You Get Coozies in Queensland, Australia

Dear Reader,

I have been remiss in not mentioning anything about our fabulous trip to Australia in 2007. It was a marvel, a true adventure experience. In fact, it's too much to talk about in just one blog so I will attempt to talk about it a bit at a time.

It was a trip of a lifetime, almost a month in Australia, including a live aboard dive boat out of Cairns onto the Great Barrier Reef. The diving was spectacular. I saw creatures there I have never seen anywhere else before such as the giant clam, several poisonous sea snakes, tons and tons of lion fish, electric eels, just to mention a few. On one dive I was followed around by a reef shark. I've seen plenty of reef sharks in the past but never have been followed by one before. This one was right behind me every time I looked around. That was scary. It was about 6 feet long and really seemed interested in me.

The diving off our live aboard was very advanced. Often we had a huge current and the boat was spinning around so when we jumped off, often we couldn't find anyone else or follow the route we were supposed to take. On one occassion we had to surface because we got lost and then were towed to the dive site by a rope attached to the back of a rubber raft. The waves were so large that I was bouncing around literally spinning like a top. This was a first for me. And we are Master Scuba Divers so all I can say is beware if you are not that experienced, don't go diving in Australia. Not until you have some serious diving under your belt.

I would recommend the live aboard experience though. The ship was really nice. The crew was even better and the food fantastic. Unfortunately, the company, Explorer Ventures, sold their Australia boat so I cannot recommend them to anyone. However, they do have lots of other diving in other parts of the world. Check out my website to see what they offer: www. cruisefantastic.com.

When we first arrived in Queensland, Australia it was unbelieveably hot. It was January, which is summertime in Australia, but I'm telling you I've never been so hot in my life! I live in Sacramento, California which has temperatures well over 100 degrees in the summer but that's nothing compared to Queensland. I've been to many tropical places which have intense humidty such as Honduras and Belize and Venezuela but none of them prepared me for Queensland. I've even been to New Orleans in the summer, which is living hell, with temperatures reaching 100 degrees and 100 percent humidity and still never felt as hot as I was in Queensland, Australia. I honestly don't know how people can live there in the summer.

We had booked an apartment in Yorkey's Knobb which is on the northern beaches just above Cairns,  for four days prior to our live aboard experience, so we could do some exploring. It was a modest place reminding me of the old time motor motels here in California with the lawn and the swimming pool. By the time we got to the apartment from the airport via taxi I was drenched. When I saw the swimming pool all I could think of was jumping in and cooling off so as soon as we unpacked I suggested we get into our swimsuits and do just that. So with swimsuites donned we ran to the pool and jumped in. What a shock. It had to be over 100 degrees. It was hotter than our spa. Obviously, there was no refreshment in swimming so we went back to our apartment and chilled out under the three fans with the air-conditioner blowing full blast. At least we had that, though the bathroom had no air and was very hot.

That first night we walked a couple of blocks to the neighborhood restaurant, The Crocodile, and ate dinner. When we ordered beers I was amused that they came in cans and the cans were in coozies. But within 10 minutes I realized why. Even with the coozies if you don't drink your beer down fast they get hot. So that was a real eye-opener. Everywhere we went in Queensland it was the same. You get your beer in a coozie and you can take it with you outside or just about anywhere.

At lease the Australians appreciate the value of an ice cold beer! Something they could share with their English ancestors if they dared. I did like the beer in Australia and really appreciated the fact that they care about keeping them cold. After the first few days we bought our own coozies so we could drink cold beer all of the time. What a clever invention!

Another Shout Mate!