Random Travel Update 12

Previous location: Hunter Valley, New South Wales
Arrival Date: November 22, 2007
Departure Date: November 26, 2007

Last Location: Hobart & Frenchman's Cap, Tasmania
Arrival Date: November 27, 2007
Departure Date: December 2, 2007

Current Location: Cairns, Queensland
Arrival Date: December 3, 2007
Departure Date: December 11, 2007

Next Stops: Great Barrier Reef!

We are keeping ourselves busy as usual here in sunny Australia. It
occurred to me while I was internet-less in the wilderness last week
that I hadn't sent out a list of our planned activities:

Our first night in Australia was spent climbing the famous Harbor
Bridge in Sydney: http://www.bridgeclimb.com/theClimb/default.htm.
The next day we walked the city and experienced a play at the Sydney
Opera House. We spent another day in Sydney walking Bondi Beach.

We spent four beautiful days in Hunter Valley with our wonderful
hosts, Ian and Kate, who are good friends of Jon's parents before
preparing for our epic five-day trek through the Tasmanian wilderness:
http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/recreation/tracknotes/frmans.html.
We spent one more day in the Tasmanian capital of Hobart before
returning briefly to Sydney to catch a flight to Cairns in Northern
Queensland.

We arrived here yesterday, napped in our hammock, rented a yellow
scooter, cruised around the promenade, received full body 40 minute
Chinese massages for $25 (together!) and sampled the local cuisine.
Today we jumped out of a plane at 14,000 feet with a 60 second
freefall and parachuted to the ground. I will try to post pictures
soon.

Tomorrow, we board The Spirit of Freedom for a four day SCUBA Diving
tour of the Great Barrier Reef:
http://www.spiritoffreedom.com.au/4_Day_Coral_Sea.htm. Jon and I are
both very, that is, incredibly excited about this.

We will return to Cairns on Monday, wait for the nitrogen to dissolve
from our bloodstream, and then catch a flight the next morning to
Brisbane where Jon hopes to do some rock climbing. From there we head
a few hours down the coast to Byron Beach where we will spend the next
five days surfing, relaxing and trying not to get eaten by sharks.

From Byron, the goal is to take a train back down the coast of New
South Wales to Sydney where we will spend a few more nights before
catching our final flight back to the United States (Los Angeles then
Washington, DC).

There are many stories being made but limited internet time. The
pictures, once posted, will tell more.

Love,

Melissa