Where has the time gone?

Yes. I'm sorry. I've been away. It's been a very busy few weeks. I've been having quite the adventure. Nothing has gone as planned - and I had only planned one thing. I'll do my best to fill you in. And please forgive my spelling. My screen is in Thai and I can't figure out which word says spell check. :)

So I left you at Melbourne on my way to Cairns for the dive trip. I spent half a day in the little beach town before my five-day learn to dive trip started. I was both anxious and excited and little bit nervous. I had actually already been certified once before - about nine years ago back in college. I was nervous back then too. I guess it's the hypochondriac in me. Always worried about the worst case scenerio, which in diving, there are a few. One big one being that your lungs explode if you ascend too fast. Okay, they don't really explode. But they'll rip or tear or burst. Take your pick. The air you breathe in at lower depths expands as you rise. So if you don't take your time as you come up and be sure to breathe out the whole way, well, the air will expand larger than you have room and your lungs will no longer work properly. And as I said, I tend to worry about these types of things. It's just my nature. If there's a terrible, incurable, random disease or problem to have happen, I'm just sure it'll happen to me. I've always been that way. I used to be much worse actually. Until a horrible, random thing did happen. Several years back, not too long after I was certified the first time, I got a pulmonary embolism. A blood clot in the lung. Now this was so random and rare for someone my age, I didn't even know it was something I could worry about. It's quite serious and I've been told I was very lucky to get though it. Apparently, the outcome is often grim. The cause of this PE, as the doctors called it, was a mystery. The only conclusion they could come up with was that it was a reaction to the birth control pills I was taking at the time. A rare but serious side effect. Of course it happened to me. So anyway. You're probably wondering why I'm rambling on about my medical history. Well, because of this incident, the Australian doctor who performed our dive medicals after lunch on the first day class stamped a big, bold, black-inked "FAIL" on my medical form. "Can't let you dive," he said. "High risk of injury."

Isn't it ironic, don't you think. A three month trip, and the only plan was to go diving on the Great Barrier Reef. Oh well. So after I got over my shock, I decided to continue with the trip and down grade to a snorkeler. I won't lie. I was extremely disappointed. It was a huge bummer. I had to leave the class with an extra day and a half in Cairns, a town I had already had enough of. I mean, it's fine but if you've ever been to Ft. Lauderdale, you've been to Cairns. And walking around was just pouring salt in the wound. Every two feet there was a billboard with happy people diving on the reef. I had to get out. I walked into the closest tourist office covered in brochures and asked, "why do people come to Cairns?" I already knew the answer. "Other than diving, I mean." I walked out booked on a day trip to Kurranda, a little village in the rainforest, and the other reason people go to Cairns.

My day in the rainforest was lovely. I took the skyrail up to Kurranda. It's a mall Aboriginal village. At least it was at one time. It's pretty touristy now. But it's still nice. The weather was beautiful and I took my time wandering around. There was even a little petting zoo type thing where I decided to do what one must do when in Australia - pose with a koala. I don't regret it. He was pretty cute. I've heard they're grumpy and smell bad. But the guy I held was way chill and smelled kinda good. Like eucalyptus. So then I had a delicious lunch and took a scenic train ride back to Cairns. It was a good day.

I'm so glad I decided to continue with the dive trip. I had a fantastic time. If you ever have the opportunity to dive/snorkel in Cairns or Sydney I highly recommend ProDive. They're great. Totally professional, but they have fun and make the entire trip entertaining. I think I got lucky with the group on the boat as well. A good mix of people. Everyone was into it, got along and we all had a bunch to talk about. I think just about every continent was represented. A great group.

And the snorkeling was amazing. I ended up having more time in the water than I would have had diving, and I saw everything. Just about every time I went out I saw a shark. A little reef shark, but still. It makes you pause. Giant turtles - they're fascinating to watch. Tons of bright colored fish. Purples, blues, bright yellow and orange. So beautiful. Shane, the skipper on the boat, was kind enough to give me a little tour around one of the dive spots. He pointed out a ton of stuff I wouldn't notice or otherwise wouldn't see on my own. He found Nemo. And I felt the sticky sting of Nemo's house. What’s it called, the anemia? Anyway. I loved it. The whole trip was so fun, and not at all disappointing. I couldn’t have planned it better.