More Fun with Animals

It's well known that there are lots of crazy animals in Australia.  So, here's a rundown of some of our other animal encounters.  The first bunch (including the crocodile from the last post through the snake) were at an animal sanctuary on Magnetic Island.

We got to hold this turtle, but we've also seen several in the ocean popping their heads up for air.  Turtles will also reappear later in this post.

This cockatoo will eat sunflower seeds right from your lips.

Here's a bearded dragon hanging out on my shoulder.

The main atraction at the animal sanctuary is holding the koalas.  This koala was pretty chill and just hung off us like she didn't have a care in the world.  They are soft  but kind of wooly.  It's a misnomer that eucalyptus makes them high all the time, it just doesn't have a lot of energy in it so they sleep most of the day.  Nobody else really wants to eat it though so they always have a food source.  It's funny how these photos sort of look like high school portraits except with a koala.

Koala close up!

Christiana working on her Britney Spears impersonation.

The elusive cassowary in the Atherton Tablelands.  Chrissy saw this but I never managed to spot one.

Cockatoo selfie at our hostel in Airlie Beach.  There were almost always a few hanging around.  It has a cracker Chrissy gave it in its claw.

Finally, these are just hatched baby loggerhead turtles on Mon Repos Beach.  You reserve a ticket in advance and show up to the beach at 6:45 PM and they bring you down when they start hatching.  They say sometimes you could wait until 10:00 or 11:00 or have no hatching at all in a given night, but they called us down almost immediately after we arrived which was cool.  This was the only photo we were allowed to take. The turtles pull themselves up out of the sand and tumble down the sandy hill at the top of the beach and then (after being briefly corraled by the park ranger for us to see) gun it across the sand for the water.  On average there are 127 turtles per nest so you see lots and lots of little turtles racing by.  30 years later females will return to lay their eggs at the same beach.  The whole thing is like something out of a nature documentary that you can't believe you are actually seeing in person.

Crocodile !

As ambush predators these guys haven't had to evolve since before the time of the dinosaurs. Just one of the many delightful creatures  of Australia that prove both its age (oldest continent,  rainforest, etc...), and relative harshness. Everything  here is trying to kill you. Luckily, this one was only a few months old, so we got to hold him without threat of imminent  death.

Australia is the home of "Action Chrissy"

Australia, and it's glorious sunshine have provided  an excellent excuse for me to reconnect with an old love, nature. And in doing so, I've discovered all the fun and adventurous  things you can do in the land down under. First things first, I bought  an action bathing suit. You'll  see it in the photos, bright neon Speedo. (Did you know the Speedo logo is actually a boomerang?) Then, sometimes with Jim beside me, and sometimes on my own, I got to:

Paddle board at Lake Eacham

Climb trees in the Atherton Tablelands (a formerly volcanic landscape,  think Hawaii, but tens of thousands of years older)

Barefoot Tours Atherton Tablelands March 7th

And also hide behind Dinner Falls, film mock Herbal Essences  commercials at Milla Milla Falls, and enjoy the rock slide at Paradise Falls. Note that you'll have to follow the link on these as our waterproof camera decided after the Great Barrier Reef it had given up on us and let the salt water jam it's doors shut.

 Also:

Went night hiking on Magnetic Island

Rode a horse bareback in the surf of Horseshoe Bay on Magnetic Island 

Went adventure sailing on a retired race boat in the Whitsundays 

As a side note, Australia, being an island continent, is a little behind the times on internet, so we probably won't be posting super frequently, unless things pick up  as we hit the bigger cities further south.

The Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation

Australia is justifiably famous for the Great Barrier Reef but what is less known (or at least less known to us) and right next to the reef is the Daintree Rainforest that is said to be the oldest rainforest in the world.  It's beautiful.

Where the rainforest meets the reef is the refrain you hear from all the tourist brochures.  As you can see, they aren't lying.

There are also fun animals everywhere.  I believe this is Boyd's Forest Dragon just hanging out.

We walked about 4 km up and down hills to this stretch of fresh water called the Emmagen Water Hole.  We were so hot once we got there the dip was very nice.  Luckily, we were able to grab a ride back with some other people enjoying the water.

Bugs in Australia are massive.  Chrissy's hand is next to this one for scale.

This is Cape Tribulation Beach and a lovely spot to spend a bit of time relaxing on the beach/in the rainforest.

We took a boat trip on the Daintree River and spotted this crocodile chilling in the mangroves.  They camouflage very well.  One or two people a year are killed by crocodiles in Australia but there are lots of signs in areas you aren't supposed to swim in warning you not to swim.  They are what's called an ambush predator which means they'll surprise and eat whatever gets close enough to them to be eaten.

Our last stop up in the rainforest was Mossman Gorge where Chrissy went for another swim.  She's basically a fish.

The Great Barrier Reef

We've started our Australian adventure in Cairns which is in Queensland in the tropical Northern part.  It's in the 90's with very high humidity every day.  The kind of weather where you sweat just standing still.  We are at an awesome hostel with wicked helpful staff and some cool people.  It has kind of a chilled out college vibe to it except you don't have to go to class and can hang out and chill in the pool and venture out to see some crazy nature whenever you feel like it.  There's also a local bar called The Woolshed that everyone likes to frequent which is interesting to say the least.  In other words, it's completely awesome.  Speaking of awesome crazy nature, Cairns is one of the best places to explore the Great Barrier Reef and we did just that.  It lives up to the hype.

We sprung for one of the nicer boats that does day trips to the reef and it was well worth it.  You can't wear glasses underneath goggles but my goggles here are prescription strength.  So awesome when you are blind like me but want to actually see things when you snorkel.

There are some big weird looking fish swimming around.  We didn't take too many underwater photos because you really just need to enjoy the experience, but we got a few good shots.

Also, it's jellyfish season which means stinger suits for everyone.  Stings are very rare and you aren't required to wear the suit but since jellyfish stings range from  excruciatingly painful to death it's a good idea.  It doubles as really good sun protection.

Some cool shots.  Favorites not pictured: giant clams, squid, lone turtle chilling on the ocean floor, and clown fish darting in and out of an anemone.  There was also one point where the coral just came to a shelf and dropped off 20 meters.  It reminds you of a scene from Finding Nemo and you can only think "He touched the butt."

200 Days

So at 100 days, it was like we hadn't  really  been gone at all, but had managed to cram in quite a bit. Here we are at 200 days and it's like time is flying!

It's hard to believe we've been on the road this long, but it also means we're closer to coming home  and to what I call Phase 3, The Great American Road trip.

So far we've traveled at least 25,000 miles (thanks Mom for doing the math!) And have now touched down on our third continent, Australia. We plan to be here for the next 4-5 weeks or so, working our way down the massive east coast before flying stateside. You may note, this means we're likely cutting New Zealand and Hawaii from the itenerary.  This is life on the road, sometimes you can't fit in all the things you'd like. You can't  be running around 24/7 everywhere because you burn out, and less than 2 days in a place isn't  necessarily  enough to make an impression. We've slowed our pace a bit in favor of being able to get to know places a bit better. Plus, the less often we move, the less likely I am to lose things like my coat, or my padlock.

We are excited to maximize our time in this giant country,  but also want to take a moment to make a plug for Phase 3, which will creep up on us very soon. Between April 12th and May 30th Jim and I will be working our way across the lower 48. We have no set itinerary yet, so we'd love to hear from you!  Specifically:
1. What do you  feel is a must see in the lower 48? And more importantly....
2. Do you want visitors and have a floor, couch, futon, blow up mattress,  or guest bed for us to sleep on? Because we would love to see you on our adventure!

Singapore

Ed. Note: this post was written by Jim even though Chrissy was logged in.

Our last stop in Southeast Asia was Singapore.  It's an island situated just south of Malaysia, and only 85 miles north of the equator.  It was a British colony and then briefly part of Malaysia in the 60's, but it was voted out because the local Malay people thought the large Chinese population would be a threat to the Malay way of life.  So, it became its own city/country.  Basically, it's one of the only places to gain its independence against its will.  It seems to have worked out though because it is a very modern, clean, and enjoyable place to spend time.  After the noise and craziness of Ho Chi Minh City, downtown Singapore was downright quiet.  Also, you can drink the tap water, which is a luxury after you've spent three months with bottled water.

The subway system in Singapore is efficient and the cars are large and comfortable.  Plus, they have these entertaining signs.  In addition to GiveWayGlenda, there were a few others such as MoveInMartin and StandUpStacey.

The famous drink the Singapore Sling was invented around 1915 at the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore.  The bar has been moved around the hotel a few times since then.  The current iteration was built in 1991 during a renovation of the entire hotel, but it still has that old time charm.  There are free bags of peanuts that you can shell and throw on the floor while you enjoy your beverage.  Not ones to miss a chance for some historic drinking we enjoyed a sling (OK, maybe two) and lots of peanuts.  It was a really fun bar experience.

We visited the Night Safari which is a zoo that is dedicated to nocturnal and crepuscular (vocab alert: it means active at night) animals.  It's open from 7:30 to midnight so you actually get to see the animals when they are out and about.  We stood very, very close to bats and giant flying squirrels and spotted hyenas (which are super creepy).  It's a very well laid out place and was a highlight, but unfortunately, nocturnal animals are very sensitive to bright lights and no flash on the camera means no good pictures.  You can enjoy Chrissy playing bongos though.

Behind me is the Marina Bay Sands which is an absolutely massive resort hotel and casino built by a Las Vegas hotel magnate.  It looks like it has an aircraft carrier on the roof.  There is an infinity pool on the roof that is supposed to be incredible, but that place is way out of our price range.  Still, it's cool to look at.

Across the bay is the symbol of Singapore, the merlion, shooting water out of its mouth.

This local specialty is chili crab which we enjoyed with Tiger, the local lager.  You pick out your live crab and they cook it up for you in a chili tomato sauce.  It was absolutely delicious...

but incredibly messy and hard to eat.