Thursday, April 22, 2004

posted by: copernicus on 4/22/2004 10:47:00 AM
Ok, folks, volume 4 of 5 of my Australia journal is up.
I'm putting in a lot of effort into making links for these pictures.
Is anybody even reading this?
My comment boxes are virginal and untouched since I started posting my journal.

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SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE VOL. 4 of 5 (please click on the text for pictures)
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Feb 18th, 2000.

Final descent into Cairns. Lush green 3000-4000 Ft. mountains. All of Australia we've seen so far has been browns & yellows. Cairns is like Ireland in comparison. Lush dark green farmland & mountains rimming a small city.
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1 hour limo ride north to Port Douglas . It's hot and humid and the a/c barely functions. Beautiful drive up the coastal highway, winding along tropical rainforest-covered mountains. Port Douglas is like a miniature Key West . 1/2 the size & 1/10th the tourist influx. Macrossan is the equivalent of Duvall Street. 1 grocery store, 1 post office, 1 bookstore, random shops & damn good seafood.
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First night after a hot, lazy day. Walked to beach , and the swimming area is roped off. Swimming is only allowed inside the big net. It's Coral Sea Stinger (known to the rest of the world as Box Jellyfish ) season, the most poisonous jellyfish on the planet. Click here to see what a Box Jellyfish sting looks like.
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Feb 20th, 2000.

Went scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef yesterday. It blows the Florida Keys out of the water. It's the only living organism visible from space . Its 3 times as diverse and 20 times the size of the reef in the Keys. No sharks yesterday, but stuck my hand in the mouth of a giant clam and got it to close up.
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Feb 21st, 2000.

Did 3 more dives today. Sites so far have included Barracuda Pass, One Fin Bommie, Cathedrals, Outside North Opal & Keith's Bommie. Cathedrals was the most amazing site these eyes have ever seen. Sheer coral cliffs that drop down past 20 meters . All kinds of little caverns and swim-throughs . Only one shark in all of the dives, a 5 foot Grey-Reef shark who swam away when we approached.

Tomorrow is the horseback trip through the rainforest. Soon I will walk along the beach of Trinity Bay after moonrise and spread the portion of dad's ashes that I brought. I'm surprised no one even checked the zip-lock bag with the ashes in them since the kind of look similar to some drugs (white powder). Customs would love that.
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11:00 am Feb. 24th, 2000 (7:00 pm Feb. 23rd in KC).

Last day in Port Douglas, I'm in a bus on the way to Cairns Airport. I spread Dad's ashes in Trinity Bay, which feeds into the Coral Sea. Yesterday was a horseback ride through Mowbray Valley in Daintree National Rainforest . Hot, but very cool. I rode a 13 year old male horse named Buckshot.

Our bus driver just pulled over & stopped because a 1 inch baby lizard was on his side mirror and he didn't want him to fall of and get killed, so he stopped and picked him off the mirror and put him on the ground.

Most Americans would not have even noticed.