Comfortable enough to jaywalk

When I last left off I was in Sydney, ready to make some moves, but just was not sure what was next.  Well alcohol made that decision for me and next thing I knew I was on a 7am flight from Sydney to Cairns, home of the Great Barrier Reef.  I flew the majestic Tiger Airways, and landed in what feels like a summer day in Florida, Cairns Australia.  (Things must have been looking up for me as you pay $5 for every kilo your bag is over 10.  Mine was 18 and not only did I not get charged, I got upgraded to an exit row!! I have been here for the past week and done and seen some very cool things.  Two days ago, after a loooooooooong night out I was booked for a white water rafting trip.  Wake up call 6am.  Two hour drive to the river and then its 5 hours of non stop rafting (one stop for lunch, so almost non-stop.)  Here is how they do selection for the who is going to be in what raft, let's try and put people of even weight and different levels of experience together.  This is a description of my 6 person raft.  Two very nice 100lb girls from Chile.  Fun girls, nice to look at in swimsuits, not the best paddlers.  A tour guide that was on week 3 of learning how to lead raft tours.  He was our anchor, our rock, our best shot and not flipping, oh and was about 175 skinny white dude named Pete.  I think the name Pete took away all the confidence I had in him.  Then there was me of course.  After a week of no sleep and not eating, down to a svelte 200lbs and begging the instructors for a beer so I can get rid of the hangover.  The first hit of water took care of that for me.  Last but not least was my front of the rafter counter part, she was traveling with the Chilean girls.  Picture King Hippo from Mike Tyson's Punchout, but a girl and wearing a shirt.  First, second, third, fourth, and pretty much every rapid, wave or strong breeze that hit the boat and she was sent flying over to my side of the raft, smothering pretty much my whole body.  The highlight was when she fell on me, lost control of her oar, and it hit me in the nose and I started bleeding.  The sad thing is it could have been worse.   Despite the behemoth, it was a great time, I would do it again for sure.  The Australian rain forest is pretty amazing, and you see things that you never knew existed.  Also about a 4 foot fat and creepy eel, I saw that too, no thanks.

A selfie of me trying to get excited for my 5 hour torture cruise.

Tomorrow I am headed to the Reef for some SCUBA!!!!!!!!!  So that means I will be out till about 4am again tonight and totally pissed off I signed up for a day underwater, until it actually happens.  My plan for this trip going into it was to not really have a plan.  Which I think is kind of a crappy way to go into anything.  I mean you have to have some semblance of a plan, well I don't.  And somehow it has worked out magically.  On Tuesday I am headed back down south with 3 guys from the UK in a camper van.  Cause why the f not.  Should be another great adventure.  Although Internet and wireless will become much harder to come by, so don't expect any posts for a while and then all of a sudden a "War and Peace" length monster.

Here are a few of the very few pictures I have taken and some commentary to go with.

Here are two examples of how much things cost in this country.  $6.70 for some pringles, oh I bet the are "bursting with flavour" for $7 GD dollars a can.  Basically it costs me between $10-$5,000 to feed myself each day.  I try to stay on the low end, but once in a while I eat a meal that would actually feed one whole person, rather than say a 4-year old toddler and that'l cost ya.
The second picture makes me want to throw up.  For several reasons.  1) The price of the movie.  I can either sleep indoors for a night, OR, I can go see Tony Stark beat up bad guys.  I spend the next two nights sleeping outside and fighting with the birds and bats for random grubs.  Worth it, the movie was pretty good.
2)  Assigned freaking seats, are you kidding me?  Is the government regulating movie viewing in Australia.  Let me sit in any seat that is open when I get there, come on.  And 3) Which you will not find on the ticket, is that there were about 30 minutes of local commericals before we ever saw our first preview.  If you want a $35 man Brazilian wax in Cairns, I can tell you where to go.

I put this on facebook, but I mention the fighting the bats for food, because around dusk every night here, the bats and birds have a throw down of biblical proportions.  Its like listening to a record player that is playing death metal, and the needle is scratching, oh and the record player is also getting raped as well.  That is the noise out of the sky for about a solid hour.  Here is a pic of the vermin in the sky.  Like I said on FB, I tool about 20 of these and the stream of bats just kept on coming.  Cairns will be vampire central once the bats take out the birds for good and turn to human blood.

That does not do it justice and I have way better, but that took like 30 seconds to upload, so just draw in about double the black wingy things to get a better feeling for it.



No one told the guys in Sydney that this ended about a year and a half ago


Look at that Tiger, instills confidence in your airline!

And lastly I was here for a National Holiday called ANZAC day.  Where all the current and past military personal spend a couple hours remembering those that came before them and then the rest of the day gambling and getting ripped.  Much like our Veteran's day, but not that much like Memorial Day.  I feel like for Memorial day more people go on trips and Veterans is for the homebodies.  That is ANZAC day.  This is a picture of a group of sailors and civies (civilians) standing outside a chalk circle and betting on the outcome of a coin toss.  Winner take all.  Very advanced gambling.  You stand outside the circle and put money on your head if you want heads and by your ass if you want tails.  Then match up with someone doing the opposite.  The coins are tossed and that is it.  Makes Casino War look like Calculus.

That is all for now.  Oh and the title of this means I am getting the hang of this place, but still have a long way to go!

Miss most of you still,

Scott