The Good, the Bad, and the Pictures

Time for a few more pictures. I do not know how to label them, so I will offer a brief description of all of them here. They are taken from North to South, starting up in Mossman and ending north of Brisbane. I am currently in Sydney, which is a fantastic city from what I have seen, and haven't uploaded the pictures I took between Brisbane to here. This means there are no zoo or reptile park pictures, so hopefully I will add those tomorrow after I go to the world famous Sydney Aquarium.

Here goes:
Picture 1: Mossman Gorge, near the Daintree Rainforest. The water was not too cold, and relatively free of deadly animals.

2: This is a shot taken from a scenic overlook on Highway 1. It is particularly spectacular, though there were many similar views on the drive. It was still far enough north to be infested with crocodiles.

3: I had to take a ferry to get out to Long Island, near Airlie Beach, where I would stay the night and hike the next day. I got to the dock a little early and killed time talking to an ancient local who ran a run-down motel. This was her incredibly lazy and easygoing pet. She said it lounged on the tiles all day and only moved to catch lizards at night. Look familiar?

4: This is the first shot of the hike. The trail is somewhere in this photo.

5: A forest toad! They were all over the place, along with dragons, geckos, skinks, and all sorts of spiders. There were many, many spiders.

6: Nice view from the peak of the mountain. The canopy finally opened a little, and this was the result.

7: Another nice view, a little further along in the hike. This was a neighbouring island.

8: A ridiculously huge spider who made a web across the trail. I stopped about 3 cm from this monstrosity. I yelled terrible, terrible things and was thankful noone was around to hear me.

9: A monitor is hidden in this picture. If you can zoom in on the picture, he is spotted, with his tail facing the camera, just above the center of the picture. I heard him before I saw him, and again yelled terrible things. He was right near the trail and about 3.5 feet long. He stayed around for a while and seemed completely unafraid. I think he was either foraging or sunning, as this was the lone spot of sun for hundreds of yards.


The pictures should be posted below this.

For a Few Pictures More

A Fistful of Pictures

I'm in Sydney

After several days of travel, I have arrived in Sydney. The drive wasn't bad, though it took forever. I skipped over Brisbane to make sure that I would have plenty of time here and in Melbourne, prior to my flight out on the 16th. Or, I think it is on the 16th. I should look into that. I will probably go to the aquarium tomorrow. I hear that it is spectacular. After that, I will upload some pictures to give you guys an update on what I have seen. The Australian Zoo was incredible, as was the Australian Reptile Park. Now that I am in a city, I have easy access to the internet, so the next post should actually be soon.

A Few Pictures

Here are a few photos. I am about to head out hiking up near Mossman. Happy birthday, Mom!

Also

Happy Birthday, Mom. It is a few hours away here, and I think about a day and a half away back home, but I dont know if I'll be anywhere near the internet tomorrow. I'll try and upload some pictures if I get the chance.

This is a Blast

Well, it has been another few days and the trip continues to be wild. The night cruise with the Dan Irby was the most fun I have had yet. We spotted a couple of crocs, as well as a handful of tree frogs and birds. The river was completely empty of people, save our boat, and it was a wonderfully personal tour. The animals were right next to the small boat, and it was all around a fantastic experience.
Since then I have been snorkeling out on the Great Barrier Reef, which was also amazing. The coral is spectacular, and the fish completely unafraid. I got right in their faces and they just kept on swimming. I am considering staying up north a few more days to repeat some of these experiences, albeit less expensively.
Today was spent on a 4x4 tour of the Daintree Rainforest, as well as some surrounding areas. The rainforest is pristine, to use a word often tossed around up here. There was wildlife all over the place. We spotted another few crocs, some birds of paradise, and a slew of lizards. There were mostly geckos, but we also saw a handful of Forest Dragons. Nick can tell you guys what those are.
I am about to go grab dinner out in Port Douglas. This will be the first time this trip I have had a waiter. My money so far has gone quickly and near-solely to trips and tours. The rough plan for tomorrow is to go out on my own and spend some time at Mossman Gorge and some of the more desolate beaches. As I predicted, I am wanting to spend more and more time up north. I a, umsure when I will end up heading south. - Will

The New Plan

Alright, so I decided to stay the day in Cairns. Tomorrow I am off to Kuranda, and then up to Port Douglas. On the 30th I am going on a boat out to the Great Barrier Reef, and the 31st I am trying to get on a 4wd tour up into the rainforest. There is also some crazy old guy from Oklahoma who takes people on croc tours at night in his canoe, so I am looking into that. He sounds legit.

It is Really Hot

Well, I finally arrived in Cairns after about 30 hours of travel. It is incredibly beautiful, as well as ridiculously hot. It is about 2:00 in the afternoon here, and I have no idea what that translates to for Eastern Time. I am now going about setting up the next few days of activities and getting used to driving on the left side of the road. Tomorrow I drive up to Port Douglas to the Parrot Fish Lodge and hopefully take a trip out into the jungle or to the reef.

The Game is Afoot

I leave for Australia in a matter of hours. The purpose of this blog is to keep you guys up to date on my trip/near death experiences/pictures/so forth. As of right now, my rough plan is as follows:

Day 1: Arrive Cairns, get car, look around town, sleep

Day 2: Drive North to Port Douglas, possibly do a hike or take a glass bottom boat tour out to the  Great Barrier Reef.

Day 3: Trips out of Port Douglas into the Rainforest.

From here on out is up in the air. When I am done up North, I will get onto Route 1 and drive South, stopping overnight before I get to Brisbane. I will look around Brisbane, and then head to Sydney. Same here, and finally on to Melbourne and home. I will see if I can update when I land.