http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Oceania , Australia , Queensland , Cairns , Cairns City en-us Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:44:54 UTC Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:44:54 UTC Wow has it ever been a longtime since our last bloggizzle we have to apologise. See since we arrived Australia has been unbelievable. We're talking the stuff we'll think about when we listen to Kenny Chesney songs when he whines about how good things were when he was young that's what's happening right now. Anyways we started out our Oz Odyssey in lovely Bribane or Brizzie or BrisVegas http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-349829.html hey stl blog teami.e. Liza So i have completed my labour on the boat and now i am on my way to being dive certified. Today I learned the basic of the gear bouyancy and such in a pool. This was supplemented with classes lecture and videos. All very nice and informative. There really is quite a lot to know before even thinking about jumping out to see. It looks as though i will be able to have http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-349754.html elo So the blogg is really blastin hot this week....i am responding to myself Anywho i am 3 days deep into my boat work experience and it is bruising hard. i know you must be thinking...o shut up brad...living in austrlaia...but i aint kiddin. This is seriously the hardest work i have ever done. It is a bit difficult to describe what i have been doing....the basic scrubbing and painting is const http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-349752.html holler welcome to the blog chris good to hear from ya. so i have had some fun in the last few days. Lara and i with some newly made aussie friends went to Fitzroy island...which is a sort of beautiful luxary island off the coast of Cairns. We went snorkeling around the reef and saw lots of colorful exotic fish and coral. Then we hiked up to the summit of the island a dandy 360 view of surroundi http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-349751.html yip yip yippEEE SO i have had a splendiferous weekend. It started at a campus bar called Stingers....where all the hot college coeds hang to get drunk. That night was a special Rocky horror picture show evening...with live band and an end of school year crowd. Being the transvestite wannabe that i am i decked myself out in one of Lara's hot black skirts tight black tops and yummy stuffffed http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-349748.html so my days as an australia slacker may soon come to an end. I may do 1 of 3 things. 1 There is an offer to work as a crew type member on a boat which would include full days of painting sanding and general repair. At the conclusion of this 5 day work period...they would dive certify me for free. So that may be an excellent oppurtunity to save some dough and acquire madd skills. 2 run a local r http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-349747.html Greetings from the land down undah I 2nd Liza's joy in response to all the new participants in BlogLife. What a digital happiness it creates in my cyber heart. It is also quite hip that we are representin all over this fine planet. YO Eric i think we are in the same time zone now so we should celecrate somehow. but it sounds as though things are mighty fine for most of youexcept liza who is ei http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-349744.html AHOY MATES Alas I have arrived on the other side of the planet. It was a long time coming and an even longer plane ride But the wait was worth it...as now I am living leisurely in tropical weather with LAra. I arrived about 4 days ago...and have done a few cool things so far. First off though I guess I will kind of explain the setup. I am staying with LAra in here campus dorms. She is going to http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-349743.html Todayrsquos our last day in Oz itrsquos flown by We have had a great few weeks and with the ease of travel over here itrsquos felt like one long beach holiday We enjoyed Surfers Paradise although we were surprised by how built up it was when we arrived not expected the towering skyscrapers endless shopping malls and theme parks rather different to Byron Bay The beach there is b http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-349614.html We had an early 530a wakeup call today so that we could grab the 615a bus to the airport for our 900a flight to Sydney. We flew Air New Zealand and as with Qantas we found them to have the same great onboard service that we used to have on US flights many moons ago. For breakfast we had a choice between a hot breakfast of potatoeggs with bacon or the continental breakfast with cereal y http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-349487.html I arrived in Cairns on Thursday morning. To give you an idea of the weather please imagine being in a really hot and humid green house I didn't realise how tropical it would be At first I spent some time hopping from air conditioned place to air conditioned placeThe thing I found most exciting about Cairns were the bats although perhaps not everyone's favourite. I was walking into the main par http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-349397.html Day 1 in Cairns started before 7am while I waited to get a room at my hostel. I was SO tired at this point and it was so effing hot that I got a key to the common room and slept in front of the tv for 3 hours then got a room and slept for another 3. I met with Anna for dinner before getting an early sleep. Day 2 I was on a bus to the Tully river for a full day of river rafting at 7am. I had a gr http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-348986.html G'daySo we made it to Oz.We lest Sinagpore at 2200 and had a 4 hour flight to Darwin 1.5 hours ahead of Singapore 0400 A 1 hour wait in Darwin we then boarded the plane to Cairns another 3 hour journey and 0.5 hours aheadYesterday we chilled and had a walk around the town I know what people mean when they say its like stepping back in time Its a bit like a time warp. Not much to do i http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-348745.html Hello Its been a while since we've done this so thought we better update everyone on whats been going. We'll kick off with Koh Phi Phi where we spent a few days with Danny and Amanda friends from home.Firstly Koh Phi Phi is gorgeous. Its a tiny island in South Thailand near Phuket where there's absolutely no traffic because cars are not allowed on the island. Its such a small island that pr http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-348414.html Since my last update I was hanging out in Melbourne and I was getting a little bored and everyone I talked to suggested I check out the Great Ocean Road and since my friend was going as well I figured why not and booked on the same bus as her. It was a 2 night 3 day trip that went to Adelaide along the Great Ocean Road to see the 12 Apostles which are rock formations made from lime stone. Since http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-348396.html 1er jour a Cairns je vais l utiliser pour visiter un peu et faire quelques achats. Je commence par le plus grand centre commercial de la ville et j y achete un tshirt et des tongs si si vraiment j ai de nombreux jours de plage devant moi il faut que je m equipe.Pour midi je mange des nouilles chinoises au poulet avec des baguettes comme un pro du moins au debut jusqu a ce qu une pate tombe http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-347747.html Well we stayed almost a week on Ko Phi Phi in bamboo thatched bungalows on the side of a hill very cool but I was ate alive my last 2 nites there 27 bites the little feckers. Dont think it was mossies tho looks more like ant bites they're sooo itchy We went did a full day visiting the surrounding islands snorkelling in the open water. We visited Monkey Island were monkeys were just r http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-347682.html Before I start writing about what we've been up to I'd like a moment to feel sorry for myself...I've been bitten by either mosquitos or sandflies all over my face It looks like I've got some sort of weird disease or as the man at the market stall said to me I see you have a pimple problem he later convinced me into buying this salt rock which apparently will make them go away. Okay so http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-347340.html Arriver hier a Cairns bord de mer fantastique entoure de montagnes. On fait les lezards sur les plages. Nous partons a minuit pour Airlie Beach pour une aventure fantastique trois jours de voile autour des Whitsundays Islands la grande barriere de corail. On ne veut pas vous ecoeurer Nos bronzages sont deja ... a faire rever. Vous aurez des nouvelles a notre retour de la mer. http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-345845.html Seit gut einer Woche bin ich nun in Cairns wo ich endlich mal lnger als ein paar Tage bleibe Nach dem doch eher unruhigen Hostelleben ists mal schn lnger an einem Ort zu verweilen. Hier werd ich wohl bis etwa eine Woche vor Weihnachten bleiben. Am ersten Wochenende hab ich 2Freunde von den Whitsundays wiedergetroffen und hab mit denen was unternommen. Ich war am Great Barrier Reef schnorchel http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-345522.html oct 27 'alia jacta est'. the die is cast. friday flight perth. to leave this exquisite essence. oozing life. the first time i hit perth. no money knowing no one. and now to break the crystal of life on the road by getting on that red bird virgin blue roaring out over trinity bay i've seen lo these many months with me on it i've dreaded longed for it to be a flight to not from. yet i leave http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-339456.html Decided to go shopping at the big shopping centre in the morning. Went into game and saw Fable 2 and Fallout 3 and realised there is a lot to do when I get home. In the centre of town there was a live reggae band which we decided to sit and watch. There was a cool old man dancing and playing tambarine the whole way through. After this we did a bit of sunbathing and went for a swim. Whilst we were http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-338733.html Had to go shopping in the morning so I could buy some swimming shorts and finally get around to doing what everyone does in australia. After getting some new swimming shorts and booking some tours to cape tribulation and the tablelands we headed back to the hostel. We then decided to walk along the promanade to the free pool that is nicer than the hostel pool with less people looking at my embarr http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-337819.html 12th21st Oct 2008Cairns CityChecked out from our hostel in singapore and travelled to the airport via Tube... Once there we had to wait around for 9 hours being bored... We decided it would be best to get there early lol... turned out not such a good idea in the end. After a 'Long weight' we were aloud to check in... Finally... Our flight was changed from Quantas to a company called Jetstar... w http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-336907.html Yesterday we had a lazy day exploring more of cairns area and were happy to finally find a cheap supermarket woolworths. Today we went walking around pandanus swamp forestlowland paper bark foresttropical palm forestflecker botanical gardensfitzaland gardens and the centenery lakes one freshwater and one saltwater lake. These were all very pretty and we managed not to get eaten by anything http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-336735.html Since our last entry we have been to the Barrier Reef on an extremely windy day. You can quess the rest. wind speed 30 knots and ginger tablets for everyone.they didn't always work but we were ok We have some really good pictures of David in a teletubby outfit but Margaret chickened out of snorkelling as the sea was a bit rough. Still it was a good day. Sorry no photos they are on Margaret's http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-336730.html After about 30 hours or more of traveling we are finally in Aussie We went from CopenhagenLondonHong KongBrisbaneCairns horribly long flight but did the best out of it Started travel on the 15th and got here on the 17th so it's quite a journey Anyways we met a nice guy from the UK on the plane so we did have alot of fun.So we got to Cairns about 4 days ago First day we both felt so mise http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-336353.html oct 20 have john's list of around 55 birds of the cairns esplanade. have seen and can mostly identify fifty. i went on the bird club walk yesterday. got ruddy turnstone blackfaced monarch. rainy nights and mornings. spruiked smithfield shopping center carpark again for top result. seeing stickers regularly. some have the yellow faded. bummer but at least the design is still obvious. can't get http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-336303.html October 19 2008Headed into town Kuranda for morning coffee and found ourselves next to the table that the local men sit at for their daily coffee and chat. Joe once again found himself in a serious discussion of the world economy. No escaping that topic thatrsquos for sure. Then as we were walking down the street we ran into Fiona and Stuart and sat with them while they ate breakfast. http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-336253.html Well it seems a long time since our last entry from Hamilton Island. After we left there we travelled up the coast to another small port and got a ferry to Dunk Island where we spent two nights. Dunk island is a more luxurious tropical island. It has some lovely beaches and accommodation but retains the wildlife theme of Fraser island. we went around the island on our own through small jungle li http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-336103.html