Hot Child in the City: 7/23/06

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

What's Going On

Hello!

Its been a while since I've had a non trip post. I've been back in Sydney for 10 days and I am enjoying being back in a big city after travelling in small towns for 2 weeks. Two days after we got back from the trip we went to the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. We had a great time there and have tons of pics to post. I went a little crazy with the camera that day. Another one of the nights we went to see Pirates of the Caribean. I thought it was pretty good, but not as good as the first. I didn't expect them to leave the second one so open ended. I think the last one will do even better. On Saturday we went out drinking with friends at a club in Kings Cross, which is the red light district in Sydney. I hadn't been there yet and have heard its a good place to party. We didn't really walk much of the streets, but it is a pretty lively place. Lots of Strip Clubs and drugged out homeless people. The club we went to was really good. It was three levels and had patios off each. The good clubs are pretty expensive but worth going to with a group of people to dance and have a good time.

Ryan is back to school this week to start his new semester. He did amazing on his first semester classes. The weather has been really crappy here and has been raining alot. This week is supposed to clear and hopefully at least Friday will be nice because I have big plans. Shopping, Shopping, Shopping. I am finally going back to the Chinese Friday night market. I am so excited. I hope they have all the good fake stuff from before. Tiffany, Chanel, Dior and more! During the day I think we might go to the Botanical Gardens to walk around. I haven't been there yet and I really want to go there. I'm *hoping* for good weather. I only have 2.5 more weeks here and there is still so much I want to see.

Off to watch the Hill's (Thanks Jenn! and Gordon!)

Cheers!

Brandy

Whitehaven Beach Video

Monday, July 24, 2006

Croc Watching Video 2

Croc Watching Video

The Trip

I've been posting and posting and posting. So many pictures. I love just going back and looking at them- we had such a good time. Every place we went to was amazing, it's hard to choose which were the best. I have narrowed down a few of my favorite things/moments of the trip:

In random order

Our bus ride from Cairns to Daintree- It was a beautiful drive along the coast with huge mountains in the background. It was cool crossing the Daintree River on this small little barge. On the other side it was just mountains of forest. I felt like we were entering Jurassic Park and I was a little scared about where we were going. The drive up through the rain forest made me even more scared. It was crazy curves and when you look over the edge of the road it just drops down (so far) into the Rainforest. Our bus driver was a little bit of a maniac too. Maybe he just knew the roads, but he was taking corners without even slowing down. Thank god they drive on the opposite side of the road here- or we would have been on the outside lane- then I would have been Freaking. It was an awesome drive and by the time we got to the resort I was too excited to be scared.
The Cows and the Broken Bike- When we were bike riding through the Rainforest Ryan's chain came off his bike and we stopped to try to fix it. As I was walking toward him I noticed he had caught the attention of some cows in the field across the street. From where we were standing we couldn't see a fence and they were charging towards us. I was freaking out a little when I realized there was a fence. I was ready to get on the bike and start riding. I think they may have had a crush on Ryan...lol...I got up and rode away and they didn't move. He moved away and they started following him. Another question- what the hell are cows doing in the Rainforest?
Our first night at Crocodylus Village (daintree)- I had a hard time falling asleep with all of the noises. It rained really hard and there were just some wierd things going on out there. Early morning each night there was this really loud bird that screamed for like 15 mins around 5:00 am. This first night I had woken up to it but was still half asleep. After it stopped I drifted back out. About 30 mins later there was a similar noise but even louder and more annoying. The longer it happened the more I woke up. Suddenly we (ryan was awake too) realized that it wasn't a bird, but a screaming kid. Not just screaming, but freaking out, screaming in French. At this point it had been about 20 mins. There was a French family in the tent/cabin next to us and we figured it was one of their kids. We were so frustrated, it was like 5:30 in the morning. All of a sudden Ryan screams out "Ferme la Bouche" with the little French I know I do know this one. "Shut your mouth" I realized what he said and started laughing hysterically. I felt bad, but it was the only way he knew how to say be quiet in French. She immediatley stopped crying, although I did hear a few wimpers later on. Thank God they had checked out by the time we went to breakfast.
The Cassowary- They are like Emus and only found in this Rainforest. I had seen pictures of them everywhere and really wanted to see one. It walked right through the camp. It was so much bigger than I expected. I was so excited!
My Rainforest Walk Breakdown- I know I have posted pics of this already (the Muddy Foot) but it is just so funny now that I look back on it. I feel bad for Ryan for having to talk me out of that one. My foot was completely covered and I couldn't walk anymore because my foot kept sliding around in my flip flop. I had tears- but I didn't cry and I did make it out of that forest having a good time.
The Great Barrier Reef- We had so much fun snorkling out on the water. The first day we went in Cairns was definately the best. The water was so warm and we were jumping off the boat with no land in sight. It is so crazy when you are under there. The Reef is huge and there are thousands of species of fish. Everytime you turned around you were in the middle of a huge school of multicolored fish. It is a whole other world under there. Kind of like Finding Nemo. Speaking of Nemo- there were tons of Clown Fish there. They are probably one of my favorite fish.
The over night bus from Cairns to Airlie Beach- Probably one of the worst things about the trip. We had been on the Reef Day cruise that day and had checked out of our Cairns hotel that morning. We had been up since 6 am and our bus didn't come until 12:30am. We had no hotel room so we basically sat at the bus stop (so terminal, just an outside stop) from 10:00-12:30. We were so exhausted and all we wanted to do was sleep. We finally got on to the bus and the bus driver turned out to be a complete asshole. He was throwing bacgs into the bus and swearing and was just not a pleasant person. Around 5 am he puts on the loud speaker and tells us all to wake up and that we are stopping to switch buses. We are all little confused and start asking him questions, like is our luggage going to be switched etc.. He freaks out on people who are asking and just unloads us from the bus and says that it will be 2 hrs until the next bus shows up! Everybody was so pissed. We got on the next bus at 7:30 and drove for an hour and then stopped for another 45 mins. We got little or no sleep and arrived at Airlie Beach exhausted and in a bad mood.
Whitehaven Beach & Hill Inlet Lookout- After looking back at the list I just wrote this is my favorite. I was so excited to be on one of the top 10 beaches in the world. If it has that title it MUST be good. We walked up and down the beach for 1.5 hrs. I the feeling of that sand under my feet was amazing. The water there was great. Crystal clear and aqua. My favorite souvenier from my whole time here is my bag of sand from Whitehaven. The pictures we had taken there are also one of my favorites. They are awesome and I can't wait until I can get home and put them in frames.

That is all for now- I didn't realize I would write so much. I have so many good memories I could keep going and going. It is definately a trip I will never forget.

Cheers!

Brandy

Sunday, July 23, 2006

The Whitsunday Island Boat Trip

This day trip was so much fun! I didn't really want to do another boat trip but to get to Whitehaven Beach you had to do a whole day trip. I am so glad now that we did it. We got to snorkle in a different type of Reef than before, hike up one side of Whitsunday Island as well as go to Whitehaven Beach- which is one of the top 10 beaches in the world.

The Boat

Me & Ryan

Lol!

The Whitsunday Islands

Hook Island from afar

Middle Molle Island

South Molle Island

The Molle Islands group

The Whitsunday Islands

The west side of Hook Island- we go snorkling on the north side

Secret beach

The Molle Islands

The Whitsunday Islands

Very dense and covered in Rainforest

There are private little beaches all along the Islands

Snorkling at Hook Reef

Ryan in his wet suit. I made him take a pic. You have to wear these suits because of the Stingers in the water. There is not alot of them this time of year, but they can be deadly so its just for safety

We snorkled all around Hook Island

Hook reef is a fringing reef (one that comes off the shore) and where we went was a platform reef (in the middle of nowhere)

There were quite a few fish here and the Reef was different than before. It wasn't as good as Cairns , but definately worth doing.

Hill Inlet Lookout Point- Whitsunday Island

We docked in a small bay and got off the boat to do a hike up the mountain that overlooks Whitehaven Beach. It is on Whitsunday Island, which is the largest of all the Islands. Hill Inlet is on the North side of the Island and Whitehaven Beach is on the South East side. I originally wasn't excited about the hike and really just wanted to go directly to the beach. It was only a 15 min walk so we decided it might be fun. When we got to the top I was in awe. It was probably one of the nicest views I have even seen. You would never be able to get such a good look at the beach if you didn't come up here. It was one of my favorite things of the trip.