Back from Vacation - Part One

We are back home- been home a little over a week now. Goodness, it was so wonderful to get out of town and go to the beach! This trip definitely ranks in my top 10 trips of all time.

Eric's parents arrived the week before we left. We had a ball with them- Eric had 3 weeks off for visiting with them and going to Cairns. They got to do all sorts of Outback stuff! Feed the wallabies, go looking for kangaroos in the Jeep, see an aboriginal dance show and watch people playing the didgeridoo. Lots of good fun was had!

We all left for Cairns on the 10th. Got to our hotel- Eric and I had an ocean view!! We went out for dinner that night and turned in early for the long weekend ahead. The next day we did a tour out to the Great Barrier Reef. It was absolutely awesome!! I highly recommend the tour we went with www.passions.com.au they were incredible. It was about a two hour trip out to the Reef, then once we were there our equipment was handed to us and we were shuttled to this tiny island that we snorkeled off of. The water was really choppy so by being near this island in the cay we were in calmer waters. I've never been snorkeling before and it was absolutely, positively awesome! I had so much fun. The water was clear, and the reef was teeming with life- it was so amazing. Very peaceful, since you can only hear the sound of your own breathing. Eric went for a dive with the scuba guys and joined us about an hour later- he had fun diving but really liked snorkeling too! We held hands and paddled along looking at the reef and pointing out cool things to each other- it was great! Then back on the boat for lunch, and another hour or so snorkeling in the deeper water behind the boat. Saw a school of fish floating in the current- that was so cool! Then we got back on the boat, watched a fish feed, and headed back to land. It was a wonderful day- I will never forget it!

The next day we got up early and took the train up the mountain into the rainforest and a town called Kuranda. We didn't get to spend too much time there but did get to go into the butterfly sanctuary and see all these beautiful butterflies that were native to Tropical North Queensland. After that we had lunch, and headed down the mountains on the Skyrail. That was awesome- this gondola swinging along above the rainforest canopy (sometimes hundreds of feet high). It was amazing the different things you could see. At the bottom of the Skyrail we caught our tour for the rainforest. This tour was really cool- there was 9 of us (and our tourguide) driving up into the Atherton Tablelands and getting to experience rainforest wildlife, in the wild!! We went several places and saw wallabies, a bush turkey, platypus (that was so cool) and an assortment of rainforest possums at night. Now Australian possums are quite adorable- and Eric got some great pics. I will definitely put one up here - but not tonight.

More to be continued later... I have got to get ready for work tomorrow and go to bed!