Exploring OZ: Part 2: Andy in the city and on land in Cairns

Sorry Part 2 has taken a bit of time to complete. This past week was busy as ever and then I had to compile all of our pictures that were taken in Cairns and in Sydney. Andy had a whirlwind trip to Sydney and spent the majority of his time up north diving. However, I managed to show him all the important parts in 3 days, which was pretty impressive on my part. Of course I would have loved to show him more but he had to leave and go back to work. He arrived early on a Saturday and after we dropped his bags off at my apartment we got going! We spent Saturday and Sunday seeing sites, shopping for his souvenirs, going to church, and catching up on jet lag. On Monday I took him up to the Blue Mountains with my roommate and we did abseiling (which is the same as rappelling) and canyoning. Canyoning was really fun and I know that all of us would have loved to keep going. At the end of the canyon we abseiled down the waterfall.

Gotta get the "I'm in Sydney with the Opera House" picture

On Sunday we did the Bridge Climb and this was taken as we were getting briefed. I totally recommend this even though its a bit pricey. We got to explore the bridge for 3 hours and learned about the history behind the bridge plus see all of Sydney. Really fun. Even Andy who was a little skeptical at first was totally into it!

This is taken in the Blue Mountains.

On the Canyoning portion of the day. We started at the calm part and worked our way towards the waterfall. On our way we jumped in like 5 pools and trekked through the water. It wasn't all as deep as this but it gives you an idea. And yes, it was cold.

I think this is Andy coming down the waterfall. Not the easiest thing to do since its a waterfall and it was pelting down on us. I thought it was funny that they asked for people to do the morning portion which is just abseiling. It is nothing like what we did in the afternoon. First of all, you are on dry land and in complete control. Coming down the waterfall I kept slipping and then banging my side into the rocks in a position they showed us. It may not sound like it, but we had so much fun and wished we could keep going.

Oh, I loved this picture of us. I'm bringing up a few from on land in Cairns now but this picture was taken on our last night on the boat. Notice Andy's new shirt. We had so much fun diving and I just loved being able to do it together. I'm trying to see how we can get Timmy on board with this now too. Diving is just too much fun!

The night we got off the boat our crew had planned for us to all have dinner and drinks together. It was so much fun to see everyone in normal clothes and just talk about what we were able to do and see out on the reef. Dave, our dive master, asked for 8 dollars from each person, no questions asked. So, all of us being so trusting forked over 8 dollars and waited for our surprise. This was what he came up with... the longest train of Jagger bombs that anyone had ever seen. He easily had 40 made and they were set up like dominoes so that when one shot was hit it hit the next and went down the row,each landing in the glass. It was a fun way to spend our last night in Cairns and with all of our new friends. Randomly, my dive buddy Lisa, is here in Sydney for a few weeks so we have gotten to hang out a few times already. We are looking forward to planning a few boat dives soon before each of us leave.