Hairy Mary on the Sugar Cane

530pm Sunday, got into Innisfail with Ross and Lisa today about 2pm and have just been chilling out. They have a beautiful bit of property surrounded by sugar cane. Just had a chat with my Dad on the phone and he warned me not to go walking through the sugar cane as nasty beasties live in there - I mentioned this to Lisa, and she said that not only are there nasty beasties, there is "hairy mary" on the sugar cane which sticks in your skin like fibre glass! Yuck! I happened upon a really cute little bird while looking from my hotel balcony yesterday - it's called a Willy Wag Tail! Pictured above. They land, and swish/wag their long tails around and just look so funny and adorable! Also pictured above: those prehistoric birds/bats I saw flying around outside the hotel - they're actually called fruit bats, or flying foxes and they're everywhere! You must be careful walking under their trees!

This morning we had to check out from the hotel, so I did a complete pack up of my pack. Everything sort of fit... which is pretty surprising since I thought I did such a good job packing things and not bringing too much! Ah well - I'll have to toss some stuff when I get to Bali and buy new things... starting fresh, right Nettie? :) I'm holding off on buying anything till Bali because it'll be so much cheaper there.

So my plan of action for the next little while: In Innisfail for a week or so, and this weekend Lisa, Ross and I are going to Cape Tribulation for some Jungle Surfing and seeing what the Daintree Coast has to offer. Jungle Surfing is pretty much zip lining through the rainforest but just a way cooler name! On their way back to Innisfail, they'll drop me back off in Cairns and I'll get set up to get my scuba diving certificate. I'm planning on doing my open water and advanced all at once to save a bit of money down the road, and become a stronger diver right off the hop. It's a 6 day course - 2 days in the classroom and the pool, then 4 days 3 nights out on the great barrier reef living on a boat and doing a total of 13 dives to achieve my advanced certification. Little nervous, but sooo excited to do this! Then I'll chill out for a few days in Cairns before I fly out to Indonesia for a week in Tembagapura. Tembagapura is where Gordon is living and working. It's an 18min helicopter ride to get there from Timika where I will initally land. The chopper holds 25 people so it's huge! The scenery will be amazing - think, Jurassic park. He has a friend from Chile there who teaches Latino dancing so I'll definately be spending some time with her! After a week in Tembagapura, I'll be flying to Bali with Gordon for 4 days or so before heading back to Australia, landing in Darwin. Gordon tells me the country side between Darwin and Broome (the Kimberly area) is absolutely beautiful, so I'll try and arrange some coach or 4x4 trip to get from Darwin to Broome and take in the sights. After that I'm not sure, but this should take me until the beginning of May sometime, so I'll figure out my next move after that. Continue heading down the west coast I imagine...

Tomorrow we're going to head into town so I can open up my bank account and get rolling on that. I've got to sort out my tax file number too for when I get a job. All in good time! :)

Here's a link to my first set of pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=297401&id=511839756&l=a98d51a434