As much as I need a shower...
- joyclaypoole
- Apr 3, 2016
- 2 min read
As much as I need a shower after traveling a new country... I'm hesitant to wash off the salt and sun.
The TSA Security man asked me if I had been to the beach. I guess he saw the sand still on my feet. I'm hoping the scanner didn't show him that it was still imbedded in my scalp as well!
(Keep in mind I grew up at the beach and never want to leave the beach. Solution- carry it with you).
I appropriately spent Easter weekend hoping over the ocean to a land of hoping animals - kangaroos!! I left the land of sheep (NZ), with my flatmate Katherine (who also goes to school in the land of cows - MN) and we joined the land of kangaroos, and koalas, for our mid semester break! Joy was seeking the joeys (baby kangas!) and Katherine was seeking the koalas.
Easter day was spent in Cairns, a tropical paradise with mango, passionfruit, pitaya, monkey banana, pineapple, coconuts, papaya, avocados and a whole bunch of fruit I hadn't heard of, but of course tried and loved! More to come on this later.
Side note: pronunciation of 'Cairns' is "cans". Don't be a tourist.
5+ days filled of waterfalls, beaches, THE GREAT BARRIER REEF, lagoons, private small islands, island summits/runs/bouldering, and adventures off the beaten path. Cairns treated us well, we got great tan lines and enjoyed Tropical North Queensland to its maximal potential!
The next 2+ days were spent in Sydney, because who doesn't have a hankering to know what all the fuss about the Sydney Opera House and Bridge is all about. You can't tell me you wouldn't dream about seeing fireworks behind the Opera house by night, while standing on the bridge?? Pretty cool dream, that came true thanks to luck/chance/timing/good karma/coincidence.... what ever you want to call it!
Sydney had it's way with Katherine and I, neither of us enjoy cities too much. We made flight plans so that we were there only for a few days and we enjoyed it as much as we needed to, for us! Many people from Sydney will tell you that the best part of the city is the harbor. We took the ferries through the harbor multiple days and went to other areas where you could find...... THE BEACH!!!!!!! The waves, the sand and the sun felt so much like Hawai'i!! Yes, I am incredibly blessed to call that place home, but it's more than a tourist destination to me, it's HOME. It's the environment where I relax and am at peace in. And I found that same warm, blue water and soft sand at the beaches near Sydney... happy girl!!
So much more to share about this trip, I'm putting together a CREATIVE post for you all to read soon (more than just colors and fonts!). I'll have more photos from the trip then too! I have a couple hundred too many on my Go Pro from the Great Barrier Reef.... But hey, if you had a water proof camera, would you not point and shoot as much as you can while you're scuba diving with sharks, turtles, seven foot pettable fish, nemos and jellyfish???
Stay tuned!
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