All's well that end's well

Well, today is our last day. We made it safely down to Sydney and checked into our hotel. It's about 4:30 PM and we are thinking about dinner. Tomorrow at 8:30 AM we head back to the airport for our 11:00 AM flight to LA. Interestingly enough, we will arrive in LA before we leave Sydney! This will be our last blog post. As we reflect on our three week adventure, I'd say we had several really big highlights. Michael says the diving at the Great Barrier Reef tops the list with the luge in Rotarua a very close second! I'd have to add cuddling koalas and playing with the birds to that list. Overall, we've had a fabulous time. I wish we could go on for another three weeks! See you all soon!

Trains, buses, army ducks and skytrams

Well, our last day of activities began with a bus trip to a train. Our desitnation was Kuranda, in the mountains above Cairns. It was an hour and a half trip up the mountain in the Kuranda Scenic Trains passenger car. It was a slow journey though the views were phenomenal. Once we reached Kuranda, we had about an hour to tour around the town. We even managed to find a bird sancuary that was, in essence, a large aviary with lots of exotic birds. The reason Michael and I decided to enter was that they had Sun Conures! That's right, Julius' distant cousins. And there were LOTS of them. The guide mentioned that they are noisy, mischevious and demanded a lot of attention. In other words, they were just like Julius! There were many other birds and some of them would fly right up and land on you. We had a bag of food and we fed quite a few of them.

After the bird sancuary, we made our way back to the bus to go to Rainforestation. Here we experienced an army duck (circa 1945) ride through the rainforest - land and water! Those things are noisy! Every time the guide wanted to tell us something, he had to turn the thing off!

At 1:00 we were treated to a fabulous barbeque lunch with beef, chicken, salad bar, pasta, and a whole section I didn't even get to! Lunch was followed by a traditional aboriginal dance show, featuring several male performers painted up and dancing to the sounds of a digeridoo. That was followed by boomerang lessons (Michael was first up), a lesson in digeridoo playing and a spear throwing display! Finally, we wandered through the wildlife area and saw more kangaroos, koalas and crocodiles.

The very list item on the list of activities was a 7.5 km skyride! Yes, that's right! A skyride over the rainforest! The ride took about 40 minutes and the views were fantastic. Michael and I had a gondola to ourself for most of the trip down. Don't worry, we didn't push anyone out. There are two stations on the way down and the couple with us a the beginning got off at the first station!

Tomorrow, we fly to Sydney and the next day we fly back to LA (and then Vancouver for me). I'd say we have both loved our trip. It seems like a long time ago that we took that rainforest trek back in Auckland two and a half weeks ago! I wish it wasn't coming to an end.

Greatness in the ocean

Today Michael and I experienced the Great Barrier Reef. First we had a one hour motorcoach ride north to Port Douglas. Then a one and a half our cruise in a rocking, yet comfortable pontoon type boat out to the outer reef. On the way, we learned about our options once we reached the reef. We decided that while we could snorkel all we wanted for free, the most fun would be to pay to go scuba diving. So we did. We arrived at the reef platform/pontoon at 11:00 AM and began our ocean adventure by snorkeling for a while. It was AWESOME. There are so many fish that just swim right up to you and around your legs as you are standing on the snorkel platform. There are even these huge 3 ft long fish just watching you watching them! There was someone swimming around taking photos of everyone. We bought one of the two of us snorkelling. I took a digital photo of the print and am including it here. It's not as good as the print, but you get the idea! You can see we are having fun!. At 12:00 we stopped for our lunch which was a buffet served on the pontoon. And then our diving lesson. We had heard an introductory 1/2 hour briefing on the way to the reef so now all we had to do was don the weights, scuba tanks and masks. Then our instructor, Paddy, tested us on what we'd learned. Both Michael and I passed with flying colours! We then dropped, slowly to the ocean floor and began a little tour around the reef. We say Nemo's cousin along with sea slugs and hundreds of other fish. The coral itself was phenomenal! So intricate and delicate! Both Michael and I had underwater cameras so we took lots of pictures. You'll have to wait until we get them developed before seeing them. There was also another diver who videoed our little underwater adventure and, after looking at the footage on the cruise back to land, we decided to buy a couple of copies. We really had fun! After diving, we went out snorkelling again. There is just so much to see out there. Our 3 1/2 hours on the reef is only enough to wet our appetites! We both hope to come back again soon. However, it is time to rest now and get ready for tomorrow's adventures!

Cairns

Today we flew from Brisbane to Cairns (pronounced Cans). This is a great little city! Tropical weather (okay it's a little to hot for my liking) and lots of palm trees. We arrived around noon and after checking in to our little hotel/resort, we took a walk around the town. It's very touristy with lots of dive and boat tour options. Fortunately, we don't have to worry about that as our tour is already booked! We're going to the great barrier reef tomorrow! I can hardly believe it! Michael and I have been looking forward to this our whole trip. Besides the cuddle with the koalas, this will definitely be the highlight!

And for those Canadian culture lovers, here's a little note. Michael just turned the TV on and guess what's on! Corner Gas! It's good to see a little bit of home way out here!

The MOST adorable creatures in the WORLD!

Today Michael and I joined a "Best of Brisbane" tour. This began with a morning bus tour around Brisbane. While I can't retell all the history about all the landmarks, I will say that Brisbane is a beautiful city, especially at this time of year. The river winds lazily in a snake-like shape through the centre of the city. The weather is fabulous and all around are beautifully flowering Jacaranda trees. They are so beautiful! Our tour included tea and scones at Breakfast Creek Hotel, the first overnight resting spot for the first European explorers in the region. Afterward, we boarded a river cruise boat for a one hour trip upstream back to the downtown core.

After lunch, our driver took us out of town to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Let me begin by saying that those little koalas are the MOST ADORABLE CREATURES IN THE ENTIRE WORLD! They must have hundreds of them at the sanctuary. Did you know the little blighters sleep for 19 or 20 hours a day? There were many adorable ones in the most hilarious positions, but I've added a picture of one that both Michael and I chuckled over. He just looks so precious! Remember as you look at the picture that he is sleeping! We were fortunate enough to see many of them moving around and entertaining us. And, of course, this is where we got to cuddle with one. His name is Sumo and he is so cute. After cuddling with him for a few minutes, we went to the little store and bought a couple of bags of kangaroo food. We found about 50 or so kangaroos inside a walk-in enclosure and began feeding them. The walk right up to you and sniff your pockets looking for food! There was one mother about two feet away from me with her little joey hanging around her. I guess he got tired and crawled back into her pouch! He sat so cozily in there and poked his head out to see what was going on!

It really was a fabulous day! Now Michael and I are trying to figure out how we can adopt a koala and take it home!

Crocks Rule, by Crikey!

Today was yet another awesome day! It took the bus about an hour and 15 minutes to get us to the Australia Zoo, former home of the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. It's not as big as I had expected, but it is a fabulous place. You really get to meet the animals up close and personal. Okay, so we didn't get to pet any crocs (thank goodness!), but we did get to pet/handle several others, including kangaroos, koalas, wombats, aligators (see the picture - he was only 7 months old!) and blue-tongues lizards. Michael's favourite were the kangaroos. There was a great crocodile show. The trainers are NUTS - they actually taunted the crocodile from only feet away! Absolutely crazy! Of course there are many other animals at the Australia zoo, including elephants, tigers, dingos, tasmanian devils, foxes, turkeys, walabies, echidnas and cassawaries. Of course, the most prevalent of all were the water dragons. There were dozens (maybe hundreds) of them running free about the zoo, ranging in size from 6 to 24 inches long! So tame and so cute! I never thought I'd say that a lizard was cute! As I am concluding this little missive about our zoo adventures, I wonder if I should mention the time we almost got eaten by a 24 foot long crocodile named Cameron! I guess not! I'll just include a picture! More excitement tomorrow!

Koalas and Kangaroos and Kimodos, Oh My!

Today we had a fabulous day. We took a Sydney Harbour Ferry to Tongaro Zoo! Despite the very changable weather again (rain, sun, wind, rain, wind, sun, wind, rain, etc.), we had a good time. Michael really liked the kangaroos, big and small. We even took in a seal show. The high (or low) point of the day was when we got locked in one of the exhibits and couldn't get out! Fortunately, it wasn't with the kimodo dragons or the crocodiles. We wish it had been with the koalas, but it was only with a few exotic looking birds. I think we were trapped for about 15 minutes before we got rescued. There was another couple with us so we weren't stuck in there alone!

For me (and Michael, I think), the real high light was seeing the Koalas. There were at the end of our circuit through the zoo. There was a little baby that followed it's mother up a tree and then nestled comfortably on her back. Extremely adorable!

We planned to go to an amusement park afterward, but it's closed today so we just made our way back to the hotel. It will have to be an early night for us as we will be picked up early tomorrow for our flight to Brisbane. We are looking forward to our three nights there!