Reef, Rainforest, Sails and Goodbyes

Much has happened since I last wrote from Airlie Beach. Last weekend was spent sailing upon the glorious British Defender through the crystal blue waters of the Whitsunday Islands. The group on board was an amazing bunch, comparable in gloriousness to the first group we met in Byron. Among my favourites were Wilfried and Kris, the adorable Germans, Ernesto, Lindsay my Canadian homeslice, Ciska, Peter, Priscille, Richard, and many, many others. The Germans though were absolutely tops. Along with adorably shy Wilfried and flamboyantly gay Kris was Wil's sister, Nicole. The three of them are currently in Alice Springs, where I will be flying to even hotter weather tomorrow. Living on a boat for three days in paradise drinking gin and tonics and hanging out with Germans was pretty much amazing. Wearing a stinger suit to protect myself from the extremely tiny and deadly iruganji was not. As a result of the suit, not showering for three days, and a bit too much sun, I developed a really love rash on my neck. A week later it's completely gone, but it really was pretty ugly. Overall the Whitsundays are at the top of my travel experiences. I went snorkeling, scuba diving for the first time, and walked on the whitest sands in Australia.



Upon arriving back at Airlie Beach, we ran into Kate, a girl who had roomed with us the night before. She is also amongst my favourite people I've met so far, absolutely lovely British girl. Monday was spent primarily lounging by the lagoon and showering at other people's hostels. Monday night Antonio and I took our final night bus up to Cairns, where arrived Tuesday at about 6:30 in the morning.



Of course, being the active travelers we are, approximately an hour after checking into our hostel, Antonio and I got onto another boat to go snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. I initially refrained from discussing my first primary scuba diving experience from the Whitsundays to discuss it here. I am addicted to scuba diving. It is by far the coolest thing I have ever done. While I had not intended on going diving off of Cairns, I am SO glad I did. Even though I was on cloud 9 after my Whitsundays dive, my GBR dive was amazing. I fed sea turtles. I saw cuttlefish. I saw Nemo. I saw stingrays. It was awesome. I want to be under water all of the time. I can't wait to go to Caymen and dive with Paul/get certified. Seriously, best experience of my life. Oh, not to mention after the dive we went boomnetting. Boomnetting consists of you being dragged behind a speeding boat while holding on to a net for dear life. Probably won't do it again anytime soon, but it was really fun.

After our time at the reef we came back to the hostel and had a barbecue. I will miss Australian barbecues terribly. My food consumption this week has been somewhat varied, ranging from steaks to crocodile and kangaroo to hummus and fruit.

We left Wednesday to go on a three day tour to the Daintree River and Cape Tribulation. Prior to leaving I checked my mail only to discover my dirt cheap Tiger airways flight had been cancelled. In the midst of my panicking on the bus while driving out to the oldest rainforest in the world, I lose phone reception. Cue my Tasmania crisis all over again. Luckily there was reception at the mosquito infested beach, of all places.

Our time in the rainforest was really good. It is really humid but very beautiful in northern Queensland, and we had a nice time just relaxing at our luxury hostel. We met a pair from England who were also on the tour and have been spending a good bit of time with them. After a few days of croc spotting, walking through croc inhabited creeks, getting attacked by geckos and mosquitoes, and finishing my novel, we headed up to Cape Tribulation, where we had the pleasure of meeting Matt Lynch. Matt is pretty much the funniest guy I've ever met. Following a night of drinks and sing alongs (Matt pulled out of his bag a harmonica for all eight people at our table), Matt and I went Jungle Surfing. Jungle Surfing basically consists of you being harnessed to a rope and flung through the rainforest canopy. I did it upside down. Somewhere in Australia I became a thrill seeker.

Our last afternoon Antonio and I went on an exotic fruit tasting. It was pretty cool. I'm in love with soursop.

Last night we went to see Beowulf with the Brits, Lauren and Steven. I liked it overall, but it was definitely a guy movie. Although I guess considering the "epic" quality of Beowulf anyway, it's a guys story to begin with.

Today was spent at the lagoon, then hiding inside due to the extreme heat. Antonio left me about an hour ago for the airport to fly back to Melbourne. I fly to Alice Springs tomorrow morning, where I will be greeted by even more extreme heat. I am, however, pretty pumped to see the Rock.

I am not, however, all that excited to go back to Melbourne. With Antonio's absence I've realized that there isn't really going to be anyone there when I get back, making my last few days in Australia pretty lonely ones. Hopefully a few people will be around, but honestly, at this point I've come to the realization that I'd be okay with going home now. I am tired, my clothes are dirty, and I'm basically out of money. I'm ready to sleep in my bed, to hang out with Joe and Alicia, to play with Lily, and to obtain a new drivers license. I'm ready to work again. I'm to do acapella. I'm ready for Bryn Mawr again. I didn't think I'd be saying it so soon, but I really do want to come home. As much as I love this country, I'm ready to be with my family and friends again and share my experiences with them, face to face.