A trip to Oz

Today we headed up into the rainforest to a town called Kuranda. The ride over the tops of the trees were amazing. The view was incredible. We made a couple of stops along the way to check the views and it is wonderful to stand and see only the tops of trees for as far as the eye can see.

In Kuranda we wandered the village which has lots of small shops and resturants. They don't tip normally in Australia so its kinda of wierd the way the resturants work. In many you order your food then sit down and someone brings it to you.

After a nice hike along a river and through the rainforest we stopped for a bite to eat. We bought some cool stuff to bring back and really enjoyed the place. On the way down, we stopped to see Baron Falls. It was nice to see, the ground rumbled but there were trees blocking many of the outlooks but it was still a good experience.

After the long ride down from the rainforest, we took a break and then headed for the night zoo. This is a regular zoo during the day but at night we have a much smaller group. The adventure starts with dinner and the offer of as much as you want to drink. Apparently, they encourage the visitors to help themselves to beer and wine so they are more open to participating with the 'concert' at then end of the evening.

During the visit we saw a very cool owl, bats, crocks and, of course, Koalas and Kangaroos. We got some great Koalas, Kangaroos and lots of crocks. We even got to pat a wombat!

One of the best parts of the night zoo was getting to feed and pet the kangaroos. Inside this enclosure there must have been 50 or so kangaroos hanging around the campfire despite it being 80f degrees or so.

Then evening ended with a concert and many of the visitors singing and dancing to Australian songs.

As we headed out to the reef it was raining. We hoped weather was better out on the reef and we were not disappointed. About an hour and 10 minutes out from the terminals at Cairns we were parked off of Michaelmas Quay (pronounced KEY) on the Great Barrier Reef. The water was spectacular. Michaelmas Quay is a spit of coral sand. About 2/3 of it is a bird sanctuary. They ferry the swimmers over by a smaller boat that drops you right on the sand. You just have to swim or snorkel right into the water.

The GBR (as its called here) is full of life. Lots of different fish, anenomes, and many types of coral. We both snorkeled for a while then went back to the big boat for lunch. After lunch Julie enjoyed the sun on the coral sand beach and I went looking for some critters to photograph.

Julie even babysat for a younger couple so they could enjoy a snorkel together while out on the quay. As it turns out they were from Edmonds, just a couple of towns over from us. Another example of how small the world can be.

After several hours on the reef it was time to go home. But the adventure wasn't over. Many of the boats that head out the reef are twin hull designs to help keep them stable. Ours was one of these. Between the two pontoos is an open grid that folks can sit on and watch the water pass under the boat.

On the way home the seas got a bid choppy. Not unlike Hawaii, where the afternoons bring wind and some heavier seas depending on which side of the islands you are on. So as this big boat bored through the waves they started crashing over the starboard (the right side for you landlubbers) side of the boat. The waves also came crashing through the grid and splashing over the starboard side chasing all of the people on that side to the back side of the boat....except your's truly. I thought why worry about getting wet when on a sailboat. So as each wave crashed up and over, I was soaked again and again. Each time I would take my very wet towel, try to dry my face, wring out the towel and wait until the next wave. I rarely had to wait long. This defiance apparently was very entertaining to both passengers and crew and I refused to be chased from my otherwise comfortable perch. At one point I calmly pulled my mask and snorkel from my bag and put it on. This brought a very nice thumbs up from on of the crew.

All in all it was a great day and a super introduction to the Great Barrier Reef.

Tomorrow we head for Kuranda a village atop the Rainforest. We get there by a tram and pass over the rainforest. Tune in for tomorrows report.

After a 37 hour journey that included planes, boats, taxis and trains we made it to our resort in Cairns. So, after a good nights rest it was time to explore. We decided to take it easy for the first day and did some shopping. Along the way we were directed to a casino that had a wild bird (and some other animals) exhibit on the top floor. So, off to our first real photo opportunity in Oz. It turned out to be a log of fun. Julie make friends with a large black cockatoo named Zorro. He wandered over to her and just walked up her arm as if he'd known her all his life. After getting some pictures of the two of them having a chat he flew over to me and perched on my shoulder. It was all fun but Zorro wasn't done visiting. It took a while but we were able to get him to head back to his perch and we explored the rest of the aviary. There were a few dozen different kinds a birds including other cockatoos, parrots, lorakeets, owls and others. There were even a couple of small roo's there as well.

The rest of the day was given over to shopping and exploring. We ended up getting the weeks excursions set up and then back to the room.

Tomorrow we head for the Great Barrier Reef. The largest living thing in the world for a day of snorkeling.

Hi everyone. Just a quick update. More details will follow. There wasn't much access to the internet at the first resort so we haven't been able to share some of the wonderful experiences we have had so far. But fear not. They're coming! And hopefully they'll allow up to add some photos too.

We're heading out of Cairns for Brizzy (Brisbane for you mainlanders) just in time. A cyclone is predicted for Wednesday.

We are going to learn to drive on the 'wrong' side of the road. We're going to drive down the coast from Brizzy to our next stop. Beware Aussie drivers!

Flight is calling. More details later!

Well so far so good. Our first leg from Seattle to LA went well. The overnight flight went relatively well. The seats were comfortable but nothing to be excited about. The service on the flight from LA to Sydney was pretty good and the food was reasonable. We didn't even miss the Monday we never saw.

But trying to get from Sydney to Cairns didn't work so well. We went without delay from the plane to customs and then immigration but we just couldn't get past the luggage area. It turns out the QE2 and QM2 are both scheduled to dock in Sydney today and there are no dearth of ugly, pushy and whiney Americans arriving in Sydney to take in the cruises.

Anyway, once we got to the domestic terminal we couldn't get on our 9:30am flight. The Qantas guy that is supposed to help with such issues didn't seem to care about out plight at all. He did get us on the 7:30PM flight to Cairns. A nice bloke helped us figure out how to call Cairns from Sydney so we could alert the resort we would be late. We are also quickly getting used the various sized money. Both the paper and coins are different sizes but their size isn't in order of the amount. I got 25 cents change and the 20 cent piece was almost the size of a 50 cent piece. But both are larger than the $2 coin.

So, we now have an 'extra' 9 hours to explore Sydney.

So we try to get help from a few more Qantas airline personnel but none we approached seemed too interested in helping us. We did finally find a nice lady at an information booth who suggested we buy a day pass and go explore the harbor and see the ships.

The public transportation in Sydney is really easy to figure out. We took a train out of the airport to the ferry docks then took two different ferry rides around the harbor area. Our first sight was the Opera House and the bridge. We did see the QM. The QE2 didn't arrive until later this afternoon.

So after the day crusing Sydney harbor, we grabbed some lunch then headed back to the airport. The domestic terminal doesn't seem to a lot of travellers during the week. Even Burbank seems to have more folks walking through it on a normal business day. It was strange to see such a big terminal area be so quiet on a workday.

So we are waiting at the very last gate for domestic Qantas for our flight. We are a little early but 60 minutes before our flight there are just three passengers...;-0

Tomorrow Cairns... then the Great Barrier Reef!!!!