adventures on a sailboat

hey guys...sorry for the delay in updating the blog. We went from a few low key not too eventful days to a bunch of fun stuff going on. Since the last post, we left Cairns and took a long bus trip to Airlie Beach, where we hung out for a day or two (Airlie Beach isn't that cool except for a lagoon where you can go swimming...this lagoon is also a safety measure since you can't swim in the water because of the scary stingers (jellyfish)). From there, we boarded the British Defender to spend two nights and two days aboard a sailboat. There were 26 of us on it and 3 crew members. It was absolutely spectacular.

The first day, we hoisted the sails and because of the wind, the sailboat tipped over at an incredible angle. Thankfully we were on the high side (the side where the wind comes from). That is the safe side to sit on...the other side of the boat is where almost the railing is in the water. OK, i exaggerate a little, but we were far from level. Trying to get something underneath the boat was worst than trying to maneuver through the crazy kitchen at the museum of science and tech in Ottawa.

The first day we also went snorkelling, although this time we didn't have flippers, and the water was really shallow. I didn't have a good day at all. At one point I looked around and couldn't find Jason, and then started freaking out because I couldn't put myself up straight to clear my mask. I also got really tired from swimming (there was nowhere to take a break) so I got pretty worried. It seemed like forever until someone came to get me. I sat on the reef to wave for help. A big no no, I know, but I was really starting to worry being out there all alone, with the shallow reef coming up really close to me. I was really uncomfortable, but I am sure it wasn't as bad as I thought it was. After snorkelling, we had some yummy food in the cabin and hung out with some of the people on the boat.

The second day, we got up early, had breakfast and went to whitehaven beach. What a magical place! The sand is almost 100% silica and it feels like flour. The view from the lookout was amazing. At some points during the day it looks like a marble cake from the tide coming in and out. We went down to betty's beach, a huge beach with lots and lots of sand. It feels like an unspoiled magical place because there are no shops, which usually accompanies great tourist areas. We even saw a few baby sharks in the water, but we didn't go too far out because of the stinger warnings. Jason flew a really cool kite too. Afterwards, we went snorkelling again. We went to a beautiful spot where we were covered in a huge variety of fish. The evening was pretty much the same. I am glad I brought my sweater. It was pretty chilly at night.

Today we went for a quick snorkel and headed back. We sailed a fair bit during the trip, which was absolutely incredible. It's so cool to see how quickly we can go on just wind power!

Anyays, here are some pictures from our journey. It might be a few days again until the next posting because we are taking an overnight bus tonight to get to Fraser Island where we will hang out for a few days.

From left to right: Airlie Beach, another sailboat the first day, betty's beach on whitehaven, Jason with the kite, two photos from the lookout, the sunset on the second night, and another sailboat on the way back to the marina today.

Rainforests and reefs

hey guys,

Saturday, Jason, two friends of ours and I took an all day trek to see cape tribulation, the daintree rainforest, the mossman gorge and we even went on a crocodile cruise to spot crocs in their natural habitat.

the day was lovely...we were picked up at 7am (i haven't gotten up that early in AGES) and were given a great description of the area by our tour guide. I can't get over how much sugar cane there is in the area (by the way it looks like tall grass). We went out for a walk in an enclosed canopy rainforest. it felt kind of like a grade 9 science class walking around the rainforest looking at different types of trees, vines and ferns. From there we went to a beautiful gorge - the water was freezing (I like swimming in bathwater-warm water, but this was really cold) but the sights were beautiful; rushing water, trees, huge rocks...afterwards we went on our croc cruise and spotted two crocs. Nothing like what we saw in Thailand, but it was nice to see them in their natural environment instead of the artificial environment in which they were in when we went to the croc farm in Thailand. From there, we saw a bug museum, had a delicious lunch (we had a fish called barramundi. Very tasty!), saw some more rainforest and saw cape tribulation, where the rainforest meets the beach. We didn't swim though (I don't think we had enough time...plus I don't think I would have felt comfortable considering there were jellyfish and croc warnings).

Yesterday we saw the great barrier reef. It was beautiful. We were on a catamaran; thankfully one of our buddies Mark gave me a motion sickness pill. I don't think I have ever felt that woozy on a boat before. I swore I was going to be sick, but thankfully I was ok. The boat was REALLY rocky. We snorkelled twice and saw incredible corral and an amazing variety of fish, including a white tipped reef shark and some giant clams. it really was an incredible experience to see such a huge variety of underwater life. I almost wish I would have borrowed an underwater digital camera. Oh well, next time!

So, some pictures..from left to right: mossman gorge, the creek near where we had lunch, two pictures of cape tribulation, and finally a cute harmless frog that was on our croc cruise boat (no joke...the tour guide just pulled him from under a seat. Apparently they like to sleep on the boat), Jason at a beautiful lookout, and finally Jason snorkelling in the reef (he's on the left).

So, from here, we are leaving to slowly make our way on the whitsundays tour, then to fraser island for some more beach time. From there, we are slowly going to make our way down the coast to Byron Bay, then off to Melbourne before heading back to Sydney on the 13th to catch our flight to Auckland NZ.

show us your Cairns

hey guys,

here we are, in beautiful Cairns (pronounced "Cans" for some reason...the Aussies love to drop random "r"s). We arrived yesterday late afternoon - the flight was about 3 hours. I keep forgetting how huge Australia is!

We checked into a hostel called "gilligan's" which is probably the nicest hostel we have ever been in. The reception area is huge - bright, hardwood floors - and the hostel even has an elevator! It's a luxury not having to haul my 20kg suitcase up flights of stairs. On the shuttle bus ride over, we met a few people and ended up all sharing a room last night. Some of the people moved on, so Jason and I got two beds in an 8 bed room (oh yes, back to the hostel lifestyle) and one of the lovely people we met is from France so we have been spending time with her as well. Last night we got a cheap meal and hung out at the hostel bar - they had $1 champagne for ladies (although our friend Élodie looked outraged at how they were pouring the champagne..it was like they were opening a bottle of rum and pouring it straight out. Apparently it's just sparkling wine, but hey, for $1, a girl can't really complain).

today we did absolutely nothing. it was lovely. Élodie and I lounged around near the water, and Jason explored for a while. We are saving ourselves for the next few days; tomorrow we are going to Cape Tribulation, a world heritage site rainforest, and the following day we are going to the great barrier reef all day, to potentially go diving (you apparently don't need to be certified because it's not that deep). So, a busy few days coming up!

I will post pictures of our adventures in the next few blog postings. I hope this message finds you well! Keep the comments coming! We love to read them :)

M xoxo

Sydney

here we are, the fourth day in Sydney (although the third "full" day, even though it's 3pm and we have been a little slow to get moving). Yesterday was slightly more productive than today. We checked out the Sydney opera house, and then we took the ferry to Manly beach. it wasn't really a beach day...it was quite cold, especially near the water (yeah yeah, I know you guys back home are thinking, pfft, how cold can it really be?). I am not sure in degrees, but I was walking down the beach in sneakers, jeans and a sweater and was still cold. The water was fairly rough, but the tons of surfers didn't seem to mind. Afterwards, we went out last night to a bar (an evening organized by our hostel). There were free drinks and karaoke. Jason wowed the crowd with his signing of "Ice ice baby". Apparently it's cool again to know all of the words to songs you used to listen to as a kid :) Although the food prices in Australia are comparable to the ones back home, they wholeheartedly embrace happy hour here...you can usually get $3 (Aussie bucks, so about 2.50) pints until about 9. Here are some pictures from the last few days. The first is in Darling Harbor and the rest are either in Manly Beach or on our way back:

photos and update

hey guys,

it's been a little while since I updated the blog. We were in transit quite a bit over the last few days. I think we ended up seeing 5 countries in 2 days. We decided a while ago to skip our flight to Manila to spend more time in Thailand and Cambodia, so we had to catch our flight to Manila on the 18th to make it to Sydney. So, we went from Siem Reap to Saigon (also called Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam), and from Saigon to Manila. We spent the night in Manila...what an experience. Everyone we talked to said that Manila was a dodgy place where it's pretty dangerous. Of course I wasn't super comfortable being there...We stayed at a youth hostel not far from a bunch of bars. By the time we checked in and everything, I was starving. We went into the first bar we found and it ended up being a strip club! Needless to say we didn't stay there too long. We went to another place that was pretty sketchy but the beer was good and cheap. When we got back to the hostel room, we found a cockroach in the room. Jason was very brave and killed it for me :)

The next morning we left from Manila to Sydney. The flight wasn't too bad...I think it was about 9 hours. We both managed to get a little bit of sleep. We arrived in Sydney at about 9am local time (Sydney is 4 hours ahead of Thailand time, so we're both catching up a little with the time difference). We are staying in a hostel called "Funk House Hostel". it's pretty decent. All of the doors are painted fun cartoons. After checking in, I spent most of the day lying in bed while Jason was out exploring because I felt awful all day. I don't know whether it was a virus or something I ate, but I wasn't feeling too ready to party. I am feeling much better now. Thankfully this has been the first time in the whole trip where I have felt under the weather. Last night we met a bunch of people from France and hung out with them for a while.

So, finally some pictures...

Temples of Angkor (some scenes of Lara Croft Tomb Raider were shot here)

The opera house in Sydney, and one near a waterfall.

Ankgor Wow

hey guys, Yesterday we had a taxi driver (ok, taxi is a strong word. it's essentially a wagon pulled by a motorbike) take us our to the temples of Angkor, not far from where we are staying in Siem Reap. Nevermind Angkor Wat...what about Angkor Wow? All of the temples are unique and incredible (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor_Wat). I can't believe how many incredible pictures we took. Although time hasn't been kind to the many temples, you can't help but imagine how spectacular they must have looked when they were built so long ago (Angkor Wat was built in the early 12th century). Angkor Wat is obviously the biggest, but Bayon was incredible as well. In Bayon, there were faces carved into the rock. Even though it's been so long since the temples were made, the detail in the rock is awesome. Yesterday was also the hottest day we can remember. We both had steady streams of sweat in not too wonderful places within the first 20 minutes of being at the temples, and it didn't seem to stop until it poured later on in the afternoon. Thankfully there were many parts of the temple that were shaded, so the discomfort of being in the blazing sun didn't last too long. Surprisingly, neither Jason nor I wore sunblock (I know, I know...not super smart) but we didn't burn. One thing about Cambodia...they have trained their people well to get as much money from tourists as possible. The children are the worst at trying to use your emotions to sell you things, items of varying degrees of usefulness (from cold water to bracelets to postcards). They try to appeal to your emotions (by sending cute young kids), your ego (by sending older children to sell you things, and if you are not interested, using games like "what's the capital of Madagascar?" If you knew you could get a cheaper price on a book, or playing tic tac toe, and if you lost you had to buy whatever they were selling), or to your sense of pity by having a woman with a young child ask for money because the baby has nothing to eat. It's very difficult to say no...but I know that if we encourage this industry, they will continue to ask for more. Believe me, looking at a beautiful young child and saying no is not an easy task! Today we are off to make our connection to Manila, by flying from Siem Reap to Saigon, and then from Saigon to Manila, to catch our Manila-Sydney connection on Saturday. Hope all is well. Don't be shy, drop us a comment or two every once in a while to let us know that you're following along :) Photos of Angkor will be posted soon...I am writing this in a dairy queen at the airport waiting to board the plane to Saigon. The photos are gynormous and it will take forever to load them.

Day one in Siem Reap, Cambodia

hey guys,

Last night, our taxi driver dropped us off at an internet cafe, and while I was updating the blog, Jason went on an adventure. He took me to a salon where I was fawned over for almost 3 hours. I got a haircut, my nails painted (literally painted...not stick on nails, someone painted a beautiful flower design on each of my fingernails), I got a face massage (including a cream on my face that when it hardened, felt like cement!) and my toenails painted, all for about $18. Yup, life is tough :)

Our driver took us out today to see the royal palace, the home of the king of Cambodia, but unfortunately today the king decided to take a stroll so we could not see the palace from the inside so we just took pictures from outside.

Instead we went to the national museum (see photo below):

Our driver took us to the Wat Phnom, a temple where the city got its name. There was an elephant and monkeys near the wat too.

We even got to see a baby monkey.

Asia is so crazy cool and different!

We arrived tonight in Siem Reap, Cambodia, after spending 6 hours on a bus from Phnom Penh. The bus ride wasn't too bad...not a luxury bus by any means, but we got to see a lot of the countryside. It's difficult sometimes to see the poverty that Cambodians live in sometimes. A lot of people find themselves having to sell what they can or beg for money. On one of the stops in the bus, we saw a man who had no eyes. He just had holes where his eye sockets were, and he was being led around by a small child. Also, we were swarmed by children selling fruit. One even had a tarantula on her shirt (apparently it didn't bite, but I didn't want to find out). Other people were selling tarantulas that had been grilled. Eww, no thanks! It's definitely difficult sometimes to see how people struggle while we live in a country with such a high quality of life.

We have checked into a really nice hotel that has a pool. We met some North Americans and had dinner with them tonight. It's amazing all of the interesting people we have met along the way.

Tomorrow we are going to check out the temples of Angkor. More photos to follow!