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.