Day 6 ...

Not too much new to add, still no progress in the Thailand protests...

"Almost 100,000 foreign tourists were still stranded in the Thai capital after the closure of the international airport, the Bangkok Post reported. This may rise to as many as 300,000 if the protests continue, the newspaper said, citing Tourism and Sport Minister Weerasak Kohsurat"

Despite the fact that tourists are stranded in Thailand, the good thing is that no violence is being show, at all, towards them. Tourists are being treated well, meaning that their accomodation is being paid for while they wait for the governments and airlines to come up with a plan to get them out of the area. The only demonstration of violence by the anti-government protesters is towards the police:

"Anti-government protests in Thailand attacked a police checkpoint near the nation’s main international airport, which remained paralyzed for a fifth day as negotiations failed to end a standoff. About 500 protesters armed with steel bars sped the wrong way down a major expressway leading to the airport and stormed a 150-strong police checkpoint. Police officers jumped into vans and sped away after demonstrators attacked the vehicles and threw firecrackers".

Luckily no one was injured in the attack!

Quick Update

--BANGKOK, November 29, 2008
"Hundreds of anti-government protesters forced several dozen Thai riot police to abandon a checkpoint on Saturday as they tightened their siege of the country's main airport, witnesses said. Around 2,000 People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) supporters forced back about 150 police from a kilometre (0.6 mile) north of Suvarnabhumi Airport, although the incident passed off without violence"

As I'm sure everyone is aware, the issue in Thailand did not come any where near resolving today, unfortunately. I didn't attempt to call Singapore Airlines today, however I did check their website and found out that "Singapore Airlines will waive all cancellation and change fees for customers with tickets to Bangkok on Singapore Airlines flights issued prior to 26 November, for travel up to and including 7 December, 2008. Customers may change the routing of their journey, defer the date of travel or cancel, without penalty; Any change of date or routing will be charged at the new fare for that journey less the fare for the journey paid to Bangkok, with no amendment fee".

At the moment, Vietnam, most of Cambodia, and Laos are not experiencing too much difficulty, so I am considering attempting to reroute the flight into Vietnam and hopefully spend some time in Thailand in 2-3 months - hopefully the protests are long gone at that point.

Thailand Tension ...

So I'm sure everyone is wondering what the heck we're gunna do now that the protests in Thailand have resulted in the imposition of a "state of emergency at the Suvarnanhumi International Airport and the Don Meuang International Airport in Bangkok. Due to demonstrations, all commercial flights to and from Bangkok have been suspended and both airports are currently closed. The duration of these closures is unknown" (Canadian Travel Advisory website).

Well, we're not quite sure yet, and basically I beleive we have to take everything day by day to see if the tension in the airport settles down. I will be attempting to contact Singapore Airlines tomorrow (as I'm sure hundreds of people will be trying to do) to figure out what happens if the airports are not free by the 5th of December. It is a different question all together of whether or not it would be smart to land in Thailand shortly after such protests?

Based on what I've read today, no one is sure whether or not a military coup is likely to form. The Thai government claims they will be taking "measures to keep order", and "the next step would be more formal talks as they continue to try and solve this by "negotiation". Keep in mind that is what they say in the news, choose how much or little you want to beleive the media on this one. Very recently the cheif of police in Thailand was fired by the Prime Minister, and apparently the PM has also "lost confidence" in his army chief after the chief suggested that the PM call a "snap election" to quickly ease tensiioni - hmmm, little suspicious? Hence why opinions are 50/50 in regards to the formation of a coup...

So, what are we left with? Depending on what Singapore Airlines tells me tomorrow (if I get a hold of them) I think we have a couple options to get into Asia:

One would be to head up, from Singapore, through Malaysia and into Thailand. At the time being, I don't think there is much tension in the southern parts of Thailand. Hopefully that tension wouldn't rise by the time we get there ... ? ...I know, I'm not that content with that plan either.

I have some friends that have travelled from Thailand, into Cambodia, and now heading back to Thailand, and they have told me that besides the airport, everything is operating normal. So, I suppose plan B would be to hope the airports are cleared, we land, and possibly escape Bangkok as fast as possible to other areas of Thailand. We will however have to keep a close on the travel advisory website to learn what borders NOT to attempt to cross due to increased tension.

Without having talked to Singapore Airlines, and without the slightest idea how an airline would deal with a situation like this, I think those are our only two options at the moment. Perhaps we will be able to stay in Australia longer and head further south? Who knows. Anyways, I will make sure to keep everyone posted with anything further.

Here are the links to a couple of the good articles I came across today:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aPGumBW8mF1s&refer=home

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7754381.stm

A quick update besides all that good stuff ...
I have spent the last 10 days in my most favourite stop on the coast, Byron Bay. Everyone you speak to that has travelled through Byron Bay absolutely raves about it, and it was very easy to see why as soon as we got here. It is the most relaxed environment yet, has a beautiful beach on the sunny days, and the town is nice and small. Byron is full of music, hippies, and friendly people!! Despite the problems I'm having with the guitar I bought in Rockhampton (continually breaking the same E string :( Great music shop here in Byron have been very helpful but still can't get to the bottom of the problem ... oooh well ... maybe sell/trade it before I "fly" to Asia), I have been playing tons of guitar throughout the day and even for a small crowd of people at night. First time I've ever really played for a group of people ... I'm having fun with it and I'm not scaring too many people out of the room with my singing lol.

As for the travel mates: Carson left for Calgary 3 days ago now (hope he had a safe flight home). Jarrett and Holly left the same day as Carson to head inland to a place called Armedale to visit some of Jarrett's family friends. Jarrett and Holly are scheduled to fly to Thailand on the 3rd of December (5th of December for me), so most likely I will hook up with them again in Sydney.

Okay, if there is any other news posted tomorrow, I will keep you all up to date

Hilarious!

New blog setup

I've decided to use this site to post all of my blog entries, including my travel journals. I was using footstops.com for my travel journals, but the site isn't very user friendly and I've lost way too much time battling the site when it deletes hours of my writing haha. I figure it will be much easier to concentrate all of my blog postings here ...

Pick up where I left off, plus some new stuff ...

Once again, it's been a litle too long since I've found the time to sit down and update my travel blog. Sorry to everyone who has been eagerly waiting for an update. I actually had this blog completely updated last night, but then lost 2 hours of my writing, so here goes round two.

So I beleive I cut Cape Tribulation short on my last travel blog, so ....

Like I said, there isn't much to Cape Trib other than long, beautiful beaches, 3 hostels, 1 small grocery store, and a swimmin' hole. Regardless, we very much enjoyed our time here despite the fact that it rained every now and than throughout the day - it is, however, a RAINforest lol. Anyways, the days would usually begin slowly, either a jog along the beach or wake up and have breakfast with the gang. Wandering the beaches usually attracts most of the people in Cape Trib (it's either that or play billiards and wait for the bar to serve booze). We also made sure to sign up for exotic fruit tasting mmmmmmm. A van came to pick us up and take us to the exotic fruit farm about 5-10 minutes away. I wish I could remember some of the fruits we tasted, but I will tell you that I have never tried, or even heard of any of the fruits we tasted. Many of the fruits challenge the concept we all have of fruit, its texture, and its expected juiciness (especially the one that was exactly like a potato wedge), but it was a great experience to learn about some fruits and try something new. Nights in Cape Trib were always spent sharing a jug, or two, or three, etc. at the hostel bar. We met some great travellers there, and since the vibe was so good plus the fact that the AFL (Australia Football League) final game was showing, three of us decided to extend our stay an extra night. This is where the group parted as Niki and Graham and to start heading down the coast to adhere to there 2 month timeline. So, Jarrett, Carson and myself stuck around to watch the AFL final game, drink several beers with some rowdy Aussie locals, and catch the bus the next day.

We hadn't heard much of Port Douglas, but as soon as the bus drove us through here on the way back to Cairns from Cape Tribulation, we knew we had to stick around for a while. We got dropped off at the Parrot-Fish-Backpacker-Hostel and immediately felt welcome. This was one of the best hostels we've stayed at simply because of the people we met. The hostel would host functions each night, whether it was poker tournaments, movie nights, or bbq's, but it really brought a good group of people together. It was very easy to spend some time here in Port Douglas and take in the beauty of the area. We found Port Douglas to be quite "posh" in most places and most backpackers complain that "there isn't much to do", but that is the beauty of it!! We enjoyed the simplicity the place. Since we had to cancel our great barrier reef trip from Cape Tribulation due to windy conditions, we rebooked from Port Douglas. The catamaran we departed on was full of all sorts of people and it was planned to stop at three different dive & snorkel sights around one of the seven wonders of the world. The sights were absolutely amazing, as was the massive lunch we were fed on the boat, and it was an amazing experience to swim with countless numbers of fish. We spent one more night in Port Douglas then it was back down to Cairns.

Once we arrived back in Cairns, we found a much quieter hostel than the bed-bug-infested, party-central "Gilligans" (where we stayed our first stop over in Cairns). We ended up at a place by the name of Bohemian Central, which was much more calm and felt more like a old-style-home. The bathrooms were actually made for 1 person only (not shared), and the rooms only had a 4 person maximum compared to the 8-bed dorm rooms we had grown accustomed to. Although we had already explored much of Cairns, the three of us took the days to wander some more. We made sure to stop off at both of the didgeridoo shops (for those who don't know what a didgeridoo (didg), it is an authentic wind instrument of the indigenous Australians). Each of the shops were extremely welcoming and encouraged each of us to give the "didg" a try. They were also friendly enough to give us lessons and provide us the basics on how to play the unusual instrument. Jarrett picked up the skill rather quickly, so quick in fact that one of the shop owners used him to demonstrated to some other customers lol. The rest of the days were spent doing some essential shopping, relaxing at the hostel, and wandering the streets at night to see what we could find. One night I must share with you all ... it was right after a fresh rainfall and we decided to go for a harmless (and sober I must add) walk around Cairns. Not 30 yards away from the hostel as we were all walking along the sidewalk, our feet must have missed a massive Huntsman spider by centimeters!! We stared at the brown, hairy spider for several minutes until another guy wandered up. We warned him of the spider (which he came SO close to stepping on, spider didn't move). Normal reaction would be to look at the spider and get the hell out of the way, right? Not this guy. We quickly found out he was Irish, and a crazy Irish guy at that!! "Look at the size of this f*cker", he said, reaching his hand down to the spider. We looked on (from a distance of course - us Canadians aren't used to spiders this size lol. Safest bet in our minds is to stay the hell away!!) probably with our jaws dropped as we watched this guy poke the massive spider and dance around it as it scurried away. I HAD to get my camera for this one. So I ran back to the room, grabbed my camera, and raced back to the street hoping the spider was still there. By the time I got back to the group, the Irish guy had poked the spider enough to chase it up a nearby wall - so unfortunately my pictures aren't great, but I got some :) Anyways, we carried on and ran into some other crazy people (1 iNsAnE Aussie girl, and a hardass Scottish guy that got pissed off when we mistook him for Irish - big NONO ... oops lol. All in all, a good second stop over in Carins.


We caught the Greyhound early one morning to head further down the coast. The next stop was planned to be Magnetic Island!! We had heard mixed feelings of Magnetic Island. Some thought it was extremely beautiful. Others thought it was boring. Eh, why not give it a try and see for ourselves. It was about a 6 hour bus ride down to Townsville, small stopover, than a 30 minute ferry ride to Magnetic Island. We caught a shuttle to the hostel right on the beach ... hmmm Magnetic Island doesn't seem so bad. Although there isn't a ton to do on Magnetic, we had heaps of fun here!! We explored the beaches, went hiking, sea kayaking, and to the animal park during the day, and hung out at the hostel bar and met some more incredible people at night. It's funny that as you travel, it is likely that you will see many of the same people on the same path as you just a day or two ahead or behind your schedule. We ran into some friends here, but left with many more!! Lots of Canadians on Magnetic Island as well - we made sure to have a good time and make Canada proud (responsibly) lol. So we stayed on Magnetic Island for 3 days and 2 nights, then caught the ferry at 9:30pm one night to head back to Townsville, then push further down the coast.


Townsville was rumored to be a "dead-town". We had heard this from EVERY traveller we asked. So, taking the same approach we had pursued all trip, we didn't think it was necessary to call ahead and book a hostel in Townsville. We walked to the closest hostel from the ferry drop-off hoping to secure a room ... NO vacancy. So, we found a nearby payphone and called every affordable hostel in Townsville, which resulted in either no vacancy or no answer. Hmmm, what should we do? We knew we didn't want to waste $150 on a room at 10:30pm. So, we wandered to a park we spotted on our walk to the hostel. This will do just fine! It was right along the esplanade, but we found a nice spot that was sheilded from the footpath. We through our bags down on the grass, locked them all together, and fell into a peaceful sleep. Not for long. I woke up to Jarrett yelling "oh shit boyz .... RUN RUN RUN". Yup, sprinklers turned on! We snatched up our bags and hurried out of the way as fast as possible, managing to escape without getting too wet. We moved on to another spot which we were sure would not be affected by sprinklers ... we were wrong. About 1 hour after we fell into another sleep, the sprinklers awoke us with a suprise, again!! "MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!!!". We grabbed our bags, again, and moved out of the way, this time esacaping without getting wet at all. So, by this time we just wanted some real sleep!! We wandered down the esplanade and ended up at the beach ... perfect!! We through our bags and towels down and were able to catch some serious sleep on the beach until the HOT morning sun woke us up at about 7:30am. That was enough of Townsville ...

We hopped on another Greyhound and headed for Airley Beach, which definitely held its reputation as a backpacker littered party town. We stayed at the largest hostel, Magnums, where there was always a party going on. We kept it pretty mellow in Airley, but made sure to enjoy the live music they had at the place every night!! Our first night was spent in a 10-share dorm room with a broken air conditioner - ya, it was HOT! Although, when we did get the air conditioner replaced for the second night, only us igloo-dwelling Canadians could stand the temperature lol. Everyone else was freezing. Anyways, we wandered the streets of Airley for the first couple of days and booked our sailing trip around the Whit Sundays. Before we left for sailing, Carson and I each purchased a didgeridoo and had it sent home. We would have loved to carry them with us so we could practice, but the instruments aren't exactly light and they would only get damaged, or stolen, had we kept them with us. So, at 4:00pm the next day we boarded our sailbot, "The Pegasus". The Pegasus was definitely one of the worst conditioned boats that we could have chosen from, but at least it was cheap. And it led us to some great backpackers also looking for a cost effective option for sailing the beautiful Whit Sundays. So we took off from the Airley Beach docks and spent the remaining part of the first day getting to know the others we were sailing with. The boat was half loaded with Irish people who loved to party into the early hours of the morning, a hippie couple (one Aussie one English), a Scottish gym teacherwith her rugby-playing english friend, 2 Italian dudes, 2 reserved German girls, and 2 guys from the Netherlands ... if that isn't a recipe for a party I don't know what is :) So most of us called it an early night the first night, except for the Irish, and we were up the following morning at 7:00am for breakfast and to get ready for snorkelling. We ended up travelling to 3 different snorkel locations, and each of them were better than snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef (I wish I had an underwater camera ... oooh well). The colours were much more vibrant, there was always a school of fish swimming inches away from us, and I saw 5 turtles!!! If you were nice and calm in your approach, the turtles had no problem letting you touch their shells as well!! We sailed over to the most picturesque beaches I have ever set foot on, relaxed in the white sand that felt like heaps of flour under our feet, and snapped some great shots of the infamous White Haven Beach. Our last night on the boat was nothing short of a slopshow. What is a "slopshow" you might ask, please let me explain. It started with drinking games put on my skipper and the rest of the crew, and they very quickly got everyone quite "sloppy" if you will. There was a dance contest, several drinking games, and a party that didn't end tilla bout 4 in the morning. Brilliant time :) The following morning everyone woke up (slowly) and started their day with a jump off the boat to wake themselves up, one more snorkel, then it was time to sail home once we finally got the engine going in the old Pegusus. That night the entire gang from the boat got together for a beer at Magnums to celebrate a great sailing trip around the Whit Sundays. We were told it was the first time everyone got along so well and actually wanted to party with each other again after the trip.

Now it was time to get a job!! We spent the next few days asking around and attempting to secure work, but without work visa's it was a little tricky as most places aren't interested in hiring illegal staff. So, we secured ourselves an Aussie phone number (04 0173 0656) and started making some calls. The Dutch guys that were on our sail boat had come from working on a croc farm down by Bundaberg. Although the pay was terrible ($200 per week), we still thought it would be a great experience so we gave them a shout. The lady I spoke with said she was unsure if they could hire us without work visa's and she'd have to check with the boss. We took that as a no and booked ourselves a Greyhound pass for the next day at midnight to head further south with hopes of getting work in Rockhampton. Our last day was spent, literally, doing nothing. We sat on the beach, watched boats come in and out, listened to music, slept, and read our books until dinner time. We then wasted some time at the pub until it was time to catch our bus.

A sleepless 6 hour night on the Greyhound because of a broken armrest took us to Rockhampton, the beef capital of Australia. Despite being exhausted, we wandered the streets looking for a hostel, sat down for breakfast by the river, and Jarrett and I dove into solving a Soduko puzzle. We ended up finding a quiet hostel by the name of YHA, booked in for a few nights, and collapsed on the beds for some sleep. Our eyes were searching for any type of "now hiring" or "workers wanted" signs, and were fortunate enough to find one on the postings board at the hostel for a Cattle Farm. We quickly placed a call, conveyed our interested, and secured a job at the farm by the second morning we were staying in Rockhampton. At this point, any job that we could secure without a work visa was worth pursuing, regardless of the fact that we get penalized 47% of our wage since we are working "illegally". We were, however, promised free room and 4 meals a day, which meant that we wouldn't be spending a cent while working. Perfect! The only hold-up was that the farm was a 2.5 hour drive away, the bus didn't head in that direction, and the earliest we could be picked up was 5 days away. So, we agreed to work, organized the pickup time, and spent the next 5 days in Rockhampton doing literally, next to nothing. My biggest accomplishment was buying a cheap travel guitar to fuel my passion, and we made sure to go for daily bicycle rides to explore what there is of the town. Since we were to be working on a farm, we knew that we were gunna need some proper working attire - don't think that board shorts and sandals would cut it. We rode down to all the bargain shops searching for affordable work clothes and ended up at the Salvation Army where we each purchases a bag of clothes for $6 (2 shirts, 1 jean, 1 short). The army surplus store provided us working gloves for $9, and a Payless Shoe type store in the mall had cheap work boots for $40. We were ready work!!

It was a 2.5 hour ride inland to the Cattle Feed Farm (Barmount Feedlot). The boys who picked us up made sure to inform us that we were 1.5 hours from the nearest town, so make sure to grab all the beer you need haha. The drive flew by and before we knew it we were stopped in front of what would be our home for the next 2 weeks. It was the first time all trip that we would each have a room to ourselves!! We even have closets for all our clothes - nice change. We called it an early night our first night and prepared ourselves for some hard work the next day.

Each day on the farm followed the same routine. Wake up at 5:45am, breakfast at 6:00am, start work by 7:00am. The day is already starting to heat up by 7:30am, so if there was any work to be done out in the sun, it is best to get it done as early as possible. 9:30am was coffee/smoke break - Barb (the cook) would always have some sort of treats prepared for us (cookies, cakes, loafs, raisen toast, etc.). After the quick break it was back to work until lunch time at 12:30pm. We were entitled to a 1 hour lunch, although we never really took it - not sure what we would have done for the other 30 minutes that we weren't eating. So as soon as we finshed lunch (which was always corn beef sandwhiches, 1 spud, corn on the cob, hardboiled eggs, and 1 pineapple. It was good, but I think we've all had our fill of corn beef for a while now) it was right back to work. From this point we would work until the sun dropped until the sky always displayed a gorgeous sunset (pictures will be added soon). This was usually around 5:30pm, then it was time for the best showers of our lives!! Beleive me, when you're workin' in the sh*t all day (literally), the best thing is the world is a shower!! Until the dinner bell was rung at 6:45pm was time to catch up on some guitar playing, then everyone would sit around the dinner table, eat the various meals that Barb prepared, chatted about their day, told jokes, and caught up on the news on the tube. Once dinner was finished, normally we would relax over a game of billiards and a beer, watch some T.V. with the crew, then head to bed nice and early. The best thing about being out on a farm in the "middle of nowhere" was the huge night sky!! You could see thousands of stars in either direction that spanned as far as the eye could see, and all you could hear around you was the frogs and some cattle. It was very peaceful at night. And when I say frogs, I mean heaps and heaps of frogs. Every time we would go to brush our teeth there were at least 5-6 frogs in the bathroom, huddled in the corner, sitting on the mirror, poking their heads out from the sink, etc. We clearly saw the King Toad epidemic had hit the Barmound feedlot pretty hard, as there were always huge toads in the grass and in the porch are searching for meals.
Since the feedlot has only 10,000 cattle at any given time (approximately), the team at Barmound was pretty small. Shawn and Phil are the brothers who run the place (which was passed down from their father), Randy can best be described as a small-town redneck guy who has worked with Barmount for 8 years, Arnelle and Rhami were two exchange employees from the Phillipines, Barb was the cook, and Don was a 50 year old traveller originally from New Zealand and now living in Kodiak Alaska. Don was by far the most "interesting" character we have come across so far. As soon as you see his toothless smile, you can tell he has some stories. Some of his stories would take way too long for him to spit out through all his mumbling and terrible memory, but he sure had some interesting ones. He thought it would be a great idea to have a toad party. What is a toad party Don? "Well, what you do is kill a king toad, let it fry in the sun all day, and then take a peice of the skin off its back, and when you snort it, it's as good as acid". Hmmmm, tempting Don, but I think we will pass, hahaha. So our duties on the feedlot consisted of:
-Trauff Cleaning (yay ... easy ... very boring)
-Cocking and Painting the new processing corral
-Herding and transferring cattle
-Pen Cleaning (this is what we did most of the time. Jarrett was driving the big loader, I was driving a tractor with a dump trailer on the back, and Carson had another dump truck. We spent the day running loads. Yes it was boring, but I had my book and my iPod with me, so it really wasn't too bad. Getting paid to read and listen to music isn't the worst thing in the world, but WOW did it ever get HOT in the tractor. Our last day on the farm it was 44 degrees, and it must have been closer to 50 in that tractor!! It was iNsAnE :)
-Processing (this was the most interesting of our duties. Each time a new batch of cattle arrives, they need to go through processing. We were each assigned a different role. Jarrett was the one who moved the cattle into the processing lanes, Carson was branding and injecting them with two needles into the neck, Don was checking their teeth and injection another needle into their neck, and I was in charge of injecting an "organic" growth hormone into their ear and stamping their ear to show they have been through inspection. Provided everyone's roles goes smooth, it would take about 30-60 seconds per cow. We processed just over 300 cattle while we were there)

We worked on the Barmount feedlot for a total of 9 days, with 1 day off. On our day off we grabbed some quads and a dirt bike and ripped around the farm to check everything out. We left early Saturday morning with Shawn to head back to Rockhampton, then leave the following morning at 1:00am for Hervey Bay. While searching for a cheap breakfast in Rockhampton, we stumbled into a pub that was full of "old-timers". Unfortunately their breakfast had just shut down 30 minutes early, but because the bar owner felt bad about that, he gave us a round on the house, and discounted all of our other rounds of beers. Now you might all be asking what the heck we were doing drinking beer at 10:30 in the morning, and I can't say I have a good answer for you haha. All the other older lads in the bar heard that we were Canadian and started bringing us over free beers as well. So we stumbled out of the pub at 12:30pm to search for some actual food, dropped our work clothes back off at the Salvation Army donation bins, then spent the day at the Skateboard park reading and watching Carson rip it up on the course. At 1:00am we caught the bus and arrived in Hervey Bay at 6:0oam. Carson and I parted ways with Jarrett so he could head down to Brisbaine to pick up Holly, and they are now on their way back up to meet us here so we can experience Fraser Island this weekend!!

That's all for now everyone! Hope you enjoy that novel haha. Until next time ...

For full photo albums, follow this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=21564&l=aea41&id=292100927

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Cairns, Cape Tribulation, Port Douglas

Well, its been a little while since my last post - let me try and explain why..

We spent a quick five days in Cairns getting our bearings of Australia, meeting countless backpackers and enjoying the numerous themed nights at the Gilligans Hostel pub downstairs. Now as I'm sure you are all aware if you check my facebook page, Cairns was host to couple incredible activities :)

First was SKYDIVING!! It was about a 1 hour drive south of Cairns to the airport. The transport van was filled with a group of apprehensive jumpers: 3 Chileans, 1 German Girl, and us 2 Canadians. The Chileans claimed they were considering not jumping, but after Graham and I got through with them they were ready to go :) After a quick registration and orientation at the Skydiving office, Graham and I were chosen to jump first!!! We walked the 100 meters to the airport with out instructors, getting to know the stranger that (I hate to say it) there is a chance you might die next to if something were to go terribly wrong (but this is NOT the time to think about that!!). Before loading into the tiny plane, we had to choose who would jump first ... my Japanese jump instructor "Tats" quickly volunteered us! So five of us crammed into the plane - 2 jumpers, 2 instructors, and 1 Canadian pilot. It was a beautiful 30 minute flight over the great barrier reef while we climbed to the jump height of 14,000 feet. "Tats" thought it was hilarious when he told me "how tired he was and that he thinks he's gunna go for a nap 10 minute before jump time" ... ha ... ha :) 3 minutes before jump time the instructors attached themselves securely to the jumper. 15 seconds before the door opened, "goggles on!". Before we knew it the side door swung open and my feet were hanging outside the freakin' plane!! Second thoughts? No time for second thoughts. 1...2...JUMP!!! Believe me when I tell you that the first 5 seconds is the scariest part of the experience - barrel rolling out of a plane IS as scary as it sounds. Once that part is over, welcome to the coolest feeling ever!!! We learned after we successfully landed that we were falling @ 220km per hour for 60 seconds - basically that means we are covering a football feild every "one-one-thousand". 60 seconds is plenty of time to enjoy the beautiful scenery, scream your head off, and do some 360's lol. When you feel the instructor tap you on your shoulder, you place your hands on your shoulder and pray that the chute opens! Fortunately, ours did on the first try (the instructors actually have 6 chutes in one pack ... so the odds are that at least 1 of them will open, right?). Once the chute opens its time to relax. "Tats" passed the chute reigns over to me and taught me how to spin us left, spin us right, and slow us down. When it came time to land, he took over and successfully landed us in a grass field below where the others were waiting. WOW!! What a great experience! All of the others had successful jumps and each of us were already craving the next jump.

That night was spent relaxing over a beer and getting ready for the next morning ... BUNGY JUMPING!! Graham and I went into the day thinking "ah we just jumped out of a plane, we can handle jumping from a fraction of the height". WRONG!!!!! Bungy jumping is a whole new feat! Jarrett, Graham, myself, and a guy we met who is from Regina (Mitch) all purchased the "big day out" - meaning we get unlimited bungy jumps! YAY (sounded like the best idea at the time okay! lol). So, we climbed the steps, and I can only speak for myself when I say my heart began to race faster and faster with each step up. Just Relax! Ooh wow it's beautiful up here! Ooh wow that's a long way down. Just Relax! Needless to say it was an internal struggle at the top trying to keep myself as calm and collected as possible. After watching a few jumps, our names were finally called. You enter the "loading zone" already wearing your waist harness that is securely tightened to your waist and legs. You are then instructed to sit on a bench while the talented AJ Hacket workers get you ready for your jump. A thick beach towel is wrapped around your ankles, then thick nylon rope is wrapped around to secure the towel. Before you know it they have you hooked up to the bungy chord. HERE WE GO!!
"How you feelin, mate?" ... "GOOD" (that's what everyone says - everyone is lying! No one is feeling good at this point unless you have several jumps under your belt!! I was ready for my jump, but I will not lie when I tell you I was NERVOUS AS HELL).

So, you hop up to the edge. Slowly position your toes over the edge. Look out at the beautiful view. Just Relax! Look over at the camera for a pre-shot. Just Relax! Let go of the only peice of security you have left from 164 feet up - the bar. The instructor behind you YELLS 5-4-3-2-1 - JUMP. Don't think - just jump.

The first jump is always a straight dive out - and what a feeling! I think I held my breath the whole way down until I bounced back up! You bounce several times until you are lowered onto a raft below. Laying on that raft was a releif EVERY time - it means you made it :) We each did 3 successful jumps, including a backwards freefall and a hanging fall for some of us. At the end of the day, my adrenaline had been racing so much that all I wanted was sleep. Okay, beer and then sleep. Those officially go down in history as the most intense 2 days of my life!!! Brilliant.

We spent another 2 nights at Gilligans in Cairns, then we left @ 7:30am the next morning for the Cape Tribulation rainforest (largest rainforst in the world). On the way up we stopped for a croc-sighting tour along the Daintree River. About 50 people crammed onto a small tour boat and headed up and down the river trying to spot any form of croc/wildlife possible. We ended up seeing 3 crocs - one was 5 years old, the next was 98 years old but we could only see his head, and the last was a 6 month old.

From there it was straight up to Cape Tribulation, and beleive me there is not much to Cape Tribulation but 3 hostels that are VERY spread out, 1 shopping market, and a swimmin' hole lol. However, the long beaches more than makes up for the size of Cape Trib, they were beautiful. So, we spent much of our time walking the beaches before and after the downpours of rain in the rainforest. The good thing about the rain is that it brought out all the critters and creatures for our guided nightwalk through the rainforest, including some lizards, snakes, and heaps of loud orange-limbed-greentree-frogs.

I'm feeling a little bit rushed so I will finish off this journal and add more shortly :)

For more pics, follow these links:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=21077&l=1ca90&id=292100927

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=21285&l=ec886&id=292100927

Goodbye Bali, Hello Australia!!

Well, we have made it into Australia!!

We left beautiful Bali at 1:00pm on September 18th for a tedious string of flights. First back to Singapore for a 9 hour layover ... uuuuuggghhhh .... oh well, we made the best of it. Good thing the Singapore airport is extremely beautiful and has tons to keep people occupied. We celebrated Jarrett's 23rd birthday the best we could ... at Burger King lol, we wandered, we played games, we drank beer, and we wandered some more, trying our best NOT to fall asleep so we could catch up on our 7.5 hour flight into Brisbaine, Australia. We departed Singapore at 12:10am for Australia. Singapore airlines was great again ... they made sure to wake me up for every meal lol.

So, into Brisbaine for 9:35am as we skipped ahead 2 hours. And guess what, another 4 hour layover, yahoooooo :) As soon as the Aussies knew we were Canadian, it was all jokes and them trying to give us a hard time. Then time to catch up on some reading while we waited ...

Last flight for a while was a 2.5 hour flight from Brisbaine up to Cairns. Flying into Cairns was awesome as the sights below us of the Great Barrier Reef were beautiful!! We landed, quickly grabbed our bags, secured a taxi ... to Gilligans!!!!

We had heard from some fellow travellers in Bali that the Gilligans hostel was awesome so we decided to give it a try. The hostel is HUGE and is full of backpackers that love to drink, drink, and drink some more! Tons of Aussies, some from the U.K., a few Germans, and even a couple Canadians (one guy from Regina, one girl from Cochrane ... small world). So our first night - wait, what happened again? Two for one drinks ... hmmmmmmmm ... right! Good times, met tons of drunko's that were SO happy that we were all Canadian and not American and were very quick to share a drink with us once that was established lol.

A slow wake up the next morning quickly revealed something we hoped to avoid ... BED BUGS (gross!). We quickly alerted the front desk and we were informed that it happens frequently because of the amount of people that come and go. So, all our bags were put into the freezer for 24 hours and the hostel paid for all of our laundry to be washed - pretty good deal as we all were dying to get the smell of Indonesia out of our clothes. No one suffered any bites but me ... just a few on my ankle. We were then moved into another room for the second night where we met Mitch, a 21 year old West Coast Aussie who has a viscious black eye from a "random" attack last week. We had a great time sharing card games and testing out Australian rum and beer.

Perhaps the most releiving thing about being in a hostel is the fact that we can cook our own food! There is a fresh fruit and vegetable market right at the bottom of Gilligan's, so we have stocked up on some great, healthy foods.

The plan from here is to spend a few more days in Cairns and enjoy some of the great activities they have around here. Bungee jumping will be happening either tomorrow or the next day :) Maybe skydiving if we make it out of the bungee experience alive and not scared shitless LOL. From here we will be travelling further north to Cape Tribulation - oldest rainforest in the world apparently! We will probably do some Great Barrier tours while we are up there, then take it as it comes ...

Until next time ...

BALI BALI BALI

Well our trip got off to an incredible start in Bali. The flights to get over here were somewhat tedious (about 40 hours with stops in Sanfransisco, Hong Kong, Singapore), but we made the best of it and the free booze on the plane lol. I will admit that as soon as we got off the plane and into the transport vehicle, culture shock set in. Driving has to be the craziest thing about Bali so far - scooters scooters EVERYWHERE, no stop signs, no lights @ intersections, no speed limits, and you can pass whenever and wherever you want. As crazy as it sounds, the system works for the number of people here.

We are staying at the Troppozone resort which is right in the heart of Kuta Beach. Small shops line each and every street, and walking by you will continually have people trying to sell you something "cheap cheap, you buy you buy". As long as you avoid eye contact and are firm when you say "No thanks", they won't bug you too much, unless you're a little blonde like Niki - they try and take advantage of her innocence ... its worked a couple times already LOL.
Surfing is everywhere in Bali. We have now surfed at two different beaches, and although its hard, we are having a blast learning and swallowing way too much salt water lol.

Our resort manager "Grumpy" has been the best person we possibly could have met. He has spent a ton of time with us, toured us around the island, and has taught us a ton about the Balinese culture, religion, history, and relaxed way of life. Everything "no problem brutha, no worries man", and WOW does he know a ton of jokes about "jiggy-jig" (sexy time). Our two day tour to the North end of Bali with a group of 12 (4 Aussies, 5 Canadians, 2 Swedish girls, 1 German guy) was incredible!! The two temples we visited were in large, monkey guarded forests. We learned a great deal here about Hinduism and you work your life not for you, but for everyone else. The resort we stayed at was prestine and right on the beach :) Over a delicious meal with the group we shared a ton about each others culture, watched traditional Balinese dancing, and played some "Jiggy-Jig" games with everyone - just games, not actual Jiggy Jig LOL. The next morning began with watching the sunrise on the beach, then to hot springs, then snorkelling. After lunch, to the volcano and watching traditional coffee making ... mmmmm sooo good. Two day tour was AMAZING.

Beautiful women are everywhere in Bali - everywhere :) That's all I will say about that LOL
Weather has been great as well - somewhere around 30 degrees every day and very humid. Body is still adjusting to the heat. Our rooms at Troppozone are perfect for what we need from them, only one cockroach so far and a couple of geckos. Frogs and gecko's are everywhere around the resort!!

Anyways, the first 6 days were packed with tons of activities that opened up Bali to us all. The people are amazing as well! Because everyone believes in Karma, everyone is always happy and friendly to everyone - do good to others and good things will come to you.
We are here until the 18th of September and then into Australia. We're very much looking forward to it, but not to how expen$ive it will be. Oh well, worst comes to worse, we're coming back to Bali!!

For more pictures from Bali, follow this link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=20735&l=a09e3&id=292100927