Leaving on a jet plane

Tomorrow is the day all of this excitment ends. We get on a plane at 2:45 and head back to the US. We land in San Francisco at 11:00 AM on the same day which is kind of funny. Then we land in Seattle at 3:00 pm. It's a long trip but it will feel really good to land in Seattle at the end of it.

This has just been quite the trip. We have learned so much about each other and traveling and the world in general. We both have mixed emotions about leaving. We are excited to go home and get back to a semi-normal routine, but at the same time it is sad to think about going back to normalicy when the last month has held so much excitement and adventure.

Thanks for all of your prayers over the last month. We would love some more as we get ready for the long trip home. We can't wait to get together with everyone and show you all of our pictures and tell you more stories. Talk to you all soon!!

The Reef

Hi! We are back in Cairns after 3 days aboard a beautiful ship on the reef!! The weather was a little disappointing. It was really windy and we weren't able to move around on the reef at all, which is one of the things we were most excited about. However, it was still beautiful and pretty amazing. We got to meet up with Nemo :) That was pretty cool! We also saw some turtles, unfortunately it was when we didn't have the camera with us. The staff on the boat was great and friendly. They offered us an opportunity to stay on the ship and help out with a few things to earn more dives for free. That would have been awesome, but we already paid for our place back in Cairns. Next time we come though we will definitely have to do that!

Our next few days are pretty relaxed. We are going to take a little trip to Kurranda - which is in the rainforest and just a beautiful place to see. We are also going to do the jungle swing at AJ Hackett this weekend probably. We can't believe our trip is almost over! A week from today we will be home! GEESH! Anyway, thanks for keeping tabs on us. :)

Cairns

One word for this picture....LOST

We have really been enjoying the beach. As you can see the beach is extremely crowded :) Tomorrow we leave for the reef and whenwe get back our trip will be almost over :( Thanks for all of your prayers and support during our trip!

Here is a zoo pic :) We are in Cairns enjoying the sunshine now. It is beautiful and the two days that we have been here have been spent at the beach. The water is nice and cool (well warm compared to the water in the northwest) and the sand is soft. We are so glad to be spending our last couple of weeks up here. It is lush and tropical and just fun! YAY! We head out to the Reef on Tuesday morning and are spending two nights out on the water! YAY! We will be back Thursday night and yes, Dad, we will call you as soon as we get back :) Or how about the next morning seeing as you will probably be asleep when we get home. LOVE YOU! We will post a couple more pictures tomorrow of the Cairns area!

STORM

The picture says it all folks.

Well our quest for sunshine has fallen short. Right now the winds are blowing and the rain is pouring and well, we are just wet. We went to the zoo yesterday despite the rainy morning we woke up to. It was a two hour bus ride but definitely worth it. We got to chill with Kangaroos, hold Koalas and see a ton of Crocs. It's a pretty sweet Zoo if you ever get the chance to come here. Although it was kind of sad because Steve Irwin wasn't there. The last time Tom came here he got to see Steve do the show in the Crocoseum. It didn't quite have the same feeling as it did a couple of years ago. However his legand lives on and the zoo is still an amazing place to visit. Now we are just kind of hiding out from the rain, looking around at some shops and just relaxing. The beach is still beautiful and even though we got soaked without touching the ocean, the sand was still extremely soft and was still fun to play on! We will post some pictures next time. TTFN

Here are Tom and Lauren by the Opera House. It is pretty darn huge and its not actually as white as it looks. It is the whitest at sunset with the reflection of the sun. It is also not one big building...it is in separate pieces...you can kind of see that here. Anyway we went and hung out here a few days ago. It is pretty sweet. We were going to go see an Opera but it was quite expensive. Dad(Mark) and Crosswordians we thought of you though...they are doing "A Streetcar Named Desire" the Opera. I bet it is amazing.

Today we went on an adventure to Olympic Park. It was quite a hike, but when we got there it was pretty spectacular. It is just huge. We took a water taxi which was really fun. It is just like a bus on water. It stops and picks up people along the way. Even though the weather was cold and rainy, it was still fun being on the water. We also went to the Aquarium. It was the perfect rainy day activity. :)

Tomorrow morning bright and early we leave for Surfers Paradise. We are staying there as we explore Brisbane and the surrounding areas. The weather should be warmer and the beaches more inviting. Hopefully our next pictures will be with only one layer of clothing and minus our fleece jackets. :)