Christy Rae

Cairns and Sydney - July 19, 2013

Well, I made it to Sydney!

I had an evening flight. I thought I might be able to squeeze in some more beach time, but no such luck. The weather was not cooporating. It was raining in Cairns all last night and quite a bit this morning. Long story short, all of the activities that were possibilities for today were either not conducive with the weather or else because of transportation issues I was not going to have time to do them and get back in time for my flight.

And to complicate things even more, it was a public holiday in Cairns. It was also their Agricultural Show this weekend or their town fair. The fair grounds were only about a 15 minute walk from my hotel so after I checked out and stowed my luggage at the reception desk, I walked to the fair. I was there for several hours. It was a typical fair with games, rides, livestock, produce, arts and crafts, vendors of all kinds of trinkets, and lots of really unhealthy food, there was even a little person dressed like a clown. I walked through the whole thing. I was most captivated by the “thoroughbred pig races.” There were about 5 little piglets and there was an obstacle course they ran through to get to a trough of food. Which ever pig got there first won. A funny little thing. The announcers were quite entertaining. I also watched a brief equestrian show.

Then I came back to my hotel and sat in the lobby for an hour or so before the shuttle came to take me to the airport.

The flight was thankfully, again, uneventful. We landed and then sat on the runway for an hour, maybe a little longer. There was some kind of computer failure which was affecting the boarding process which meant that planes were not being boarded, which meant they were not leaving and there was no available gate for us to arrive at. But that problem was finally solved and I made it to my hotel. I took a taxi. It is the first time in the 6 cities I have visited that I have taken a taxi. The transportation desk told me to take the train, but it was 11PM. I didn’t want to figure out the Sydney underground and walk the 10 or 15 minute walk from the station to my hotel. So I took a taxi. It wasn't too bad. cheaper than a taxi from JFK to NYC.

I passed this house on my walk to the fair. When I finally am able to buy a place I am going to name it like they did with the old English estates. This is what I am going to name it: Dunmovin Cottage. Adding the cottage to it makes it sound more romantic, as Anne Shirley would say and because, "a cottage is always so snug..." What movie? It's my favorite movie of all time.

I start out Sydney at the opera. By the time I get up and ready and figure out the trains I don’t think I will get much in before the 1PM matinee.

Cairns - July 18, 2013

I went on an expedition to the Great Barrier Reef today. It was good. I saw whales and giant clams. It is pretty amazing all that lives in the sea floor.

I considered going scuba diving. They had dive instructors that would take you on a first dive. I changed my mind though after reading the forms that ask about your health, tell you that you dive at your own risk, that your machinery may disfunction, and that you have to pressurize your ears every meter you go down. I decided that it would probably be a good idea for me to actually get certified in a swimming pool first.

Then I got out into the water and attempted to snorkel and knew that I had made a good choice because I was having a hard time breathing through my mouth and relaxing. I got it though. I remembered my experience in Cancun. I knew I would love it if I could just relax and get my face in the water and start swimming. Seriously, that is the key to snorkeling. Just stick your face in the water and start paddling. So, I was standing there very awkwardly in my fins in quite shallow water and I stuck my face down in the water and there was a little fish right at my feet that was florescent pink and white. It was amazing! I had florescent pink fins on my feet and there it was swimming around me and it was the same color, naturally. Well, it took me a while even after that to just relax, partly because I was in such shallow water. I was so afraid of cutting myself on the coral. I wanted to get out where it was deeper and where many of the others were, but I wasn’t trusting myself as a swimmer. Then they called us in for lunch.

After lunch I went back out and was determined to have my Great Barrier Reef experience. I wasn’t going to let fear overcome me. So, I put my fins on and looked out to where I wanted to go - where the water was deeper, put my face in the water, started kicking my fins and concentrated on long deep breaths. In a few minutes I was in a rhythm and seeing some pretty amazing things. I came up to see where I was in relationship to the beach and I was further out than anyone else. It was so easy. I think my favorite thing that I saw were the giant clams. Those things are amazing!

I was just really getting the hang of it and feeling confident about my swimming when they called us back to the boat to head back to Cairns. Part of me wishes that I could go again tomorrow, now that I have the knack of it.

I didn't really connect with any of the other people on the tour today. That makes me sad. I am learning that seeing cool things is great, but what makes a vacation and I guess, ultimately, life really amazing are not the things that we see, but the people we have experiences with. It sort of seems to be theme of this trip. I guess that becomes blatantly more apparent when you travel alone and have to work harder to have meaningful human interaction.

Tomorrow I fly to Sydney. I am glad that it is my last leg. As amazing as this trip has been I miss my family, my bed and my kitchen.

On the boat out to the reef. It was a little bright...

The conquering snorkeler!

I'm not kidding that little fish was that same color of pink!

Cairns - July 17, 2013

Today I went on a Cape Tribulation and Daintree Rainforest tour. It was interesting, but again, I think they try to cram too much into one tour. I was at Cape Tribulation for maybe an hour. I had 20 minutes on the beach and 40 minutes to eat my lunch. It was way too fast. There are a few other stops I could have done with out and would have liked to linger a little longer at others. But it was still cool to see the rainforest and learn a little about it. I saw 4 crocodiles in the wild. I guess they were in the wild. They have been given names and are the same 4 crocodiles they have been showing to tourists for years. I guess it is like the wild bison in Yellowstone, although the crocodiles will still kill you, even if they do have names. I also saw a common tree snake and a King Fisher.

Our guide talked the whole morning. He gave us some of the most random facts about everything. He talked forever about jelly fish and how they can kill you and your only chance at survival is to pour vinegar on the stung spots and even then chances are slim, how they keep vinegar in bottles on the beach but it is bright blue because the Brits used to go and grab it to put on their fish and chips. Anyway, I am right terrified of jellyfish now! Thankfully, he said that because it is winter and a little cooler they have migrated out to sea further and are hibernating. I am still however a little terrified to go snorkeling tomorrow…

Alexandra Look Out

At the dock of the crocodile river tour there is this giant crocodile mouth.

Look carefully there is a crocodile in that picture....

On the Daintree River

In the Daintree Rain Forest. This is called a strangling fig tree. It was quite a unique tree and really cool. I could't get a picture that really shows what it looks like.

The Fan Palm Tree. Someday when I have a fancy camera the wannabe photographer in me will have a lot more fun with pictures like these.

Me - just walking through the rainforest.

This is the beach and Cape Tribulation. There is something that makes these little balls out of the sand. It must be some kind of ant, but it looks really cool.

A bit of my own sand art.

Mossman George

The Aborigines believe that if you swim in the gorge it will make your hair really soft. It wasn't quite warm enough for swimming for me and they only gave us 1/2 an hour there so even if you wanted to swim, by the time you changed in and out of your suit you could swim for like 5 minutes. But it was a very lovely place.

There were a couple of lovely retired couples from Sydney on the tour. There were also a lot of young college age people. I did talk to both the couples, but the students seem to have their travel companions and are not interested in talking to others. I was also the only other American on the tour. That was strange. This was the first time I have run across that other than when there were only 1 or 2 of us. But it was a full tour, there must have been 30 or 40 people on the tour.

I spent the evening organizing pictures. I have taken almost a thousand pictures on this trip! Whew! And most of them are scenic…

Cairns - July 16, 2013

I didn’t do much sight seeing today. I slept in and then patiently answered and sent emails with the slow internet service I have. I was hoping for something a little faster than what I had in Brisbane, but it seems to be about the same, although I won’t complain about it because at least I didn’t have to pay for it. Anyway, I have some fun tours planned for tomorrow and Thursday. Maybe on Friday I will go hold more Koala Bears. Thinking about that makes me happy.

In the afternoon I got out into the town and found the grocery store and the organic gluten free restaurant (it was closed L). Then this evening I went to an Aboriginal cultural show and dinner. It was almost exactly the same thing that I went to in New Zealand on with Aboriginal dances. It was very interesting. They started fire with sticks and showed us their dances. I tell you, the digederoo horn thing they use is pretty impressive. It’s huge! And they make all these different sounds with it.

The Cairns Esplanade