Reef and Rainforest

Hey All,

Well, as things have been so packed recently and my camera is about to explode with images, I thought I'd keep up to speed. After arriving in Cairns, I took a day to get acquainted with the city and to book a couple of tours. Cairns is a clean seaside town bustling with tourism. There are scores of 18-25 year old backpackers roaming all over the place. A million and one adventurous things to do during the day, and there's always a party going on at night. I stayed a couple nights, then took a two day excursion up to the Daintree rain forest. Along the way the tour group stopped at Mossman Gorge for a swim, visited another animal sanctuary where I befriend a little cockatiel who insisted on sitting on my shoulder and receiving neck stratches for about 20 minutes straight. Lots of birds, a couple koalas and a massive colony of bats, plus the absolute largest pelicans I have ever seen. Later in the day with took a little cruise down the Daintree river to spot crocodiles. Saw a couple, but there wasn't much action as crocs like to rest on the banks during the day, storing energy for the night hunt. Also, the whole group was nearly asleep as we had just eaten lunch prior to the cruise.

We arrived at our accommodations around 4 in the afternoon. A hip place called PK's, it was situated in the rainforest and about 75 meters walk from the beach. To see rainforest meet ocean is spectacular, and apparently quite rare. Only one other spot in the world has rainforest down to the ocean. Bonus points if you can name it. I relaxed on the sand, took a walk to Cape Tribulation beach, and sacked out for the night. The next day I did a canopy zip-line excursion. About 40 feet up in the trees you zip along the rainforest taking in the view and beautiful forest around. Sadly, most of the time was spent waiting on each platform, as each participant had to be harnessed, unharnessed and harnessed again from platform to platform. That said, it was still amazing to be up in the tree tops, that's for sure.The remainder of that day and the next was just spent relaxing, having a beer, and getting to know some of the other travelers. I returned to Cairns last Monday evening, stoked for trip to scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef the next day.

The dive on Tuesday was spectacular. I did three dives, in a group of only five, with a guide who knew his stuff. The boat ride was smooth given the conditions, the equipment in great shape, and the weather was beautiful once we got out to the reef. Couldn't ask for anything else. The reef was amazing - huge and expansive, even just in the little sections that we dove. I took tons of photos with a rental camera. Here's just a taste.

And that brings us to today. This morning I caught a flight down to Melbourne, where I was greeted by Marian, one of 9 of my mother's cousins. She, her husband Peter and son Michael have graciously taken me in for the next couple of nights, and organized days and nights and for me to stay with the other relatives in the Brisbane area, as well as activities for while I'm here. Finally I get to meet this wonderful extended Australian family!

That's it for now. Apologies for not yet getting all the photos up yet that I promised. Tomorrow I'll begin the process hopefully.

Wishing you well.

J