Australia {Cairns}

I'm traveling to Cincinnati this week for my BFF's wedding!  While I'm out of town, I thought I'd share with you one of my favorite vacations that I somehow never blogged about before now.  Enjoy!

Once upon a time Almost 3 years ago, Jason and I were able to take a trip of a lifetime.  Why it took me this long to blog about it is beyond me.  Never the less, here is the beginning of my Australia recap.  Jason was sent to Australia on a TDY (temporary duty) assignment and after 2 weeks in the Outback, we met in Cairns to start our 2 week vacation.

I arrived early in the morning and had some time to kill before Jason joined me.  That early in the morning, the beach was deserted so I found a little spot to watch the sun rise.  I'm quite certain this is my ultimate, symmetrically beautiful, happy place!

Seriously, I knew instantly that I was going to love Australia.

 Once Jason arrived, we hopped on a gondola and rode up to the Daintree Rainforest.

Jason insisted we stop when he saw this sign.  I was less than excited but obliged.

Fruit bats are the creepiest little creatures ever but oddly adorable at the same time...from a distance!

After a fun day of exploring Daintree, we caught a ride on this fun, old train, back down the mountain to Cairns.

We're suckers for a rugby match and this Cairns Northern Pride game did not disappoint!  Their fans were very welcoming and friendly and helped us learn some rules that were unfamiliar to us.

Our second day in Cairns was spent on the Great Barrier Reef.  It was "winter" there meaning highs in the mid 70's which was the perfect break from the sweltering Japanese summer heat but it was slightly chilly out on the water.

That sure didn't stop us though.  We suited up and jumped in.

WE SNORKELED OVER THE GREAT BARRIER REEF!

While I spent most of the excursion bent over the side of the boat (not the best time to discover you've developed motion sickness with age) it was still one of the coolest things I've ever done.  I also discovered on that trip that I'm not a fan of open water.  I hung on to the guide's float for dear life, along with all the little kids.  Jason was so far out that I couldn't see him but me, I stayed as close to the boat as possible.


The next day we picked up this beauty and hit the road.  We went against all the advice we had received and decided to drive the 1600 miles from Cairns to Sydney.  That's essentially the same distance as driving from Bangor, Maine to Miami, Florida, you know, the entire east coast of America!

Because we chose to drive, we were able to stop along the way in some smaller towns, areas that most tourists skip right over when they fly.

Our 1st pit stop was at Cape Byron Lighthouse where we did a little whale watching.

Along the way, I also ate one of the best meals of my life in a little town called Lennox Head.  It doesn't look like much but this buckwheat crepe stuffed with cheese and ratatouille was one of the best things I've ever put in my mouth.  I think about it all the time.

We also got to see views like these while we drove!

Driving in Australia was...interesting.  They drive on the left side, just like in Japan, so that wasn't anything unusual for us but the signs on the side of the highway were so interesting that they'll get their own post tomorrow...I hope you come back!

Okinawa {part 2}

I'm skipping today's prompt to continue my Okinawa update.  After a couple of days on the main island we wanted a few days of complete and total relaxation so we took a ferry out to the Kerama Islands, specifically Zamami Island.  

 The island has only about 500 permanent residents, no hotels and only a dozen or so restaurants.  We planned to camp on the beach (you can rent all the necessary equipment for about $25/night) since the few B&B type of places that are available are really expensive.  We got to Zamami, rented all of the stuff we needed, set up camp and headed for the beach.

This was the view from our camp site.

  Jason had the time of his life snorkeling while I read & combed the beach for shells.  

I'm not normally a shell collector but how could I pass up these beauties?!

  

We went into town and had dinner that night then went back to our tent, played a few card games and went to sleep.  About an hour after we went to sleep it started to rain and continued to do so ALL night.  This wasn't just a drizzle, it poured and there was thunder and lightening.  About 1 AM we were completely soaked.  We tried to take refuge in a kitchen shelter but it didn't have any walls and the rain was blowing sideways so that wasn't an option.  We ended up hanging our bags from hooks in a public restroom and going back to our tent to "sleep" in the 2 inches of water that had accumulated inside.  Without thinking twice, our 2 night trip quickly became a 1 night trip.  The next morning we returned all of our soaking wet gear and hiked back to town.  The ferry back to Naha didn't leave until 3 PM so we dropped our bags in a locker at the port and went to Furuzamami Beach where we had heard the snorkeling was phenomenal.   Even though the water was cold and there was no sun in sight, I joined Jason in the water for a short while.  He would have stayed there all day but we had a ferry to catch.

See?  Crappy weather!

The water was so clear.

I'm so happy we invested in an underwater camera!  This guy was my bud, he followed me around the whole time I was in the water (which wasn't very long).

My friend was correct, the snorkeling at Furuzamami was spectacular.  The island is surrounded by coral just feet off the shore and there were fish all over!  The only thing we didn't see that we really wanted to was a turtle. 

This was taken from up on a cliff. 

Such a beautiful island!

I really, really wish the weather had been better.  Other than our lack of sleep, we loved this quiet little island.