This is me sitting 140 metres above the ground, steeling myself to jump. this was actually the scariest part, cause the chair tipped backwards and you felt as though you were falling out that door behind me...

if there's one thing you should do in australia...

it's the uncle brain tour in cairns. one day of being a kid again. seriously. you play in waterfalls, see the rainforest, eat lots of chocolate, get fed home made meals, play games on the bus, sing at the top of your lungs, and SOO SOO much more. one of the best things i've done here in Oz. our tour guide (cousin paul) was absolutely hilarious, joking around the WHOLE time. i swear i almost got a six pack from laughing so much on this trip (covered by a nice layer of cushiony goodness, of course). we rode gus the bus who had an awesome personality (and a girlfriend..a hot milk truck named volvina, and an ambulance (vanessa) lusting after him...who sends him love letters), and even got to see wild platypus...oh, and did wine tasting (not a fan of chocolate wine...). jumped off a cliff into beautiful water, swam through waterfalls....it was wonderful. then, went out afterwards with the people from my group and had a great time at the bar. awesome day. time to leave cairns though, i'm starting to know too many people here, i've been here too long...off to magnetic island tomorrow!

denise, monica, and andre and i standing in a typical setting in new zealand

booyah.

the platform i jumped from into the canyon...had to take a gondola to get to it...

coconuts on the trees

alright. where was i last? new zealand...lovely lovely new zealand. okay...hmmmm....since then i have traveled up the coast to sunny cairns, where the beach is made of mud and the town is full of backpackers. a nice place to meet new people...the first night i got in me and the guy sitting beside me on the plane (dan), walked around the city for 2 hours with our packs looking for a place to stay (didn't book ahead...bad kim). finally found a lodge where we stayed for a night with two other guys who also hadn't planned ahead....nice bed though :) had a farewell drink with tom (who had a 30 hour train ride ahead of him), and lay on the median for a while chilling out. a good place to talk, let me tell yah. met meike the next day and went to a reef talk, by paddy o' something...the irish are crazy, and irish marine biologists even crazier. he was the most animated person i've ever met...sometimes to the point where i couldn't even listen to what he was talking about and just watched him jump around and hit things. chilled out with dan and our other roomate, amir from isreal. played some cards, talked (pop quiz alanna...what does it mean if someone british says i'm on the apples?, or let's have a butcher?) meike and i went to the daintree rainforest (cape tribulation) for a couple days, and sadly, it rained the WHOLE TIME. so, instead of getting all our clothes wet, we just walked around in our bikinis while everyone around us were wearing rainjackets and layers and hats and stuff. had some fun playing on the beach, had a mudfight in the ocean, watched crabs catapult little balls of sand from their holes, saw a flat frog, a feral pig...and then found out later that day that we were playing in crocodile territory. we weren't in much danger, since people walk to the swimming hole all the time...but still.... also went to a exotic fruit eating, love soursop and custard apples, opened some coconuts (well, meike did),went on a crocodile tour (say one croc and some snakes). met some cool people, had drinks with a south african fellow from the navy (liked to call people "pork chops"...hahah), a couple scottish girls. after those two days i headed off to port douglas, a lovely town that i would like to revisit someday. went on a dive tour, and a few minutes after takeoff in the boat, people started throwing up cause it was crazy wavy. luckily, i overdosed myself on motion sickness pills and was totally fine...for the first time in my life! i was so proud of myself :) the diving was okay, but not great visibility cause it had been raining and was really windy, and didn't really get a chance to see anything new...saw some sharks, cuttlefish, etc. meh. not as cool as tom...he got to dive with whales! awesome. should've dished out the extra 600 dollars....anyways, i'm back in cairns now and today i will plan the rest of my weeks..or at least tomorrow :) i'm not sure how to get pictures posted on here without the Hello program, so you may have to wait until i get back into syd, in two or three weeks...sorry guys!
piece of advice: try and do something new everyday. and keep me posted :)

kim

country music capital and sheep and kiwis

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD.....how old are you now,....30?

for my dad's birthday i threw myself headfirst into a 143m canyon. don't worry dad..i'm being safe. my legs were tied to a cord. it's all good.
new zealand is AMAZING. soooo gorgeous...we drive through and are surrounded by huge snow capped mountains and waterfalls every day. i'm currently in queenstown, adrenaline capital of the world....i've been on a tour traveling through new zealand....seen some pretty amazing things. no penguins yet though laura....i think yesterday may have been my last hope :( climbed fox glacier a couple days ago...got crampons (the pokey things on the bottom of your boots) and everything...even managed to not stab myself in the leg! did a short walk through the rainforest and saw glowworms (who are really just fly larvae that don't have waste holes, so they have to break it down inside them...and then when they turn into flies they don't have mouths, and eventually just get eaten by their own larvae....kinda makes you wonder what the point of them are...)
last week i was in tamworth (country music capital) at unigames, where my volleyball team (sydney uni) won first (woot!). slept in tents cause all the motels were booked out...it was pretty damn cold (5degrees each night), but luckily we spent lots of time in warm pubs :) it was one big party...got to see Thirsty Merc play, an awesome australian band who i gather are getting bigger...great concert, rocked out right at the front...

awesome pics to come soon.

love,
kim