My horse riding need has been filled

We went riding today and I think I will be okay without horses for the next week....

Carly and I went on the most amazing trail ride. We went to a farm in the mountains and had a private trail ride with two guides. First they took us on a little walk trot warm up, with a little canter back to the farm. Then they let the horses rest because some law only allows them to go for an hour at a time which we were totally okay with. Then since we knew what we were doing we went on a lovely canter to the rain forest. Then we got to go swimming in the stream. My horse likes to lie down so I let her because they said she wouldn't roll. So she lays down and plays around then gets up and we continue. Then one of the guide's horses had a really bad loose shoe so she got off and switched horses with the other guide who took her horse back by hand walking. So it was just me and Carly and this really nice girl. The horse she switched to was used to be ridden in the back by complete beginners and got very happy being the front so when we asked them to canter up the hill he took off and our horses were like WHEEEEEEEEE!!!! So we got to gallop all around the outside of the rain forest. Basically by the end the horses knew we could ride and the guide was having fun with us so instead of trotting where they usually do we were allowed to full out gallop. Great fun!!! Then they gave us lunch and drove us back to Cairns. Now we are just hanging around and relaxing until we go out to dinner and celebrate the 4th of July tonight. I am on a horsie high right now!

My horse Lilly:

She was a very cute appy

Carly and her horse Chardonnay

The view from the farm

Gypsy the dog went the whole trail ride with us:

I FOUND NEMO!!

And tons of other creatures in the Great Barrier Reef.

OMG! Wait wait wait... OH MY GOD!!! Carly and I just got off our overnight trip to the Great Barrier Reef and it was so much fun! We got on the boat at 7am not knowing what to expect. The crew was very professional yet super welcoming and fun. They assigned us our beds and where to put our stuff then we all met on deck for a overview of the trip. It took us around 3 hours to get to the reef. This is when everyone suited up to go diving. I can't go underwater so I just got my snorkeling stuff and watched Carly get ready for an introductory dive lesson. Then I took my noodle float and kicked on out to the reef. HOLY COW! Words cannot describe the feeling of swimming over many different colors of coral and TONS of fish. I am so setting up a saltwater tank when I get home. Everywhere I looked there was something to see. Carly joined me on the reef after her dive and we found Nemo (clown fish). They are so cute swimming in and out of the anemone. We also were lucky enough to see a reef shark. It swam right underneath us and was a fairly large. Really cool shark. I was also cleaned by a cleaner fish. Apparently I was dirty or something. He stayed on me cleaning for awhile. Then we swam back to the boat and had a fantastic lunch.

We got to meet a bunch of people on the boat. The nice part about this boat was that there were only 16 people max allowed plus the 5 crew so you got to know everyone. We moved to another reef and went snorkling again. Just as pretty and awesome. Snacks after this snorkle and more socializing. Then we moved to another reef. This one was more sandy but had GIANT clams. I was lucky enough to see a turtle. I tried to swim with him but he was like hell no and took off. Then we had a fantastic dinner and watched the sunset. The sunset was probably the best sunset I have ever seen. The crew said they haven't had a sunset like the one we saw in like 4 months. Then a couple people went for a night dive while we just chilled on board and got to talk and such. After the divers got back our captain gave us a talk about the reef.

Our captain was named Jason Sparrow. And he totally could have been Capatain Jack Sparrow's brother or cousin or something. He gave us the talk while drinking straight rum out of a flower print plastic cup. He knew what he was talking about so it was really interesting and informative. The best part was when he was talking about how the reef reproduces and a creepy man from Germany keep asking questions. To keep this blog PG, let's just say they went on a reef reproduction rauncy banter for about 5 to 10 minutes. The German guy was being serious and Jason was being as sexual as possible. Great fun. Carly and I called it an early night and went to our bunks. We woke up at 6:45 for a morning snorkle at a new location. This reef was just as pretty. The waves were bigger so I couldn't stay out too long because it was stressful trying to keep my ear dry. We had a great breakfast (can I just stress how good the food was on this boat.... it was so freaking good.) They moved the boat to our last snorkle location. I went out to finish up our waterproof camera and to see what this reef was like. I think this reef was my favorite because it had huge gulleys and many different levels. If the waves weren't so choppy I would have stayed out there a long time.

We then spent the afternoon eating and sunbathing. My legs are finally tan after years of never seeing the sun. Then we had a long boatride back to shore. Tonight we are meeting the crew and people from the boat for free pizza and beer at a resturant courstesy of Captain Jason. He is crazy but really nice. Tomorrow we are going horseback riding then celebrating the 4th of July!!! Cairns has been really fun even if the city isn't all that fancy.

Carly getting ready at the sink in our hostel room... it was so small we had to take a picture.

Our itinerary on the boat:
Carly leaving the bay.

Part of the boat
Carly's wetsuit was really hard to get on.
Lunch the first day
Carly and I with the sunset.
The absolutely amazing sunset.
Um yeah words cannot describe this.

Captain Jason... hopefully I will get a better picture of him tonight.
Carly and I enjoying the sun
I found Carly in the hatch!

Where we slept
Cairns
Carly kissing the ground after feeling a little seasick most of the trip.

Days 2 and 3 in Cairns= CRAZY

We woke up early on Tuesday morning and walked around Cairns. We got breakfast at a cute cafe and then went shop browsing. We also went to the lagoon (they don't have a beach here just a poolish thing overlooking the harbor) and lay in the grass and worked on our tan. (It is crazy how tan I got in only being out for about 2 hours... this whole no ozone thing is no joke). I can't really remember what we did that day other than shop and hang around in town. We did book our trips and such which I guess takes time! haha. Anywho Tuesday night we had a free bowl of fries at the hostel then went and got Thai food in town. Then we went to ladies night at a bar which means free entry and free drinks. We hung around at the bar and ended up talking to a bunch of guys from the US navy. Turns out all of them trained at the Great Lakes Navel center. Crazy small world. They were Puerto Rican and spoke spanish. They were completely shocked when Carly and I started talking in Spanish but then thought it was really cool. Carly and I ended up hanging out with them for most of the night because all (except one) were really nice and interesting. Carly and I caught the shuttle bus back to the hostel and went to bed. We noticed that we had two new roommates who were sleeping and this is where the saga of extemely attractive man (EAM) begins...

We were getting ready to go out and EAM enters our hostel. Lets just say he was something out of a modeling ad. He seemed nice enough but left shortly after arriving. Carly and I decided that a man that attractive had to be gay because why would he be traveling by himself? Yeah okay fast forward a couple hours when we were sleeping. EAM comes back to room with blond chick and... yeah lets just say I didn't sleep very well last night.

We had to wake up early for our trip to the rainforest that we got for really cheap from the hostel. We caught the bus up the mountain and were brought to a wildlife center/ aboriginal show place. Carly and I spent the afternoon looking a Australian animals (it never gets old), learning how to throw a boomerang, watching an aboriginal dance and socializing with the wallabees and kangaroos. We then headed up to a town up the mountain to the butterfly sanctuary. We had fun playing with the butterflies. All this was included in the trip that the guy gave us at the hostel. Totally worth it. After our trip we changed hostels (thank god) to one in town. We get there and check in, go to our room and find once again that there are no beds available. Pissed off because this is the second time it has happened to us we go down stairs and the girl gives us a twin room for the price of the dorm room we were going to have!!! YAY! So overall the Cairns hostels have been interesting but have worked out.

Tomorrow we are getting on a boat to visit the Great Barrier Reef. We get to spend the night on the boat and tomorrow and Friday snorkling. I am so excited!!!!! No onto pictures from today on our trip:

Really interesting ants.



Learning how to throw a boomerang:

Carly and I on the duck tour (cars that go in water and on land) in the rainforest.

The canopy in the rainforest.


This never ever gets boring. I love kangaroos and wallabees.





Silly kangaroo face

Awwwww he wanted more food!

My friend the lady wallabee.

Bob the kangaroo gets very upset if you don't feed him when he wants to be fed.

I want a dingo. No joke. Everyone I see I want.

What can I say? I was excited about the butterfly.

Lookout point off the mountain.

Pictures!!!!

This is how you make Nutella and banana sandwiches while stuck on a bus for 23 hours. Lets just say it was a complicated process.

A cool bridge we crossed over with some interesting scenary

We made it to Cairns and this tree was dropping all its pretty purple flowers.

This is the lagoon in Cairns. They really don't have a beach so this is where people hang out by the water.

Carly and I at Lady's Night.

23 hours later....

Carly and I made it to Cairns after a 23 hour bus ride... jesus! We have tons of stuffed planned and it is going to be crazy fun!! We a major discounted trip to the rainforrest tomorrow by just sitting in our hostel. Then we go to the Great Barrier Reef for an overnight stay on a boat and snorkeling. Then we go horseback riding in the rainforrest with our own private guide. Sunday we will probably just chill because Saturday night we will go out and celebrate the 4th (the US navy is here so yay for Americans who will celebrate with us!!). Then we catch a plane back to Brisbane Monday, then another to Auckland. I don't know how much time I will have to update but I will try!!

Camel Riding

We had many hours to kill in Hervey Bay before our bus tonight so Carly and I went camel riding!!! It was very entertaining. All we did was walk in a line but we were on camels so it made it like 10times better. It was a great way to kill an hour or so.

I was on Elvis and Carly was on Jimmy

Yelling with Jimmy

I loved Elvis!