An Utterly, Wild and Wet Adventure

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First of all... I don't understand these people who say they have a fear of flying. When you're on a plane at 35,000 feet, flying is the optimum scenario.

I am alive and at the moment I am on a bus pass from Perth to Broome in W.A. (Western Australia is bigger than AK and TX combined) but I haven't figured out how I am going to travel the remaining 1800 kms to Darwin... I hear that there are many camels? Any thoughts? I've been doing a lot of well just surviving since I last updated my travel blog and I'd hate to bore anybody with the details, so this update I will let people choose what they want to hear. To hear about how Breena... to go paragraph A. Flew to Auckland on Friday the 13th to visit the US Embassy B. Climbed a 200 ft karri tree and was so scared C. Almost got carried away by flies while biking in Kalbarri D. Went snorkeling with 6 sharks including one over 2 meters E. Pet a wild lion F. Took a night ghost tour of the Freemantle Prison G. Almost saw a whale shark - the biggest fish in the sea H. Lost her wallet I. Won a music contest
OR ALL OF THE ABOVE BECAUSE SHE IS HAVING A GREAT TIME!!!!

A. I flew from Nelson on the South Island (NZ) to Auckland on Friday the 13th to take the Foreign Officer Service Test at the US Embassy. During the flight a woman wasn't doing well to say the least, I think that she was having a heartattack, so we diverted to New Plymouth. New Plymouth is the only "city" in NZ that I haven't visited and we were the hottest news of the week because every paramedic from the region showed up... We sat on the runway for 1 hour while they attempted to help her, but they were able to move her to the hospital where I think that she made a full recovery. I arrived in Auckland with plenty of time and took the test which I passed! I am now in the second phase which is to pass a background narrative. The test asked specifics about my leadership skills and later I proved them alright. The bus to the airport wasn't showing up and I was going to miss my flight so I rounded up 3 other people it took a bit of convincing to hire a taxi, but in the end... all those people who said no? They all missed their flight as the bus really did never show up. I got to the airport just in the nick of time only to find out that the flight was delayed. Go figure.

B. The karri trees are the third highest species in the world. There is a tree that used to be a fire lookout so there are iron pegs stuck into it that allow you to climb nearly vertically all the way to the top... with hardly an safety. My palms get clammy just thinking about it. The hardest part was passing someone travelling in the opposite direction. I was so happy to reach the top when someone mentioned going down!!! what there's more!

C. The flies in Australia are legendary and I've been warned by plenty of people, but still how bad can they be? I mean the mosquito is our state bird! Turns out some legends are true and these flies don't like to bite you, they like to fly into your mouth, nose, eyes and ears making you do some pretty silly things just to survive... like pedal downhill just to get away from these suckers faster. Kalbarri, just barely north of Perth on the map, but a 6 hour drive is one of the most fly infested places that I have come to, but it is one of the most beautiful. Sandstone of varying red hues cut a jagged coastline above a cyan blue swell that is breathtaking. While I was there I went canoeing in some inland gorges and it was stunning and best of all the flies weren't so bad.

D. Today, my newest adventure took me snorkeling on Ningaloo Reef, just off Coral Bay near Exmouth in W.A. These reefs are fringing reefs of hard corals (not colorful) so you can snorkel off shore. Today I took a boat to the sea turtle sanctuary where I saw green turtles. Green turtles are so amazing as they only grow 1 cm a year so a big one can be over 100 years old! We were in a glass bottom boat so we cruised over a couple of them who were feeding on algae. They must come to the surface to breath so it was so cute to see them pop their heads up for a breath. Later, at a snorkel site we swam with a little turtle (probably still 35 years old or so) and we visited a shark cleaning station... a particular part of the reef where sharks come to have the cleaning wrasse (a fish) eat the parasites and dead skin off of their gills. There were 6 reef sharks (they don't eat humans) including one over 2 m that were swimming around... amazing but there was a big ray that gracefully flew by in the water. The only thing that I didn't see were sea snakes which are highly venomous.

E. Pet a lion... are you kidding there are no lions in Oz.

F. In Perth, I took a night tour of the Freemantle Prison, a maximum security prison that was closed in 91 and it is now a museum. It was pretty scary with the tales of prisoners illustrated by maniacs jumping out at us. One story sticks out however. The prison is of course haunted and experiences can happen at anytime. Our guide said that a couple of months back, a woman with her 2 year old daughter took the day tour. She told him that in each successive generation of her family, children can see ghosts until they are 11. The guide said, huh and went on with the tour. As the group entered the gallows, the site of 44 hangings, the 2 yr. old screamed and cried. The mother consoled her child until she only sat there looking petrified. As they were walking out of the gallows, the little girl turned herself in the stroller 180 degrees, looked directly at the noose, waved and said, "bye, bye." If that doesn't give you chills, well you might already be chilled.

G. Two days ago I went on a trip to see the elusive whale shark, the biggest shark or fish of any kind in the world. The whale shark is very elusive and perhaps there are only 1000 left period. The coral spawn at this time of year, attracting krill and other small animals which attract the whale shark. Anyway, I wanted to go snorkeling with one. The boat hires a plane to spot them and then we race over to see them. As they are a fish they don't need to surface for air so they can remain at deep depths for a long time but they are usually feeding at the surface. Anyway, 5 times we were about to dive into the water, but each time it dived just before we did so we didn't see them. However, we did see lots of Indo Pacific bottlenose dolphins, a shark feeding frenzy on some anchovies, a hawksbill sea turtle and manta rays. Manta rays can have wingspans of up to 4 m and they are so graceful as they seemingly fly through the water. We were able to snorkel with them as they barrel rolled (a type of feeding behavior) with lots of their entourage, little cleaner wrasse in front of their mouth.

H. I hope I didn't lose my wallet. But just in case you can send money to my mom who can get it to me. haha!

I. At a hostel in Cairns, they were having a didgriredoo (spelling!!) contest and the prize was to go on an extreme swing - 45 m drop to 1 m. Well as I am afraid of falling I only glanced at the ad, certainly why would I enter if I don't care about the prize. A random they picked me and 3 other contestants. Fine... but I still don't want to win. I couldn't even begin to play this instrument, so I entertained everyone with some Alaskan humor just so they didn't have to hear me play!!!!! I guess that worked because I was like why haven't they just stopped the competition because I was hurting everyone's ears when they announced that I won!! Uh... ok but I still don't want the prize. So like an gracious winner I gave my prize away but kept the glory for myself.

I AM HERE UNTIL THE END OF APRIL SO EXPECT MORE ADVENTURES. RIGHT NOW IT IS OVER 100 DEGREES HERE.

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