Monday, April 9, 2012

Australia - East Coast


Australia, Australia, Australia. My hub of travel for the last few months, so of course I’m back again. However, this time it’s not just me – I’ve got my sisters in tow! I picked them up from the airport early in the morning and we spent the day exploring Sydney while I played tour guide. I think they were a little angry at me because I refused to let them go to sleep, but how would they ever get adjusted if they went to sleep straight away? See, I wasn’t being mean, I was looking out for them :-)


We only spent one night in Sydney, then we flew up to Cairns for a week. We spent the first day getting ourselves adjusted, figuring out what we wanted to do for our time in this lovely city. We wandered in and out of travel shops and hostels, chatting with people around us to figure out the best things to do. After we had everything booked, we went back to our amazing apartment. We had decided to rent an apartment instead of staying in a hotel and I’m so glad we did. It was so big and spacious and had a great view of the water. It was probably over a million dollar apartment, so we felt quite luxurious!



Of course, one of the first things we did was going scuba diving & snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. I dived on the reef a few years ago but it was before I was certified, so I was really excited to head back there. I found a couple of guys to dive with – one was a pilot from Canada living in Luxembourg and the other was a lawyer from Miami and they were both really good looking, and I had a great couple of dives with them! We saw a manta ray and a sea turtle and heaps of amazing fish and coral. After our dives I went snorkeling with Gina and Sierra and we saw reef sharks and turtles there as well. It was a beautiful day out on the reef!


We also did a couple of different day trips. The first one was up to the Daintree Rainforest. I knew Gina was really looking forward to seeing the rainforest, so I’m happy our day up there worked out. I do have to say that it rained nearly the entire time we were in Australia. We were so frustrated by it, but there’s really nothing you can do but keep pushing on and finding fun things to do. Rain in the rainforest isn’t so bad, but on a beach day it can be pretty frustrating! Anyhow, our adventure to the rainforest was great. We saw some spiders that were the size of your palm (I think Sierra almost walked into one of them face first!), as well turtles, iguanas and in the afternoon we went on a crocodile search. We did see a croc sunning herself on the bank of the river – nice to look at but not to pet!


We spent a day with Uncle Brian’s adventures – what a fun day! It was a bunch of backpackers and they take you up around the tablelands. It’s a day centered around swimming and enjoying all of the trees and the landscape. The first place we went was a river with a huge rock in the middle of it. We asked what it was and the answer was “a natural waterslide!” Our guide said the water was quite high and just under the allowable swimming limit, but that if we were confident swimmers we could jump in and give it a try. A bunch of guys starting climbing in, so of course I had to jump in and represent the ladies! 


After a great lunch we went to a beautiful waterfall. Our guide had us all pose and do these shampoo commercials…you do a hair flip and they take the photo while the water is all flying off. I was not the most coordinated person in the world while taking the photos, but I think they came out pretty good anyway!


Finally, the best part of their trip out to visit me….finding out that Regina is pregnant! She and Andrew are expecting a baby in September! They haven’t found out yet if it is a boy or a girl, but they say that Gabe can’t wait to be a big brother. It will give me something to look forward to once I return to the monotony of regular life. Babies are always so much fun!

As expected, I had a wonderful time when Sierra and Gina came to visit. It was great to be a part of their first independent international travel experience. They flew out and back with no problems and had to learn to deal with some of the cultural differences. Hopefully this sparked something in them and that they might one day again have the ability to travel. I know I loved my time in Australia with them!


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