Cairns Adventures

Wow, what a weekend. I can't believe I survived!

Megan and I got up bright and early Friday morning to catch our 7am flight to Cairns. After an uneventful but cold (thanks for the no blankets, Jetstar) flight we landed in Cairns around 10am. We hopped in a cab and got dropped off at the wrong hotel, which sucked, but we walked the two blocks to the right one and were really surprised at how beautiful it really was. Unfortunately, we couldn't check in when we got there so we decided to head into town to buy a bus ticket to some of the beaches and have some lunch. After wandering for 20 minutes trying to find the bus ticket agent we decided to get lunch first as a Mexican restaurant was just opening up. It should've been a red flag when they advertised "authentic" Mexican cuisine but we've had good luck here in Sydney with Mexican restaurants so we tried it. After a good but spicy bowl of queso our quesadillas came. But they weren't quesadillas. Seriously, they weren't. I don't know what they were, some kind of tortilla filled with tomato paste and beans, almost no cheese, burned slightly around the edges. It was awful. I couldn't eat mine so I sent it back and they gave me a refund, no questions asked, thank God. Megan chose to eat her concoction and enjoyed it somewhat, though the queso was obviously the highlight of the meal. We, thankfully had a good sense of humor about it and left laughing at the Australian idea of Mexican food. The good thing was there was an amazing gelato place next door where they had TimTam gelato, which was amazing. Best gelato I've ever had. That made up for the psuedo-quesadilla. We got our bus tickets, dropped out stuff off at the hotel, and hopped on the 1X bus out to Palm Cove Beach. It was gorgeous. Just sand and ocean and sun. We laid out for about two hours then decided to check out the little shops around the resort. I bought the most beautiful opal pendant for my M necklace - it's my birthstone and I love it. I'm still obsessed with it and continually ask Megan, "Did I tell you I got a new opal?" We hopped back on the bus around 5pm and headed back into our hotel for some room service and an early night in to prepare ourselves for Saturday...

We woke up bright and early on Saturday morning for our day of adventure. The skydive company picked us up at our hotel at 7:30am, both of us were groggy and super nervous at the prospect of jumping out of a plane at 14,000 feet. We got to the office, signed our lives away (there was a paragraph in the contract that actually stated that there was an element of "luck" to skydiving, we signed a LEGAL document that talked about luck, were we insane!?), and suited up. I got some sweet parachute pants with purple stars, Megan's had red stars, and then we both did our interviews for our DVDs. After about 45 minutes of waiting for my tandem instructor we finally hopped into the van and headed out to the airport. We all loaded into a tiny little plane - two girls who were jumping at 11,000 fit, our instructors, our videographers, and us - and took off. It was really amazing to watch everything get smaller and smaller, it's hard to determine how high you actually are but all the instructors wore altimeters and kept showing us - at 11,000 the two girls went out and then Megan and I started to get really nervous. Then, 14,000 feet came quickly and the door opened and I got to go first. Slide up to the edge of the plane, relaxed legs over the edge, head back, arms crossed and GO! It was AMAZING. There is no feeling like it, you can't even imagine it. The air rushing around you, the feeling of free fall, the screaming to regulate your breathing, the way your skin flaps, it was like nothing else I've ever done. After a full sixty seconds of free fall the parachute was pulled and we got to glide and soar over the Australian country side for almost five minutes. How beautiful! The mountains, the rainforest, the beach, the haze over it all, I can't even describe it. We were absolutely soaring. I loved it. We even got super close to a pack of hawks over the sugar cane fields and it was so cool to see them up close and in action. We had a nice smooth landing and I was so sad it was over. It was brilliant, breathtaking, and absolutely bizarre but I'm so happy I took the plunge - literally! Afterward, Megan and I were so jazzed we got delicious meat pies and cupcakes at a little restaurant near the office and called home just to make sure everybody knew we were safe. Unfortunately, Megan's DVD didn't work but she got some great photos so while she dealt with her refund I went to Billabong to grab a pair of board shorts for our next adventure then we went back to the hotel and changed. While we were lying by the pool we got a call saying our rafting trip had been canceled. We were really upset but thankfully the kind people at Raging Thunder transferred us to another company - R and R Rafting - which saved our afternoon. So we continued our lounging then headed out to the Barron River to raft. I was way more nervous about rafting than skydiving - come on, drowning is way scarier than going splat on the ground - but it was really fun! We had a great guide - Kendall - and he let us get out of the boat a couple times and float down the rapids ourselves, which was my favorite part. There were some scary ones where he made it pretty crazy and scary but it was an experience I'm glad I took part in. It was beautiful going down the rainforest and it was a good fear to overcome. It's weird that I'm afraid of rafting - I love water! But I think it's the prospect of flipping over and getting trapped under the raft, I have the same fear when I sail little boats. But, whatever. After rafting we headed into the pub with our guide and had a beer, checked out our photos, and then went back to the hotel. After a long shower we decided to hit up Splash, the seafood restaurant on The Esplanade, the main drag of Cairns. We had a great dinner, great drinks, great conversation, and then went to the Night Markets to do some tipsy shopping for souvenirs. I got some boomerangs for some special people, an Australia sweatshirt and a long string of pearls for myself, and a beautiful sarong that I can't wait to use all the time in Fiji and the Whitsundays. We went back to the hotel after our little excursion and crashed right into bed.

After a daylight savings mixup with my phone we woke bright and early to walk down to the dock for our Ocean Free sailing day. The morning started off with a breakfast of muffins and tea and a two hour sail out to the reef. I slept for most of the sail out there, rocking boats put me right to sleep. It was a good nap to start the day as I was still pretty exhausted from the night before. Once we got out onto the reef we snorkeled all morning. It was gorgeous, although overcast. We saw a bunch of fish and some amazing coral formations along with anemones. I love snorkeling and swimming so it was sad after a couple hours that we had to go in for lunch and then went right onto Green Island. On the island we did a little more souvenir shopping and went to the Marine Land where we saw huge HUGE crocodiles, big turtles, and lots of fish that evaded us on our first snorkel. Megan started to feel under the weather so we grabbed some cold drinks and relaxed a bit at the resort after wandering around for awhile. We went back onto the boat and I snorkeled for another half an hour before we started our trek back to the mainland. It was still hazy and overcast, which sucked, but it didn't matter because we enjoyed some nibbles and wine on our sail back in. I even spotted a pod of dolphins, which was amazing to see. You usually have to pay extra for that! :) Back in Cairns our day in the water had exhausted us pretty readily so we ordered Thai delivery and were out pretty early. What else is a holiday about besides catching up on your sleep?! It was great to have a day out on the Great Barrier Reef and just enjoy the ocean and all its glory. I love it.

Monday morning we slept in then checked out of the hotel. We got our pictures developed and had a great, sweet breakfast at the Cairns art gallery then went to the lagoon to lay out. Around noon, I thought we'd head out to Trinity Beach but Megan's cold had definitely caught up with her and her fever was too much to handle. So we went back to the hotel and straight to the airport to sit in the air conditioning and try to get on an earlier flight. Unfortunately, we couldn't, but Meagan got some real Sudafed in her system and took a good, long nap. I finished two books and tried to find a pair of sweatpants with no avail. Our flight was delayed, which sucked, but I read on the plane. Once we got back to Sydney, we had to wait in a 45 minute line for a cab. Finally, we got back home, I watched some How I Met Your Mother, and went to bed!

This week is ALL about work. I have a six page journal due on Friday, a 1500-2000 essay on the ABC vs SBS (basically Sydney vs Melbourne rivalry), and then a final Friday and a final Saturday. But - Sunday I'm off to Fiji and the Whitsundays! So hopefully all the work will get done, I'll pack, and be ready for my real vacation next week! Check out my photos, too - http://picasaweb.google.com/cramermj36, they're all there. :)

G'night from down under!