Holy mother - that's a big fish!

So, the last time we heard from our intrepid traveller, she was standing in
the flat forever-land in the centre of the Australian outback....

...and hadn't gotten enough of it yet. I think I found the only coach that
does a three-day dirt-road trip between Alice Springs (in the Centre) and
Cairns, at the top of the East Coast instead of flying. It was fantastic! If
I thought I had seen the outback already - I was mistaken. We didn't see a
sealed road until the afteroon of the last day. We would drive for over
250km without seeing a single homestead. Our toilets were bushes (Ladies
right and gents left - if we found a place that had enough bush to actually
hide behind). If I thought Coober Pedy was barren, we stopped at one section
just past the Queensland border where it was just dirt and dust for as far
as the eye can see - it's truly spectacular.

The first night, we stayed at a cattle station (read: Ranch for us
N.American types) which - no funning - was roughly the size of Belgium.
Dinner was stew cooked in a massive cast-iron pot over the fire, with two
pet (rescued) kangaroos hanging out near the flames for heat, an entire
litter of puppies, and some ducks. Nothing like watching a woman trying to
bottle feet a 3 foot red kangaroo... it's hilarious.

After a overnight in Cairns, I scooted down the coast to Townsville to join
a friend from work, and a pack of his buddies for a 3-day live-aboard dive
trip of the Great Barrier Reef. My work mate is a PADI dive instructor, so
for my last month in Sydney, we were diving every weekend in Sydney Haqrbour
to get me qualified for this trip. Boy am I glad I did!

The trip's highlight was a 30m dive on the final day down to the wreck of
the Yongala, considered the best dive in Australia and one of the best in
the world. (oh, and we dove the Barrier reef too...). The weather was
kicking it up something mighty - we steamed all night out to the reef. Being
such an exposed site, the Yongala wreck cannot be accessed in bad weather,
and the forecast wasn't getting any better. So, our captain moved up the
Yongala dive to the first dive we did (which is a good thing too - the dive
after of us was canceled for bad weather). AHHH! The fifth and sixth dive of
my entire life is getting into the water in 3m swell, with 1/2 the crew and
90% of the divers getting seasick over the side, and a wreck dive - and I
haven't been below 8m.

Thank heavens once we got under the waves - it was calm, no current at all -
and beautiful. It was almost a shame to dive the Yongala first, because even
the Great Barrier paled in comparison. We saw giant rays, Queensland
groupers about the size and girth of your average hockey bag, white-tip
sharks, heaps of fish and spectacular corals. Huge cod, sea snakes... I
mean everything on this dive was like regular marine life on steriods. It's
hard to believe how massive and abundant the fish were.

Once we got over the seas sickness, we dived a few of the other fantastic
reefs in the Great Barrier, including an unintention drift dive (uh...
current? there isn't supposed to be a current here..) and an eerie and
wonderful night dive. It's a whole different world down there when the
lights go out, and you can see the glow sticks and flashing beams of the
other divers in the water, the phosphoresence as you swim, and the moonlight
reflecting under the water. Talk about a highlight!

Bloody hell - I think I have discovered a new and expensive sport to fall in
love with :-)