move, where everyone has to jump into the middle of the boat, keep their paddle up, and hang on for dear life. I liked that one.

Then it began.

We set our raft into the river and immediately started to paddle. Our first rapid was called “The Alarm Clock”. This one is supposed to wake everyone up and introduce us to the world of rafting. It was thrilling and scary and confusing and liberating all at the same time. My adrenaline was pumping and that was it.



I was hooked.

We hit a more calm area and Vince asked all of us to hop out of the raft. He was going to teach us how to float safely down the river if we ever fell over. The position requires you to sit up with your legs straight in front of you and arms out. So we floated around a little and got to know our crew a little more. We really had to watch out for the little rocks though; the ones that don’t break the surface of the water. Two words: rock enema. Poor Steve got one of those.

Getting back into the raft was hilarious. Our guide wanted to see if we could get ourselves back into the raft ourselves just in case he wasn’t there to help us. Sure, all the men did it without a hitch. Ashleigh and I? We looked like flailing fish trying to free themselves from a fishing net. Not graceful at all. We were thrashing about but not getting anywhere near the inside of the raft. So after laughs all around, Vince decided to put us out of our misery. Let me tell you, this man is strong. He grabbed us and just flopped us back into the raft without breaking a sweat. Ladies, he’s married.

As we paddled along, he finally asked me the question he wanted to earlier. He asked why every time he wrestles with Canadians, they tend to wrap their legs around his waist as a strategic move. I explained to him that it’s a Canadian thing called “The Scissors” and that he wouldn’t understand. I really had no idea what he was talking about, but at least it looked like I did. We all joked around some more and for some reason, the running theme throughout the entire trip down the river revolved around buttocks. I’m not joking. The entire ride down the river. Well, what do you expect when you get four British people, two Canadians, one Korean in training, and one cheeky Australian in one raft?

Back to serious rafting. As we paddled our way through a couple more rapids, Vince stopped us. He told us that there was a rapid coming up called “The Double Waterfall”. Uh huh. He told us that in order to manoeuvre through this rapid, we would have to squeeze our raft though a gap in between two massive rocks that was half our size. Uh huh. The water through this gap was really strong, so we had to be quick on our feet….or bums. We would have to jump right, and then immediately jump left to keep the raft afloat. After that, we would have to get down into the middle of the boat straight away and pray. It was such a rush. We stayed afloat and didn’t lose anyone. However, as we paddled away, we saw another raft flip over. Beginners.


There was one rapid that did give us a little trouble. I believe it was called “Wet & Moisty”. The rapid started to push us in circle. It was seriously like a whirlpool. Water was rushing into our raft while we were continuously spinning. Vince to the rescue. He manoeuvred us out of this vortex all by himself, as Ash and I watched in amazement. So, instead of fearing for our lives, we were swooning. Typical.

We were approaching where we were going to have lunch, but as we were closing in on our docking site, we spotted this beautiful waterfall. It was straight out of National Geographic. It was cascading off the rainforest walls and into the river. All the rafts were going underneath it for a refreshing soak. We took off all of our gear and went under it with our raft. It was so cool and rejuvenating. It was hilarious though. I was closer to the wall of the rocks, so the water wasn’t falling that heavily there. I was enjoying a nice drizzle. But where Ashleigh was, the water was falling with a lot of force. I see her just getting pelted by the water. Poor Ash.

It was lunchtime, so we tied up our raft with the other rafts. We met other rafters and no one seemed to be hurt or without a limb, which is always good. After lunch, we headed back. This was when we faced our biggest challenge, “The Disappearing Falls”. We were supposed to go over it with our raft.


Um…how about no?

Just kidding. That wasn’t the falls. The real waterfall was about a two and a half metre drop. But that’s still a big drop to go over on a raft. If we were to have stayed in our present positions, we would have definitely flung the people in the back out. So, Vince told all of us to cram ourselves into the front compartment. We all had to sit up there and hug each other as we went over the falls. Not surprisingly, we all fell out. Katherine kneed Tom in the face and he began to bleed. It wasn’t serious though, just a superficial cut.


In celebration of….well…not dying, it was photo time. Every raft went ashore and took pictures. Vince, not one to be upstaged by others, flipped our raft upside-down. We were going to form a pyramid. Men on the bottom and women on top. The lightest person would understandably be on top. I don’t know how I got that position. Was I the lightest? Hell no!!! Ashleigh was just quick to the draw and volunteered me. Could I look more like the girl from “The Ring” with all of my hair in front of my face? Good times.

We then hit a nice calm part of the river, which was perfect for some rafting games. The game consisted of two people balancing on the ends of the raft while the others paddled in unison to spin the raft in a circle. The first one to fall out of the raft would owe the other a pint. This was definitely worth playing for. Ashleigh, being the more sane and rational one out of the two of us, opted just to watch and laugh at me. I failed all the ladies. I lost twice. The whole thing about women being better at balancing? Lies.

As we paddled on, we encountered the funniest moment of the day. There was a raft that was filled with cute little Japanese girls. They had all just gone for a swim and were waiting for their river guide to lift them back onto the raft. He reached for one of the girls. We watched as he hauled her up with so much force that she flew off the other side of the raft and back into the water. Our raft just erupted. I have never cried so much from laughing. It was probably one of those “you had to be there” moments.

After regaining our composure, we continued on down the river. That’s when we encountered “Jabba The Hut”. It was this gigantic rock that protruded out of the water. Some people were getting out of their rafts, climbing the rock, and jumping off. I don’t think the rationality and sanity that Ashleigh practices ever formed in me. (To Mr. & Mrs. Warren: you’ve raised a very level-headed daughter). So, I was definitely going for it. I must admit though, walking to the edge of that rock was really terrifying. But when will I ever get to jump off a massive rock into a river that runs through a rainforest again? So, I went for it. Just picture Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid…only with a smaller rock…and without the loveliness that is Paul Newman. Simply exhilarating.

We got back into the raft and continued on. We were closing in on the end of a 5-hour long rafting experience. At this time, Ash and I really began to grasp what we were doing. We realized that when you are paddling (struggling to stay alive), you cannot fully appreciate your surroundings. This was when we were just absorbing everything. The scenery, the sounds, the atmosphere. I think I saw a tear in Ashleigh’s eye….or it could have just been a drop of river water, but I’d like to think it was a tear.

Anyway, we docked and loaded all of our gear back onto the bus. We headed back to the Raging Thunder headquarters to purchase some photos that they took of us. This is when people ice their wounds, have a nice cold one, muse over what happened during the day….and pay up if you lost the rafting game. No, they didn’t force me to buy them a beer. Nice British gents. Ash and I took a picture with Vince (for swooning purposes later on), but wouldn’t you know it? God was paying attention this time. The picture didn’t turn out. Well, it was nice while it lasted.

We got back to our hostel that night and just passed out. Boy, were we sore the next day. Well, there it is. Our favourite day.

Jess


Showers: 1 (really long and hot one)
Bruises: 3
Laughs: millions

Swimming with the Fish


Day 2: Snorkeling @ the Great Barrier Reef
This was such an amazing day! We had to wake up so bloody early and walk to the marina though. The harbour was gorgeous in the morning. There were yachts, catamarans, and Japanese tourists galore. Nothing quite says Australia like a bunch of Japanese tourists.

Anyway, “Passions of Paradise” was the name of our catamaran that would be taking us to the reef. We boarded the boat and set sail into paradise. We kept an eye on the water for the entire duration of our ride. It was cool how the water was almost brown near the dock, but as we approached the Great Barrier Reef, the water progressively got bluer. By the time we reached our dive site, I kid you not, the water was turquoise.

Blue eh?

Before we were allowed to go snorkeling, the crew had to go through a safety training session with us. They filled us in on how to use the equipment and what to do when you see a shark. Uh huh. I’m pretty sure we all know what to do when we see a shark. Push the smallest, weakest, most fleshy person in front of it and haul ass out of the water. They informed us that there were only small reef sharks around that don’t attack humans. So after that was all said and done, we were free to snorkel around.

That's Ash is full snorkel gear.....and my finger.


Before we set off, Ash and I signed up for a ride around a glassbottom boat to see what was swimming around down there. We saw tons of fish, coral, and this huge clam. It was about 2 metres in length! That’s one big bowl of chowder! Finally, we plunged into the water for a little snorkeling. I’m proud of Ashleigh for doing this. I know she’s not that comfortable in the water, but she adjusted quickly and became a snorkeling pro by the end of the day. It was perfect. We were swimming with the fish in the Great Barrier Reef! It’s still mind-boggling.

We took a break for lunch back on the catamaran. That’s when we found out that the sea had taken its first couple of victims….there were a few people who became seasick. Poor guys.

That's me chasing a fish for a photo.


After lunch, we sailed to another dive location. This time it was in Michaelmas Cay, where there is an island that is protected by the government. It is a certified bird sanctuary. These endangered birds only come here to mate and there is only a small portion of the island that humans can walk on. If one was to walk past the roped off area, it would be an automatic $250 000 fine. Guess who almost stepped past? Yours truly. We snorkeled up to this island and I wasn’t really looking at where I was floating. I almost floated onto the protected part of the shore, but Ash was quick enough to grab me. Close call seeing that I only had $100 000 in my pocket. Once we got on the island, one of the crew members took a few pics of us, only to charge us a fin and a flipper for them later.

That's us on the Bird Sanctuary Island with our boat in the background. Look at our snazzy outfits.

As we were swimming back to the boat, we saw a woman in the distance flailing her arms. The captain jumped into the little dingy and raced over to get her. We all assumed that she was having trouble swimming, but we were wrong. Apparently, she had encountered one of those reef sharks. It was head-butting her. Riiiight.

That was our cue to board the boat.

Soft Coral & Big Fish/ Us & The Skipper/Proof of Stone Masons?


Then we set sail back to Cairns. We tanned, spoke to other tourists, and soaked in the fact that we were just snorkeling in the one of the first World Heritage Sites. It’s hard to wrap your mind around. I loved every moment of it.

The rest of the night was free for us. We decided to eat at this Italian Restaurant. The food was superb, but it was the dessert that blew our minds. It was a sticky date pudding with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. It came highly recommended by our waiter. Boy, was he ever right! I must say it was orgasmic (please excuse my language, but no other word adequately describes it). Enough said.

There you have it, our second day. Time to tackle the third.

Jess

Amount of salt water swallowed: too much

Number of seasick people: 5 (none of which were us, thank you very much)

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Lift Off


Okay, let’s begin.

Day 1: Cairns @ Leisure
First of all, we almost missed our flight. Long story, but we were scrambling to get to the airport. Only us. The flight was only 2 hours. We arrived in Cairns around 4pm. It was so hot there. For the entire week we were there, the average temp was around 33 degrees. I know all the Canucks reading this are screaming profanities at me (all the while being able to see their breath) because I’m complaining about hot weather. But at least you guys can put layers on. There is only so much clothing you can take off and still look decent.

This day was free for us to explore the city. It was more like a town. Mostly tourists, tour guides, and the people who book the tours. It has become such a quaint little harbour town because it’s the closest town to the Great Barrier Reef. Nothing much happened this day. We checked into Gilligan’s, our hostel for the week. It was such a clean and modern hostel. Very affordable and backpacker friendly. One oddity though: take a look at our washroom.

I tried to capture it in its entirety. There were no partitions between the shower and toilet. You could kill two birds with one stone….I don’t know how, but at least there’s the option.

Anyway, we walked along the boardwalk and hung out at the city lagoon for the rest of the day. Yup, there is a lagoon in the middle of the city too.

These Aussies and their man-made beaches. Genius.

Friday, February 10, 2006

Let the binge blogging begin!

Hey guys!

Long time no see eh? Well, Ash and I have returned to Brisbane after a great week up in Cairns. It was mind-blowingly beautiful up there. It will take me a while to sum up everything we did, saw, ate, experienced, killed, and loved. I'm going to break it down into days, so bear with me. The updates are coming!

Jess

Friday, February 03, 2006

No words

Hey guys.

Actually got a hold of a computer. Just wanted to inform you that there are amazing stories to come.....and it's only been 2 days.