Political Rift

Yesterday while eating dinner I began discussing some American politics and the upcoming primary candidates. However, Ben quickly shut this down by stating that he didn't want to discuss politics of any kind with me because he'd seen Ian and I but heads on everything political. This was followed by 5 minutes of silence, paying for our meal and leaving. Once we had left life continued as normal.


On a somewhat related note many people along our travels have commented that Ben and I argue like an old married couple.

Air Conditioner Wars

We headed back to Cairns for a few days after our adventures in the rain forest. We are now working our way down the coast toward Brisbane. Two nights ago we stayed in Mission Beach which had a picturesque beach. We ended up at a really weird hostel that apparently was for hippies. Who knew. The next day one of the stops on our bus ride was at a crocidle farm. Rob went inside, see pictures below.

Yesterday we arrived in Townsville and are headed out today to an near by island for a few days. It is really humid and ridiculously hot here so we have been running from store to store in search of air conditioning. Last night however the heat nearly caused a melt down. We spent the night in a room with six other people on the third floor of the hostel. This normally wouldn't be a problem because each room is equipped with an air conditioner but not last night. Rob and I were fighting with two German girls all night for control of the air conditioner. For some reason I guess they prefer to sleep in sweatbox temperatures easily breaking 35 degrees. The night started with the air conditioner on, then one of German girls asked us to turn it off becuase she was cold (the A/C was within reach of my bed) and we did. Then about an hour later neither of us could sleep because the temperatures on the top bunk were close to the temperature on the surface of the sun so we turned it back on. A half hour later she was standing on our bags turning off the A/C while we pretended to sleep. We could only take so much, after four sleepless hours Rob turned it back on, only to have the same German girl yelling orders at her friend to get out of bed and turn it off but she couldn't figure out how to do it. She finally ended up half in bed with me trying to figure out how to turn it off. All the while Rob and I are trying not explode of heat and frustration. In the morning they woke up for their day trip and the ringleader expressed her disdain toward us to her four other friends. Rob and I are still trying to lower our core temperature.

On anther note, we have had some requests on status of the BP (if you aren't familiar with the BP see the Sept 16 post). So far there has only been one BP sighting and it occurred in asile 5 of the local grocery store in Port Douglas about a week ago. We hit the BP in a matter of moments during a discussion of which box of granola bars to buy. We still not quite sure how things elevated so fast. Maybe the 17 year old shelf stocker could tell us since he watched the whole horrifying episode. We picked a box without speaking, proceeded to pay and walk all the way back to the hostel without speaking or looking at each other. In fact we didn't even walk beside each other. But over breakfast we mended our friendship and laughed about it.

Sundown at the Lagoon in Cairns.

Crocodile City.

Mission Beach.

Townsville at night.

Another shot of the Lagoon.

Postage

a new post will await you tomorrow (for you that will be later tonight) so check often and be the first to comment. We just can't upload pictures right now and we know a post without them can be lame.

Thanks for the calls (I'm being sarcastic)

Ben and I are assuming that everyone at home must be somehow confused as to how to call an Australian mobile phone. This conclusion was derived from the lack of calls coming our way from you guys who are reading this. We're not asking you to make a marathon call and talk to us all day, just a quick hey and a small chat. Just so everyone is on the same page here is the info you need:

011 (international calling number)
61 (Australia country code)
431885934 to reach Rob
432859068 to reach Ben

To text us dial 61-431885934 (Rob) or 61-432859068 (Ben)

Any problems just shoot either one of us an email or something.

Just for the record Ian is the only one to have called either one of us yet (not counting parents)

Daintree Rainforest

A couple days ago we headed up on this tour to Cape Tribulation. We stopped at a couple places along the way but nothing really notable. Mid afternoon we finally reached our destination YHA's (Youth Hostel Association) Crocodyllus Village. I 'm not exactly sure how we ended up there but next time we will read the pamphlet and my lonely planet a bit closer. In total there were about 15 people and we were living in a camp chalet basically in the middle of the JUNGLE. You know those jungle noises soundtracks you've heard, ya, that is exactly what it sounded like. EXACTLY! After a couple days of tours Ben and I were keenly aware that everything up there can kill you so we were extra vigilant and found ourselves freaking out all the time. To check out the village go to http://www.crocodyluscapetrib.com/however, don't be fooled by the pictures with people in it, there weren't any. So we decided to go to the beach and on the way there it started to rain.... "surprise". While we were hiding under a tree a couple locals offered us a ride and we gladly accepted (which goes against Ben's hitchhiking policy) they asked where we were going and replied to our beach answer with "are you crazy? don't you know a guy almost got killed there yesterday by a croc?!" we went anyways and were the only ones there for some reason. We watched each other's back though.... literally. The next morning we went on a 2k hike along a roped pathway through the bush. It was supposed to be one of those things where you stop, read something from a book at the number, learn something and then carry on. We quickly ditched the book and tried to walk as fast as possible to avoid the bugs and crocodiles.


The next day we went to Port Douglas and hung around. That town is expensive but nice. It has a really nice beach that we went to the next day. What was notable about Port Douglas was that we hit the B.P. while discussing granola bars in the grocery store. The grocery store employee standing behind us must have thought we were idiots as this granola bar discussion blew out of control. After an hour of not talking and not walking beside eachother on the way home we mended the friendship over breakfast and disgusting granola bars which I picked out.

This was our main activity at Crocodyllus, for real.

Some lookout on the way home. This is the bay where Steve Irwin died.

Jungle, straight up.

Army ants that taste like lemons. These were the least of our foes in the jungle.

Our tent/cabin in the jungle, it was a poor excuse for cabin 11.

The gigantor tree right outside our tent/cabin.

Ben, terrified on our 2k deathwalk through the jungle. Don't they know crocodiles like creepy streams and stuff too?

This is me getting malaria, the least of my worries at the time.

My Blogger Debut (and you thought it would never happen)

The rumors are true. I finally made it to Australia after being awake for more than two straight days. Right now we are in Cairns but are leaving tomorrow to go north to Cape Tribulation to check out the beaches and the rainforest. Today we booked a tour around Cairns that took us into the rainforest which is just outside the city. Our guide was great at explaining all about the wildlife when he wasn't preoccupied with hitting on the two not available girls on the tour. Stewy, our guide, had tons of stories to tell us but they all revolved around people being eaten by crocodiles or how deadly everything is here. Listening to these stories it sounds like tourists die here on a weekly basis. For instance, you can't swim in the ocean in Carins because there are too many things that can kill you.

On a different note Rob and I have been spending a lot of money on tours and excurisions so we are trying to save some money by eating cheaply. But the problem is that everything here is more expensive than at home... except peanuts and doritos. Both of which have become staples in our diet. Today for instance we consumed a six pack of peanut-granola bars, two bags of salted peanuts and a bag of doritos. Needless to say that we don't feel very good right now.

Rob loves palm trees so much he made me put up this picture.

Ian, this one is for you. We got invited a party on this boat with seth green. Ok, we didn't get invited but we did tell sloan "what up."

Swimming in the rainforest.

This was taken at Trinity Beach which was beautiful. We went swimming but only lasted about 20 minutes because the waves kicked the crap out of us.

This is the lagoon in the middle of Cairns. Notice the ocean in the background. No one swims in the ocean in Cairns because it is too shallow and weedy, but the pool is nice.

This is Rico. He is staying at the hostel with us. During his scuba course he didn't equalize properly and now he looks like the devil. Don't worry, its not permanent.

Our tour guide Stewy with Cairns in the backgroup. Just to reiterate, ladies, he is single.

McKeown reaches Oz

Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. McKeown arrived this morning just as Jeremy was heading out. He's super tired after like 40 hours in transit or something insane like that and says he didn't sleep at all on the plane so we'll put up a real post after we do something of significance.

The Great Barrier Reef Round 1

Jeremy and I headed out on a sick boat yesterday to check out one of the seven wonders of the natural world. We encountered sea turtles, clown fish, coral, blue waters with huge swells and lots of yakking people (some big waves on the way home). We got some great pictures from the digital camera we rented and Jeremy got a really incredible sunburn.

The Reef

This was the best part, meeting up with this guy! We could get SO close!

These bat fish were super friendly, partly I'm sure b/c they get fed off the side of the boat everyday. You could touch them.

We found Nemo, he was here all along.

Nice plant/coral thing.

Is there a really big pearl in there?

Our ride, on the way home we had the sail up and flew.

Me.

A video of the turtle, it's super shaky though, my apologies.

Cairns, the city on the surface of the sun

I remember back a few years ago when my parents came to Australia my mom kept talking about how hot it was and I was like "ya, ya, I get it, it's hot". Now I find myself doing the exact same thing, constantly talking about how hot it is. Walking down the street I dodge from shadow to shadow and love to walk by storefronts with the doors open as you get a nice breeze of air conditioning. Jeremy and I went fishing with a few Germans and Belgian the other day, here are some pics.

A sunken ship, there were a bunch of these. Apparently Queensland is the place to dump a boat if you don't want it anymore.

nice stuff

Sick Cat!

One of the girls (below) caught a bird in her line after it went after her baitfish.

The blue salmon Sarah caught. We later ate it and it was delicious despite a hackjob while cleaning it.

Here's my catch, it was probably the hardest fighting fish I've ever caught. yes! (A Giant Turbelli)

Jeremy's minnow

These huge eagles kept a close eye on things and this one went after a fish someone was reeling in. Cool!

Cairns

One thing is for sure, this town is HOT. It's 30 degrees here everyday and I haven't seen a cloud since I got here on thursday. Yesterday a bunch of us piled in a camper van and went to the beach. After an hour of practically sitting on the sun it was so hot I hid in the shade for a couple hours. It doesn't seem as sticky as back home despite being beisde the Pacific. I'm currently staying in the YHA (Youth Hostel Asscociation) in town which has proven to be really fun. There are a lot of Germans and a large Canadian contingent as well. There is a salt water pool in the courtyard along with a pool table and a plethora of palm trees.

Upon getting there late after my flight from Brisbane I crawled into bed and went to sleep. When I woke up in the morning I saw that the person occupying the bunk below was one of the oldest people I had ever seen. Rumor has it he is 94!!

This was the only picture I could snap without feeling bad. He's really old though.

Beach road trip pictures below.

Team Germany suntanning.

This is supposed to say AUSTrALiA 2007 but it's hard to read. whatever.

Brisbane is Lame

Hey. I arrived here in Brisbane on Sunday morning. It's an alright city, not much to do though and the hostel I was at was pretty crappy. Everyone there was working so they weren't around much and everyone knew eachother, so it wasn't very fun. Oh, and my room was a total disaster zone; crap was everywhere. So, after wandering around the city for a few days looking at a few things I'm moving on to Cairns tonight. The thing is that the hostel is downtown which empties out after 5pm and all the stuff closes so there is literally nothing to do. On the bright side there is a really cool street downtown they've closed off to traffic and is an outdoor mall, there are some really nice parks and pools and the place is spotless b/c they enforce their $150 littering fine to the max.

Their version of the Gardiner looks like a million bucks and isn't falling apart (yet).

My first Australian lizard. Found him outside the state library in the bushes.

The Australian version of the seagull. These things are everywhere eating out of garbages and around outdoor restaurants. Look at the pecker on that thing, it could do some serious damage.

One of the really nice parks. This trellis thing was really cool.

A tree with purple flowers?! Do we have one of those?

The coat of arms at the state courthouse.

Night shot of the city. I like the bridge and have walked over it a bunch to get to the free internet on the otherside.