Bug bites, crocs, and rain

well we made it to cairns!! yay!!! paradise, on the Great Barrier Reef! wait a minute... thats not where we are. we are in a pouring down rain jungle, with no food in sight, too tired to think, wondering... who told us to come here??

no, no - its not that bad... now. the last two days were actually lovely. but day number 1 had us second guessing ourselves. we land from a LONG flight from melbourne, both in surprisingly good moods. we grab a taxi who does not overcharge us (yay) and get to our airbnb house, which looks adorable and is a typical queenslander home. the only problem is the rain has not stopped since the flight, we are starving, have no car, and the house is about 30 minutes from town. so tweedle dee and tweedle dumb decide we are going to grab our rain gear (we bought waterproof suits for NZ hiking), we grab these giant umbrellas we found at the house and we start walking to town. if anyone could have video taped this you would have died. the wind was blowing me in every direction, colin was officially soaked, we were wandering on the streets with no sidewalks (not the place the tourists are supposed to walk) and finally we come upon a bar called "Cock N Bull" which has a sign out front that says "45 Pokies! Come on in!" Seriously? Where are we? But we could not have been happier to find food, shelter, and beer. We ordered some schnitzel and curry a couple beers and scarfed what ended up being a quite tasty meal. Our food comas set in and we hiked all the way back, enjoying this hilarious moment ony to get home and reward ourselves with a well deserved nap. We kept it easy that night and prepped for rainy day number 2 tomorrow.

The next day we woke up to find out we needed to take care of a few things back in the states and get some paperwork notarized. Colin did a bunch of research and found this guy on the US Consulates website who could officially notarize things. We started walking to bus the stop to get to this guys house and wouldnt you know it - our brains started working. We quickly hired a car and made our way across town. We walked into a delightful old mans house, who should be in the AU version of hoarders to get what one could only assume was a fake sticker that said "yup - i notarized this for some yanks"... we paid the man way too much money and got in the car and chalked that one up for "an experience", booking an appointment at the official american consulate for 2 weeks later. on a positive note we stumbled upon this adorable cafe called osmosis and had some yummy breaky and coffee. upon finding this place, the clouds started to part and we drove down to the esplanade to "walk the walk" of cairns. it is such a fun boardwalk area and has a ton of ice cream shops and bars to check out. they have a giant pool right on the boardwalk for the public and we dipped our toes in it and then headed to the happening bar down the road. we grabbed a pitcher and enjoyed a few hours or talking. colin tried to explain some more history to me, and i tried to figure out how his brain is such a sponge... i mean seriously - i want one! we went back to the house cooked up a yummy grilled chicken salad - "tasted" our hosts home brewed beer which colin decided was the best he has had in AU yet, and played a few hands of yaniv and cuddled up to a late night episode of mad men. the one where the big plane crash happens from LA>NY in 1962. It rang a bit familiar with me, so I did some google searching and I am pretty sure that is the crash my grandpa died in. maybe my mama, or aunt sharon can validate that - but it was pretty crazy to see how much it affected everyone - especially those who knew someone in the crash. i can only imagine how that must have been for my mom, aunts, and grandma - such strong women. i'm so proud to be part of their family.

the next morning we woke up and made some breaky with our roomies. had tea, saw some big and beautiful aussie birds, tried to get some yoga in - then headed out for the day. we stopped by the esplanade to book a Great Barrier Reef Dive & Snorkle (which we are both admidteddly a bit scared about considering all the crazy wildlife we have seen). Then we headed North to Port Douglas, blared the music, laughed and took in some of the most beautiful coastline we have seen yet. Its a combo of Costa Rica & Hawaii... but with kangaroo crossing signs. We stopped at a deserted cove, marveled at amazingness then kept on going to Port Douglas. Port Douglas seems to be the fancy-pants town, and was beautiful and adorable. We walked up and down the main street, then stopped by a cute church called St. Marys to sit and eat our picninc of cheese, crackers, and fruit for the day. We talked about our favorite things so far, how excited we were for New Zeland next - and told eachother how lucky we felt to have such an awesome travel partner. Knock on wood we feel that way after 2 weeks in a campervan together:) We then decided to head back - but not without stopping at the Crocodile Farm we saw on the side of the road - whattt??? We got so excited and then pulled up to find out it was closed. We drove around the parking lot slowly, hoping to catch a glimpse of a crocodile only to be scared to death by one of the workers knocking on our window to say in not so many words, "stupid americans... the crocodiles are in their cages". our trip home was almost over when we drove by a horse farm to see such an amazing site... a giant brown horse, back legs straight and spread out so he could turn his whole head around to scratch his butt & tail with his big old teeth. it was so amazing and somehow we both caught it out of the corner of our eye and could not stop laughing. knowing we had a big day ahead of us - we made a quick dinner, and then did some reading & bed... gearing ourselves up for jellies & sharks the next morning.

jellies we did see on the Great Barrier Reef - lots of them, and we actually held one... the not so poisonous kind. the GBR was amazing. we took an awesome boat ride out there (takes an hour and a half to get there), then hopped in the water for snorkeling. now... if you must know - this girl does not like the water. at all. i love finding nemo, i just prefer to watch it from my couch, not be in it. so after being terrified for the first 20 minutes in the water, i headed back in because "my mask was leaking". only to watch my husband who had turned into this fish who loves the water exploring the whole reef - who is this guy? he came back on the boat and said that it was pretty amazing - so i got brave and went back in and he was right. one second you are swimming in deep blue water and then you turn to the right and you are in the middle on a whole world of sea life. it was amazing. we saw starfish, sea cucumbers, nemos, and it was beautiful. then we were supposed to do a scuba dive and we were all set to go and they said col couldnt go b/c of some medication he was on (which was such a bummer b/c it was totally fine) and then theys started putting the weights on me and i was like woooahhh, if he isnt going im not going - im only here for him. they some how convinced me to suit up and get in the water with this giant tank on my head and a million weights weighing me down. so i went under for a few minutes... and then i was done. i scubbad! yes, only for a few minutes but hey, thats good enough for me. it was terrifying, and i will never ever do it again. but yay for being brave, huh! we spent the rest of the day laying on the boat and snorkeling some more at a new location in the reef - it was an awesome day that was topped off with a yummy burger and early nights sleep.

tomorrow - New Zealand!! we cant wait!!