Dave and I went over to meet our friends, Lauren and Mara, at their hostel last night for Thanksgiving. It wasn't a traditional Thanksgiving (this consisted of vegetarian chili and tons of goon) but it was still heaps of fun times. There was us three Americans, 2 Canadians, and then a bunch of other random nationalities that joined in the festivities.

I'm catching the shuttle to the airport in half an hour, and will be in Melbourne by 4pm today, so there will be dancing tonight! I'm still feeling kind of 'meh' but I'm super excited about moving on (and hopefully I'm not contagious anymore)! My head is still very stuffy, and I swear my nose has turned into a mucus factory, but I will take another Sudafed before I get on the plane, and I might survive.

No real big plans for Melbourne, except that I'm staying with a soon-to-be-friend, Penny, and we'll spend the weekend dancing. I'm volunteering at the exchange, but so far, I only have one shift on Friday, which is just fine by me. Maybe I will get out to Phillip Island this time to see the Penguin Parade

Sunday morning I will be heading back to Brisbane, to hop on another flight bound for Fiji! I can't believe in 4 days I will be in Fiji! Should be awesome!

Monday night I was so bummed about my crappy dive, so I went back to the internet place, and a couple of my friends talked me into changing my flight! So that explains why it is now Wednesday night, and I am still in Cairns!

The four of us - Dave, Lauren, Mara, and I - all went on a dive boat today. Lauren did an intro dive, and Dave and Mara snorkeled, while I had two fantastic dives in the Great Barrier Reef. I was feeling slightly better, and this time I had taken Sudafed to help clear up my sinuses. It mostly worked - I was able to equalize better, but it was still a little painful.

We saw some really cool things though - a turtle, tons of fish, and the most amazingly coloured corals.

Off to Melbourne tomorrow!

It took me a lot of work to finally be able to get on a dive boat. I have been trying for a couple of days now - originally, I was planning on doing a 2 day live aboard - but the boat I wanted to be on was booked. And so I tried a different boat, but because I didn't have my card on my, they were going to charge me a fortune for it. So finally, I just decided to do a day trip.

I woke up at 645 this morning, to call the Cairns Dive Centre - only to find out that they were completely booked. This is not good. Once again, I give in, and pick a different company... but I managed to get a spot on their boat today, which was both good and bad.

Yesterday, I had a slightly sore throat, and by the time I went to bed, my nose was stuffy as well. "Oh well, I'm sure it will be fine by morning" I told myself. No such luck. I woke up feeling like crap this morning - achy and grumpy, sore throat, swollen glands and all. But I still got on the boat, after paying my 150$

I tried the first dive, but I couldn't equalize at all. I descended about 6 meters, couldn't get any further, came back up, and repeated. The second dive went the same way. But this point, I was almost in tears: I waited all year to dive the Great Barrier Reef, and this was probably my last chance.

Finally, for the third dive, one of the dive masters descended with me, slowly, along the mooring line, and I had more success (it also didn't help that I was freaking out in pain from the pressure in my ear, and sucking down air like I had never breathed before!) It was actually a pretty good dive - saw some clown fish, tons of other fish (like a lion fish!), saw a cuttlefish or squid, and some other really neat things. Exactly as wonderful as I'd expect it to be. However, ever time we changed depth, even by just a tiny little bit, my head would feel like it was going to explode from the pressure. Not a fun way to dive.

Overall, huge disappointment. I was planning on 2 fantastically amazing dives, and instead, I ended up with one painful dive. I might have to try it again tomorrow if I feel any less sick.

Not what I was hoping for =(

And my head still hurts. I think it will be an early night for me. Maybe I shouldn't have stayed up so late last night with such an early start for this morning.

still no pictures, sorry =( But free internet has its limits. No downloading anything for me either, and no skype, but I'll take what I can get!

Anna and I went on our Cape Tribulation tour and had a really great time. Fantastic, sunny, meltingly-warm days, and sandy beaches that stretched on for miles!

The tour bus picked us up at 715am on Thursday, and we slowly drove north. Stopped at a couple of places along the way, including Cairns wildlife zoo, and some lookouts. We also went on a guided walk of a section of the Daintree Rainforest. Eventually we were dropped off at our accommodation in Cape Trib. We stayed at the Ferntree Resort (which used to be 5 star, and now caters to backpackers). After we arrived, we walked to Myall beach, and along one of the tracks until we came to the creek. The map we had clearly labels the creek ad croc-safe, but it looks like the perfect hideout instead, with swampy, mangrove areas maybe 5 meters away. So we splash the water a bit, and wait, splash some more, and finally decide it was safe. I sent Anna across first, and seeing that she made it, I crossed afterwards. It was about waist deep water, crystal clear and about as warm as you could wish for. Some great photos from our crossing! The rest of the day we wandered about the other beach, and then went back to the hostel to cook some pasta for dinner.

Friday was spent lazing about the pool and the beach (though you can't swim at the beach, because of the threat of jellyfish!), before being picked up at 130 for our return trip. We went on a river cruise of the Daintree River, but didn't see anything, and drove through Port Douglas on the way back.

Anna and I went to the Woolshed bar/restaurant for free dinner last night, and stayed for the 2-4-1 drinks and eventually walked home about midnight. She got up this mornign to go to her rescue diver course, and I hitched a ride with the shuttle to get into town to find someone to dive with tomorrow.

I was hoping to be on a 2 day live-aboard today and tomorrow, but I couldn't get organized in time (and the sailboat I wanted to be on was booked!). I also wasn't really budgeting 400$ for diving for 2 days. So instead, I picked a different place, and will only get in 2 dives (instead of the 6 I was hoping for!) but it will be good anyways!

I expected a lot from Cairns - I had heard so much about it, and it has not quite lived up to the hype.

I arrived late last night and caught the shuttle from the airport to the hostel. Cute place, but there wasn't too many people around, so it was an early night for me. I did manage to make a couple of friends before going to bed, and work out some loose plans, so we'll see where that goes.

This morning, Anna and I (as well as a British couple) had breakfast together, before Anna and I set out for the 'city'. The 'city' is really only about 5 blocks of cafes, souvenir shops, and tour booking places. We walked along the beach to get there, and even though I had been warned it was not a typical beach, I was still stunned! It was gross! More like mudflats than anything else. And then it started to rain on us. After that, it started to pour. So thats how we found ourselves currently located in this tour booking/internet place ^_^

We are hoping to hire a camper van for the next couple of days and head up to the rainforest, and then make it back here early next week for some diving.

I loveeee Sydney!

Last night was the Mobsters and Mafia Swing Ball, so everyone dressed up and was looking fantastic!

Heres a picture of Catherina and I before we hit the town:



It was a pretty early night, with the dance ending at midnight. There was supposed to be an afterparty, but that didn't start until 2am, so Alicja and I skipped it and made it to bed at a reasonable hour.


Today, my other friend, Alicja, took me on a personalized walking tour of Sydney. We started in the suburb of Glebe, where she lives, because there was the Glebe Market Festival on today:



We walked past Central Station, through Chinatown, and all the way to Darling Harbour, where we had a very nutricious lunch:




Of course we walked along the Harbour Bridge:



We continued to the Opera House, where we proceeded to lindy bomb the place! Yay!

And more jump shots followed:



A fantastic tour!

And tonight will be more dancing!

And I am now in Sydney!

Just checking in quickly before Catherina, Leehui, and I head out to grab some lunch. It was a super late night last night, and Catherina and I didn't get to bed until 530am, so we are all moving a little bit slow today.

The dance was fantastic though. Lots of good leads, and decent music - although it was more bluesy and slow swing, but I did get in a bal dance or 2.

Internet two days in a row - CRAZY!


Last night I hung around the hostel for a bit and watched a movie (Remember the Titans), and then walked over to the pub, which was only 4 blocks away. I had a bunch of good dances, but it ended pretty early at 11pm, so I didn't get in as much dancing as I would have liked!

I am staying again with Chrissy, and Alicja is as well, so we all piled up into the car, and headed to Melinda's house for a cup of tea ^_^ We didn't make it to bed until 1230 or 1am.

Today is my last day here in Christchurch, and it was a beautiful one at that! Alicja and I walked from Chrissy house into downtown this morning, and ti was about an hour walk. We wandered about, and eventually found a Thai place to grab some lunch to take with us. A couple of minutes later, and we found ourselves in the pretty botanic gardens, lounging in the grass, eating our yummy take-away. I think we napped for a while in the sunshine, because when I woke up, there was a whole group of circus people practicing in our patch of grass!

What good entertainment! There were several jugglers, and plenty of people doing press handstands, back tucks and handsprings, etc. It was good fun. Alicja and I hung out there for a couple of hours before heading to the internet cafe (so that I could check my flight time for tomorrow, and she could play on facebook!)

And now its time to get going again! Back to Chrissy's house!

Yesterday (Tuesday) morning we awoke to some beautiful views in Lake Tekapo. After packing up the car and checking out of our hotel room, we had a late brunch at the little frendly cafe in town (though there wasn't many places to choose from - the population of Lake Tekapo is tiny!). Afterwards, we went for a walk/climb/adventure around a portion of the lake. Gorgeous weather, crystal blue lake, mountains and forests in the background - I really couldn't ask for more!

Eventually, we got back into the car and started making our way north to Christchurch. We stopped a bunch of times along the way - to get out and stretch, to take pictures, and even once to watch some random blokes hit some golfballs way out into the middle of nowhere. Fan-tastic!

After a 4 hour drive from Lake Tekapo, Dave and I arrived back in Christchuch yesterday evening. We hung about in the city for a while, just wandering around, not really accomplishing much except for walking around in circles. We did manage to find a nice little brew/pub, where we tried a local beer. After enjoying the free wireless internet, and a live band, we wandered around some more. Dave had been craving sushi, so it was Japanese for dinner ^_^ I had some yummy chicken katsu, and he ate some raw fish (blech), and an hour or so later, we ended up in the YHA in the city centre.

Saturday

We checked out at 10am, ans began our drive out to Queenstown. Turned out to be a much longer drive than I expected, but it was totally worth it! Mountains and streams and forests along the entire way, so we definitely had a good drive. We stopped along the way to admire the scenery in numerous places, such as Bruce Bay, and along the lakes. After arriving in Queenstown, we checked into our accommodation, and went to walk around downtown.

Not too much going on, but I did manage to find an ATM, and Dave got a new cassette for his video recorder. I wanted to find an optometrist, because I tore one of my contact lenses Thursday night, but the one place was closed for the weekend, so no luck for me. Bah. We picked up some dinner at the grocery store, and headed back to the hostel to cook it.

Friday

We booked a tour to do a glacier hike!

It started pretty early - 815, but it really took a while for everyone to get all their gear together and get on the bus. It was a short ride out to the glacier, and then a longggggg hike up! Tons of amazing pictures along the way, and was absolutely gorgeous the entire time! We climbing through some caves and some narrow passageways... but everyone made it out safely. As soon as we made it back to the hostel, we jumped into the hot tub for a soak of our tired muscles!

Thursday Dave and I drove out to the Franz Josef glacier. We stopped at a bunch of places along we way, because every place was more beautiful than the last. We crossed Arthur's Pass, where we did a short hike, and climbed some rocks up to the base of a waterfall, and then we continued along our way. Eventually, we reached the glacier, so we checked into our room at the Glow Worm Resort.

We are now in Rotorua, New Zealand!

Dancing this past weekend was absolutely fantastic - I met so many great people, and had tons of awesome dances, and I even learned a bit at the classes. The dance camp was at this little out of the way place in the middle of nowhere - when you opened the front door of the main building, the sheep baa'ed at you! ^_^ Made me crack up every time I heard it.



I hooked up with some other dancers who were doing some traveling, so the five of us have been exploring the north island. We were in Hamilton on Monday afternoon and yesterday morning, where we went to see the Hamilton Gardens. A little while south of there is Waitomo, which is a huge tourist attraction because of the glow worm caves. We did a caving tour Tuesday morning, where we had to suit up in wetsuits and explore about 1km of caves (which took us about 3 hours!). It was really cool (and cold!) because we got to do some swimming, some climbing, some crawling, and in the middle of it, we stopped at the "Hard Rock Cafe" where they fed us some hot lemonade and chocolate fish (a marshmallow candy bar coated in chocolate in the shape of a fish!)



Oren and Kitty had to leave Rotorua this morning to go back to Auckland to catch their flight, but Alicja, Dave and I hung around a while. Alicja had already spent two weeks touring around the south island, but Dave and I haven't, so it was here where we decided to part ways.

Our original goal was for Dave and I to hire a car and drive all the way down to Wellington, stopping to do the Tongariro Crossing. But then we found our that no one would rent out a car to us (because it would have been a one way rental). And then to top it off, we found out the the crossing was closed! And would be closed for the next coupla days! Oh noes!

Well, there went that idea, so instead we hopped on a plane within an hour and a half and were on our way to Christchurch! We arrived in Christchurch about 5pm, and hung around in the city for a bit until we went dancing! Yay for swing dancing in Christchurch! The scene here is pretty good, and the people are really nice. Chrissy hosted us for the night after the dance, and when we got back to her place, we were super tired, so we crashed almost right away!