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Published: December 6th 2010
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Tropical Locations are nice, if you're into that sort of thing.
Just looking down from the airplane I knew the water was warm, and probably full of sharks. Tara and I left Sydney today reluctantly leaving what had become a very calm and hectic, fun home the last few days. The idea of leaving the bustle of Sydney to sit on a beach all day and drink $20 cocktails didn’t hold much appeal to me, but I was on board for the Great Barrier Reef (GBR, for the rest of entry) and seeing Tara in a bikini for 80% of the next 4 days.
Why can’t women put the toilet seat back up? (best bumper sticker ever)
I admire how many people around here are just, “living.” Living out of trucks and painted up vans. Working for dollars on Sugar Cane farms and working the diving and reef jobs, doing what they want to do and getting by. There isn’t much worry of retirement, taxes, and what tomorrow brings. They’re just hanging out and having fun, enjoying life. I find it odd how easy it is to forget where you live and how easy it is to stop
appreciating your surroundings. I cross the Golden Gate Bridge at least once a week and rarely give it much thought. People travel thousands of miles just to walk across it. I’ll complain when I have to sit in traffic on it, not really taking in the fact that I’m driving across a majestic modern marvel, with a glorious backdrop. It’s funny how we do this.
We rolled into Cairns and as I walked on to the jet way from my plane I could already smell and feel the humidity. It was warm and refreshing. A feeling I couldn’t remember having, but new it like an old friend. I knew soon I would be seeing palm trees and seeing birds rising out of farm fields of some kind, like some tourism commercial on television, never truly believing that I am, where I currently am. It’s extremely rare that we stop and think, “I must be dreaming.” Tara’s excitement to be in paradise has become infectious and all I can think about is everything she has been ranting on and on about the last few days; cocktails, warm water, swimming and great food.
Cairns is exactly how you would expect
paradise to be. It’s rolling rainforest covered mountains, rivers full of Crocodiles, Banana Trees, Sugar Cane, and tiny railroads with tiny trains. It has rolling white clouds and creamy blue skies. The air is clean and crisp, the way nature was intended it to be.
Tara and I went grocery shopping. We managed to find our first source of cheap food at the grocery market and we picked up all the creature comforts like fruit, meats and microwave popcorn. We bought all the essentials to making margaritas and headed back to the crib to go swimming. Our concierge at the hotel named Grahmn loves to tell you everything he knows, but actually doesn’t really know anything. He’s one of those guys who like to think that everyone else is wrong. Sounds so familiar. In paradise there really isn’t much to do except relax. I’ve never been very good at it, but here seems so much easier and I’m more open to the idea.
We headed to the beach and started swimming in these safety nets, which keep out jellyfish, but apparently not sharks. It’s my fault for assuming, but it was nice to swim for an hour without
fear of pulling a mangled, skin string arm out of the water. The low and high point of the first day was my dumb ass throwing Tara’s new underwater camera to her thinking that it floats. It does not and it sank into the murky depths below us at the mercy of the tides. We panicked in fear that I had just thrown away a shit load of money and a very awesome wedding present simply because I do the exact opposite of what everyone tells me, in this case, “don’t throw the camera!” After an exhausting 15 minute search and a few tears Tara’s tiny toe snag the wrist band. Ahhhh, final the high point of the story.
For Day 2, Please See GBR Entry
On Day 3 I finally pulled my sorry, slightly hung over from adventure ass out of bed and Tara and I watched the sunrise and sunset from my third continent now. I still have four to go, but I got a hard one checked off the list. The beach had little white crabs running all around it, as if they were happy and excited that we had joined them for the sun
up.
I had spent a large portion of the night collecting various pamphlets and doing research on the things to do in the area. We saddle up our horse and hit the road early heading to the Opal mine, well sort of. The opal mine was more of a store, with a fake mine and a gift shop. We actually end up finding a way to make it fun somehow. Our next stop was the Bindy Boulders, which are located deep in the rainforest. They are massive smooth craters with rushing waters that no kayaker dare set the task of riding on. We originally thought we could go swimming there but the water was a far cry from the teakettle of an ocean we had grown accustomed to swimming in, so we passed. This journey also marked my first official trek through a rainforest. We journeyed deeper into the rain forest where we went to several waterfalls and found our very own Indiana Jones Picnic at this unusual park. We scoured the park for adventure, feeding some eels and turtles along the way, and of course braving the giant rope bridge that spanned the waterfall. Now I’m sure I
will one day find a better picnic spot, but I don’t know if I will find a better picnic spot, specifically designed to be a picnic spot. It was a blast to cruise through Mango, Sugar Cane and Banana fields and then drive hours through rainforests. We ended the day by seeing the world largest fig tree. If this is doing the tourist thing in Australia, so be it. It was a blast and a day well spent. The sun went down on us as we exited the rainforest mountains. We head home and sucked down a load of sea food and sickeningly overprice cocktails. It was fine end to our last night in Cairns.
The next day we went swimming in the ocean one last time. As we headed out of the water and up the steps Tara wanted to take one last picture. We turned around and I notice a sign with a shark and a crocodile picture on it. The sign read; Sharks and Crocodiles are known to swim in these waters. Swim at your own risk.” Thank god I saw this sign, 1 hour before I was leaving Cairns, otherwise I’m not sure I would
have ever made it in.
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