Last week in Cairns was full of outdoor adventures. After our day of sailing, we went whitewater rafting on the Tully river. They were grade 4 rapids on a scale of 1-6...pretty wild! It was the two of us, two Germans, and two Chinese and our raft guide. None of them really spoke English so Karina and I did most of the work. We got to do some swimming as well and we only lost one member to a rapid! We were great team mates tho and pulled her to safety.
There was a bus full of about 50 "Uni" students from umass Amherst. Of course being good new englanders they didn't have much interest in talking to us. They did sing party in the USA in the river so gotta give them credit....
We saw a crane bird catch and eat a huge catfish, pretty cool.
After 8 hours of driving and rafting, we hit the local bar, PJ Reilly's, for a relaxing beer. I tell you this because we met some Australians who told us about their last drinking experience with Americans. One of the kids told us he went to LA and went to his first "kegger" and did his first "keg stand." He said he had his first "blackout" experience ever and didn't remember his night until he looked at his camera ("just like the hangover!!"). He then said "America really is like they show it in the movies!!" We found that pretty entertaining. Then we watched the friars lose.
Side note to mama Diranian: you should be so proud. When Karina and I want to go home or leave a situation and the people we are with want us to stay and drink more I say "sorry I have to go Skype my mom! I promised her!" makes us sound like huge losers but works like a charm :)
Oh also. Australian bars are crazy. They had a dance contest and basically whoever took off the most clothes won. (sorry Gram!) That would never happen in the US!!
And they don't refrigerate milk here...creepy!
In other news...my mosquito bites still itch and I look like I have chicken pox :-/
And karina found a huge beetle in the bag of lettuce we bought from the grocery store!! Ahh! Of course someone had to walk into the kitchen the minute she found it and we were both freaking out and hiding.. Great first impression! Said person did dispose of the bug so we were grateful. Life lesson learned: always rinse out those bags and check for creatures :(
Thursday and Friday we spent even further north at Cape Tribulation. We were driven there by a wonderful guide. She was Australian but had Incan heritage which is why she loves the jungle, "it's in her blood." She herself said she is like a hobbit and never wears shoes. She took us on a walk through the rainforest and knew evvvvery thing about every plant and every animals. She showed us this type of dirt that makes mosquito bites stop itching and spiders that jump and found all kinds of skinks and lizards.
The area we were visiting is home to the Daintree Rainforest. We went on a crocodile hunt! Only saw one crocodile tho. He was huge! Just doin his crocodile thing. The estuary is connected to the ocean so sometimes there are sharks miles up the river!
We finally made it to our accommodation in the rainforest a little while later. Our hostel was set back in the rainforest which was pretty cool, very quiet and not much to do though. We went on a night hike through the jungle (what's the difference btwn jungle and rainforest?! I know there are no lions and tigers in a rainforest but do they look the same?)...freaky!! We saw some frogs and lizards and cool plants. Got to eat some wild berries...very scary because almost everything is poisonous! Our guide pointed out the deadliest plant in the world to us -- the stinging nettle. Of course we were standing right next to it and she didn't tell us til later. That would also never happen back home but I'm ok with it! This stinging nettle makes every muscle spasm and have shooting pain for years. Even if you stand next to it for too long, the hairs on the plant break off in the wind and can sting you. Crazy!!
The next day we stopped at the Daintree ice cream factory and ate jungle ice cream! We got a mixture of four favors: jackfruit, blueberry, soursop and wattleseed. These fruits only grow in the rainforest! They had a rainforest fruit tour which would've been cool but they weren't running it at the moment. The ice cream was delish!
We also stopped at a Mossman Gorge and some waterfalls on the way home. Pretty!
Kar here: fun fact, in northern Queensland in march you can't actually swim at the beach because it is jellyfish season. Meaning the entire bus ride your guide will tell you in detail how torturous a sting would be and terrifies you and then says, so don't go in the water unless you want to be stung. So for the first time in my life I am afraid of swimming at the beach. It's just not natural and i don't like it! They even have nets put up for swimming bc you can't swim all summer! Apparently from Brisbane on we will be ok to swim. Great news because we are at some beautiful beaches and can only sit in the sand at the moment!!
No comments:
Post a Comment