16 Nov
By the time we got to Cairns, it was early afternoon and we were tired from the flight. We got a hotel, set up Scuba diving, and went to dinner. Cairns is expensive…its only reason for popularity is its proximity to the Great Barrier Reef. For dinner I had an Australian sampler, alligator, kangaroo, emu, and barundi.
17 Nov
Today, I went for a day of Scuba Diving, Conor went on a live aboard, and Tamara went snorkeling. My dives were on the Great Barrier Reef and were good. I saw a couple of turtles and a reef shark. The sea was rough on the way back to shore. I met a guy from PA who was living in Seattle. Tamara and I met him for drinks after we had dinner. We also met some Australians and they showed us a few bars.
18 Nov
Conor was still on the live aboard Scuba dive boat, so Tamara and I rented a car and drove up the coast to Cape Tribulation. The drive was very pretty along the coast and the beaches were wild and empty. On the way back we went to a park and took a hike.
19 Nov
We still had the car and with Conor back we toured the Atherton tablelands. The highlights were the waterfalls and a cheese factory. There was a loop of 3 waterfalls. One of which we swam under. At the cheese factory we had a great lunch and sampled some cheeses. That night we had dinner and went to bed early.
20 Nov
We flew from Cairns to Sydney. Once in Sydney we took the bus to Bondi Beach to look for a hostel. It was packed, but we found a place to stay across the street from the beach. The location was great. That night we went downtown and met up with a guy and his cousin that Conor had met on the flight. We went to the Trafalgar Brewery. It was good.
# posted by Adam @ 9:23 PM
