Good start to the new year

I write to you from Melbourne, Australia where it's currently 35 degrees and I feel like I'm melting. I haven't seen much here yet but what I have seen is truely beautiful. We flew in from Cairns yesterday, which was hot and wet. Here it's hot and dry. Big difference, but I'm dying to escape the heat and dreaming of diving naked into snow. Anyway I'll tell you all about my exciting 4 days in Cairns, where I spent new years. That night was fun. They had a very nice fireworks display on a barge from the pacific ocean. My next three days were full of excitment:

January 1st: Cape Tribulation rainforest. We booked ourselves on an eco-tour of the Australian rainforest at Cape Tribulation and Daintree. The area is a World Herritage sight, it's 135 million years old (oldest in the world) and is special becasue it's one of the only places in the world where the rainforest meets the ocean. It's incredible seeing the thick trees and bushes go all the way to the beach and in some places even the water. We had a great tour guide, saw some rare wildlife, swam in an incredibly fresh water creek, and walked along the massive boardwalk through the rainforest. It actually looked a lot like the Amazon in Peru. We also went on a cruise of the Daintree river on a nice small boat, crocadile hunting. Unfortunatly due to the high tide we couldn't find any. Oh well, it would have been nice to catch a croc, but at least we caught an aligator in the Amazon about a month ago. We fed kangaroos there to. This was a truely beautiful place. Photos at http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2096805&l=24596&id=58000349

January 2nd: Skydiving. Thats right, I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane. We just signed up and went. I jumped tandem, with an experienced guide who jumpes seven times a day. Five of us tourists boarded the incredibly small plane that took off right away. There was no turning back now. It's funny how I didn't even think that much of it until the place took off and I was sitting there attached to a man with a parachute. That's when it hit me that I was really going to jump out of that thing 12,000 feet high (I swear it's a lot higher when you're up there, we were way obove the clouds! I wasn't that nervous either until the door of the plane opened and I stuck my feet out siting over the edge. That was the scarriest part. The guide said to me are you ready? There were 3 people behind me and there was only one option at that point: out the plane. I wanted to answer do I have a choice but I said in a very squeeky voice, "Yeah!" So then we jumped which was so sureal but I remember it vividly. We went into a 30 second freefall that felt more like 30 minutes. It was hard to breath with all the wind but the rush was incredible. We were going about 120 miles per hour (with a tiny parachute deployed the whole time preventing us from falling at 180 mph). So we're falling and I can see the city of Cairns, the rainforest, and the reef out in the distance. It was such an awsome trip. And then came my happiest part of the fall, when the parachute deployed. Yay I'm going to live! From then it was just plain fun with no worries. I even got to controll the parachute for a while too. We landed smoothly on our feet, disconected, and I gave Stephanie a hug after one of the most extreme things I have ever done. But don't worry family, I've done it once and I don't have to do it again. I'll stick to whitewater kayaking for my thrills. There are some photos of Stephanie and I in out jump suits at http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2099939&l=a2ed9&id=58000349

January 3rd: Snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. This is why I came here and it was worth it 200%. Before I even describe it I can safely say that this is the greatest thing that I have ever done. We took a cruise two hours out there and two hours back on a tall catamaran that was very nice just by itself. But I just couldnt wait to get in the water. When we finally got off the tranfer boat onto this little sand island on a small glass-bottom transfer boat, I put on my fins and jumped in the water. I couldnt believe what I saw! Crystal clear water and the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Billions of brightly coloured tropical fish and hundreds of species of coral. There were giant clams over a metre long. I even found Nemo. I never got tired and could have stayed there all day. But after 2 hours we got back on the boat, had a nice buffet lunch and went to another location that looked like it was in the middle of the ocean. It was called Paradice Reef, and it really does live up to its name. This place I thought was even better than the last. It was deeper so I could see more, and it allowed me room to dive down and chase some fish. There was one fish about 2 metres long and much much bigger than me that came right up to me! I was scared, I thought it was going to eat me. But it decided not to and it swam away. I could have stayed there and snorkeled all day, could never get tired of it. But unfortunatly the boat wanted to leave and it was a two hour ride to the shore. So I reluctantly said goodbye to the awsome reef and got back on the catamaran. Stephanie and I bought some underwater disposable cameras that we used, and you can see these pictures at http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2099941&l=e73f9&id=58000349
Unfortunatly underwater disposables are only so good. So when you look at the photos imagine an abundance of colours and massive coral and millions of fish that you can't quite make out. The pictures aren't so hot but the memories will last with me forever.

So in three days we experienced three very different things. Traveled in three of the four elements: Earth, wind, and water. Now I have to go find some fire to play with to make it complete. Talk to you soon.