While it may have been unusually humid in the Outback while we were there, 30% doesn't really compare to a billion, which was roughly the relative humidity in Cairns. Welcome to the tropics!
Our first full day was spent aboard an Ocean Spirit cruise, which we boarded right outside of our hotel (the Brendan Vacations tour people hooked us up!) This lovely catamaran took us out to one of the hundreds of cays on the Great Barrier Reef.
Upon reaching the cay, the parents and I were content to float around near the top of the water, but my adventerous, scuba certified brother set off for the deep with a other "certified" people. That's them below:
We all had a great time, as the underwater views were unbelievable. It looked just like an aquarium...there were so many fish and corals. Some fish were really friendly and would swim right up to you, others prefered to keep their distance. Unfortunately, jellyfish were abundant and were of the more "friendly" persuasion. Despite long sleeved suits, we all got stung anyway. Luckily, the burning sensation only lasted for the afternoon. I saw one stingray, maybe 1/2 a dozen giant clams that could have eaten my legs had they been so inclined and really enjoyed listening to the scraping sound the parrot fish made as the gnawed on the coral. It's all thanks to them that there was a cay for us to stop at!!
After lunch, we boarded a funny looking semi-submersible boat for a guide tour of the reef. Above the water line, the captain sat in a little box, and a staircase led below to the glass room were we sat on benches and oooohed and ahhhed at the captain's percision boat steering (and the marvels of the reef). The best part? No jellyfish!
Since I don't own an underwater case for my camera, the semi-sub ride gave me the chance to attempt photographing the marvels I had seen before lunch. This hardly does it justice:
I would make the long trek back to Australia just to spend more time on the reef. It was spectacular.
Cairns isn't just a beach town. Head inland and there are sugar cane fields and mountains covered in lush tropical forests. There's even an unlikely railway that will take you up one of these mountains to said forest.
I think this train station looks like something out of Disneyland, and it took a few sweaty hours of walking around its adjoining town to to convince me that it wasn't.
The weather in Cairns practically required excessive consumption of frozen dairy to survive. My dragon fruit/lime gelato in Kuranda (the town on top of the mountain) helped prevent me from expiring. You can tell my mom keeps up with my blog...she has the pose down pat.
To get off the mountain, we took a gondola over the trees. Gorgeous!
The last morning in Cairns, Mom and I went out for a special Mommy/Daughter breakfast at a coffee shop we had passed near our hotel. We ordered a Light Start breakfast (toast, yogurt, coffee) a muffin and an iced coffee to share. Boy, were we surprised when our order came out! I found it kind of odd that everyone in Australia drank hot coffee in the middle of summer, but it began to make sense when I saw the "iced coffee":
Whoa! One of those a day would be pretty dangerous. At least that will be balanced out by some toast and yogurt. Nope!! Whether it was our lousy American pronunciation or that the cashier didn't take us to be "light start" types, we were served a plate of toast, smothered in ham, eggs, holandaise and avocado. It was delicious!!
A parting shot from Cairns of the public pool in the middle of park. Next time I definitely want to go swimming!
From Cairns, we flew to Melbourne, the last stop on our packed intinerary. The weather in Melbourne threw us all for a loop, as it was cool and breezy.
View from the hotel:
Flinders Street Station.
In Australia, Melbourne is famous for its tram cars. This historic one makes a loop around the downtown area and you can ride it for free!!
The one organized tour we went on in Melbourne took us to some near by mountains which were full of exotic birds. Mom was happy. But who wouldn't be when the birds were as interesting as this one?
For our "last supper" as a family we headed to Lygon Street, a four block stretch home to around 200 restaurants, the vast majority of them Italian. We stuffed ourselves with pasta and then went searching for our last gelato together. Looking at the photo below, is there any doubt I am that woman's daughter?
After dining, we hauled our very full selves toward the Southern Star, Melbourne's newest attraction. It claimed to be like "nothing else on Earth" but it looked a lot like the London Eye to me.
We arrived at the perfect time, and got to see the city as the lights were coming on. It was quite beautiful, if not a tad bittersweet since this was our last activity together as a family.
The next day, I bid them farewell at the hotel and went souvenir shopping before meeting up with my friend Megumi. I met Megumi when I went to teach 4th grade at one of the elementary schools here in Kurume shortly after I first arrived in Japan. I let her and another teacher know about an English conversation group some other ALTs had organized, but it was a few months before they showed up. But when they did, we always found a lot to talk about! About a year ago, Megumi decided that she was done with teaching for a while (who can blame her!) and that she was going to go to Australia to study English. It was a great bit of luck that she moved to Melbourne, and I would have a whole day to kill after my parents left. She showed me around the Exhibition Hall and Melbourne Musuem before taking me to her apartment, where I spent the night. She and her boyfriend were excellent hosts, and I am sad that I only got to see them for a little while. The last we spoke, Megumi is planning on returning to Japan in July, so I hope to see her again before I head back to the States in August.
The fabulously over the top Exhibition Hall in Melbourne.
Thus concludes the much overdue and slightly abreviated chronicles of my trip to the Land Down Under. Thank you.
Ewwww. Much tackier up close than from the road. Oh well. 
