We went on a two week vacation to Cairns Australia and had the best time of our lives (so far anyways). We arrived lat eon Sunday night and spent the next two days walking around, biking around and visiting all the neat little tourist shops. It's quite a happening touristy town. We spent one day at Green Island. It was about an hour and a half boat ride and reminded us both of Managaha only a little bit bigger. (Managaha being the small island off our island here). We spent the day lazying around in the sun, relaxing, reading, snorkeling for a few minutes because the water was sooooo cold and more lounging around by the pool. It was beautiful!
The next day we took the Kurade Steamrail up to the small town of Kuranada. It was a beautiful trian ride up a mountain with two waterfalls to look at. In the small town we shopped again at all the tourist stores but spend most of our time at the Didgerdoo store. We met Jimmy who taught us about didgerdoos and how to play them and let us play for awhile and then we bought one of him. A beautiful yellow boxwood eucalyptus didgerdoo. We went back a few days later for a 2 hour lesson and learned a few other techniques to playing...hopefully the more we practice the better it'll sound. :)
We rented a car for the first weekend and learned how to drive on the other side of the road and saw alot of beautiful beaches and coast line. We loved having our own wheels and exploring. During that time we stayed at a Bed and Breakfast in a small beach town called Yorkey's Knob. It was a beautiful house run by a beautiful old lady named Gail. She had a 5 story house over-looking the ocean and made us an incredible breakfast every morning. It was a blessing and a highlight of our trip!
We took another 1.5 hour boat ride out to the Great Barrier Reefone day. The boat docked up to a pontoon where we could snorkel at our leisure, ride a glass bottom boat, sit in a submarine and see the reef that way. We also paid a few extra dollars to have the reef biologist tour us around outside the guided snorkelling area. Now we live on a reef here in Saipan but unlike the Great Barrier Reef, most of our coral is dead. The coral and fish and everything here was spectacular and we couldn't get enough of it. Too bad the water was sooooooo awfully cold. That was one of the best days of the trip.
On Wednesday, June 10 we woke up nice and early, ate some good old fashioned Aussie brekkie (toast and jam) and then rode in a van over to AJ Hackertt's Bungee Jump. We signed in, watched several others jump and then I finally got up the nerve to walk up to the top. 150 meters up above a tiny little pond. Up at the top Jake got all saddled up and ready to jump while I got to watch him go first. CRAZY!!!! He flew off the ledge like it was nothing at all.
A few people later it was my turn. I kept telling the guy that I didn't think I could do it and that he should just push me but he told me that defeats the challenge of it and that I should do it myself. So I stood on the edge and as he counted down from 5 I freaked and instead of jumping...kinda flopped off the edge - and yet it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I cannot even describe what I felt like afterwards - we just couldn't stop laughing and shaking. What a great day! :)
We went to a crocodile farm one day and watched a croc feeding show and then a wrestling show. It was crazy to watch these massive vicious creatures leaping for food and clamping their jaws shut - scary! We spent some time at the tropical zoo feeding kangaroos, holding koalas, watching snakes crawl around and see some awesome birds flying. We loved the zoos and farms we went too - there are some awesome animals in Australia!
We spent other days driving around in tours. We went to Atherton Tablelands one day and toured all the different waterfalls and little towns. So beautiful up there and you feel like you are in a totally different country than when you are in Cairns. We also went to Cape Tribulation for a night. It is purely in the middle of the rainforest with no power lines or very many people. We stayed at a beautiful resort called the Fern Tree and spent most of the time there walking on rainforest boardwalks and lying on the beach. We also went on a Night Walk for two hours and only saw one possum and two little rat-like rodents. No snakes or iguanas or lizards or anything. It was kinda worthless but at least we walked through the rainforest late at night - that was pretty cool. It was amazing being there - there was silence and more silence and it was just eerie almost at times.
The weather was beautiful, pants and a coat every night and just perfect weather during the day. The whole trip was just beautiful. You saw so many different sights and creatures that you felt like you were in different countries at times. God's creation is majestic and so beautiful and we sure saw alot of it. We kept busy the whole time and had a wonderful vacation.
We are now back in Saipan and working at Marianas Trekking in their Eco Summer Camp as camp counsellors. I am in charge of the 7-8 year olds and Jake has the 12-13 year olds. We swim, play games, swim, play soccer and several other field games and then we usually swim some more. It's so hot here that swimming is one of the only activities that feels good! :) It'll keep us busy for the next 5 weeks while we are the only teachers here.
Follow this link to see our pictures!!!
http://picasaweb.google.com/jcqlnvndm/OurAustraliaTrip#
Love and Blessings,
Jackie and Jake