Cairns, Australia

Day 1 of our honeymoon started with out midnight arrival into Cairns, Australia. From the first gust of fresh air that hit our faces, we knew we were in for a very hot and very humid couple of days!

We woke up bright and early the next morning, ready to hit the ground running. Then we walked outside...and turned right around to head back into our air conditioned room. It was in the 80's at about 80% humidity - and it was only 9 AM! The first day ended up being a day of relaxing at the B&B, which had a small pool and a parrot named Chook to keep us entertained while we adjusted to tropical temperatures and a new time zone.



The next morning, after drinking our weight in liquids and coating ourselves in sunblock, we boarded a boat that would take us out to the Great Barrier Reef where we had a full day of snorkeling as well as our first introductory scuba dive. We were instructed to put on "jelly suits" - which turned out to be a full body wetsuit that protected you from jellyfish, since they were floating around the areas where we were diving. After suiting up, it was a full day of swimming, floating, diving, and me staring at the horizon every time our boat was on the move. Turns out as I get older my body is not a fan of boats. It was an incredible experience and we both really liked scuba and the additional things that you can see when you are able to dive deeper and not have to worry about where your next breath is coming from! Not suprisingly, my favorite part was a huge fish named Wally that comes to the diving site daily and actually loves attention! I was able to "pet" him (can you pet a fish??). Below are pics of us and some of the pictures we took while snorkeling/diving. The one with a head and a fish is Wally and myself:























Our 3rd, and final full day, in Cairns started with a scenic train trip up to the rainforest at Kuranda where there was a wildlife park, bird park, butterfly house, and a small village with a mix of art galleries, junk stores, and aboriginial stores (complete with aboriginies out front playing some tunes).



It was here that I was able to hold a koala. Many of you heard my premeditated plan of getting one and running with it, but all of those plans went out the window due to the fact it was an effort to keep myself walking out in the heat, let alone try to run with a 20+ lb koala. So I had to settle for holding one and really, it was everything I thought it would be. As you will see in the photos below, I was very excited to get him in my arms!





After we cooled off at a local pub, we jumped into our cable car that hung very high above the rainforest canopy and began the descent that took just about an hour! I was terrified b/c it didn't feel very stable and we were very, very high in the air. There were many bumps and strange noises along the way which freaked me out for the duration of the ride. However, the conversation for the entire ride down went something like this:
Cassidy - "Want to make out?"
Amanda - "Stop talking, you are shaking the car"
Cassidy - "Oh we can shake the car"
Amanda - "Seriously, shut up, I'm trying to focus on breathing"
Cassidy - "How about I move to the other side of this car?" (thinking it is funny)
Amanda - "How about a divorce if you don't Shut Up?"
Cassidy - "If we make out I'll stop talking"
...so on and so forth.... Here are some views from the ride down:




The rest of our time in Cairns was spent around the house chatting with Chook (yes, he could talk), other guests and Joanna, the woman running the B&B. The next day we woke up and headed to the airport to board our flight to Christchurch, New Zealand!

Also, the picture below is possibly my favorite picture of the entire honeymoon!