And now....the rest of the story.

As promised, part. 2 of the group trip to Queensland over the summer (or winter, depending on whose reading). I apologize for the 4-month time lag. Things have been pretty hectic over yonder this year.
After the sailing trip to the reef we spent Christmas in Airlie Beach, which is a nice little ocean town. It was Christmas Eve and things were just swell until I tried to go for another dive. However, instead of diving from the boat into the ocean I dove off a guardrail and onto the pavement. Let me just say I don't recommend it over your typical ocean dive. Instead of seeing a shark or Nemo, I saw little birdies and the local doctor. I ended up in excruciating pain that night, somewhat incapacitated for a few days, in a sling and with a fractured elbow and two severely sprained wrists. However, as you may have surmised from the picture, this was only a temporary break from having fun. Christine and I salvaged our Christmas day by going to town and having a freakin' HUGE platter of seafood and a couple of beers at place across the street from the bay.

Here's something you don't get a home. A sign describing the variety of marine creatures that will hurt you when you go in the water. Makes you think twice and say 'yes" when they offer you a stinger suit.











We drove from The Whitsunday’s to Cape Tribulation over the course of two days. This is me on Mission Beach in Mission Beach, Queensland, which was probably one of the nicer places we stopped along the way.









These are a few pics is a view of Mission Beach from a hillside where we took a hike. Absolutely beautiful.






































This was one of those Zen traveling moments that just doesn't quite translate in the photo. The road, the trees, the road sign, the ocean (and the unbroken silence). Just lovely!!
















This is Christine and Sarah walking along the beach behind our "The Beach House" in Cape Tribulation, which is very far north in Australia and Queensland. In this spot, the rainforest goes right to the ocean.









We were on the east coast so I woke up early one morning and caught the sunrise. It was quite the experience considering that the beach is only about 30 feet deep in most places. They warn you that the tide comes in and out quickly and to be careful or you could get caught out there. If you do, there's nowhere to go but into the rainforest and there is not much as far a civilization goes up here so that thought is not pretty.




In any case, I lost track of time being lost in the sunrise moment. I finally came back to my senses and noticed the tide was indeed coming in. I was about a half hour walk away from "The Beach House" and had to sprint back. This picture somewhat shows how close I came to getting stranded by the tide. There's only another ten feet there until I was screwed. I had waited another fifteen minutes I would have either been really wet or really lost.




This is a pic from a cable tram ride in Cairns that was about 20 kilometers and 1 hour long and passed over several types of tropical rainforest. It was a great way to see a whole lot while also sitting on our ass.






Lastly, below is a sample of the random desolate beaches that you can find up a down the Australian coast. If you had the time, you could easily pull over, go for a swim and have the beach to yourself. Just gotta watch out for the stingers!!


Right, well that was the quick tour. Hit the "Pics of Australia" link to the right to see everything.

See you next post!!