Monday, January 5, 2009

Cairns > 24 hour bus ride > Hervey Bay

Cairns has been wonderful. It's a small town located in north Queensland with lots going on. Lish and I went snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef on our second day here. It was our best Australian experience yet. We paid an extra $20AUD to do an introductory scuba dive...brilliant! One of the best experiences of my life, though my ears felt very pressurized on the way down despite my efforts of equalizing (holding nose and blowing). Totally worth the few hours of discomfort.

Yesterday we took a tour into the rainforest. It was not like I pictured it would be. The plants were great, but the animals non existant. I was displeased with the rainforest experience having such high expectations going in. That always seems to happen when I expect something to be good going in. I was expecting South American tropical rainforest with bright and poisoness (sp?) centipedes and millipedes, some monkeys, and other crazy looking insects, animals, and plants. This was a much older rainforest that was much less exotic. The night walk we took with a tour guide was the highlight of the trip. We spent an overnight in a small dorm room in the rainforest, stood in the rain (very very cool), and just returned back to Cairns.

Tomorrow we hop aboard a Greyhound bus and spend almost 24 hours going halfway down the coast of Oz. We'll get through it knowing better times will come. Then we spend 2 nights in Hervey Bay, and 3 nights camping on Frasier Island.

That's all for now, might not update for awhile as we will not be having internet for the next week or so (we'll be on an island!) See you all at the end of January, and keep the comments coming!

3 comments:

  1. Hi guys -
    Your time in Cairns sounds amazing. What a great experience. Hope you survived the grueling journey and are now happily camping!
    Love, Mom

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  2. Hi Ryan and Elisha,

    I miss you guys alot and can't wait to hear what you experienced on the next leg of your journey. You aren't missing much in the way of weather here- a yucky slushy mess that fell from the sky today. Anyway just know you are in my thoughts and I love you both tons and tons.

    Love, Mom

    You have two loving moms thinking about you. :-)

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  3. hey baby! hi ryan! Orion and i miss u! we were without internet until today. We got a wireless card o now i can read every day.
    so... its great i bet. what are forest dragons?
    would u ever live there?
    seen any kangaroo fights?
    seen mel gibson?
    luv u
    hug u
    miss u
    kiss u
    dad

    ReplyDelete