I Saw My First Sea Turtle!

I have had such a busy few days. We arrived in Cairns, and the next morning a tour bus picked us up to head to Cape Tribulation. First we stopped at a small wildlife center which was like a zoo but you could walk up to the animals and interact with them. We ate breakfast with the birds, which anyone who knows my bird phobia will know I did not find very fun. They were flying all over the place, one with a really long curved beak took a sausage right off a womans plate, I have no idea how he managed to eat it. Then a parrot landed on our table and drank Linda's juice. I was glad to be done eating, it felt like a pretty stressful breakfast, even if it was beautiful.

We went to the koala area, and they were about to start a koala experience. So by giving a donation you could go in an pet the koala, and we met one name Pedro. He was so cute. His fur felt a little like wool, but softer. Australia is full of so many cool animals, I don't know if I could ever get used to them. They have kangaroos just hopping alongside the highway, and emus wandering around in the smaller towns. Before I left home I thought more about the snakes and spiders, but I haven't seen any snakes and only a few spiders (although I think I saw the one that eats birds, it was pretty big). But it is the other animals that blow my mind. I guess that is what people think about Canada, when they think of moose and bears.

Then we went into the area where the kangaroos were. You were supposed to stay on the path, but we had to leave soon, so we took the kangaroo food Linda bought and headed up a little hill where they were all hanging out and fed them. It was so awesome. The big ones kept their distance, but the smaller ones ate out of our hands and let us pet them. There are a ton of different kinds of kangaroos, and they all different sizes. I guess some of them do actually box, they get up on their tails and kick with their feet, and they grab each other in a way that looks like they are punching each other. I haven't see in, but it sounds pretty funny, I imagine the cartoons where they are wearing boxing gloves.

Then we got back on the bus and headed to a place called Mossman Gorge. Our guide took us on a walk into the rainforest, and then to a place where you can swim. In this area, you can't swim in the ocean because of box jelly fish that can kill you and you can't swim in the rivers because there are crocadiles. So you have to find swimming holes, and this one was in the rainforest, since that is what the whole area is. It was so beautiful. We swam there for about half an hour before getting back on the bus.
We stopped and ate lunch, in this small town with even more gorgeous trees. I have taken so many tree pictures, they are all different and beautiful. At home you get used to looking at the same few types of trees over and over, but here it seems like every tree you look at is one you have never seen before. I can't look in enough directions at once. Many of the trees have other plants, like ferns or vines growing in them, and the fern leaves grow down the tree and can make it look really cool. The ones in this town made the trees look hairy.

We then headed to the Daintree river, and took a boat ride down it looking for crocadiles. We saw one that I'm still convinced was just a log, a baby that was as cute as a crocadile can be, and then a big one with his mouth wide open. There was also a little green tree frog who came on our boat for the tour too.

After that we continued on to our hostel in Cape Trib, called PK's Jungle Village, which it really was, since it was right in the middle of the rainforest. It is in the middle of a bit of land that pokes out from the ocean, so you can walk to a beach on either side, even if you can't swim in in, it was of course beautiful. Right by there is the only place the rainforest meets the reef, and also the only place where two World Heritage sites overlap. Even the sand looks like art, these patterns are all down the beach.

The thing about the area all around Cairns is that you can't swim in the river because there are crocadiles and there are box jelly fish in the ocean, so this time of year you really can't swim anywhere except waterholes (we found a good one you can jump of the little cliff), or certain areas of the beach that are netted off so the jelly fish hopefully can't get through. But if you do feel like going in the water, there is vinagar next to this sign that you can pour on yourself. It wont fix anything, but it will stop it from getting worse.

The next day we went out on a boat to go to the coral reef. I was pretty nervous since my first experience on a boat was not very plesant, but I was more prepared this time and it was ok. When we got out there, I decided just to snorkle rather than dive. The reef in some place is very close to the surface, it is close enough to touch. There was so many kinds of fish to look at, but the reef itself was the most interesting. It is not all connected, there are small sections of it, and each kind was a different shape and colour. I, of course, was searching for turtles though.

I didn't find one, then we went back to the boat to eat. I didn't eat much cause I wasn't feeling to hot, and then I went out to try again. I still couldn't find one, and the waves were much higher in the afternoon, so finally I gave up to ly down on the boat. I was lying on the reef when I hear someone yell "Turtle!" I stood up and asked someone where the sound had come from, but they didn't know, so I laid back down. Then I hear someone yelling "KRISTIN! TURTLE! GET OUT HERE! I'M FOLLOWING HIM!!". I climbed down, and one of the crew said I couldn't go cause we were leaving soon, but Linda keeps yelling, so of course I go. She was pretty far from the boat, so I was really out of breath when I reached her cause I swam like mad. Then I stuck my head under and there he was. I don't even know how to explain it, amazing itsn't enough. I think I would have cried if I hadn't been so excited. We swam with him for a while, and it didn't even seem real. I tried to swim close to him, and Linda had her underwater camera. I hope thoes pictures turn out, but even if they don't I will never forget it. I will alway remember on December 8th, 2005 I saw my first turtle.

The next day we went Jungle Surfing, which is basically going on a zipline throught the jungle. It wasnt really a thrill kind of thing, it was just getting to see the jungle from way up in the air. I took about a hundred pictures of trees, I just thought they were so amazing.