Death Trap

Australia is a varied landscape with a multitude of cultures, cuisine, and ways to die a horrible death. The list of reptilians, arachnids, fish, mollusks and unclassifiable living creatures that can impale, cripple, maim and if your very lucky kill you instantly is long and bewildering. The guide books and tour guides always make it a point to state that the odds of death from each of these critters is incredibly small. But they fail to point out that the aggregate total of these statistics leaves the average tourist with a 78.3% chance of death and of course the odds go up the longer you stay. I would imagine we would be much safer joining an East LA gang then traveling to Australia, but it wouldn't be as fun. If you do happen to survive the gauntlet of death that is Australia you are left with memories of amazing beaches, friendly people, warm clear blue water and history that is not to dissimilar from the United States.

We recently returned from a road trip up the Northern Part of the Queensland coast. We got lucky with the weather and had some partly cloudy days which is preferential over clear days. If the sky is perfectly clear it allows the sun to bring the temperatures into the 90-105 range. Australia is also directly below the hole in the ozone layer so severe burning and sunstroke is not uncommom. (add that to the list of ways to become injured/ die). We even saw the following animals: Kangaroo, Snake, Jack Rabbit, and 2 crocodiles. Of course we only saw them as road kill. No live animals as of yet.

We took a 2 hour boat trip out from the Town of 1770 to the southern great barrier reef island and cay of Lady Musgrave. Do a google image search of Lady Musgrave and I'm sure you will see some excellent photos. But in reality photos don't do it justice. Absolutely beautiful waters. Deep blue of the ocean next to the orange, purples, reds etc. of the reef, then the light blues of the shallow lagoon. Throw in a tiny island made of coral with green foliage and you have an area that Bill Gates could make into a computer background picture. Part of our day trip to the reef included a full day of snorkeling/ swimming amoungst the corral and fish as well as a trip and guided walk amoungst the small island. Our guide on the island walk warned us not to pick up any shells or anything for that matter since the island was inhabited by a small creature that lives out of the water amoungst the coral debris and whos bite is 100% fatal. Needless to say we didnt touch a thing. This tiny island is also inhabitated by 20,000 birds. The birds are everywhere. Heather was lucky and only got crapped on once. I took a hit on my leg and top of my head. Fortunately I was wearing a hat. Overall the trip to the reef was totally awesome and worth all the effort (even watching the 6 or so people vomit on the way out.) It really is one of the wonders of the world.

After our big adventure at sea we made our way back down the coast of Queensland and are now back in Brisbane. We are using my cousin Lisa's house as our base and taking trips from here. We will eventually move on to the southern Part of Australia out of Queensland and into New South Wales staying along the coast and ending in Sydney for our flight to Bangkok on the 25th. For the next few days or so we will be keeping a low profile in Brisbane and I can guarnantee we will watch our step. We are actually looking forward to the relative safety of the Cambodian minefields.