Blogs from Cairns City, Cairns, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 22

Hello people. I'm finally about caught up. Given how early my flight was I had most of the day here. As I have been on the road for so long I'm just taking some time out to rest up for a while and be bit lazy. Cairns itself is nice enough with lots of palm trees everywhere and a real tropical feel to it- as evidenced by my permanent state of sweaty disgusting-ness. Since I am being lazy I haven't really done much. The first day I took a walk along the Esplanade (both Darwin and Cairns have one- I haven't seen them elsewhere, maybe it's a northern thing), had some lunch and booked a day trip which I'll cover when I do it. After lunch I came back to the hostel for a bit, lazed, ... read more

The East coast of Australia is probably best known for the Great Barrier Reef and it didn’t let us down. We managed to get Beccy booked on to the same Open Water Dive Course I did seven years ago which meant I was home alone for a couple of days whilst she was stuck in a classroom studying. Naturally I did the man thing - nothing much, although I did go fishing and caught a tiddler. The third and fourth day I joined Beccy aboard the Kangaroo Explorer (dive boat) where we did six dives. Beccy is now officially an Open Water Diver (hurrah) and I managed to get my advanced qualification. The Great Barrier Reef really is stunning and the night dive we did was one of the best experiences of our life. The photos ... read more

Hello Possums, I hope you are all well. Thanks to all that have sent us a message this week, it’s nice to hear what has been going on outside of our own lives. Last time we updated you we were just about to………..if you don’t know, shame on you for not reading last weeks, now go back and get up to date….. So, here we are in Cairns, Australia. Quick note, the guy in front of me on the plane from Langkawi to Singapore had 6 fingers on each hand, well actually it was 4 fingers and two thumbs, I wanted to take a picture for all you guys but unfortunately I missed to opportunity, I was just all fingers and thumbs with the camera! I did however get chatting with him, apparently he doesn’t usually ... read more

Hakeutuuko katesi usein iltaisin sohvapoydan alatasolle ja etsii sielta Aurinkomatkojen talviesitteen? Vai odotteletko hyvia Finnairin kaukolentotarjouksia Aasiaan? Mutta et oikein tieda minne sita lahtisi ja Thaimaakin on jo nahty? Nyt voit heittaa huolet ja alleviivauskynat sohvan taakse, silla kiertolaiset ovat aikaa, vaivaa ja rakkolaastareita saastamatta tehneet pohjatyon puolestasi. Vertailussa mukana olevaa viitta maata (Intia, Nepal, Vietnam, Kambodza, Malesia) on arvioitu viidella eri kriteerilla: ihmiset, infrastruktuuri/ymparisto, kulttuuri, luonto ja elaimet seka hinta-laatusuhde. Kaikissa kohdissa on kaytetty asteikkoa 0-5 ja lopullinen arvosana on muodostunut useiden eri alakohtien keskiarvona. Esimerkki: Ihmiset-osiossa plussaa kukin maa on saanut paikallisten ystavallisyydesta, yritteliaisyydesta, avoimuudesta ja kielitaidosta. Pisteita on puolestaan vahentanyt ns. ... read more

I went to the Great Barrier Reef today!! It was very cool. I went snorkeling and got to see tons of coral and fishies. They were some cool colors too - bright green, orange, brown, blue, etc. The coral was all kinds of weird shapes and so shallow my fins would hit it as I swam over it. The water was really rough so it took a lot of energy to swim around though. It's also fairly far away from the main land. We got up at 6 am, ate breakfast, and got ready to go. We got there at 8 and got on board. Listened to a lot of talking about safety procedures and such and got underway. We didn't get there until 11:20ish. So I got in then and snorkeled around. Then ate lunch ... read more