In a garden, we swam

Hello from Queensland, the sunshine state in Australia! I've been in Cairns since Friday and the weather has been sunny and hot - about 27 degrees in the day and 22 at night. This truly is a tropical paradise.

The city of Cairns is a grid of streets in a valley surrounded by rainforest and mountains. At its best, Cairns is breezy and warm, fresh white linen and palm trees. At its worst, it is drunken and wild, with cheap souvenirs, too-loud music and the smell of spilled beer. This is the jumping-off point for exploring the Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven natural wonders of the world, and the Daintree Rainforest, a UNESCO world heritage site.

I got my first introduction to hostel living on Friday when I arrived in the six-bed dorm to find clothes and empty beer bottles strewn about the room. The beds were all unmade (including mine) and the carpet smelled like it had been soaked in beer. But I rectified the situation with reception and, after downing a beer at the hostel bar, I quickly recovered from my trauma.

Saturday I went on a tour to the Daintree Rainforest, which included a cruise down the Daintree river. Crikey! We spotted some crocs sunning themselves on the shore. After a hike in the Mossman Gorge, we ended up at the swimming hole. Of course, I was the only one in the group to go swimming. The water was cool and clear, with fish swimming around me. It was paradise.

On Sunday, I went with Corey and Shwin, two American college boys, on a Reef cruise. The Reef is a huge industry in Cairns, apparently responsible for about 60000 full time jobs and billions of dollars in revenue. Our boat held about 60 guests (and 10 tanned and muscly crew). After an hour cruise out to the reef, we all donned wetsuits, finns and snorkels to play in the "garden" for many hours. It was so beautiful and peaceful to float amongst multi-coloured fish and beautiful coral - the designs and colours were inspiring.

Shwin, who is the most serious and organized 19-year-old I've met, wanted to experience Cairns nightlife in a serious way. So, like a drill sergeant, he marched our crew from bar to bar ("Only one drink because we have to move on!") until we had toured every major place in Cairns. Not bad for a Sunday night.

After all those tours, I was happy to sleep in this morning and spend an organic day wandering the streets of Cairns and then renting a car with Corey and Shwin to visit Port Douglas in the afternoon. They were so happy that I'm over 25 - a cheaper rental. I drove in Australia for the first time and managed pretty well on the other side of the road (aided by a whole lotta back-seat driving). The road to Port Douglas winds along the coast with blue blue ocean on one side and rainforest on the other.

Port Douglas was a much slower pace than Cairns. On Four Mile Beach, we played in the water and the boys buried me in the hot sand. Later, we walked into town and found that "Douggie" is the kind of place where neither shirts nor shoes are required to get service at a restaurant. We had drinks at Soul'n'Pepper on a lovely terrace near the Yacht Club. A boy at the end of the pier caught an eel which wriggled off the hook while the boy called for his dad to come help him. Down at the St. Mary's church, which is supposed to have a two-year waiting list for marriages, a happy couple tied the knot on a sunny Monday afternoon. We finished the day by hiking up to the lookout for a lovely sunset view of the coast.

I'm now back in Cairns, waiting to board the night bus to Airlie Beach. In the meantime, I'm going to check out the night markets and maybe get a cheap massage from one of the dozen massage stalls. More news to follow...lots of love to everyone back home.