In Cairns!

So we are in Cairns Australia right now for those of you who dont know its at the North Eastern Coast near the top of the Great Barrier reef. Before i fill you in on Cairns though i have to update to this point. Here we go.

Nov 1- This was our last full day in sydney so we went into downtown right next to the opera house and went to an enormous street market in an old part of town called The Rocks. Then we took a ferry 30 min out to across the harbor to a place called Manly(you can tell by the name that they named it after me). The coolest thing about this place was that it had back to back beaches. Where the ferry docked it had a short beach for the locals and about half a mile across town, running parralell with the other beach was a very long very crowded beach. It was much more touristy. It was a cool little town with plenty of shops.
After we got back into sydney we had a bite to eat in the shadow of the opera house with a great view across the water at the bridge then it was straight home to rest. We were pooped at this point, it feels like weve been on our feet the whole trip.

Nov 2- This was our second travel day, we took an afternoon flight to Cairns and got to our hostel without a hitch at 7pm or so. Our hostel was called the Northern Green house and it was great, we couldnt have been happier with it. It was mine and Mandys first hostel experiance. And to enhance the experiance we took the risk of staying in a mixed dorm room with 6 beds. The mix was a little unbalanced because it was mandy and 5 guys, all our age, all great. There where two Germans, a Dutch guy, and an Irishman.Right when we walked in Tom, a very fun talkitive German, climbed down from his bunk in his underwear and and jokingly announced " Now that theres a girl i guess we have to wear pants." That first nite the six of us had drinks at the hostel bar and got aqainted. Alex (one of the Germans)and I ended the nite with a quick McDonalds run.

Nov 3- On this day after catching the free hostel breakfast we explored the town, swam in the beatiful lagoon that was an enormous salt water pool, and didnt swim in the ocean due to the signs that show crocs biting people. Cairns is beautiful it is full of tropical birds, trees, and flowers that are straight out of National Geographic and none are in short supply. To get our fill of the plants we took a trip to the botanical gardens for a few hours and made another friend along the way; shes an english girl and is very funny. We made dinner in the communal kitchen and visted with our new friends til bed time.


Nov 4- Over morning coffee we took turns asking questions with a few of the guys, eg: "Is your college really as crazy as it is on american movies?" The day before we had signed up for sailing in the office without knowing any of the details. At noon the hostel gave us a ride to the Yacht club where we were assigned to a boat and informed what kind of race we would be running. Keep in mind we have never been sailing. Visitors who sign up are put aboard various boats who meet for the weekely yacht club race. The winner gets a bottle of rum. We were with a really friendly group of folks who greeted us warmly; they pulled us aboard and we were off without a word of instruction, a word of warning, or a word about where to locate a life vest. Our ship, The Silver Shamrock, was world champion in 98 and was fast and could turn very well. So much so that mandy and myself thought we capsizing anytime the sail was filled with breeze, the boat was regularlly reaching a 40 degree list (i would know because i was keeping a close eye on it) but apparently this was normal because the crew didnt seem to notice. So soon enough we followed suit and enjoyed ourselves with them. It was a great experiance; plenty of excitment, scenery and clinging to cables. Afterward we went to the Yacht club with them for complimentary food and drink. Our boat got 3rd out of 13(no doubt thanks to us, haha)and they gave us a proper introduction to the rest of the club, everyone is so friendly and outgoing in this country! As if this day wasnt long enough we went out with our roomates for a nite on the town and had a blast. We did a trivia nite together, had beers, and danced plenty. While we were dancing on the table Tom lost his balance and fell over backwards hitting his back half way down on a bench. Scary at first but hilarious once he popped up smiling and laughing. He did have a welt on his back the next day tho.


Nov 5- Two basic things happened this day. We recovered from the nite before and we moved all our stuff on foot to our second hostel in 90 degree heat. The two of these things together made for a miserable walk. We booked two different hostels a while ago just to get a different experiance and also to have a private room incase the dorm was a disaster. We were sad to leave, but the new found privacy was nice. We did a few chores and a little swimming also but nothing too strenuous.

Nov 6- OK we are caught up and back in the present, hooray! sorry for the long post but the internet is hard to find free here and we are always busy. I am going to let Mandy fill you in on what happened today since shes a marine biologist and we went diving on the Great Barrier Reef. We are healthy and happy, hope you all are too.