Nine Days in Laos

Group at Lao Lao Garden

Luang Prabang is a really pretty city on the Mekong River that was ruled by the French until after WWII, so all the people speak French and English, the buildings are all European style and all the restaurants serve baguettes, crepes and other French food. We found a beautiful hotel on the river for about $12 a night. The hotel had just opened so had brand new washrooms and king size beds and beautiful rosewood floors and panelling and was run by a very friendly Lao woman. We ended up staying for four nights! :) We had arranged to meet our friends from the boat at a bar for dinner that we had read about called Lao Lao Garden. The bar was a little more expensive (meaning meals were $3.50 to $5.00) but was awesome, gave Lao Lao welcome shots and had open campfires in the middle of the bar! We got a big table for the seven of us plus a Dutch guy named Jasper that the other Canadians had met on the boat. The food was amazing and the drinks are super cheap, about $1 for a large Beer Lao, which is about the size of two regular bottles so we stayed until close (around 11:00 :)).

Jumping off Small Kuang Si Waterfall

The next day we had a few errands to do in the morning, then we had lunch at a restaurant on the water before meeting up with everyone to go to Kuang Si, a famous waterfall about 30km from the city centre. We hired a tuk tuk (basically the pickup again with benches) which drove us to the waterfall and waited for us to drive us home for about $3 each! The waterfall was amazing and had all sorts of small pools of cascading water of the coolest light blue colour which everyone could swim in. We had heard about some secret pools at the top of the waterfall so hiked all the way to the top but only found some great lookout points unfortunately. So we headed back down to the more popular large rock pools where there was a sweet rock to jump off. The water was super cold but beautiful and made for a cold ride home! :) We got banana pancakes outside the waterfall and caught our tuk tuk home.

Vege Buffet in Food Market

That night we met at the night market for dinner. We found a vegetarian buffet stand and sat at the picnic tables for dinner, Dev wasn't a big fan but later on we found the main food stall street and got some fresh spring rolls. They put everything even rice in a bag, then give you a smaller bag with the sauce or chilis to add which is kind of cool. We wandered around the market checking out all the merchandise and called an early night. The next day, the two Canadian girls, Dev and I had booked a trekking tour so we got up early to be bused to an "authentic Lao village'. Our tour guide, Kack was about the same age as us and was really into Western music so was a lot of fun. We went on a brisk hike through the new forests and met some kids in the village and then he took us to the Tak Si waterfalls where Dev and I went for a swim. The water was pretty cold again, but there were huge, beautiful rock pools to swim in and the whole place looked almost man-made. We stopped for a big lunch and then were taken to the elephant camp. We had an hour long elephant ride scheduled, but once we started going, we realized that that probably wasn't going to take us very far, they are surprisingly slow! :)

Elephant Ride Slow Motion

The elephants were so cool up close and were really funny, their trainers had to prod them every step of the way, the second he stopped, they would stop. It was also right before their feeding time so the whole way, the elephants were trying to grab bushes and leaves from the sides of the path. At one point, the girls' trainer got off to take pictures of us and their elephant went straight for a big tree and almost pulled it down right on top of them! :) It was pretty hilarious. Apparantely, elephants are also really good at walking up steep hills, so at some points we were almost completely lying down! :) Once we finished the ride, one of the elephants had her eye on Dev and kept following him around. Even though it was going super slow, it was still a little scary :) Our bus was late to pick us up, so we grabbed some beers and played cards. On the way home, our guide found a famous Asian song that he had been telling us about and put it on. It was called "Take Me To Your Heart" and was similar to Backstreet Boys. Until then, Dev thought he had been saying "Take Me To Your Hut" so I'm glad he hadn't said anything! :)

Birthday #25

That night, we met our friends at the night market again where we found some awesome vegetarian buffets and Dev and Miguel sampled one of the fried fish we've seen everywhere. We met a super weird American couple from New Mexico who told us that they've been picking up all the mangey cats and that they'd like to shoot up a Walmart. The next day was Meg's birthday so we had decided to stay in Luang Prabang another day. We met our friends for lunch on the water, then Dev and I rented bicycles and toured around the city for a little bit. We met up with everyone at a temple on top of a hill which has a great view of the sunset, then we headed out to dinner. Dev surprised me with a cake and they actually turned out all the lights in the restaurant and spelled my name right! :) I had been worried about being homesick, but ended up having a great time. :)



Checking Out the Caves



We were a little hungover the next morning catching our mini bus to Vang Vieng but that was partly due to the crazy winding roads around the mountains. The scenery was amazing but it was so bumpy no one could read without getting car sick. :) We were pretty happy to arrive in town that evening and find a place. The town used to be an old fishing village which has become a crazy tourist destination because of its river tubing. Tourists rent a tube for about $6 a day and you float down the river, which takes about three hours in dry season. There are loads of bars built along the river and they stand at the sides throwing ropes for the tubers to grab and come in for a drink. On top of that, the bars all have crazy water slides and rope swings! :) It's kind of like Cancun meets Southeast Asia. Everyone was exhausted the first night and we had arrived in the evening, so we went for a quiet dinner and had an early night. Aside from the river bars, the town is known for its caves, so we decided to meet up the next day to check them out first.

Blue Lagoon

The next day after lunch we decided to hit the caves. One of the girls we were with had had a motorbike accident on her trip, so we opted for traditional moutainbikes. The bikes were of dubious quality but we were able to find four that worked enough and we hit the road. I don't really know why but I was a little surprised at how rough the roads were, at some points it seemed like it was pure rockbed, but we managed the 7km ride fairly well and also didn't get lost! :) We chose a cave with one of the better swimming holes called the Blue Lagoon. We grabbed some fruit shakes at the base of the mountain and then tackled the 200 metre climb up the side of the mountain in our flip flops to the mouth of the cave. We had been to some caves in Australia, where there are wooden footpaths, lights and stairs but this was much more do-it-yourself. There were no real paths and the only light we had was our head lamps. It made it way more fun to explore though! :) After making it out of the cave alive, we headed down to the Blue Lagoon for a dip. It looked like a small pond but was actually crazy deep and that great blue green colour again (which we're told is because of the limestone rock sediment in the water). We took turns jumping off a tree that stretched over the water then had to head home for dark. I don't think we've had that much exercise in a long time! :)

Tubing Tattoos!

The next day was Gareth's birthday and our tubing day! We got a head start and were on the river by eleven in the morning for our first beer. The sun was out and there about 280 people tubing that day. We had a great time, went on all the waterslides, did all the free shots and some of us tried out some of the rope swings. Dev and I weren't quite ready for those yet, they were super high!! The day went by sooo quickly, that before we knew it it was 4.30pm and we had to jump into the water and paddle our tubes to get them back for the deadline. We got changed for dinner then finished off the night with more drinks at a bar in town. The next day, Dev, Gareth and I were the only ones up for a tubing repeat although we did get a bit of a later start, on the river by noon. It was a bit colder, so not as busy and we had decided to have a more relaxing day.

One of Many Waterslides of the Day!

We chilled at some of the better bars including one that was owned by an Australian girl and her Lao boyfriend that lived in Toronto for thirty years (random :)), I tried two of the rope swings which were awesome and we spent the rest of the day floating down the river with our beers. It was pretty relaxing! We had dinner on the river and had to get up early the next morning to catch a bus to Vientiane, where we fly out to Vietnam. Not too much to see in Vientiane so we just relaxed but did get a chance to get a few rounds of bowling in! :) I actually beat Dev the first round! :) Flying out to Vietnam today!

Chiang Mai & Slow Boat!



Temple in Chiang Mai



We flew into the enormous Bangkok airport on Nov. 28th and jumped on an overnight bus to Chiang Mai (in Northern Thailand). The bus ride was a bit over 10 hours but the seats folded down almost all the way and blankets and pillows were provided so we settled in for an uncomfortable sleep. :) The bus dropped us off while it was still dark but luckily we were picked up right away by a sawngthaew (basically a pickup with benches in the flat bed) that took us to a decent hotel in the city. They only had twin beds but we were really tired and the room was only about $12 so we checked in and went back to bed. I actually think Dev prefers twin beds :)



Devin at the night market



We woke up late and had lunch then I dragged Devin to some of the city's temples which he was really excited about. This was the first Buddhist city that we had been to so all the monks walking around in their neon orange robes was a novel sight. The Thai people seem to love Dev because all day he was getting chatted up outside the temples and on the streets! The people were crazy nice and love to practice their English by talking to the tourists. We walked around the old quarter (half of the city is enclosed by a wall which used to be the old kingdom) which is filled with cute restaurants and guesthouses and we stopped for our first Chang beer. Apparantely the beer averages about 6.5%, each bottle is different and they call what you feel the next day after drinking it, the changover. :)



Meg scarfing a banana roti!



Chiang Mai is known for its night markets, so that night we decided to get dinner there. The market was located near all the fancier hotels and consists of a large square and side streets filled with stalls selling scarves, trinkets, watches, etc. There are about 500 stalls but only about 10 varieties. :) There were so many cool things, it was hard not to buy anything! We ate way too much food at dinner but still had to check out the roti stand on the way home. There are loads of these women with food stall carts selling what looks like a crepe filled with bananas then covered with chocolate and sweet condensed milk. They are crazy good and less than $1, we've been eating way too many of them! :) I think we're going to come home about 100 pounds heavier! :)



Jungle Flight!

The next day we had booked a zipline trip near Chiang Rai with Jungle Flight so we grabbed a quick fried noodle at the stall next door and got picked up by our guide. It was about an hour away and as soon as we arrived, we got suited up and headed for the first platform. We had opted for the long program which included something like 33 platforms and 4 abseils. It was a little scary at first but after a few, it was easier to enjoy the scenery :) The guides were crazy Thai teenagers that kept everyone laughing and the mountains in the background sometimes didn't even look real so we had a great time. Meg was especially nervous during the abseiling, because you get dropped freefall style. The last jump off was 40 metres high and was super scary! :) We had lunch with our group which consisted of an older Dutch lady and some Koreans. We were then taken to a hot spring then back to the hotel. Along the way, Dev got bumped to the back seat to make room when our driver offered a monk a ride home. :)

Meg in action!



New friends at Riverside Bar



That night we went back to the night market for dinner then decided to check out a bar by the river we had heard about, the Riverside. We got a great table upstairs with a river view and had a few beers and were just heading home when an awesome live band starting playing downstairs. It was a six piece band with three really great singers and they played loads of great music. We made friends with an older Irish guy and his English friend and ended up staying for the rest of the night. :) We caught a tuk tuk home from the bar that night. Changover.

Cooking class in Chiang Mai

In the morning, we had to get up early as we had a Thai cooking class scheduled. We didn't know what to expect but it was great. The class was run by a younger (25 ish) brother and sister pair with great English. Outside there were 10 covered cooking stations and inside there was an air conditioned room with a table for eating our food (yummy!) and a classroom where they showed us how to make each item. Everyone chose seven dishes (one appetizer, one stirfry, one curry, etc.) and we would watch the brother/sister make all the appetizers, for example, then we would head back to our stations where the ingredients would be set out for our choice and we started cooking. Dev and I both chose spring rolls for our appetizer which were pretty fun to make, I needed a few tries and some assistance to roll them, but frying them was really fun and mine ended up better than his :) We also made green curry, phad thai, coconut chicken soup, papaya salad and mango sticky rice. I ate soooo much food but Dev started to feel a little hungover during the day :) The food was delicious, we're hoping we will be able to recreate some of the dishes at home, the phad thai for sure!



Slow Boats in Laos



After the class we were really tired so we booked a room for a couple of hours for a nap and a movie before we caught a mini bus to the Thailand-Laos border. We were picked up about an hour and a half late (not unusual here :)) and got picked up last so we both had to sit at the very front of the van. It was maybe the most uncomfortable ride yet as my middle seat was super high with no leg room and no headrest and I was a couple of centimetres from the air conditioning vent for the whole van, so super cold. The ride was a bit over four hours but felt like way longer and we arrived at our overnight stop at about 2:30 in the morning. We went right to sleep as we had to be up at 6:30am for breakfast and the ferry. Everyone at the hotel was on their way to take the slow boat from Thailand to Luang Pradang in Laos, a two day boat trip down the Mekong river. It is actually twice as slow but twice as expensive as a bus to Luang Pradang but pretty famous here for tourists. There were a number of steps in this process that morning, first the truck ride to Thai immigration for our departure cards, then the ferry to Laos, then Lao immigration for our visas, then an hour wait at a restaurant to board the boat. At the restaurant we met a few friends that we ending up spending the next week with, Miguel and Kathy both from Germany and Victoria and Ashley from the Waterloo and Stratford area (small world :)). When we finally boarded the boat, there were barely any seats left, luckily Dev and I got a seat together! :) The seats were these wooden bench seats set super close together. We had luckily bought seat pillows before we got on! :)





On the Slow Boat



The trip the first day was about six hours which we spent either watching the crazy scenery, reading or chatting with people on the boat. Having people stuck on a boat for two days was a great way to meet people. :) We got off the boat in a small town named Prabang which is mainly just guesthouses and restaurants for the slowboat riders. We met up with the Germans and Canadians to find a hotel together then we headed out for dinner. The hotel owner dragged us to his restaurant where his kids were running around with no pants on...but the food was good and he gave us free banana pancakes for dessert and Lao Lao shots for everyone! :) (their local liquor made from sticky rice). Miguel had met an English guy on the boat named Gareth who joined us for dinner and joined the crew for the next week as well. :) Laos is a communist country so there is a 12:00am curfew, so bars close around 11:30pm. So after dinner we headed back to the hotel for an early night. In the morning, we got up early to try to get better seats and managed to all sit together. The ride was about seven hours the next day and so I think everyone was happy to get off the boat in Luang Prabang although it had been a good trip. :)

Two Weeks in Bali!!!

Meg in Pool

We flew into Bali from Darwin around nine at night on Saturday (Nov 13th), so we booked a room for the first two nights so we wouldn't have to wander around with our packs. The hotel shuttle picked us up from the airport and took us to Kuta, the main tourist/resort area of Bali. The room they had reserved for us was the most expensive at the resort (they say that's all they have left) which was still only about $26 a night each! This got us a huge air-conditioned room with our own bathroom, sitting area, tv and fridge. The hotel was beautiful, just off the main street and had a courtyard and pool. We settled in quickly then decided to check out the action that we had seen driving in.

Dev on Legian Street

The streets were crazy! The main street (Legian Street) is a narrow, one-way street filled with cars and motorbikes and lined with shops (both souvenir and surf shops) as well as street hawkers selling massages, motorbike rentals and all sorts of crap. We wove our way in and out of traffic until we found a cool open-air bar with a live band. We grabbed a couple of local beers (Bintangs, really good!) and sat down to watch the street action. The beers come in small and large bottles and range from about $1.50 to $2.50, we're in heaven! :) The place is swarming with Aussies on vacation, so we chatted up an Aussie couple next to us, then headed back to the hotel. On the way back, a monsoon type rainfall started and we ducked into a store front to wait out the storm. I had been somewhat mentally prepared for the rats in Asia, but still freaked out a little when waiting on the steps, a small rat ran across my foot

My first of many banana smoothies

The next morning, we woke up in time for the hotel's free breakfast but decided to keep it simple with scrambled eggs and toast. Other options for breakfast included fried noodle and fried rice with eggs of course, seeing as its breakfast! :) We spent the morning exploring the streets by daylight and some of the smaller gangs (alleys). We found Kuta Beach and we walked along the beach (past all the beach vendors and food stalls) all the way to Seminyak, one of the neighbouring villages, a quieter version of Kuta. After exploring, we were pretty hungry, so we tried our first restaurant, one beside our hotel that had been recommended in the book. The food was sooo good and really cheap and the restaurants are really beautiful, in shaded gardens and tiki huts just off the main street. We headed back to the hotel to lounge around the pool then wandered around the smaller streets looking for a cheaper hotel.

We found a great hotel on a nearby smaller street set off in its own compound with a great pool and small cottage rooms. We settled for no air-conditioning and got a room with its own bathroom for $30 a night (which we now know is expensive in Bali terms), we love this place!! After making the reservation, we grabbed beers and waited out the rain at a great hotel bar where we met some more Aussies that were here for a wedding. We tried to find a night market we had heard about but gave up and found a small restaurant for dinner and drinks. I think we'll be drinking a lot of beer on this trip!! The next morning after hanging out by the pool a bit more, we grabbed our packs and headed to the other hotel, it was super hot and as we were crossing the street, I wasn't looking and I stepped on a dead rat!! If this place doesn't cure me of my rat phobia, nothing will!!! Devin had seen the rat, walked around it and chose to watch me step on it instead of alerting me!

Meg in Pool II :)

After checking in, we did some shopping, grabbed lunch and then hit the pool - after being here for two weeks we've found its an outrage to pay more than $3.00 for a meal. It's about 35 degrees here and without air-conditioning, frequent pool dips are a must! Then we decided to try out the Balinese massage!! To make this place even better, spa treatments are crazy cheap! Manicures are about $4 and 1 hour massages about $6! After massages, we headed out for more beers, Pad Thai and teppanyaki. (We found our favourite restaurant and have been there many times since, Gemini Star :)) We went for a midnight dip and booked a day tour to surrounding sites for the next day.

Beach Restaurant - Jimbaran

We hired a driver and a van for $45 for the day to drive us around the Bekit Peninsula (southern Bali). Our first stop was Nusa Dua, an expensive resort destination and home of Club Med, Intercontinental etc. We were kind of surprised because the beach was pretty trashy and just filled with locals selling water sports and crap. We've never seen so much going on on a beach before! Activities offered included snorkeling, para sailing, jet skiing and that flying sting ray thing that is super illegal in Canada. We were only there for an hour so we grabbed beers and watched the action. The next stop was Jimbaran, a really pretty beach filled with colourful fishing boats and tons of touristy seafood restaurants. We got a table at a warung (cheaper cafe) on the beach and got pretty sun burnt. :)

Ulu Watu - Matching Outfits!

We were super hot by this point so we made our way to Padang Padang beach, a small white sand beach surrounded by cliffs where we could take a dip. Finally, our driver took us to Ulu Watu, one of the more famous temples on the island that is located on a huge cliff. We both had to wear sarongs and we unknowingly hired a guide for the walk but the temple was really beautiful. The monkeys there are famous for stealing anything that you have on you, one made at me for my purse but our guide shooed him away with a stick. While we were there we saw a monkey steal a woman's eyeglasses right off her face and one jump onto a woman's stomach to grab her chocolate bar! Evil monkeys!



Dev At Monkey Sanctuary



The next morning our driver picked us up again to take us to Ubud, the second largest tourist destination on the island. We spent the day visiting the monkey temple (more monkeys), swimming in the pool and a little while seeing who could beat the computer solitaire first (Devin - which was the obvious conclusion from the start). We had a great dinner and movie night (we've managed to get movies from other friendly travellers to watch on our computer).



Dev with our Driver at Gutang Batur

The next day, our driver picked us up again (its been great having a personal driver - more fitting to our privileged lifestyles) to take us to Gutang Batur, an active volcano that has amazing views. Along the way he took us to walk along the rice paddies and to the rice terraces (towers of rice paddies) which were crazy nice, then to a beautiful temple in the fields. He also took us to a Bali Kopi (coffee) plantation where we sampled their Bali Kopi, Ginger Coffee (really good), Lemon Tea, Ginger Tea and finally, Luwak Coffee. The latter coffee is made from the coffee beans that the luwak (an animal that looks kind of like a weasel) eats, then poops out. Apparently, a Bali specialty! (The Luwak only picks the best coffee beans to eat - therefore his poop has all the best beans!).

Meg at Rice Terraces

In Front of Gutang Batur

We made it to the volcano and had lunch in a restaurant with a view of the entire crater. Super cool! Then headed back to the hotel for beers and a swim. Our last day in Ubud, we pretty much relaxed until dinner at a restaurant overlooking the rice paddies and then Dev's favourite, a traditional Balinese dance performance. Since then, he's wanted to go back every night! :) Megan was being sarcastic here, as it was actually quite boring. Half an hour of it would have done the trick but it lasted almost 2 hours!

At Restaurant on Rice Paddies

We headed back to Kuta the next day (our favourite) and got pedicures (I think Dev won for how much stuff they scraped off his feet! :)) and went out for more live music and beers. The next day, we got two kids to drive us on the back of their motorbikes (scooters) to Seminyak and walked back, just because we wanted the ride. The locals drive crazy around here and we wanted the full experience without braving the drive ourselves. We lazed around the pool, then met a Canadian who gave us a ton of new movies, so got dinner and had to watch one.

Scooting On the Island

The next morning, we caught a shuttle to Sanur, catching the local boat to Nusa Lembongan (a small island nearby that is much quieter than the rest of Bali). After checking into our beachfront hotel with infinity pool overlooking the ocean!! we found a small cafe behind the hotel for lunch. The old man running the place chatted us up and played a game of jenga with us (which I guess I lost :)). We met a Swedish guy we had met on the boat over at the hotel bar at happy hour then went for dinner on the beach. The next day, we hired a motorbike (from jenga man) and drove all over the island (there are no cars on the island, so much safer although no helmets). We ran into the Swedish guy and his girlfriend so had lunch at a cafe on the ocean with them and checked out a beach on the nearby island reached by the scariest bridge we've ever seen, a suspension bridge with old wooden planks across it, with huge spaces where boards are missing! Made my heart stop a couple of times.

At Dream Beach Resort

Then Dev and I checked out Dream Beach, the nicest beach we've seen so far on the island and caught the sunset for dinner at the Sunset Beach Warung. We had a quiet day the next day, went swimming and watched Salt (Amy, that is not a good movie!) and for our last day on the island, we rented our motorbike again and drove back to Dream Beach. There is a beautiful resort just above the beach that charged only $5 each to use their facilities for the day, so we swam all day in their double decker infinity pool (again overlooking the ocean), had lunch and lazed around in their beach hut beds all day. We both agreed it was the best pool we've ever been in. We returned the bike and explored the rest of Jungut Batu (our beach) and found a cute little restaurant for dinner.

And back to Kuta for two more nights before flying to Thailand on Sunday. Will probably go for dinner and drinks tonight and go for more massages tomorrow. Bali is so far my favourite place I've ever been for vacation! Great hotels and restaurants, cheap and delicious food and beer, beautiful scenery, friendly people, interesting culture and $20 can get you almost anywhere or anything. Hope to be back someday!!

Cairns & Darwin: Last Week In Australia

When we arrived in Cairns (Friday Nov 5th), we had heard great things about Gilligan's Hostel so we decided to check in there. Even though there are over 500 beds and it's the party hostel with a great bar and patio, the rooms were amazing, more like a hotel (aside from the four other people in our room and the bunk beds! :)) But a huge step up from the working hostel! :) It was pretty funny, it turned out that we were sharing our room with someone who had been at the working hostel until right before we arrived, so we had some laughs about that and some of the characters there.

At Gilligan's

The first day, we went to the lagoon (since there is no real beach in Cairns) which was super packed but really nice and then we had some beers in our room and watched a movie on our computer. The next day, we shopped around for reef trips (again, like 100 companies all offering similar trips. Cairns is most known for the Great Barrier Reef because it is the closest city to the reef) and booked our flights to Darwin and Bali (Bali on Nov 13th!!). Too much work! so to relax we started out with some beers at Gilligan's in the beer garden where there was some live music, then we headed to the Blue Sky Brewery, a pretty cool pub we had read about. We had a pitcher of Reef Blonde which I thought was delicious but Dev was on the fence :) and then we checked out a locals pub, The Grand Hotel. It was pretty authentic and also had some live music. :)

Meg On Boat With Snorkel Gear

Our flight to Darwin ended up being on the Wednesday (Nov 10), so we had three more nights in Cairns so we switched to a much cheaper hostel just outside of the city centre. Three nights were the same price as one at Gilligan's! and it had regular shuttles and free wireless internet! :) The main downside was that the air conditioning didn't work in our room, so we were pretty hot! :) I can hold my hand three inches from Dev's chest and can feel the head radiating from him sometimes! :) We hung around the hostel then caught the shuttle in to town do some errands and window shop. We checked out the Night Markets which are kind of like a flea market on the water and bought some souvenirs. Then we went to bed early to get ready for our reef trip the next day.

Dev's Sweet Moves :)

We had to be at the reef terminal at about 7:30am, but were pretty excited as the reef in Cairns is supposed to be the best for snorkeling. We had opted for one of the nicer boats because we had heard that the outer reef locations were better and wanted to see the best the Great Barrier Reef had to offer! :) They served us coffee and muffins, yummy and we arrived at our first snorkel spot in a little over a hour. We had to wear these funny stinger suits that have feet, hands and hoods on them and look like baby pyjamas! :) The reef was amazing, really close and we could see like 15m below us crystal clear. The water was an amazing blue colour and there were all sorts of fish and coral, really crazy! Dev and I spotted a sea turtle and were able to get cool pics with it! :) (We bought a waterproof bag for my camera, seems a little suspect but worked great!)

Meg With Turtle (Lower Right Corner)

We had three snorkel locations throughout the day and the next site was close by and also had amazing coral. Dev swallowed too much saltwater and felt pretty queasy so we went in after half an hour and settled down for a big buffet lunch! :) At the third and final snorkel site, the guide showed us a sea cucumber and we got some cool fish photos. We finished it off with about six squares of carrot cake and brownies! :) After we got back to the mainland, we went out for drinks and food at the Irish pub and headed back to the hostel. On our final day in Cairns, we walked out to the Botanical Gardens and the highlight of the day was definitely cheap Tuesday's at the Pizza Hut we had found near our hostel!

Dev Escaping the Darwin Heat

We jumped on a shuttle the next morning to catch our flight to Darwin, which is the cheapest place to fly out of Australia to Southeast Asia. Our flight had some crazy delays so by the time we got to Darwin we were super tired and starving, nothing a Big Mac meal at McDonald's can't fix. I should note that it sounds crazy how much fast food we've eaten on this trip but it is actually the cheapest thing to eat here, often cheaper than groceries! We took a walk along the water and watched the sunset then had a craving for ice cream so bought drumsticks at the grocery store! :) By the way, it is crazy hot here, it was 37C one of the days and is about 80 percent humidity!!

Meg on the Esplanade

The next day, we ran around the city looking for a place for Dev to get his Hepatitis A shots. I already had mine and we had done our research and decided he should get his too. We have also been taking some sort of B vitamin which apparently detracts mosquitoes and is an alternative to taking malaria pills, but Dev says I always smell like vitamins! :) We finished off the day with beers at our hostel, which has a pretty cool patio bar with a pool and hot tub, then went out for a pizza and beer deal down the street. We ate way too much though and fell right to sleep when we got home! :)

Today (Nov 12th) is our last day in Australia which is kind of sad because we don't know whether we'll get a chance to come back. Today, we've had loads of errands to run getting ready for Bali tomorrow, closing our bank account and getting cash, laundry, etc. but we did get some hanging out by the pool in there too :) It's not ever so bad! :) So we're on to the next part of our adventure, really excited!!

Innisfail: Banana Farming!

Working Hostel (Grey Building)

We were pretty apprehensive on our way to Innisfail where we had potentially found work on banana farms. We had heard tons of horror stories about farm work and working hostels so had no idea what to expect. We had been told that if we came Friday (Oct. 29th) we should be able to start work for Monday so were excited and arrived in late afternoon. We were happy to find that Innisfail was a reasonably big town, only about 8,000 people but had grocery stores, a Kmart, Target and even McDonald's and KFC. Walking up to the hostel was a different story - it resembled more of a homeless shelter than somewhere we should be staying.

Graham, Meg & Fred

The hostel was a two-storey scary grey building on the edge of town with a caged area out front that we found out later was the designated party/hang out area (nicknamed the cage). :) We checked in and found our 10-bed dorm room which was crazy dirty and the beds were more like dirty hammocks but we laughed it off and went to explore the town. After walking around a bit, we went out for Chinese food at a cheap eatery and picked up some beer at the drive-through beer store beside the hostel. We knew we would be at the hostel for at least a week so decided to get to know everyone that night and it turned out to be great fun. A lot of the people had been at the hostel for quite a while, many because they were getting their second year work visas (you have to do like three months farm work to extend a one year visa to two years) and some just because they didn't want to leave! :)

Dev and Glenn

We played drinking games and got to know everyone and found out they were having a Halloween party the next day so we were super excited, I had thought we would be missing dressing up! :) Also, that night we met two more Canadians from Vancouver who had been at the hostel for a month and a half. One of the Canadians, Graham had a three person room and the couple had just moved out of the double bed, so he suggested we become roomies, so we made arrangements to move the next day. Way better, this room had a decent bed, a TV, and a bar fridge. :)

Waterfalls

The next day we got up early to go buy some work clothes and groceries before a couple of the work vans picked up like thirty people to take us all to some really beautiful waterfalls near Innisfail. We spent the day swimming in the rock pools and sliding down a natural rock waterslide and just hanging out, then we headed back to the hostel to make dinner and put our costumes on! Australia is not really big into Halloween and there was a really limited selection so Dev and I, as well as a few others at the party showed up with Christmas gear, I was a tree and Dev was Santa. Pretty lame I know, but the best we could do. The best costume of the night went to the strange little gay guy at the hostel who dressed up as Queen Ratsy, with a rat tail and crown and stuff. Very strange, but hilarious. There was also a Flava Flav, another rapper and two pirates.



Halloween Party!



A lot of people chipped in to make an alcholic punch but we had just bought a case of beer so we opted out and boy were we happy with that decision! :) The punch consisted of approximately six different kinds of booze (arbitrarily picked) and about two boxes of juice. There were so many hands in and out of it and some of the glow sticks they put in it leaked! :) It was a great party though, Glenn (one of the pirates became buds with Dev) made a bunch of us drink the remainder of a bottle of tequila which put him out for the night :) and we took some great group photos! :) The next day we slept in, did laundry and generally dreaded the next day at work (but were happy that we were both on the work list, there were about eight on the waiting list). :)

The boys are generally given physically harder jobs than the girls and because of Dev's size, he was given one of the hardest jobs (they mistakingly judged my chubbiness and girth as muscle and braun - mistake!). He was assigned to a larger banana farm (actually the second largest in Australia) which is more like a factory with an assembly line where everyone has a small, repetiitve task to do all day. He was a Hanger which means he took the banana bunchs off the trailer after they were brought in and lifted them and attached them to the hydralic conveyer to take to the next step. We didn't know this until we arrived, but bananas come in bunches of like 150 bananas that weigh between 50 to 80 kilos!! I think that's probably the hardest he's ever worked in his life!! :)



Meg's Crazy Rash

 I was assigned to a much smaller farm where we generally rotated responsibilities. For the first two and a half days, I walked up and down the banana paddock rows with a tractor which stopped every hundred metres or so. As two guys cut down banana bunches, me and another guy would untie the bags and wash them, then as he cut them into smaller bunches I had to stack them into the trailers. It really wasn't so bad, except that because of the spraying, I was soaking wet and filthy (banana sap is super sticky and only came off after putting diesel fuel on it!). I got some pretty terrible rashes on my legs and bruises where I had to lean over the trailer and it was pretty exhausting but overall was okay. So when I came home the first day and saw what terrible shape Dev was in, I felt pretty bad although it was pretty funny too. :) He could barely move without his back or his legs cramping, his toes kept pointing all different directions! but after a back and foot rub, we had him moving around again and we made sure to get him chocolate milk and a good dinner.

Dev's Hands - Ewww :)

We were super dreading the next day, but by the second day our bodies were already becoming used to the work so it wasn't so bad. Devin's hands had become crazy blistered on the second day (I literally worked them to the bone!) My hands were so blistered that I couldn't finish the third day and went home around noon (although I got paid for the whole day - whoa!) I figured this was for the best as I spent much of my time at work thinking of ways that I could injure myself seriously enough to go home, but not serious enough that it would hurt long term (my best idea was a broken finger in the conveyor belt - glad it didn't come to that). When Meg got home on Wednesday, she was also pretty exhausted and grumpy. After finishing gathering bananas, she had been enlisted to help pull out all the old irrigation and leftover bags out of an old banana paddock they were tearing down. She worked all day in the rain and was so dirty. The worst part was pulling leftover bags off the rotting banana bunches, she had so much rotton banana all over her and in her boots! and twice rats crawled out of the bags!!! So when Dev suggested we finish off the week and then escape to Asia, I agreed :) He stayed home the next day because of his hands and I got an easy job labeling and putting lids on paw paws (or papayas) and then we gave the bad news to our new roomie and caught the bus on Friday morning!

We had had a great time and made almost $1000 in a total of six and a half working days but we worked it out and would only clear about $200 a week after all expenses so decided it wasn't worth it, although we missed it a bit after we left! :) Funny, we decided that week had been one of the highlights of the trip! :)

Townsville and Magnetic Island

After Airlie Beach, we jumped on the Greyhound to Townsville (Oct 24) which is the stepping off point to Magnetic Island. The island hadn't been on our to-do list but we'd heard tons about it so decided to check it out. Townsville was a pretty ordinary town, we stayed at the gitchy Reef Lodge (all the bedspreads were tacky fish patterns and the walls were painted with old school fish murals :) and Dev couldn't stand the guy at reception, older guy with a long ponytail who took his job way too seriously :) We checked out the Reef Museum and Aquarium where we took a tour of the sea turtle hospital and played in the children's area :), made dinner then took our computer to McDonald's (all McDonald's have free wi-fi here!) and got ice cream cones :) We never plan on buying anything from McDee's when we go to use the internet, but it's impossible not too! so they're pretty smart :) The next day we woke up early to take the ferry over to Magnetic Island where we had a reservation at the Koala Lodge!

Heavier than it looks!

The hostel was super cool, the dorms where all in self-contained A-frame cabins which we shared with four other people. The place had a great outdoor bar and pool with tons of hammocks (Dev's #1 criteria for a good hostel :)) We couldn't check in straight away so we threw on our bathing suits and headed to the nearest beach which in this case was Horseshoe Bay. Apparantly the beaches on the island don't have many jellyfish so we could swim as much as we wanted which was awesome :) After chilling then checking into the room, we caught the 2:30pm Koala Santuary tour (located on the hostel grounds). We turned out to be one of our favourite things yet, it was a two-hour tour of all the resident animals by a crazy Australian ranger who managed to incorporate a life lesson into each of the animal talks. :) We learned that our parents teach us to ignore our instincts (somehow related to how all other animals instinctively know how to swim except humans) and that humans should learn to be happy with what they have (somehow related to how animals would stay unrestrained in captivity if provdided with all their essentials) :)

Looking in the Face of Death :)

First we got to hold a black cockatoo which ate seasame seeds out of our lips then some iguanas and other weird lizards. He took us to the white cockatoo (which talks and live 100 years) which only lets girls pet it (actually chased a guy out of the pen) and then to hold a baby crocodile (pure muscle!) :) We also took pictures with a python although the craziest part was the koalas (one apparently has a facebook page although the guide says he doesn't twitter because he has a life :)) because the guide decided during the tour that the female was ready to be mated so put her in the male pen for some you know what!! To finish this crazy tour off, he led us to a spot where there are about 1,000 of these colourful parrot-like birds and put wet bread in all our hands so that they would land all over us!! Dev loved it but I freaked out a little when they started landing on my head!! :) Great pics though! :) Dev kept telling me to lie on the ground and put bread on my stomach, yeah right! :) They would have landed all over my face and I didn't see him doing it! :)



So Cool



No So Cool



That evening we did a two hour hike to the top of the island where the old forts are that the Australians used as sectret lookouts for the Japanese in WWII. Later that night we played drinking games at the hostel and Dev and I were the Kanga Bangers and we won the games by a landslide ($30 at the bar!). Games included me racing to carry cotton balls from one side to another with vaseline on my nose and Dev bowling a strike using a piece of 2x4 swinging between his legs. :) Like we've done it every day of our lives :)

Dev at Picnic Bay Jetty

The next day we had hired a scooter for the day which was so much fun. A lot of the roads are right on the water and are super windy so you feel like you're on a car commercial :) Dev did all the driving, I was on the back taking pictures :) The island only takes about half an hour to cross so we went to loads of beaches and did a few of the walks. We went to Picnic Bay and walked up to the lookout where we could see Rocky Bay and Nelly Bay. Then we went swimming at a great quiet beach called Alma Bay, supposedly the island favourite. Finally, we did an hour hike (practically all uphill!) :) to Balding Bay which was by far our favourite and only partly because of the nudists who like to hang out there! :) jk It was a tiny seculeded beach surrounded by rock cliffs with super shallow and warm water. We spent as much time as possible then had to hike back to return our scooter (we definitely wanted to keep it :))

Dev At Balding Bay

We decided to extend one more night because we were having so much fun so the next day we checked out another beach but went back to our favourite for the rest of the day, definitely the best beach of the trip so far! Later on, hanging in the hammocks by the pool we ran into Kat from Noosa and two of her friends so we grabbed our goon (cheap box of wine) and had a bbq on the beach. They have free bbq areas everywhere and we'd always wanted to use them! :) Back to Townsville the next morning where we were soooo tired from all the hiking and swimming that we rented a DVD player and watched loads of movies back at the Reef Lodge. We had made a few calls to working hostels and finally had something set up work for Monday (Nov 1) so relaxed getting ready for banana farms on Monday!!!

Meg At Nelly Bay Lookout