You Just Can't Get Enough

Hello again.
Finally, I have some time to update you all on our more exciting days. I left you in Darwin, or rather, on the flight from Darwin to Cairns. We got to Cairns at 8ish am. Australia's crazy with it's time zones. some states choose not to participate in daylight savings time, so we never know what time it is when we land somewhere new.
So we arrived to find Cairns a small, calm beach town. It was nice. Aside from the reef, there didn't seem like there was a lot to do. on Thursday, we booked our scuba tour, and walked around the city centre. Nothing big.
Friday, we had to get up and to the marina by 7:30. We booked a tour on a smaller boat with about 35 people and you got to know the people running the tour. The skipper was fun, he called everyone by their countries (or states for us) of origin. We actually had a few North Americans on the tour with us. There was a guy from Michigan, another guy who was born in Australia but moved to the US when he was a teen, some guy from New York, and three Canadians, including Nicole, our scuba friend. She also was staying at our hostel as well. Small world. Hi if you're reading this!

Onto the scuba diving. I was excited for the dive, but after we had to answer a lot of health questions i got worried. One asked if you had asthma, and I do, but not badly. I might have said no, or that I used to have it, which is half a truth. I know you can't get rid of asthma, but I never had it as bad as my sister, and I really wanted to dive.
In the end, it all went well. Scuba gear is really heavy to wear, plus you need to wear a weight belt as well. We were all a little nervous, seeing as how we had a 20 minute talk then were thrown into the water. Thankfully, we weren't left to wander on our own. Jess and Nicole got the fun British guide, Maggie and I had Dreadlocks as ours. He had a real name, but to Maggie and me he'll always be secretly known as Dreadlocks. He just led us underwater (after we adjusted to the breathing thing) and we didn't have to do much.
I know you all assumed this, but the Great Barrier Reef is amazing! we didn't see any sharks of turtles, but we saw Nemos and huge clams that look like they belong in the Disney submarine ride. It was awesome. After that, we went to Green Island close by, hung out in the water, then went back to the boat and did some snorkeling. We even got certificates. it's not a certification, but if we wanted to, it helps us in some way.
We left Cairns the next morning. By the way, Cairns is on the water, but it doesn't have a beach. It's all mud. the Reef and the Islands outside of it have all the sand. It's weird being by the beach and not seeing the picturesque sand or hearing waves.

So we got our rental car and headed towards our next stop: Townsville. The town is a tad boring. It's also by the beach and very quiet, but we got a hotel room for 75 bucks a night, so score us on that one. The next day Jess and I took the ferry to Magnetic Island, which is 20 minutes off the coast of townsville. It was a cute island, again not much going on, but it was nice to just relax on the sand. I was still nursing my Cairns sunburn, so I avoided the sun like a Paley should. Jess got some sun, but I don't think she got a new burn. I apparently can't trust that SPF 70 will keep my back from crisping up. It must be the ozone hole down here or something.

Today, we left around 9:30 and started on our 9 hour drive. We were going to stop in Rockhampton, but we read that there were three different fires in the area, so we decided to move on to Gladstone. The drive was productive but a little monotonous. We made about 6 Cd's to listen to, but they definitely were played at least twice. I drove for six hours and Maggie drove the rest of the way. At least our car is comfy. We rented the huge sedan. i think it's a Ford Falcon. He's a sturdy guy. For some reason I feel his name is Mike. Why? I don't know, but Mike is good for a long travel. we all have enough room and he has super fancy gadgets, like telling how fast we're actually going, plus he gets concerned about fatigue and suggests a rest every two hours. Apparently all of Australia is worried about sleepy drivers. I can't even count how many "sleepy? drunk? RIP" signs we have passed on our road trip.

So now we're in Gladstone, thankfully in a cheap hotel with free Internet. apparently the town closes down by 8pm. awesome. We're off to Brisbane in the morning. I'm hoping it's not another 8 hour drive. I don't think the girls want to hear my Cher impression or watch me attempt to dance to another rap song or ask repeatedly who sings what song. So I've never heard a Ciara song. Sue me.

All right, Maggie's giving me side eyes, and I'm guessing she wants the computer back.
Till the next time.