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Published: June 11th 2010
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Today we were off the water due to extremely windy conditions. A southeasterly front moved into the area bringing with it clouds, winds and high swells. We slept in a bit until 7, but we had to move to a new apartment today and check out was at 10. Katharina and I packed our stuff, and Daniele prepared some documents to bring them to the department of fisheries. At the new apartment we were very happy to discover that the shower is now a ‘spa’! Really the only difference is that we now have a pretty big tub with water jets. We moved all of the stuff in pretty quickly, and after doing a bit of work Kartharina and I decided to walk to the grocery store. At that point Daniele came back from his errands, and as he had a bit of paperwork to do before we headed to the grocery store I went to the pool. The pool area was real nice, except for the fact that there were ants everywhere! The place was crawling and they had no problem crawling all over my chair and towel. Once they started crawling on me and biting me I got fed
up and decided I would swim. Bad idea. The pool was being filled by the hose and was freezing! I decided to head back to the room, and after a bit of lunch we headed to the grocery store.
In arlie beach there are two grocery stores. One is called IGA and the other is called Cole’s. IGA has smaller packaged goods, and the typical grocery store stuff, but is much smaller, and all of the produce comes from local farmers. Coles is a much farther distance from our caravan park and is like the typical US grocery store. A few of the differences really stand out to me. Eggs aren’t kept cold, which I think is really strange. Also, there are tons of other international foods, I guess to keep happy all of the different travelers and backpackers. We got enough to feed ourselves for the weekend. Daniele said he would make me some bolognaise sauce (Katharina is a vegetarian), and I can’t wait to try it! He keeps bragging about it, so it better be up to par, and I’m sure it will be.
Once we got back I cleaned the house for a bit and
did a bit of paper work. Katharina and I headed to the reception desk and booked our diving trip for tomorrow. As you can tell I am SUPER excited about it seeing that I have been talking about it for the past few days. We are going out with a company called FantaSea, and after making a few pit stops in some of the Whitsunday Islands, it heads to Hardy Reef. There, the company has two platforms built enabling people to dive and snorkel. There are also options for massages and helicopter rides which is really cool. Obviously it costs an arm and a leg, so that might have to wait for when I am a millionaire 😉 .
When we got back, Daniele had to run out to do more errands, so Katharina and I sat and talked for a bit, and looked at different things online. After a few minutes, she all of a sudden got up, grabbed Daniele’s camera ( the Nikon 100 that we use for the dolphins) and hurried outside. After seeing what she was walking towards, I grabbed my camera and I did the same. There on the ground in front of here
were 3 very large very curious cockatoos. They had no problem with us, and when we sat on the ground walked right up to us and attempted to nibble on us. After working for different pet stores for years, I know how powerful parrot beaks are and I didn’t want anything to do with it. I still have a scar on my finger from a bird at the last pet store I worked at, and didn’t feel like having another. Katharina on the other hand was trying her hardest to touch them without them biting her, and she eventually succeeded in touching one’s beak. After taking some more pictures and playing with them for a bit longer, they lost interest in flew away. We walked back to the door, and I heard another ruckus close by. It was lorikeet feeding time, so we headed over there as well. The lorikeets were playful and curious as always, and after waiting a bit for the food man to arrive they started to pig out. He asked if we wanted to feed them, and even though they have used me as a perch many times, I grabbed some of the watered down bread
in my hand and soon about 4-5 birds were crawling all up and down my arms, shoulders and head.
Next was Katharina’s turn and they did the same to here, even trying to sit on the camera. Soon enough, a group of people had gathered around, and we headed in to give them a chance to play with the birds. Soon Daniele arrived home, and the three of us went for a run on the same walk that I did the other day. It was nearly sundown, so the run was awesome; nice and cool with a gorgeous colored sky. We got to the marina and watched the boats and water for a bit before heading back. Both ways I saw backpackers lounging on the beach and grass, playing games, eating dinner and relaxing after a nice day. Back at the house we all got cleaned up then Katharina and Daniele cooked a delicious dinner of Spaghetti and cream sauce with zucchini, bacon and mushrooms. As always, the Italian came out in Daniele and we all got a lesson in Italian cooking. It’s going to be hard when I go home, I am getting way to used to delicious
meals every night! We plan to stay up pretty late tonight to watch the opening game in the soccer world cup, but the queen of sleep here might fall asleep early. A bus is going to be outside the park at 7:20 to pick us up for the dive trip, and I packed my bag already, so I am all set for the morning. It hasn’t really set in yet that I am going to be diving the Great Barrier Reef tomorrow, so I am sure tomorrow on the boat ride there I will be smiling from ear to ear. I even bought a cheap underwater camera at the reception center, so hopefully the conditions are awesome tomorrow and I can get some nice shots of the reef life!
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Bob
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FRi
Hi Sam I read every word you write it sounds so exciting. Mry and I are up camping in Maine for acoupld of days but still hook up to read you story love please keep it up