Cairns...

These are from Fraser Island. This was our trusty 4x4 with our hood ornament Stacey!

These were the football/ soccor teams. The pictures pretty much speak for themselves!

The Maheno Shipwreck... an eerie sight.

What can I say about Cairns?! Hmm,... its incredibly hot and humid up here. The heat messes with my creative ability when writing these posts. We've been staying here since Tuesday morning. After an overnight bus from Airlie Beach, we arrived.



Back in Airlie... we went on the 3 day sailing cruise through the Whitsundays. Its was incredible. We had a free introductory scuba dive included with our sailing trip... Conrad's first scuba experience. He said he loved it. At one point, he was face to face with a giant sting ray. It was covered in sand at the bottom of one of the coral reefs, Conrad was just looking around when our guide came up and signaled for him to back up. Then, with a few flaps of its wings you saw this giant sting ray emerge from the sand. Conrad said he looked him right in the eye!!! Its hard to articulate the feeling as it seemlessly "flew" away!



We were on an 80ft maxi-racing sailboat from the late 80's. Her name was Apollo. Although, she hasn't raced since then she was obviously ahead of her time. On the way back we had good winds and raced another retired maxi. The boat was nearly completely tipped over! For a sail boat we were cruising! As a passenger you are supposed to sit on the side of the boat that is above water [pretty obvious] but this rule alludes that the other side is under water. Apparently, the main sail can go all the way down 110 degrees.... 20degrees below the top of the water... and she'll still sail and stay afloat! And there you are sitting on the upright side... you're legs are dangling as you enjoy the surreal view from the deck of the boat. Conrad and I were sitting right at the front. We got blasted by this really big wave and got soaked! It was great! Unfortunately, we both had our cameras at the time and Conrad's did not go so well. He just picked up a replacement here in Cairns... don't worry his photo's are fine just the camera won't work.



All in all, the sailing trip was great. We got to do a lot of snorkelling and went on 2 dives. We saw tons of fish, coral and other sea life! No sharks though... I'm not sure how I feel about that... At one point, we "threw anchor" in a nice lagoon. It wasn't a moment later that a wild cockatoo landed on the mast [?]... one of the cords that supports the sail... then another one came... and another one. Back home you only see these birds in pet stores. Here you see them flying around wild! Its crazy! Crackers were brought out and they carefully picked them out of your hand. Conrad got to hold one of the crackers out. Everyone got their photo-op in... at first the crew was delighted by the visitors. One guy said he'd been sailing for a year and a half, yet this was news to him. However, once the parrots stuck around to deficate on the deck their demeanour changed.



At the time, the purpose for stopping was to check out aboriginal cave paintings on the adjoining island. After a quick hike we made it to the cave. I remember my first year of art history. Some of the first pieces we learnt about were the cave paintings dating back to 80 000 BC... don't quote me I can't quite remember the dates... anyway the idea of such ancient artworks blew my mind then and it continued to when I saw some with my own eyes. Although these works were not nearly as dated as those studied in history class, it was equivically humbling.

But to every amazing moment there seems to be its opposite. The cave was swarmed with mosquitos which no one realised were eating us alive after we had been standing there for a while. I have never gotten so many bites in such a short period of time. Dinnertime continued as well ventured to a few look out points. We all got some nice shots of Apollo in the calm lagoon... meanwhile, the f*cking mosquitos were at work! I was one of the first to decided they'd had enough and started back. Some of the rocks were slimy and I slipped and bashed my head against the rocks. It sucked. My butt was covered in the slimy mud for the rest of the trip. While waiting for the zodiac to pick us up Conrad slipped and broke his sandal. We were zero for two. Not the greatest of luck. Looking back we both smile. [scratch.scratch]

...more stories to come... I'm out of time.