Day 1: We left Sydney bright and early and took the 3.5(ish) hour plane ride to Cairns. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at the airport and took a shuttle to our hostel. As I've said before, I do not particularly like staying in hostels, but its so cheap you are crazy if your don't. The one we stayed at in Cairns was not the best, but it worked out just fine.
Since it was so warm and sunny, we decided to head to the beach. Only there is no beach in
Cairns. For some reason the tide recedes really far, and all that is left is a smelly mudflat! Instead, they have a giant swimming pool, complete with sand and everything. So, we met up with some friends from IES and relaxed in the sun. It was nice to just enjoy the weather and wade in the pool and relax. Charity and I went to the night markets and I picked up a few nice souveneirs. That night we all went out to dinner, got desert, and walked around the boardwalk/pier area. It was a nice, relaxing first day.Day 2: On Tuesday we were picked up really early and went on a day tour of the Daintree Rainforest. Our first stop was the Rainforest Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary. There were 3 sections- the Rainforest, Wetlands, and Grasslands. Each had a path to walk through and there were a ton of birds an animals, including crocodiles, emus, parrots, wallabys, kangaroos, cassowaries, and a koala. A lot of the animals were free to roam around, and we had a close encounter with a huge emu which was pretty scary! From there we went into the Daintree National Park and stopped at the Mossman Gorge. It was a pretty area with a nice creek and rainforest scenery.
Next, we took a ferry over the croc-infested Daintree River and stopped at The Cape Restaurant where we had a buffet lunch. The place was right on a beautiful beach and we had a lot of time to relax and enjoy it. There were all of these sand balls all over the beach from the crabs when they burrow under the sand, and we found a couple of small crabs zipping around. For the first time since coming to Australia I felt like I was in a tropical island-like place.
After lunch we went on a botanic walk. One section was a mangrove, and there I met my match- sand flies! They are very tiny and love to bite and I wound up with 42 (yes 42) bites! Good thing I still have my bottle of amonia... Our last activity of the day was a cruise on the Daintree River. We saw a few wild crocodiles, including a huge alpha male named Scarface, some snakes, crabs, and birds. No major action but it was still cool to see these animals in the wild.Day 3: On Wednesday Charity and I headed on a boat out to the Great Barrier Reef for some snorkeling. The ride out was very rough- our boat was tossed around like a plastic toy boat in a bathtub. I took a good amount of motion sickness medication, but for the first time in my life I threw up from motion sickness. It was pretty embarrassing, but I did not feel too bad
because I was one of probably a dozen or more people who was sick. Luckily the reef itself is very calm and once I got into the water it was fine. I wore a wetsuit for the first time, which was fun, though not very comfortable.I have only been snorkeling once before and I was young and scared, so I was not sure what to expect. First getting out onto the water is pretty
scary- there is a lot of coral, and a lot of fish, and you are basically vulnerable to anything that is around you. Plus, I had to adjust my breathing while also trying to look down into the water, but it didn't take long to get used to. We went out with a guide at first and he took us near some very shallow areas which was both cool and scary because we swam really close to the coral! Charity and I rented an underwater camera and had fun taking pictures. We snorkled 3 different times between 2 locations and had a blast. It was so beautiful - basically like swimming in an acquarium at a zoo only much, much larger. The fish were beautiful and so was the coral.Day 4: On Thursday I learned just how adventurous I was. Charity and I decided to go sky diving! We chose to go through Jump the Beach, which is a sky diving company that lands right on Mission Beach. Charity went before me and so I went to the beach and hung out for a couple of hours. I was able to see 2 different groups land (including Charity) so by the time it was my turn I was very confident about the divers' ability to land on the beach and not in the ocean!
I orded a video and pictures, so I have the whole thing recoded. I got harnessed in, learned how to sky dive, and off we went. We squeezed in the tiny plane like sardines. I had originally paid for 11,000 ft. but the person who I dove with, Jeremy, did not seat us in the right place on the plane so I had no choice but to jump at 14,000 ft!!!!! (Luckily I did not have to pay extra for this, it was a little secret). I was the 3rd person out of the plane and surprisingly I was very calm. As I was getting ready to jump I was thinking "Holy Shit!" in my head (and may have said it a few times...) but it reality I had no time to think, you are out of the plane before you know it.
The feeling of free fall is really cool - it is similar to sticking your arm out of a window of a car, except that you feel that pressure/force on your whole body times 10. It was not scary at all but a
ton of fun. I made some poses for the camera/video and looked around. Before I knew it free fall (about 60 seconds) was over and the parachute opened. It did not hurt and I had a beautiful ride down to the beach. I was able to see so far- the mountains, the beach, islands, the Great Barrier Reef- all of it. It was so incredibly beautiful. We landed on our butts on the beach but it was still a smooth landing. I had so much fun and would do it again in a heart beat!So, our trip to Cairns was pretty amazing - rain forests, the Great Barrier Reef, jumping out of a plane at 14,000 ft - it doesn't get much better!
I have a lot going on this weekend so I will post soon and tell you all about it.
Here are my 3 facebook albums from the trip. Enjoy!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2066739&id=15508583&l=aef82014bb
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2066741&id=15508583&l=ea8d26b2b0
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2066743&id=15508583&l=c826597304
Love,
Becky
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