Sunday, December 2nd, 2007 - 11:11 p.m. Alex and I went for a drive, not really paying attention to our map, to a hiking destination that takes four hours to complete along the ocean. We passed our destination unintentionally and kept going to a rink-a-dink little city with only a fish and chips place around to get food from. The lady working there is a 60 year old Chinese woman. She was hilarious...really upbeat, hyper and down right hilarious. She told us about meeting her husband in China, he was there for work, but is originally from New Zealand. She thought we were locals just moved to the area, said we didn't look like tourists (good), and that she's lived here for 20 years. She said we should move here to, it's easy for english speaking ... read more

Well...it's a start! I went to an internet place next door...that was an experiance in itself. It was filled with Asian kids smoking and playing internet video games shouting swear words in english and something else I didn't understand. The program I need to upload multiple photos doesn't seem to work on these computers. I'm on a free (WHAT?! Free?!) hotel computer right now. I guess someone paid for it and didn't use their whole session. In any case, travelblog.org did something that the individual picture uploading is fast....but not on this computer. I'll try to get more to you soon! Tomorrow Alex and I might be going on a little adventure. You're hooked up to a cable and desend down water falls, jump off cliffs into lakes, and slide down natural water slides. We don't ... read more

I'm trying to get photos on here, I have a TON, but it seems like anywhere I go it gets 99% done and then ......... nothing. So, be prepared for a back log of photo fun. Today has been really good. Alex and I went to the sky tower and did this freaky over looking the city thing. You go up 88 floors and then into a glass box that moves out over the city, you can see above, below, and all around you. We've walked all over town. Alex wants a picture of a building/business called "The Hill of Content" because he thinks it's funny. We're going to look it up in the phone book and find it tomorrow...I hope it's as funny to you as it is to him - my feet - not ... read more

Today our shuttle was picking us up at 7:40 a.m. It immediately started off great. Ben, our tour guide, is a really friendly scuba diver that was great to talk to. The shuttle itself sat nine passengers and Ben. Leather seats, wood floor, very nice. We were off to Mossman Gorge. Most of this entry can be explained with photos. We went on another crocodile hunt, less successful croc wise, but extremely awesome. They have large fruit bats that you can see sleeping in the trees during the day. Unlike the common bats we have in Michigan, Fruit bats have excellent vision and have a fruit diet. While ours are in the field mice family, these are in the monkey family. I love bats. Even the little mousy ones in Michigan. I think they're cool - ... read more

Sunday, November 18th, 2007 - 8:17 p.m. Crikey...we are beat and it's so early. Leaving Cairns and taking the shuttle to Port Douglas was exactly what I've been waiting for. From the "caution kangaroo crossing" signs to the open fields of wallabies....it was quite Australian. We checked out our new home for the next five days and I immediately fell in love with the room, the pool, the environment, and the 10 minute walk to town. The bugs are pretty bad here and the walk over loads my nose in that in the course of half a block you smell a range from flowers to cake to rotting dead animal (probably a plant, but that's what it smells like) to someone grilling. It's really hot and muggy and several times we had some kind of huge ... read more