Don't let the bedbugs bite

I would hardly say I LET them bite, but they did anyway. After spending a pretty cool day in Airlie beach, we boarded the Anaconda III to sail the Whitsunday Islands. It's a "luxury sailing yacht" at 101 feet long. Let me tell you this was the most miserable time I've had on this trip. I got eaten by bedbugs, queazy from the stench of the place, and we didn't even go out to the reef as planned. They forgot to bring food so we had to turn around and spent our second night in the harbor, yet still had to pay the reef tax. The whole lot of us declared mutany at that point and some people got off. Some people stayed on as it was midnight and raining with no chance of finding a place to stay, or money to pay for it. When we got back into port we formed an angry mob and went down to the booking agent in charge of this vessel and we all demanded a full refund. After much ado it was promised to us, in writing, in the next 7-14 days. I really hope it just shows up in my bank account without any further effort. On a different note, Airlie beach is beautiful and i may go back there to work if i dont find work in Cairns.

Maybe a dingo ate your baby

I went to Fraser Island and camped out for 2 nights/3 days. I was a bit worried at first. Our group of 11 consisted of 7 germans, 2 french-canadians, 1 italian, and me. But it turned out great. The island is the largest sand island in the world but has a rainforest at the center. It was absolutely stunning! We saw dingos, sharks, lizards, and lots of huge flies that bit us the whole time. My only complaint is that we weren't allowed to have a campfire. What a freaking bummer. Fire is half the fun as camping and let me tell ya, sitting around a lantern just ain't the same.There is a lake there that is sooooo clear it looks like the most beautiful sea you've ever seen. It's getting pretty hot as I'm heading up north. Right now I'm in Airlie beach, getting ready to sail the Whitsunday islands. We stayed in a town called 1770 a few nights ago and it turns out the town doesn't exist. its just a pub and a few houses. More like a neighborhood really. We went surfing in the morning and on a "scooteroo"y tour in the afternoon and saw some local wildlife. The "scooteroos" were mini harleys. Fun, but hardly a reason to stop in a nonexistent town.

Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane

Today I tempted fate and did something I NEVER planned on doing. I think that most people that skidive think about it as being something that they want to do someday. This was not the case for me. I got roped into it. Getting suited up was something like when Mom used to put the snow suit on ya as a kid. Of course as soon as it was on I had to pee. We piled into the back of a 4 seater plane that only had one seat. we sat on the floor. It took a while for this toy plane to get to the 14,000 feet we were jumping from . 2,000 looked good to me. At 14,000 feet it was just like being on a commercial plane. It was all so surreal it didn't really dawn on me that we were jumping out until I was actually at the door. By then it was far too late to do anything but be pushed out. We tumbled and fell, I screamed.... a lot. I was surprised that you don't get that feeling in your stomach of falling like you do on a roller coaster. The wind ROARED in my ears, it actually hurt. IF i ever did it again (not gonna) i would wear earplugs. So there I am, falling through the stratosphere. I didn't even have time to think the parachute wouldn't open, which was good. 60 seconds of free fall and the shute opened. The rest of the ride was a lot slower. We went through a cloud and wound our way down. I felt sick at this point, my stomach being the big wuss that it is. We landed and I had to lay down for a minute, then took a pee in a bush.

Paddling uphill both ways

We went canoeing/ camping in the Noosa everglades. It was good but the canoeing was killer. we had to cross a lake and each time the wind was blowing against us. I spent the 2 most frustrating hours of my life this morning. I was paddling my ass off and not getting anywhere. I couldn't stop, couldn't go back, had no choice but to go on. I can't believe I paid money to do that. The rest of it was pretty fun but my canoe partner couldn't paddle for anything so I was doing most of the work, which tends to be a theme in this little travel partnership we have going on. I'll be glad to get to Cairns. There were some huge pelicans!

Australia Zoo minus Steve

I went to the Australia Zoo, on the "Sunshine Coast" (it rained all day) and really it was just sad. The zoo is really nice and it's easy to see that most of the money Steve Irwin made went straight back into his animals. Plus he has a lot of conservation efforts going on that i had no idea about. The zoo itself was nice. Tigers, elephants, and of course... crocs!! It was good overall but just sort of sad.

Dreamworld

I should have made this post before the Tangalooma one, as it happened first, but I forgot. I went to dreamworld with my French-Canadian roommates and some guys we met at a club. It was a pretty fun day. I realized that I do not want to be a tiger trainer as they never really care if you're there or not. Plus at dreamworld it takes a year of just hanging out with them just to get to handle them. Not time I want to put into a cat.

Tangalooma wild dolphin resort

Silvia and I have left the gold coast!!! We spent one horrible night in Brisbane at a backpackers (ok it wasn't horrible, just not great) and then headed off on our adventure. We were in a 4wd SUV type thing and went all over the island. This place is untouched by humans for the most part. the roads are just sand, there are kookaburras all over the place. We went sandboarding, or at least tried. We went to a lagoon, fed dolphins and bummed around at a beautiful resort for 2 days. The dolphin thing was semi-cool. They claim not to train the dolphins, which of course they do. Some things they train knowingly, like the sound underwater before the session begins, and the rest are trained by them not knowing the right time to feed them a fish. ANYWAY, it was still really cool, tomorrow we head for the Australia Zoo.