Northern Queensland Coast

(see map) trin: After saying goodbye to our friends in Cairns, we rented a car and headed north to Cape Tribulation, where the Great Barrier meets the shore and the hills are covered with ancient rain forests.

On the drive up there are beautiful beaches everywhere but due to jellyfish and crocodiles, swimming is highly discouraged.

There are also warning signs for Cassowaries, giant prehistoric like birds. If they wanted to, they could kill you. A little scary when hiking in their natural territory.

The rain forest canopy in Daintree National Park.

I know we are all suppose the love the rain forest and I do. But, I have come to realize that I just don't like hiking in it. Its hot and sticky. There are vines and stumps to trip on. Unlike our house plants, all the palms have thorns. Not to mention, the numerous bugs and spiders.

Tarzan - Ahahh...

Mike hanging around.

A pit stop at the Mossman Gorge. I love swimming in the river and sitting on a hot rock in the sun. It instantly takes me back to my teens.

On our way down the coast we stayed in Port Douglas, a chic chic tourist town.  At the marina, we enjoyed the sunset over a bucket of shrimp.

Other than that, we didn't really do much. Mike planned out the remainder of our time in Australia.  I read by the pool and we strolled around the town like good tourists.

Its long beach is mostly deserted with the exception of the immediate area around the stinger net which keep the potentially deadly jellyfish out.

Wading out, it feels a bit like a kiddie pool.

Between Cairns and Port Douglas is Trinity Beach. 

Mike cruising on the other side. After all the long drives in Australia, he's now comfortable on the left side but fears he'll be messed up when we get home.

We continued south to Airlie Beach, the starting point for visits out to the Whitsunday Islands. There is an awesome free lagoon where families and backpackers lounge along side one another.

I was impressed by all the parks and facilities in Australia. Everything is really well maintained and clean which is great for me.

Cairns

(see map) Mike: We were excited our friends Doug & Sarah would be able to meet up with the four of us after the dive boat. In true Doug fashion, he found this sweet three bedroom apartment overlooking Cairns for us to enjoy.  Easily the nicest pad we've had in the last year.

He had this to say....

After reading Mike & Trin’s blog prior to our rendezvous, we felt as if we were cheating ourselves to meet in such a westernized location, but nonetheless were stoked we had the opportunity we did.  

We did our best to instill some home cooking in their lives….a little burritos with hot sauce that tasted like ketchup.  A little off from San Luis Mexican food, but would do for now.

Great Barrier Reef Dive Boat

(see map) Shondra: When Mike and Trin left for their trip, we thought it would be a great idea to try to meet up with them somewhere along the way.  We decided on Australia and made plans to go scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef.  Mike and Trin are “ScubaPros” and Ryan and I are just beginners, so we thought it would be a good chance to get some diving tips and follow their lead underwater.

We happened to be on the same flight as the Murphy’s from Sydney to Cairns, so we met up at the airport and after ten months of not seeing them, it was great to catch up.  Once we made it to Cairns, we checked into our hostel, and headed out to see the town.  We had an espresso, dinner, Mike shaved his beard, and we headed to bed early in preparation for our 6 AM dive boat pick up.

Ryan and I were wide awake at 4 AM (jetlag) and took some photos of the low tide off the Cairns boardwalk.

Then we were off to the reef on our dive boat, the ScubaPro II.  

We motored out to the first reef, and it took about three hours to get there, in pretty rough waters. None of us had our sea legs yet, so we may have gotten just a little sea sick. But as soon as we started diving, we all felt much better.

The dive boat had a great schedule, it went something like this:

6:00 – Dive
7:00 – Breakfast
9:00 – Dive
10:00 – Snack
12:00 – Lunch
2:00 – Dive
5:00 – Dinner
7:00 – Dive
8:00 – Cake

We loved it, the food was great and although it seems like a lot of eating, we were starving every time we got back from a dive.

Since Ryan and I were doing the certification course, we didn’t get to dive with Mike and Trin until the end of Day 2. But we had some great dives when we did get to go together. We saw some amazing coral and heaps of tropical fish and other sea life. Some of the highlights were turtles, reef sharks, lionfish, cuddlefish, eels and parrot fish. Mike and Trin said this was one of the top ten dive spots in their fifty dives. Ryan and I had never dove anywhere else, so we were very impressed.

Trin all geared up to dive

There’s one of the many reef sharks!  They’re little guys….not very scary at all.

One of the reefs we dove on

Overall, it was really amazing to dive the Great Barrier Reef and especially to be able to do it with friends.  We were glad to be able to spend some time with Mike and Trin and we even learned some things we hadn’t known before.  We found out that Mike is fascinated with China and Trin loves to do laundry, very interesting!

Western Australia

(see map) mike: After four months in Southeast Asia and one in Nepal, we felt a mix of elation and sadness on our flight to Perth. We were we looking forward to things like drinking water from the tap, eating food without fear of a stomach crisis, speaking English as a first language and walking the streets without being hassled by vendors. Our concern was that this new found comfort would leave us longing for the travel experiences and challenges we faced in Asia. Time will tell.

The financial crisis news was everywhere and while it had me worried about my job prospects upon return, it led to a huge US dollar rally against Australia's.  To our surprise we'd enjoy a 30% discount vs. arriving just a couple of weeks back. This was welcome news after being crushed in Europe. The only bummer was we already booked our pricey Great Barrier Reef dive trip a couple of months before the change.

PERTH:

Perth was a nice mellow reintroduction to the developed world. Kind of like a Midwest capital.  We quickly resumed our Europe routine. Sipped cappuccinos with a magazine as we watched the world go by, perused an art gallery in the nearby town of Fremantle and generally soaked up the missed comforts of western living.

I thought America was bad about abusing the Christmas theme, it's still October!

ROAD TRIP:

I was definitely apprehensive about driving on the wrong, I mean other, side of the road but we decided to rent a car and a take a road trip around the southwest region. After a few minutes with the car I had managed to do the following things:

1. Sit in the passenger seat and wonder, where's the steering wheel?
2. Activate the windshield whippers instead of the turn signal
3. Hit the curb and ride the shoulder on the left hand side

Undeterred, we headed south towards Albany.  After an hour we began to appreciate how spread out the people are on this massive island. There are only 21 million people here (nearly all along the coasts) which is shocking when compared to California's 36 million. Put another way this works out to roughly 6 people per square mile vs. over 200 in California. It was common to drive for thirty minutes without encountering another soul.

Our first kangaroo crossing sign!  Many locals consider them to be a nuisance but I think they are completely surreal.

Albany is surrounded by state parks and beaches. The chilly water is a beautiful Caribbean blue.

Little Beach, Two People's Bay National Park

Giant rock archway, The Gap, Torndirrup National Park

Halloween isn't widely celebrated here but our hostel put on a costume party none the less. Trin painted on some scars. I put on my black base layers and snorkel mask in an attempt to look like a scuba diver. It took a couple of beers to get over the fact that I was running around in public in tights.

Next we headed inland towards the small town of Pemberton. We checked the nearby Lonely Planet highlight, Valley of the Giants, which is a 100+ foot high walkway through the trees, pretty cool.

I put my fear of heights to the test with a climb up Gloucester Tree which originally served as a fire lookout until the 70s. Two foot rebar steps wind up 200 feet to a platform overlooking the surrounding karri forest. My first thought was, ok, where is the liability waiver form?  The first twenty steps were no problem.  Half way up though, I admit my heart rate was really pumping but decided I couldn't turn back after two kids zoomed fearlessly past me.  

The platform on top was swaying in the breeze so I snapped this photo and hurried back down.

We unwound with some with a Pemberton Shiraz along with a small mountain of cheese followed by a visit to the olive oil tasting room. We were determined to return to our pre Himalayan trek weight.

Trin, can I have a bite?

Next stop, the southwest's premier wine area, Margaret River.  Here we enjoyed a group wine tour (Bushtucker) which also included stops at at brewery, cheese factory and chocolate factory. Wine, Beer, Cheese, Chocolate! Who could ask for anything more?

Giant bowls full of chocolate chips. We were advised not to take too many at one time to avoid a melting mess.

Chocolate in the making.

Four winery stops with five tastings each followed by a beer sampler ensured everyone had a great time. 

Overall, the Southwest region reminded us of a Northern California Road trip. Most visitors to Australia tend to stick to the east coast but we thoroughly enjoyed our road trip and were happy with the decision to stop over here.

THE RILEYS:

While in Italy we met an Australian couple, Ian & Shelley, who invited us to stay over at their place in Swan Valley north of Perth. We enthusiastically took them up on the offer and made our way to their beautiful home and horse breeding ranch. They fed us delicious home cooked Australian dinners and let us(Trin) catch up on dirty laundry.  Ian and their two sons, William and James, also took some time to introduce me to Cricket. It was humbling to be outmatched by an eight year old bowler!

While everyone was out at work & school, we checked out the nearby Caversham Wildlife Park for some up close encounters with Kangaroos and Koalas.

Here I am with a wombat, cute and cuddly, until you're close enough to smell it.

Our stay with the Riley family was great though definitely left us longing for the comforts of home. Hopefully some diving will get us back in the travel mood!