Queensland: Cairns to Townsville

Agra is believed to have been founded on the site of an ancient Hindu Kingdom, but the city

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December 6, 2004:
I have arrived safely in Oz. Hanna and Rob should arrive soon. They will be heading to the hotel no doubt and I will soon need to go and meet them there. It is soooo sunny outside, my eyes are tired, despite the fact that I have even been wearing sunglasses. I spent some time today near a children's water playground near the boardwalk. It was a bunch of fountains and the children were there with their daycare I think. In any case, they were all wearing surfshirts and these cute little hats. I guess they are very sun aware here. One kid dropped his hat and was running around the fountain. "Willie" a woman yelled from across the playground, "don't forget your hat!"

Journal Continued:
The backpacker scene here is wild. People are running about drinking heavily and "making friends" Last night as I was waiting for the hostel bus to take me back from the town center I saw two guys get kicked out of a bar and carted off in a police wagon that looked more like an animal control truck than a cop car. It literally had a cage on the back in which the prisoner was kept. Sort of like the old fashioned paddy wagons. I later heard that they usually dump the drunkards on the edge of town and make them walk it off. I'd like to add, these were NOT American tourists that were making a fuss. They were aussies.

Journal Continued:
On another note, Australia seems like the sort of place that will be SOOOO much more fun if you weren't traveling alone. India was one thing, as each place was so densely packed with sights. But here, everything is at least 100km away from the next sight. There is a lot of travel down time. If I were travelling with someone, I would have more fun and I would have someone to keep me out of trouble. I read a sign about the dangers of the area. It included jellyfish, crocs, sharks, stonefish, and a variety of poisonous fish that shouldn't be eaten. It basically said... "don't move cus something is there ready to harm you!" So I will have to keep eyes in the back of my head.

December 10th, 2004:
I just had the three most incredible days. The liveaboard was amazing, and I got my advanced diver certification. I went on an eerie night dive and kept thinking that there would be a shark around every dark corner. I didn't see any on the night dive, which is better for my heart I think. But I did see alot of them during the daylight hours. Also, even though there were about 20 people on the boat, very few of the non-course dives were guided. So I went out with a very nice woman from a town near Melbourne, and since she openly declared that her sense of direction was terrible, she decided that she would just follow me. As a result, I got a great deal of practice navigating under the water. With ten dives in three days under my belt, I am feeling very confidant about my experience.

Journal Continued:
What did I see: three white tip reef sharks, a couple ofhappy turtles, a picture perfect nemo fish, amazing coral structures and canyons that were so much fun to explore. Each dive site was so big, that you hardly ever ran into anyone else from the group. I loved wandering around the corals and enjoying myself. My buddy, Melissa and I were fairly well matched for oxy levels, the ideal is to dive with someone who uses the same amount of air. We worked it out though that when she came close to the end of her air, she would dive in more shallow water... so by the end, we had our system down pat and would hit 50bar at about the same time.

Journal Continued:
Average day on the dive, wake up early, go out for a pre-breakfast dive, eat, rest, pre-lunch dive, lunch, post lunch dive, dinner, night dive. Fortunately, I didn't get sick, but I was taking motion sickness pills. Loads of the other poeple were sick. There was this one poor "bloke" that had to spend the entire time on the upper back deck or else he would turn pale white and get very sick. He skipped 90% of the meals and just looked dreadful, however, it didn't stop him from diving. Although I didn't get sick on the boat, I am feeling a little woozy here on land... I don't yet have my land legs back..

Overall, the diving was amazing in the crystal blue -- WARM waters of the GBR. It was 30 degrees C-- which is about 80F. I love warm water. I also got some nice sun on my skin, which maybe me feel all cozy... though I slathered on heaps of sunscreen and the like. You have to be careful of the Australian sun!

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