Refreshed And Ready To Go

Since my last post, we have arrived back to Melbourne. Boy does it feel good being back in my Australian home-sweet-home :) After traveling up the entire eastern coast of Australia, we returned back "home" just in time to catch the Super Bowl (of which we all know the mighty BURGH won). Being back in Melbourne has been extremely nice. Since we had previously "devoured" the entire city before we left on our travels up the coast, we have been able to keep it quite low-key for about 5 days now and this has definitely rejuvinated our traveling spirits. So with a new refreshed vigor, we have packed up the backpacks once again and the travels are to be continued tomorrow. Before we launch onto our next excursion, however, I think I should provide ya'll with some pics of our last expeditions. Check 'em out below.

Airlie Beach - Prosperpine, OZ

Getting ready to sail to the Whitsunday Islands.

Our majestic voyager.


This water was incredible blueish-greenish. You can see Whitehaven beach in the distance. It is called Whitehaven for the sand that is perfectly white.



The color of the water against the brightness and purity of the sand was just incredible.



Whitehaven Beach




Snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef. In addition to snorkeling, we had to wear these "stinger suits" anytime we got in the water because it is stinger seasone here. The Box Jellyfish becomes in abundance this time of year and it is in the top 10 most poisonous creatures on the planet.





Approaching Long Island where Brian and I stayed for 2 nights. You can barely see the lodges we stayed in, but as you can see they are literally right on the water.

Just relaxing on Long Island

Brian and I layed in these hammocks that lined the beach one night for a couple of hours and just watched the sunset while we listened to music. It was one of the most peaceful times of my life where I was just able to contemplate life and "chat" with God for a couple of hours.

The next day we took a hike through the rainforest.

Determined to touch this shark in a lake on the island. This is the weirdest-looking shark I have ever seen.

Let me tell you...The bugs on this island were MONSTERS!

These are Wallabies. They are relatives of the kangaroo but are much smaller. They ran around everywhere on Long Island.

This Wallaby has a little baby in its pouch.

Preparing to make the trek from Prosperine to Cairns (or Cans as the locals say). The buse ride was suppose to be 9 hours and 50 minutes but due to severe flooding it took us 13 hours. At one point all the roads heading into Cairns closed down!

This was a funny moment. I was listening to my iPod and it started to downpour rain. Then I looked down and the song that came on was "Let it Rain" by Yanni (yes...I did just confess I was listening to Yanni :)

This is in Cape Tribulation (where the Daintree rainforest and Great Barrier Reef meet). We were on a skipper boat looking for Crocs, which are commonly swimming up and down this river.

I don't think I even have to say anything about this picture. But as you can see, the spiders in Cairns are ridiculously big. This spider was just hanging in the middle of a boardwalk in the rainforest. We almost walked right into his/her web. Did I mention that I am not a fan of spiders in the least!?

A bannana tree.

Another man-eating spider.

This moth is literally called the Goliath Moth. Up close it looked like a bird.

The rainforest overlooking the ocean.

This is the Mossman Gorge. It was AWESOME. It was in the middle of the rainforest and the water (although it does look green) was perfectly clear. Although a bit cold, it was an awesome place to swim.

The sunset from Port Douglass.

So there ya have it. Just wanted to let ya'll see what's been going on in my life and travels. Tomorrow Brian, John (who we met up with us two days ago) and I are renting a car and driving down the Great Ocean Road. It should be interesting because the steering wheel is on the opposite site! It will take us about 3 days to drive it so should be pretty fun. We decided that it would cost to much to find housing along the way so we are gonna be sleeping in the car every night...so it should be quite a cozzie fit! But it will be memorable and fun. When we return we will be backing up all our belongings (and gifts! Oh my goodness, Natalie, you are gonna love your gift :) and will be making the trip back to the US. Hate to see this trip come to an end, but we'll just have to go out with a bang. Much love to you all.

RB