Saturday, January 07, 2006

No Tree in Middle-earth

or should I say New Zealand, can hold a candle to the LOTRificness of the trees in the Daintree rainforest up in Cape Tribulation where Greg and I were attacked by leeches.
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A baby wallaby rescued and reared by the campground owners when its mother died. There was a donation jar that looked like it had been donated to generously for the care of the animal which is hopefully going to be put back into the wild again.
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The oh so inviting and oh so deadly beach on the way up to Cape Trib. During the summer months, all the beaches on the northern half of the Australian coast are unsiwmmable except in tiny little enclosures made of netting to keep the deadly box jelly fishes out (ala the ones in "Finding Nemo")
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I'm sick (just a chest cold that keeps me from able to do anything) and don't feel like writing a blog so this blog is likely to be sub par. The leeches were bloody tenacious. Halfway up the treacherous Mount Sorrow trail suddenly the leeches were causing me to do a panicked version of twist and shout. We had to pry them off with our fingers and though they were just little ones they put up an impossible fight for their size. If it wasn't bad enough these leeches had to be tended to every minute, you could barely find your way through the rainforest because the trail was basically non-existent except for a few orange markings you had to keep a look out for. Furthermore, it had to be the steepest mountain I've ever climbed. Here is the damage the leeches did to an already existing cut on my ankle from the cheap sandles I bought that had been ripping up my feet.

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We were gonna sleep under the stars on the beach at a secluded campground up in Cape Trib (northeastern Australia on the coast in the rainforest) but as we were lying in the hammocks dozing in and out of sleep trying to fight off thoughts of the resident crocadile roaming about or the surprising statistic that coconuts falling on peoples' heads kill more people than croc or shark attacks we heard a giant crack of a cocunut falling from above and decided to sleep in the tent we had already erected.

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Me just cruisy in the back of an old '76 VW bus on the way down to Airlee Beach where I am currently awaiting my chest cold to vacate my rattled body. Takin' 'er real easy for the next couple days before it's off on the next great adventure... the Whitsundays on a yacht! White silicate sands adorn the spattering of islands off the coast of this little beachside resort. I will be snorkling and maybe do an intro scuba dive to see giant sea turtles ala the ones in "Finding Nemo" and the giant deadly box jelly fish. More on all that later.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jason, Sounds like you finally hit a rough spot, but it makes for more brawn and good stories!! Not to be sexist. Let us know a bit more about who you are travelling with, looks like you hitched a ride south? And hope you feel better soon. Mom comes Friday, as well as Allie, she may come Saturday. And we get closer to the birth, I think baby may come this weekend or at least next week. Also we are expecting you to come visit us once you get back and spend Chinese New Year with us. So keep us posted about your flight etc. Love Illona

Anonymous said...

baba-booey,

aaugh, chesta fwie chicken!

looking forward to your return so i can have someone to womp with and maybe we'll make some movies and whatnot.

only thing keeping me sane is the gym. been working out like a tumbleweed just to pass the time but am getting all obssessed with it and becoming a nazi with diet.

aaugh, teh mysturee of shadowboxing!

thinking about doing hardcore boxing training, AKA "fitness boxing" wherein you train like a pro boxer but don't actually mash anyone's face in (or get your own wolloped on).

anyway, we shall see.

get well soon you scurvy manbeast.

-b