14,000 Feet of Insanity

I left you guys with fab raves about the wonderful city of Sydney. That will not happen with the city of Cairns. (pronounced Cannes) It was really the weather that was the problem you see. Let me explain. So Lynsey and I left Sydney with the hopes of lounging on a beach in lovely tropical-weather-all-year-long Cairns. Sadly, that would not be the case. It was warmer mind you, than the rest of Australia, but still cool, rainy, and somehow through all that, humid. The actual town of Cairns is pretty enough, very tropical, and still very small despite it's popularity. The main part is all touristy, but has great restaurants to choose from. and along the esplanade is a lagoon pool that was built for public use, because when the tide goes out, it goes wayyyy out and leaves pretty much nothing behind. But we made the best of it, and were very adventurous to say the least. We went scuba diving over the Great Barrier Reef, which was really fun. Visibility was low because of the nasty weather, but even through that, the wonderful colors of the reef came through. I'd never been scuba diving before, and was only going to snorkel, but something (maybe it was the cute scuba instructor) told me to try it out. It's like a whole other world down there! It's quiet, so blue, and alive! The fish were absolutely amazing--tiny fish swimming through coral, schools of Nemo's, and some as big as a car! There was even a small reef shark swimming beside us for a while. It was awesome, all except for the getting back on the boat while it was beginning to rain and sailing home soaking wet part. The next day was the craziest of all, because we went........Skydiving! from 14,000 feet in the air! Do you people have any idea how far up 14,000 feet is?! I didn't either until i was falling out of a plane, thinking to myself, "So this is what the earth looks like from 14,000 feet in the air." along with "What have I done?!" Oh, it was tandem, meaning I had a guy strapped to my back doing all the easy stuff like throwing us out of the plane and pulling the parachute while I had to do the hard stuff like remembering to breathe and not crap my pants. But once I started breathing, it was so awesome! Such an adrenaline rush! The view was great, the feeling incomparable, and the experience priceless. It was so awesome, especially floating down to earth after the parachute was pulled. So after all that craziness, Lynsey and I bummed around town, then went and had full body massages! ah, it's the life. After that we pretty much had enough of the crappy weather, and were ready to hop over to Ayer's rock, home of the massive monolith Uluru. So Ayers Rock is in the middle of Australia, in the desert,so one would think that it would be really hot. Again, Lynsey and I are the bearers of bad weather to the world, and it was cold and cloudy the day we arrived. And let me explain something about the Ayer's Rock area; basically there is no town or such in this area, just an area (called Ayer's Rock Resort- but only resort-esque if you can afford the $300 a night hotel rooms) that has been built to house tourists. And it is beyond expensive to stay there. Beyond, do you understand? Lynsey paid $4.00 for a coke. yes, let us all weep. We stayed at the next to least expensive place, the Lodge, in a room smaller than a walk in closet, crammed with 2 bunk beds, that we shared with a nice, non-English speaking mom and daughter team. What was the least expensive option you ask? the campground. and it had rained for 2 days before we got there, so let us call it the mudground instead. No way were we pitching a tent. But oh, the desert! The next day it cleared up and the sky was shocking blue with a scattering of white clouds, in stark contrast to the red earth. The area was also far from dead; green vegetation, spiky as it was (called spinifix), is abundant here, as is weird looking dwarf pine trees. We signed up for an Aboriginal dot painting class, a camel tour, and a tour of Uluru, timed so we could see it at sunset when it changes color. The dot painting class was awesome, as it was partly led by two Aboriginal women named Bonnie and Elsie, with a guide to translate for us. The class started with Bonnie telling us how dot painting came about by drawing in the dirt, the symbols used, and how to create a story. Dot painting came from grandparents teaching young people how to do things, by sketching them out in the sand. Introduction of paints in the mid 20th century led to transferring these lessons and legends onto wood, canvas, or whatever medium was available. As in the name, most of the background of the paintings are made up of dots, which with different colors, and positions, can represent different things. For instance, if many dots of the same color are beside a symbol depicting a fruit, then the dots are meant to represent large numbers of that fruit. (forgive me if I get any details of dot painting wrong, you know my memory- Lynsey check this, and be sure to comment if I'm mistaken in anything!) It was a great class, with Bonnie and Elsie's stories, and them interrupting each other to tell them, and we also got to do a dot painting of our own. The camel tour was fun, it was a nice way to see the desert. The camels are very tall (and what long eyelashes they have!), so the view was nice. Our camels name was Sally, and it was a lovely amble through the desert; camels don't usually move very fast. Towards the end of the day we took a tour, with Bonnie and Elsie leading the way again, of Uluru, most pointedly the area of Uluru where the ancestral beings came about. The "rock" is very impressive, massive in size and height, and easy to understand why the indigenous people look to it as a sacred site. It is a burnt orange color, and as the sun sets, becomes a more brazen red. The rock is said (by scientist) to be there because once it was a massive mountain, and as the millions of year went by, an ocean covered the now desert area, then mud and sand set on top of the left over mountain, now at the bottom of the ocean and hardened together, then the ocean dried up, and everything else eroded away, except a small part of that mountain, which is present day Uluru. (again, sorry if i get some details wrong). It was a lovely day, but Lynsey and and I were excited to be leaving the "resort" the next day, so all of our money wouldn't be drained from us anymore than it had been. We flew back to Melbourne the next day, and met up again with Patrick. (met up meaning crashed at his apartment-thanks again Patrick!) Next day Lynsey and I headed to Philip Island, home of the world's smallest penguins. And they are so small! And so cute! But you can't take pictures of them, because the flash will stun them and make them barf up everything in their stomachs--crazy huh? We were able to watch them come in from the ocean, waddle on the beach, march around for a while, then waddle up the hill into their little burrows for the night. They are so cute, I could barely contain myself, and had to stop from from talking in a super sonic squeaky voice about how cute they were to the person standing next to me. Then, as we were watching the last of them waddle up the hill, a wallaby came bounding down the hill out of nowhere! I thought it was going to be a horrible discovery channel watch-the-wallaby-devour-his-dinner kind of moment, but the just bounded away, not even looking at the penguins. the park service woman beside me said they don't really mess with them. whew. The next day Lynsey flew home and...here's the surprise for you guys: I extended my trip for another week in Australia, then a week in Fiji!!!!! yeah, tropical beaches, here I come! I'll finally be able to get a tan on this vacation! I'm headed for Adelaide, which is Southern Australia, so I'll update from there.
Deanna
PS. Sorry for the long time between posts, I've been meaning to send this one, so you'll probably be getting another one soon after this.- D