Cairns, Kuranda and the Great Barrier Reef!

Before I tell tales of the fantastic weekend, I thought I'd share a picture from the World Gymnastics Championships. This is Monette Russo on beam, the Australian who placed third in the all-around.

Friday night we flew out to Cairns. The flight was quite rough, but we eventually arrived after midnight and checked into the hotel. The next morning we wokr early to ensure a spot on a snorkeling boat. We found one that had snorkeling and also a semi-submerged boat so we could enjoy the reef from inside the reef as well. Here is me on the cruise boat we took out.

These are the fish we were able to see from inside the boat...and I also got to swim with them.

This shot is from me being in the water with the fish.

All in all the experience was a dream come true. I loved swimming with all the fishies, minus the jelly fish stinging. But it was also cool to swim amongst sharks and turtles. Unfortunatly the stabilizer on the boat was broken so I got a little seasick...but it was well worth it! That night we stayed around town and walked for some Chinese food...yum!

The next morning, again an early one, we caught a scenic railtrain up the mountains to a little aboriginal village called Kuranda. The ride was spectacular, passing through tunnels, over bridges and past waterfalls.

When we arrived at the village we headed staright to the koalas, and since we were in a new state, Queensland, we could hold koalas! I got myself some pictures of me holding a koala...how cute! At this animal park we also were able to feed and pet wallabies, and for the first time saw some crocodiles.

We shopped around the village for a while, but had to head back pretty quickly, and this time caught the skyrail back. This was the view from the skyrail, near the bottom.

That night we went to Tjapukai, an aboriginal culture park, for a sort if dinner theatre. We enjoyed dinner and performances by the aboriginals. Here is a picture of the aboriginals making fire.

Here is a picture of a piece of aboriginal artwork...its sideways, I apologize. (I also bought some) :)

Last but not least, in my dorkiness, I had to take a picture of the floor at the dinner because it just goes to show that math is really everywhere :) Look...tesselations! Too cool!

The flight home went smoothly, and now I am in for another week of teaching, all week, full time