Cairns Part II: Welcome to the Jungle

The latter part of our Cairns adventure was land-based and took us to the Daintree Rainforest region. Up there we hiked through the jungle and took a river cruise to see the abundant wildlife and verdant scenery.


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One thing that is commonplace up there that we do not have in Sydney is the saltwater crocs. These can grow up to 24 feet long and inhabit most of the waterways and beaches. In fact, there were signs at all of these areas warning you of the danger posed. Glad I don't have to worry about that every time we go out in the water down in Sydney.

Croc entering the water

No one volunteered to go in to find him

Go ahead and take a swim, what are the odds...?

And, if you weren't put off by the "Croc Danger" signs, they were often accompanied by the Box Jellyfish Warning signs at all the beaches. Mother Nature simply does not want you in the water.

If the crocs don't get you, the jellyfish are waiting

The crocs were evident on the river cruise we took and we spotted several lying on the muddy riverbanks. There was also abundant bird species around the Daintree River, some of which got the birders we were on the cruise with into a stir of excitement.

Heron in flight

Azure Kingfisher, got the birders really excited

Once we retreated to the jungle to hike around (where only spiders and snakes are out to get you), we were treated to old-growth forest as well as the apparently croc-free Mossman Gorge river. If you were wondering what differentiates a rain forest from a regular forest, the answer is of course: the rain. In the Daintree region, they measure the annual rainfall in meters, rather than most places, where it is measures in centimeters. We were told that in the last year, they had 4 meters of rainfall. That is higher than a basketball hoop.

We had a great time up there, it was nice to get away from the city/suburbs and to escape into untouched wilderness. Time to start planning the next adventure!

River running through the Mossman Gorge

This tree could have supported an Ewok village

Daintree River, beautiful scenery

Mangroves lined one side of the river, rain forest was on the other

Lush rain forest running all the way down to the ocean

Butterfly in the jungle, possibly the only thing that is not plotting your demise

Cairns Part I: Diving the Reef

We are back safe and sound from our adventure up in Cairns and it was a great trip. Our first activity up there was diving off of a liveaboard boat on the Great Barrier Reef.

Chris hiding in a rock cleft. It was not easy to get in/out of there.

The diving was refreshingly shallow versus other places we have been and we were able to make some nice long dives.

The reef is a major tourist draw up there and it was great to see that the ecosystem seemed healthy with lots of large coral structures and marine life.

Amy descending out of the sun

Some of the fish we saw included white tipped reef sharks, napoleon wrasse, long tail tuna, starfish, nudibranches, and some of the biggest angelfish we had ever seen.

I (Chris) was also lucky enough to hit my 100th dive while up there. It took me about 10 years of diving to get there and I was happy to hit that milestone in the same place where I started diving.

Huge angelfish

Sea slug Amy spotted. Must have evolved to live in the ocean to get away from kids pouring salt on them.

Napoleon Wrasse, endemic to the Great Barrier Reef

White tipped reef shark

We were also treated to some beautiful sunsets from the boat that were a nice day to wrap up the jammed packed days.

Beer o'clock on the boat

Video of some of the marine life and us swimming through a cave.

Off to Cairns

This week Amy and I are off to sunny Cairns to dive the Great Barrier Reef and explore the jungle.


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We hope to come back with pictures and videos of lots of cool fish and jungle residents.

Until then, here is a picture of a double rainbow over Manly from yesterday:

Bug Surf Day

Zooooom!

This past week Sydney was deluged by 5 days of apocalyptic storms as winter made its presence known.

Fearless


Nice section at North Steyne

The only bright side out of this was when it eventually stopped, we were treated to some of the best surf conditions we have seen.

Paddleboarder riding the bommie Sunday morning

Hardcore surfers braved the gigantic swell and we went down to the beach a couple of times to witness the death-defying awesomeness.

He looks so small next to the gigantic wall of water chasing him

In addition to the beach breaks being larger than normal, the Queenscliff bommie was breaking as well in epic fashion.

Catching one last wave at the bommie as the sun goes down

At one point on Sunday, there were 3 helicopters and 2 boats out searching for a missing surfer. We saw them pull a surfboard out of the water but no body. Hopefully the poor guy made it to shore.

Around the World and Back Again

Vroom Vroom! Amy with her first child.

Well, after a whirlwind tour of the east coast, Amy and I are back, safe and sound in Australia.

Thank you to everyone who made the effort to meet up with us, it is most appreciated. For those of you who missed us, look us up next time you are in Australia.

It was an eventful trip with 1 baby being born and an engagement taking place while we were in town (surely both were in our honor, right?) and we got to do lots of fun things with friends and family.

One of the people we visited was our old stereo, pictured behind me.

Ray ridding the world of backyard vermin.

The view from the corporate apartment. Where's the beach?

Somehow, the kids both knew how to time their jumps so when I landed, they would go flying

Jenn and Ethan, taking a break from the trampoline. We actually found Coopers there, a long way from Australia. Did not taste the same.

Ate soooo much pizza while in NYC. Sooooo good.

The view of the lake where Amy's family has a cottage. Awesome fireworks that night.

Amy and her Dad

Amy, doing what she was born to do

Chris and James developing a new way to hurt themselves

Try, try again

A few weeks ago, we had the good fortune of having our friend Webs down on the beach with us while we were surfing. Webs had his camera and these were the results:

Prepared to battle nature

Paddling out to the break is everyone least favorite part of surfing

Me on the left with a friend, Dan about to drop in on me.

Drop in (verb) - to intrude on a wave that another surfer is already riding

This is generally considered extremely poor form and should be avoided at all costs when you don't know the person who you are intruding upon. However, we were pretty stoked to have caught the same wave. Celebrations and high-fives followed.

Same wave

Same wave, I'm the last one standing, Dan in water below

GERONIMOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

Amy coming in for a landing

This past Saturday we taunted death as a part of a weekend long bacchanal celebrating our mate Webs’ 40^th birthday.

Saturday morning we headed down to beautiful Wollongong (Wool-on-gong - Australians have the best names for things) for a coastal skydive with a local operator. Nervous jokes were made, followed up by even more nervous laughter as we were fitted for our jumps.

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Final preperations are made

View from the plane

The plane took a lazy loop around as it climbed over the beach, mountains, and clouds to the 14,000 feet that we were to jump from. Screams were heard all the way back in Sydney as we took our turns sitting with our legs dangling out of the plane door, awaiting the final push from our respective instructors.

Birthday boy prepares to jump

Plummeting.....

Floating like a bird

Really, there is nothing I can think of that would compare to the rush of plummeting towards the earth with the world spread out below you. It is simply awe inspiring and a rush like no other.

Wollongong was an absolutely beautiful place to skydive. As mentioned above, the area is a stunning combination of beach and mountains. As we descended and drifted out over the water, surfers could be spotted in the waves.

Touching down, smiling ear to ear

Upon touching down, big smiles and hugs were passed all around. Champagne was popped and drank in a toast to our survival.

Still alive!!!

We next ventured back to Sydney for the night’s festivities, stopping along the way at not one, but two gorgeous pubs built on cliffs overlooking the sea. The beers we drank while watching the waves crash tasted all the sweeter, knowing that we had just tempted fate and made it out.

The view from the first pub, there were actually 3 guys out surfing

The view from the second pub, possibly the best pub view in the world

On Sunday, we wrapped up the weekend with our first winter surf of the year and an afternoon barbecue. The swell has been quite large over the last few days and as the sun started going down, we ventured out to the rocks beneath Queenscliff headland to watch the surfers and the sunset. In addition to seeing some amazing displays of surfing talent, we were treated to a pod of dolphins breaching the surface out past the break.

A sublime ending to an incredible weekend.

View from the 1st post-jump pub

Nick's jump, he went after Amy and I. We start leaving the plane around 2:45.