While in Cairns, Andreas and I took a day trip up to the Daintree National Rainforest. The manager at our hostel heard we were making the trip up north, and told us about this local swimming hole inside the rainforest. He was kind enough to give us directions...which consisted of phrases like...turn down this unmarked dirt road...park your car in this secluded area....proceed, on foot, through the rainforest until you reach the Blue Hole!
So, as you can imagine...I was totally pumped.......that's a lie...I had images of giant spiders jumping on me during the "on foot" trek to this place...however, Andreas was once again, like a kid in a candy store!!! He really loves these non-touristy adventures...and if I loosen up enough, I tend to really enjoy myself as well.
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| I am in love with this photo....a beautiful photo of the Daintree Rainforest! |
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| It took some convincing....but I eventually got into the swimming hole. There were locals there who were really nice....talked me into it! There is a myth that this blue hole gives women a youth glow....am I glowing...am I...am I? |
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| Once I was in...Andreas had to drag me out.......come on youthful glow....already 27...not getting any younger! |
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| Somehow I think Andreas misunderstood that this myth only applied to the ladies....he kept jumping in, and then asking me if he looked different.....only joking, we had a wonderful time here! It was breathtakingly beautiful, and we had it all to ourselves for about 30 min. |
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Bruce Belcher's Croc Cruise:
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| One very important thing to note here...besides the fact that this dude's name was BELCHER, which I found pretty awesome...BURP!....a Crocodile Cruise, along with any wild animal cruise, cannot guarantee that you see wild animals.....which is probably why people invented ZOO'S....bc the only things we saw on this cruise were mosquitoes! |
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| Oh wait....is that a croc? What you don't know is that this photo was taken from about 30 feet away...and we zoomed in...that was the ONLY crocodile we saw on the tour. |
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| Who's that handsome man...no camera in hand? |
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| Our tour guide...Mr Belcher....told us that this boat, and fishing boats like it, were the reason that all the crocodiles were in hiding that day....so, should we ask these guys or Mr. Belcher to refund our $45??? |
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| They give you a free beer on the cruise...I guess they think it increases the likelihood of you "thinking" you spotted a crocodile! |
On our final night in Cairns, Andreas spent about 1hr tracking the GIANT fruit bats along the pier. The suckers were hard to catch....in a photograph....but he managed to get one...CREEPY!
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| Find the blood sucker! |
Here are a few photos from our hostel in Cairns...The Travel Oasis! Andreas and I learned a lot about each other while staying at this little "oasis". For example, I have an aggressively violent reaction to large bugs...which means, if
I see a bug, and
you hesitate to kill it...I will become aggressively violent towards you. ;-) (However, very happy to report that Andreas killed all bugs, and we are still happily married)
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| The Travel Oasis |
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| This was our room at the hostel...great little place! In all honesty, I know that every hostel has little issues here or there, but this place ROCKED. John, the manager, suggested some great places for us to check out along with some awesome tours...like the dive experience we had. Staff was friendly, place was clean and quiet...really great spot...check it out if you're ever in Cairns! |
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| On Easter, we drove from Cairns to Townsville. We were both disappointed that we were unable to attend church service, but the following morning was Anzac Day in Australia....and a service was held in remembrance of all those who have died serving this country. We attended...have some pictures below...pretty powerful and moving ceremony. |
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| For Easter, we agreed to each buy some chocolate for one another as a gift. I bought Andreas his favorite Easter candy...a Lindt Bunny. As you can see...Andreas also bought me HIS favorite Easter candy...a Lindt Bunny. For the record, Cadbury Eggs are my favorite Easter candy....needless to say, the microscopic eggs in this picture...which were Andreas' attempt to make up for his kinda selfish purchase....did not help much! ;-) |
Our drive to Townsville, and then onto Airlie Beach!
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| Shan: "Andreas, I see these trees all over the place...what do they produce?" Andreas: "looks like they produce blue plastic bags!" Shan: "no, i think those bags are covering some kind of fruit." (Oh, you were pulling my leg...and I fell for it!) |
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| Beautiful blue skies along the way! |
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| Almost to Townsville! |
Our "Journey" to Airlie Beach.....a little peek into our drive!
http://youtu.be/Gr_gC-xA760
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| Paradise! |
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| WARNING (ACHTUNG) - Crocodiles inhabit this area...attacks may cause injury or death! |
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| After reading the warning...I opted against serious injury or death...but was happy to watch others venture out into uncertainty! |
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| Cathedral Fig Tree! I'm itty-bitty compared to it! |
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| Its hard to show in a picture...but the bird nest in this tree were massive! It was worth the detour to see the big tree, out in the middle of nowhere! |
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| Andreas inside the giant fig tree! When I saw that you could walk inside the tree, I quickly grabbed the camera from Andreas, and acting like I was dying to shoot a photo of him inside...in truth...I just didn't want him to ask me to jump in there...so I beat him to it! |
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| The Famous Millaa Millaa Falls! |
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| Find Andreas....he swam out there and I snapped this pic...he's over on the far left side! |
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| There he is again...right in the middle of the falls...taking pictures nonetheless! |
Now, I bet you're all wondering if I got in the water...the answer is......
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| YES! |
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However...it was only up to my knees....that water was freezing!
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| Another beautiful falls along our scenic drive down the coast! |
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| On April 25th, at 5:50am, a ceremony took place at the Harbor in Townsville to commemorate Anzac Day! The link below gives a good description of this important day, and what it means to Australians | | | |
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http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/anzac-tradition/
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| It was incredible just how many people turned up for this 5:50am service in the park. Very moving to watch. |
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| This cemetery was covered with beautiful flowers on Anzac Day! |
Yesterday, we were forced to drive 45min from Airlie Beach...bc Airlie Beach has no BEACH! I know I already vented about this in my previous post...but I thought I would show you the beach we did end up at...the beautiful Bowen Beach!
Finally, I was unable to post the videos from our dives in my post yesterday. So, here they are now!
Scuba 1 - Trip under the sea!
http://youtu.be/tIe1pAGrOtI
Scuba 2 - Fishes..lots of Fishes!
http://youtu.be/qp7Q4XoCp4o
Scuba 3 - Well done...u both survived!
http://youtu.be/6M08leEr6Pc
That's all for now! Tomorrow and the following day, Andreas and I have trips planned out to the surrounding Whitsunday islands. Tomorrow, we are Ocean Rafting (
www.oceanrafting.com)...should be a bumping, windy trip...we can't wait!!!
The following day (Friday), we plan to "recover" from ocean rafting. We will be on The Whitehaven Beach Experience...which is code for - taking a nice boat out to Whitehaven Beach...sitting our butts in the sand, and try, very hard, not to move an inch for several hours! Also very much looking forward to that "experience!"
Hope you have enjoyed the posts from the past few days! The East Coast has been everything we thought it would be...and so much more! We begin our trek to Brisbane on April 30th.
Love and miss you all. Peace Out from Airlie Beach-NoBeach!
What a beautiful country! Glad you guys are having fun and that Andreas is fulfilling his marriage obligation as "bug killer!"
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