Hutch3

Alright, so I know it's been awhile since I last updated but internet access has been relatively limited lately. After vanuatu I went to Fiji and completed me scubar diving certificate. It went well. there were a few hiccups along the way but that's a story for another day. After Fiji I met back up with Sarah and Nora and another girl named Lizzy, who has decided to do the southeast asia tour with us, in Sydney. We spent a few days in the city and they were all supposed to leave two days before me for Bangkok, where I would meet back up with them. However, Nora realized she had lost her passprt a few hours before the flight and we didn't find it in time. It was found eventually though. When Sarah and Lizzy ... read more

I got into Fiji 3 days ago and I'm leaving for Vanuatu tomorrow morning. So Nadi...it's what I envision Cuba looking like 20 years ago, it's pretty rundown. When the car picked me up from the airport all I could think was I hope the hostel isn't in downtown Nadi. I new it was on a beach, but Nadi is on the water too. Anyways, the hostel (Smugglers Cove) is on the edge of Nadi and has it's own bar and restaurant. The back doors open up to it's own private beach scattered with coconut trees. I mention the coconut trees for this reason; there's an old man here (65) named Joni (said like Johnny) who climbs the trees like a monkey, cuts the coconuts down and sells them to people staying at the hostel. Coconuts ... read more

Ok, so we went back to the cliffs for some more diving. As we were about to leave two guys from the US showed up to jump also. Until scuba diving on the reef yesterday (Monday), what happened next was the greatest thing to happen on this trip. Brady (Pennsylvania) and Steve (Washington) jumped into the water to swim across the lagoon to climb up and jump. The initial jump in is only 3-4 feet. However, Brady managed to make it the most awkward entry I've ever seen. That record lasted about 1 minute until Steve jumped in in a leap-frog manner and belly-flopped. That was the moment we all stopped and decided we had to watch them jump the actual cliff. They spent a little while surveying the jump so I climbed up to assure ... read more

So, I finally landed in Cairns (on Wednesday morning) after flying from Boston-San Francisco-Auckland-Cairns. The flights were pretty uneventful, even though the San Francisco-Auckland flight was outrageously long. Sarah met me at the airport with her new dog named Sox. Sox is an RSPCA dog that they're fostering until they can find him a home. On a side-note, his name was not given to him by Sarah. She's not that big of a fan of the Red Sox, nor is she lame enough to name a dog after her favorite baseball team. No offense to anyone who has done that. Anyways, Sox is kind of like Beethoven only he's a greyhound mixed with something else. When you take him for walks it's more like him taking you for a walk. The greyhound part really becomes noticeable ... read more