Cairns to Magnetic Island

An aerial view of Magnetic Island

The last few days in Cairns were very relaxing aside from work. We spent our time on the beach doing nothing but reading. I started work on Tuesday so that’s been an adjustment. When we have big day trips, I’m waking up at 4AM and doing work until we leave for our trip and then catching some Zzzs on the tour busses.

On Friday we did a tour called Uncle Brians which was highly reccommended by our travel agent at our hotel. We can’t really figure out why… we spent 12 hours with a tour guide who would not shut up. He told us pointless stories that weren’t funny and we had to play really cheesy games and do dances like the YMCA. The destinations we went to were nice… a waterfall, a volcanic lake and the rainforest. If I were 10, it would be the best day of my life.
Anyway, from Cairns we took an Oz Experience bus to Magnetic Island which is a beautiful tropical island off of Townsville. Oz Experience is pretty much like a Greyhound but better. It’s catered to young people and the drivers are informative and make cool little stops along the way. We are taking it all the way to Sydney for around $300.

Today was our only full day on Magnetic Island. We rented a cute little Barbie themed convertible and whizzed around the island. It was manual so only Kirsten could drive which was probably for the best since I’m a bad enough driver with having everything on the right side of the road. We basically went beach hopping and stopped for lunch and dinner. We watched the sunset and headed back to our hostel which is right on the beach. Tomorrow morning we are going to do some snorkelling before catching our bus and heading to Airlie Beach where we have a sailing trip planned to Whitsundays which looks gorgeous. Hope everyone is doing well at home, love you all.

Great Indeed!

On Monday, we safely arrived in Cairns after about 12 hours of flying. We’ve settled into our Nomads Hostel where we are paying $16 a night for a room we share with 3 very smelly people, not too happy about the stinky room mate choice but for $16 beggars can’t be choosers! Our hostel also offers free breakfast and $3 dinner meals plus free transport hourly to and from the city centre…again not bad for the price!

Yesterday was my favourite day of the trip so far. We got up bright and early and headed to the marina to go on a cruise to The Great Barrier Reef. The boat was really nice and filled with young travelers much like ourselves. The staff was amazing…there was even a guy who went around and memorized every passengers (50 or so) name! I was impressed! The offered us a pretty substantial lunch and coffee etc throughout the day. We were able to relax on the boat and snorkel the reef, I however for a mere $70 more decided to ditch Kirsten and Shannon and try my hand at diving.

It was amazing! The equipment is super heavy and I was pretty nervous as I’m not a good swimmer but they give you a little crash course and after about 5 minutes you stop worrying and realize how cool it is! We saw everything from reef sharks to giant clams to little nemos. One of the best experiences ever and I was happy to pay the extra cash for it!

After our cruise, we returned to our hotel and headed out on the town to have some drinks with some folk we met on our boat. It was really fun – we went to some crazy hostel that had jello wrestling… it was very uh…interesting…to watch but no worries Calvin, I would never participate ha-ha!

We’re going to speak with a travel agent tonight about our options for the rest of the trip as far as busses go and such. I am back to clubZone today which was kind of different but I’m thankful to have a job that lets me travel…even if I have to work when I’m traveling!

Make sure you enjoy Vancouver right now… I’m a tad jealous I’m not there for all the excitement….listened to the game today on the radio. Wow! It’s going to be Olympics all over again! Anyway, miss everyone lots – keep going on Skype!

Great Barrier from Kayleigh Lum on Vimeo.

Made it to Cairns...Cans? Karens?

Just wanted to let everyone know that we've safely landed in Cairns (to the Aussies it's prounounced Cans, to othes it's Karens...either way you get embarressed everytime you say it). We are stying at Nomads Serpentine hostel for $16 each a night! With the money saved we're going to snorkel and dive the Great Barrier Reef tomorrow! It's my last day of full freedom as I start work on Tuesday, Vancouver time. I think it's a great way (pun intended) to finish my vacation time!

I'll update tomorrow!

A Wednesday to Saturday in Bali

Ah, another Bali update…let’s start with Wednesday…feel free to take a coffee break when necessary, kind of a long post.

Wednesday

We woke up a tad hung-over and headed out to Stadium Café to watch the Canucks game only to find out that there was no Canucks game, so that kind of sucked. From there we met up with Rob and Kylie and headed to a recommended beach called Dream Land. Dream Land it ‘twas! The beach was beautiful with lots of cliffs, sand and blue water. The waves were super strong so I opted to lie on a beach chair and people watch. We had a decent lunch, returned to our hotel and then went out for the evening. Our favourite bar so far is Sky Bar it’s a rooftop patio with a big dance floor and really cheap drinks!

Thursday

Thursday has been my favourite day so far. We went to an ethical safari just outside of Kuta. There we got to watch an elephant show that Shannon got to be involved in where the elephant placed a flower necklace on her. We drove around in a little bus and got to see tigers, lions, hippos, rhinos all up close. None of them were caged. We also got to hold a baby Orangutan which was the highlight of my day!

From there we went for a drive through Ubud which is the cultural capital of Bali, filled with tons of wooden and silver crafts and crazy pushy sales people who will not leave you alone until you wussy out like Shannon did and buy a scarf. We stopped off at a volcano that was only last active in 1996. It was very picturesque with lots of trees, lava rock and a lake.

We ended the night off at a beautiful seafood restaurant directly on the beach. You went up, got to see all the fresh seafood and order as much as you’d like. I chose the prawns which were so fresh and delicious! Pretty cheap too.

Friday

On Friday we went to Turtle Island. We took a glass bottom boat out to the island where they have tons of turtles from baby ones to ones that weight up to 200 pounds! We were able to hold them as well as a few snakes, monkeys and other random creatures. Of course we ended the day with a solid dinner and a night on the town.

Today we lounged by the pool and did a whole lot of nothing. Tomorrow we are going river rafting which should be really fun! Then around midnight we fly to Cairns…about an 8 hour flight which kind of sucks but I’m super excited to see Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef…not so excited about working though. We will be staying for the first three days at Nomads Cairns Hostel. Info if you need it: http://nomadshostels.com/hostels/australia/cairns-serpent-backpackers

Anyway, we’re having a pretty solid time… it’s been nice to see most of you (aside from Calvin, *shakes fist*) on Skype! I’m glad the weather is holding up nicely in Vancouver and hopefully the Canucks can make it to the finals! I’ll write again in Cairns!

Bali - Day 1

We have made it safe and sound to Bali and it's wonderful so far. It's super hot around 30 degrees and muggy as hell but I'm not complaining. We woke up today and took a cab to our friend Rob and Kylie's hotel which is right on the beach. Beautiful! We then walked around the town and went into all the dodgy little shops and bartered for some sunglasses and dresses... they think I'm a mean white girl but as long as I get what I want for cheap, i'm not too bothered by the name calling.

We then got a 1 hour massage which was heavenly... I fell asleep, may have drooled a little bit... we'll never know. It was $7 which was pretty decent considering the day before I spent $7 in Australia on cough drops. We had lunch and now we're about to meet Rob and Kylie for dinner.

Tomorrow morning we are heading out to the bar bright and early to catch the Canucks game and then probably do some beach hopping. Life is good. The girls also really like it here so far, it's a bit of a culture shock for them as they've never been to an Asian country or any place as hot and busy as this. It's really cool to share the experience with them. I also dipped into the local grub today and got a kiwi sunday and McDonalds... amazing.

Hope everyone is well at home, I enjoy reading your posts!

PS. We are staying at Bali Ayut if anyone's interested!

Melbourne to Perth, Perth to....

Update: Warning, this is going to be a long blog post. So, we arrived in Perth on what was technically the 13^th of May as our flight landed at 1AM. From there we anxiously took a cab to our destination – Cottesloe Beach Chalets. Our friend from Contiki, Iloni, told us she’d be in room number 10 and to knock when we arrived. This was the start of our chaos.

The chalet was closed and there was a gate blocking the entrance to the rooms, so we exhausted the following options:

• Calling the emergency number for a lady to say ‘I can’t help you’.
• Tried using the internet on Shannon’s phone.
• Broke in via the underground parking.
• Attempted to squeeze Kirsten through the gate.
• Knocked and yelled.
• Called a Contiki friend.

Finally we were able to get the internet and looked up a 24hr hotel. At 3:00AM we were finally able to sleep. Welcome to Australia.

The next day we discovered Iloni was actually at another hostel which was ironically behind the hotel we were staying at. Anyhoo, we are now enjoying Perth. We are staying in an area called Cottesloe which is beautiful. The weather is around 24 and when we look out the window it’s white sand and blue water. Plus the waves are huge! (don’t worry dad, I didn’t go in the water). Yesterday we spent the day sun bathing and then we met up with about 18 people from our Contiki tour. It’s so great to see everyone again! We went into this cute little city called Freemantle by Skytrain and had dinner at a brewery which was okay aside from the fact they said our Canadian licenses weren’t valid so we had to go all the way back to the hostel and get our passports. I called them racist.

We woke up this morning and had a great breakfast on the beach and went to a little arts and food market in Freemantle. Kirsten and I tried Kangaroo jerky… it was pretty good. Don, I’ll try to bring some back for you, I feel like you’d appreciate it.

Tonight we are heading out to the bar again with our Contiki people and tomorrow just hand by the beach. Monday we’re going to Bali.

Oh yah, surprise! Our friends Rob and Kylie from Sydney convinced us to take a week long trip with them to Indonesia. We were originally going to go from Perth to Ayers Rock to Cairns, but the flight from Perth to Bali to Cairns is actually cheaper, also since everything is so cheap there we will actually be saving money on living expenses, plus it’s pretty awesome and spontaneous which I like. Yah yah, I’ll be safe... don’t worry. Love you all lots, see ya in a few!

In Melbourne...

Yup, in Melbourne counting down the hours to our 4th and final flight. There is nothing around the airport and nothing to do so we rented a little motel room to sleep and watch TV. Shannon is attempting to change her flight for the way home because she recently got a new job at the SPCA and is starting end of June. This is a very frustrating process as she can't seem to get a hold of anyone who isn't half retarded. Again - not much has changed...Melbourne pretty  much looks like Vancouver, weather included. The major difference is that Burger King is called Hungry Jacks and a bottle of water or pop is $5. Heres to tap water!

In Sydney!

Hey All,

Quick post from me. We're currently in the Sydney airport after a 2hr flight to San Francisco and a 15 hour flight to Sydney...and I must say it wasn't that bad! Our flight was half empty so we all got to stretch out in our on aisle. We all got at least 8 hours of sleep. Amazing. Well, not much else is new.... we are alive and that's important.

I'll write once we get to our final destination.

<3

Plans, Plans, Plans

Hey Family, Friends and Boyfriend,

Here is some info on my trip for the time being including my outbound flight itinerary, accommodation and my work schedule.

In case you want to air stalk me, here is our itinerary from Vancouver - Perth with a few stops along the way and many hours of eating airport food and getting traveling billionaires to buy us martinis. 

Vancouver - San Fransisco (UNITED)
Flight Number: 0787
Leave 7:00PM, Land 9:10PM

San Francisco - Sydney (UNITED)
Flight Number: 0863
Leave: 10:37PM, Land: 6:25AM (may OD on Nyquil during this time)

Sydney - Melbourne (UNITED)
Flight Number: 0840
Leave: 8:00AM, Land: 9:40AM

Melbourne - Perth (TIGER AIRWAYS)
Flight Number: 5598
Leave: 10:45PM, Arrive: 12:50AM (KILL ME!)

Cottesloe Beach, Perth Australia

Obviously it's going to be a long time traveling but we're hoping 2 months of beautiful beaches and winery tours will make up for it.

We will be spending our first 3 or 4 nights at a place called Cottesloe Beach. More specifically, we will be spending our nights at Cottesloe Beach Chalets. In case anything crazy happens at home or if you just miss me you can contact me there.

I'll be on a full blown vacation from May 10th - 24th so DON'T BUG ME (jk...sort of). From the 24th of May until the end of my trip I will be online 5 days a week for clubZone so you can always count to bump into me on Skype anywhere from 2PM-6PM Vancouver time.

That's about it! See you all in July!