| May 2006 |
 |
 |
| Stu writes: ----------------------------------------------------- May 14h 06------------------------------------------------- Cari writes: |
| Australia (Cairns) |
| one year ago the diary started!! eek! |
| Stu is great |
 |
| remember to scroll the page down for more..... |
| Hello everyone!..... I know I know - been bloody AGES since I've made and entry... Sorry.. Well Australia is drawing to a close - but boy are we finishing in style! On Thursday we're going out on the Great Barrierr Reef for 3 days! Can't wait... I'll be doing 11 Dives while out there and Caz will be doing lots of snorkeling and laying around on the upper deck catching some rays... then we wait for 24 hours (safety limit after diving) and catch a flight over to Ayres Rock or Uluru as it should be known, we have 2 days out there then Fly back into Sydney for a night (laundry etc) then we take a flight to Bangkok - landing at midnight.... perfect time for a massive strange city! But been the expert travellers we now are I'm sure it'll be fine! (especially being a 5 star hotel there is about 50 of your finest english pence, and they do airport pickups.. he he) Anyway - what have we been doing in Oz?? Well 2 days ago I finished my Advanced Open Water course, basically means I can use a compass now and know how many weights to put on my belt (handy)... did a night dive as well which was great! Really love it - will be doing 2 while we're out on the reef ans should get to see loads of Bio-luminescence (have that for spelling - Gibby)... 30 meters down and we all cover our tourches and watch the light show - can't wait! ok - enough about the diving - what else have we been doing? Well I think Caz mentioned about all the wild life we've been seeing - it's so amazing, just sit back at your campsite and wait a few moments - and you're smeared in little critters (mainly because Cari feeds everything in a 10 mile radius)... Stayed at such a layed back beautiful place last week - Magnetic Island, 40 min ferry ride off the coast of townsville, only 2000 people live there, loads of perfect beaches, great diving.... - and we got to cuddle a Koala!!!!! Mmmmm..... could have done with hanging out there for a little longer... like maybe a year or 2! But alas we move on like always. We also went out to the Witsundays Islands for a little snorkeling - and wait for it - yes, diving... great expanses os sand... blah blah - only slightly mared by the STUPID 'guide' that was on the boat - posh little english girl who knew nothing about the place but pretended she was an expert... so annoying, she kept cracking jokes that fell totally flat... oh just a mare, then I went diving with her and she took us the wrong bloody way!... but we were in a nice sheltered cove so no worries - just didnt see the stuff we should of done! Oh dear i'm blabbing ain't I! Met a great couple the other day, a little older than we are, doing pretty much the same route - so we had a great night getting pissed in the camp kitchen and chatting about Easter Island, South America and disscussing techniques in - how not to kill you travel companion after 9 months on the road! - Could write a book on that one! Just great to chat to people doing the same thing... Got so say Australia is FANTASTIC. The people are so friendly and happy... they have such a great quality of live out here - for instance: On a Saturday the high streets and the shops are almost dead, not cos of the lack of people - no - because unlike the English, hell bent on buying the latest DVD player or Plasma, the Aussie's are off loving the outdoors - fishing, beaches, camping, hiking.... they use their spare time and cash to take off for the weekend to enjoy the outdoors..... There's just alot less stress here..... Anyway enough of that, and more about Asia. Talked to loads of people about Thailand - sounds like we're gunna have a ball - and at long last everthing will be very cheap again! Keeping within the budget for Australia has been testing at time I can tell ya! So we'll be looking forward to eating out in resturants and even a little partying and drinkies... The main challenge is going to be the weather, it may be a little rain in places... but heading south back into the tropics seems to be our best bet... we'll see, just make it up as we go along! Seems to work! Then China, people either love it or hate it, depends who ou ask - but we're going to put quite a solid plan together for China so we can remove that stress.... we've read about an amazing guided jungle trek you can do to spot Panda's in the wild! Sounds amazing so we're gunna look into that.... it's in a protected national Park - perfectly safe, so don't worry! - Hey we're experience Amazon trekkers... we can handle it. (as long as there are showers and beds) Then finishing on Japan - Oh YES. CRAZY. MENTAL. We've expeienced a few interactions with Japanese poeple on our trip...... it's going to fry our brains! Well you'll be glad to here I'm running out of steam... got to try and fix the new pictures yet.... miss you all loads, it will be amazing to see everyone... but trying not to think about how long we've got left - it's going too quick now!!!!!!! Leaving my comfort bubble and seeing some of world has easily been the best decision I've ever made, what an experiance!...... But it is amazing the little things you miss..... like being able to clean your teeth on a morning with out listerning and smelling 6 or 7 blokes squeeze out last night steak dinner! - Or even having your own bathroom for that bleeding matter! |