Tour de Port

June 22, 2010 - Another day of high winds forced us to search for non-dive associated fun. Unfortunately, in the sleepier-than-expected town of Port Douglas, there's not much to do. We hadn't yet checked out Four Mile Beach, so we decided to rent (or 'hire', if you're speaking Aussie lingo) some bicycles, pack a lunch, and head for the beach.

 Safety first. Although we have yet to see any form of police presence, helmets are 'strictly enforced'. This is especially nice when you're using rental helmets. Ick.

Aaandddd we're off!

But it's not long until we realize that 1) we're hungry and 2) the winds are against us. So, we take a detour to a nearby park for lunch. Our detour then turned into a search for massages and beers at a local pub. Whatever, we're on vacation right?

After many detours, we hit the beach again to watch the sunset. Unfortunately, it's high tide. This makes the sand wet and the space that we actually have to bike on very very narrow. Oh well. Back home for some more World Cup :)

Search for the Elusive Cassowary

June 21, 2010 - As an excuse to avoid the reef for a day, we hit the road in the early morning for a tour of Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Rainforest with a lot of stops along the way. Little did we know, most of the day would be spent looking for a large turkey/ostrich/velociraptor bird. Did we find it? Read on to find out!

Island in the distance on our drive. What do you see this island taking the shape of?

Stop 1: Alexandra Lookout. Near the opening of the park, we stopped here to get some panoramic views of Port Douglas, Snapper Island, and the Low Isles.

Stop 2: Beach for some morning tea (I know, how British of us).
But, while visiting an Australian beach, it is important to remember...











Stop 3: Trek (ok it was more like a 15 min stroll) through an ancient part of the rain forest. Did you know that this rain forest is estimated to be 10x older than the Amazon?!? Things that make you go hmm....picture below is of a strangler fig tree that has already killed its host tree.









Stop 4: Croc river cruise! Yes, we not only saw one, but three crocs! Albeit, there were just lying on the banks of the river not doing anything, but I guess not many people can say they saw a croc in the wild...Krike!
Stop 5: Mossman Gorge for some hiking and river viewing. Nothing too exciting here save for a freshwater river that the aboriginals use as their swimming spot. A nice relaxing way to end the day though.

So what about this mythical hybrid bird you ask? Aside from the fact that Olivia swears she saw one on the way up to Port Douglas (not witnessed by anyone else, btw) our mission was unsuccessful. The closest we got to a sighting was:



Seeing as how cassowary poop was as close as we got to a sighting of this creature, here's what we were hoping to experience - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassowary.

Up next, bike rentals and 4 mile beach! Stay tuned for more updates...

By: Tony

Time to find Nemo!

June 20, 2010 - It's 6am as we awake just prior to sunrise. I'm excited for what lies ahead...my first dive in the World famous Great Barrier Reef!! The bus scoops us up at 8am outside our Mango Tree accommodations and it's just a short drive to the marina where our home for the day will depart. As we walk up to the Poseidon vessel, my nerves are shaky and my heart beats just a tick faster. Why you ask? Not because what Olivia and I may see under the water, but what our experiences will be above water. The weather is still calling for 25-30 knot winds, which will equate to strong surge and surf on the way out and back. We both have our motion sickness patches tucked firmly behind our ear, but will it work? Only time will tell.

As the huge dive vessel begins its journey, we're both anxious but the patch seems to be working. An hour and half later we're at the Agincourt ribbon reefs of the Great Barrier and we're ready to take the plunge! Fifty minutes later, we emerge from the Coral Sea safe and sound, but are truly disappointed. While the other group on the boat saw 2 white tip reef sharks, 1 turtle and a stingray, we were stuck only witnessing 2 giant clams...yay! =/ The next dive was no better and got more disappointing as stories were swapped again..."Did you see that shark?" - "No, we just saw a giant clam." The last dive of the day held similar results. My editorial...our dive master had no sense of direction or is deathly scared of sharks, because he steered us clear of any big marine life and was content showing us giant clams and little Nemos.

The trip back home was even rougher and even with medicinal support, Olivia almost blew chunks (as an aside one girl threw up about 10x during our all day adventure). We got back to the dock at 4:30pm and headed home for some dinner and relaxation.

On tap for tomorrow - Daintree rain forest tour! Hopefully that yields more fun results. Stay tuned!

A Preview of what's to Come.. hopefully

A quick shot from the plane as we landed in Cairns yesterday.

Dive operators in Port Douglas report high winds expected for the next week, which could mean no diving. We've booked a 3-dive excursion for tomorrow, so we'll see! Time to test out those dramamine patches. Puke, blahhh.

First stop: Sydney Chinatown!

June 17, 2010 - We landed on a cold, rainy Thursday morning. Well, I think it’s Thursday anyways… I’ve lost track of all time and space at this point. Not much to do today, other than check into our hotel and run some errands. All unexciting ventures: find internet to post this blog (most important task), buy a SIM card to be connected to the rest of the world, exchange cash money, and find food.

Although a boring day, many new discoveries were made as we ventured out of the hotel. First discovery: wow, there are a lot of Asian people here. Granted, our hotel is near Chinatown apparently. Second discovery: there is a place with bun bo hue right next door to our hotel (score!) - see photo. Third discovery: don’t exchange money at real banks; they’ll rip you off (oops!). Can you believe money exchange booths give out a better rate?!? Ugh, ok off to take a midday nap!

After awaking from our snooze and showering, we were happy to see that it was sunny! Too bad by now it's 4pm and there's nothing left to do except find an internet shop and book the remaining hotels and excursions for our upcoming trip to Cairns. The second half of the day was just about as exciting as the first although we did get some delicious (although salty) Chinese food for dinner. The night ended early with some soccer matches being watched in the hotel room and then some much needed shut eye.

Next stop, Cairns and Port Douglas for some diving in the Great Barrier Reef, exploring the Daintree rain forest and beaches along the north Queensland Territory. Check back soon for more pictures and updates!

Update: Missing Monkey, Last seen in Customs

June 17 2010, 1 hour later - After a short break, we finally reached Customs and passed through without a hitch. Unfortunately, this is when it all starts to go downhill for our friend, Fez. At some point between Customs and our ride to the hotel, Fez was stuffed in a bag of gifts. He was then transported elsewhere when that bag needed to be cleaned out. And then… well, we don’t know. He could be jammed into a seat cushion, on an Australian sidewalk, or even still hiding in one of our many pieces of luggage. All that we know is that we miss him and hope he finds a nice new home, maybe one with more responsible owners. Maybe we’ll meet up again before New Zealand, who knows. So for now, this blog is about us. Too bad we can’t change the URL.

Welcome to Sydney!

June 17, 2010 - After a long and arduous flight to Sydney, Australia via San Francisco Calif., Fez arrived bright-eyed and bushy tailed. He slept most of the 15 hour plane ride, only waking a few times to eat salty meatloaf for dinner and a spongy mushroom and cheese omelet for breakfast. Yum. Better than monkey food I suppose. Despite being right next to the bathroom, having armrests that didn’t raise, and having strangers stretch in the exit aisle in front of them, it was a good flight overall. After retrieving luggage weighing in at just over 200 pounds, he sat guard while we tried to make ourselves look somewhat presentable to the public.

Because a blog just about us would be self-indulgent

June 15, 2010 - Meet Fez, our loyal travel buddy. We first met Fez on our trip to Orlando, FL at Downtown Disney (what can we say, we’re suckers for cute stuffed characters). Hungry and tired, we stopped by McDonald’s to pick up a quick snack. Little did we know, our lives were about to change. In the small paper bag that contained our cheeseburger happy meal, Fez was waiting for his time to shine. Only after scarfing down our meal, did we notice a small plastic bag at the bottom. We tore open the plastic bag to find Fez waiting. Questions soon began to race through our minds. Should we keep this little guy? Don’t we already have enough useless trinkets and toys? Why is his head so lopsided? Really, a circus monkey as a happy meal toy? After much (or little) deliberation, we decided to keep Fez. His sole purpose in life would be to travel the world with us. And, so, here we are… debuting our little friend on our trip to Australia and New Zealand.