Cairns

Loved Cairns!  It's a great little beach town, and it reminds me of Santa Monica and Venice Beach.  I was very happy there.  One day I took a Skyrail up to Kuranda, which is a small town in the middle of a rainforest.  It was absolutely beautiful.  It was so green, and I could taste the clean air--- very different than LA.  I walked around for a bit, and then took a train back, and saw some beautiful views of Barron Falls. 

Friday night my roommate from my hostel invited me to a little barbecue she was doing with her friend.  She's from Japan, her friend was from Korea, and they had 2 other friends from Japan as well.  The whole night was them asking me how to say things in English, kinda funny.  And, like a true American, the Korean, Jay, brought out Heinz Ketchup and said to put it on everything, that it's the best.  I had to laugh, but was actually happy to see Heinz, since everywhere else in Australia, it's "tomato sauce" and tastes different than the ketchup I'm used to.  There was another group of people having a bbq next to us.  One of them was from the US, and he was cooking up some kangaroo, so I was able to try that.  It's a good, lean meat, which a bit of an after taste different from regular beef. 

The next morning I went on a boat that headed to 3 reefs, about 2 km away from the continental shelf.  I had decided to do an intro scuba dive.  I'm usually not one to get sick on car rides, planes or boats, so I didn't take any sort of pill for motion sickness.  I had a cup of coffee, and after 3 of the people sitting next to me got sick and walked outside, I got sick as well :-(  Luckily it was only coffee, since I hadn't eaten anything in the morning :)  I felt better by the time we got to our first stop, so I went snorkeling at the first reef.  To tell you the truth, I was expecting the colors of the coral to be spectacular and bright.  That wasn't really how it was.  There were some beautiful fish I saw at the first location, but it was also really windy and cold, so I didn't last very long. 

My scuba dive was on the 2nd reef.  Why I decided to stop my certification last year, I don't know.  Doing the half-ironman was my most rewarding experience in my life, but this 30 minutes was the most exciting.  I absolutely loved it.   We saw so many beautiful fish, different colors, huge fish, a few sea turtles, and a really ugly huge fish that has become accustomed to divers at that spot.  He had been expecting us, and the photographer, and "took photos" with us.  I decided after that dive that I need to go get certified now...

So, there was a photographer on the boat, and he took some photos of us underwater, but I really couldn't tell which one was me, so I decided to not waste $16 on a photo.  I would have if I would have known it was me for sure haha. 

Right now, it's about 8am on Monday  morning, and I'm at the Perth airport waiting to go to Bali and meet up with Kelz.  I got here last night at around 10pm, and decided to stay here to save some money on the layover.

Can't wait for a relaxing week and a half in Bali!!