Cairns

After been in Brissy for too long, not finding any work that suits me, it was time to move along.  The trip went from Brissy to Cairns, in one haul. We were so lucky to get a ride with this guy named Jack. We were a total of three drivers, and four passengers. I'm travelling with a friend, she’s been here for a foreign exchange student in Brissy. The ride took around 22 hours, including stops. The road to Cairns is much like the E6 in Norway. A lot of single lane, it’s quite different from the city and suburbs of Brissy that has dual lane (or more) almost everywhere.

The 4^th passenger was a Kiwi/Egyptian, and a former drug dealer in Melbourne. Crazy guy! They (Jack and this guy) were heading up to Cairns for the Solar Eclipse festival. Around 7000 people was to gather at this festival, which I was told was in the middle of nowhere. I got a couple of good shots of the partial eclipse, however some clouds were in the way when the total eclipse occurred.  But it was still amazing. Within a few seconds daytime became night-time and the animals (birds) were pretty confused. The total eclipse lasted for around two minutes.

Twilight occurred during the Total Eclipse.

Partial of the Solar Eclipse

The partial of the Solar Eclipse.

Solar Eclipse starting to hide behind clouds.

We spent three days and two nights in Cairns. We booked a Skydive for the last day. The skydive was from 14.000 feet, and gives you around 50 seconds of free fall.  The feeling when you get out of the plane and start falling is amazing! Going toward the door of the plane you don’t have time to get scared. The jump just happened so suddenly and you are free falling. Screaming might help for your own mental state, but no one can hear you. It’s an adrenaline rush from another world. Then everything stops for a while as the parachute opens and you soar down and can enjoy the scenery.  The landing was also interesting, a few steep turns in the end before we landed and we dropped quite fast toward the drop zone. I’m here in one piece, which is awesome. When I get back to Norway I might try skydiving on my own. Although I don’t think you are dropped from 14000 feet in Norway, it still will be an experience.   I might also do another skydive when I’m here in Australia, cause that was just an awesome experience!

So now we are on the way to Airlie Beach to do a 2Day 2 Night boat trip in the withsundays. We are riding the Grayhound Bus, what is kinda funny is that the bus is red. So one night in Airlie Beach and then off to the ocean with snorkeling on the reef.