back from down under

Australia was amazing! it was amazing! let's see if I can do it justice with this post because that picture certainly doesn't. the flights were not fun. the 16 hour flight from LA to Sidney was a killer, and my legs and feet were actually seriously swollen. I will spare you the scary pictures. it was painful too, and we had to run to our flight from Sidney, which hurt like no other, and we missed our flight anyway. total travel time from Salt Lake to our hotel in Port Douglas was 30 hours! not fun. but, the good news when we got to Cairnes was this amazing bright purple Commodore that we picked up from Hertz! that, on top of learning how to drive on the wrong side of the road and wrong side of the car, attracted a lot of attention. we had fun with it. the drive along the coast, which I drove several times, was one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen. we were in North Queensland, mostly in Cairnes, Port Douglas and Palm Cove. we were a stone's throw away from the great barrier reef the daintree rain forest, and several amazing islands. our hotel was great. we stayed at the five-star sheraton mirage in Port Douglas, right on the beach, but also surrounded by beautiful pools and lagoons. we had a private dinner on a boardwalk island in the middle of the lagoons the first night, we took everyone river rafting in the rain forest the second day, we gave them plenty of free time to go to the reef, and we took them to flames of the forest for dinner the last night.
which was amazing! there was a jungle man that blew fire and led us to the dinner, amazing food, and real Aboriginees that told stories and played the Didgeridoo afterwards. It was amazing! let's see... Janiel had a gecko in her room the first day. it was cute! and it was hilarious watching the little Asian boy try to catch it! haha! ...I ate some of the BEST seafood I have ever had, and I'm not sure it can be topped. the butter fish at Salsa was to die for! I also had kangaroo, which was absolutely disgusting. tough and ridiculously gamey. oh, and vegemite? the most repulsive thing I have ever tasted. seriously folks, I almost lost my lunch. ...Aussies are some of the nicest people you will ever meet, and the way they talk is adorable! they shorten almost every word and add "y" or "ie" to the end of it. barby. sunnies. swimmies. breaky. so cute! and just so much more cheerful than the US. I spent too much money. the markets on Sunday mornings in Port Douglas are pretty great. I also bought entirely too much candy and brought it home for everyone to try, which has been fun. I love these road signs, they always made me laugh, and the top one took me forever to figure out. you get a gold star if you can. I can't wait to go again. the painfully long flights are worth it. I am still in shock about how lucky I am to have this job. there is no way I will ever be able to afford to go on my own, but if any of you can, definitely do it!