A preview of what's to come

Aussie slang word of the day is...

Servo: Gas station

Tonight at 9:50 pm our plane takes off and our Christmas adventure in Cairns begins. I thought I would give you a little preview of what's to come in the next week. Yesterday we got a message from our travel agent in Cairns letting us know that our 4 day live aboard scuba diving trip to the Great Barrier Reef had been canceled. Apparently not enough people had signed up for the excursion so they had to cancel. However, due to the inconvenience they offered to upgrade us to the 5 day Great Barrier Reef trip as well as upgrade us to a suite, that leaves on Christmas Eve (originally we were leaving the 28th). Our travel agent had to move our schedule around a bit so that we were still able to do the white water rafting, sky diving and rain forest tour when we get off the boat. But luckily it worked out and is now is better than originally planned! The 5 day trip consists of 14 dives, typically 4 dives a day, with some night dives... which i'm freaking out about. Dark water is not my cup of tea. Who knows what's lurking below??? but i'm sure it will be really neat once I get over it. We get to go out to Osprey Reef in the coral sea, and "The Cod Hole" in the northern Great Barrier Reef. Typical wildlife encounters include pelagic fish, manta rays, giant Australian cuttlefish, loggerhead, green turtles, moray eels (yuk), red flame file shell, lionfish, various nudibranchs (what they crap is that?!?) and giant potato cod. I have no idea what most of these things are, but i'm excited to find out!

Giant Cod fish

On Sunday (Dec. 26th) (Heather and Michelle get ready for this....) we will get to watch a shark feeding frenzy. Yikes! Brandon is super stoked about this, as for me to be honest i'm slightly petrified at the thought. Luckily we are watching from a far and won't be in on the action ... but still we are out in the open unprotected and there is no cage involved. Brandon keeps reassuring me that people do this all the time and no one has died yet, so I guess let's just hope that these vicious creatures are content with the meal provided and don't come looking for more?!? Also I'll make sure to not make any sudden seal like movements to attract attention. haha

To check out our diving schedule and see more pictures click on the link: Taka Dive

Once we get off the boat we will be doing a relaxing rain forest tour to the Daintree rain forest. I am really looking forward to this and have heard it is absolutely amazing! The rain forest tour also includes croc spotting and watching a live crocodile attack show. Anyone who knows me well, knows that i'm terrified of crocodiles (a strange fear having lived in utah my entire life up until now)... something about watching a rescue show when I was little, about a boy being attacked by an alligator or crocodile, left me scared for life. So I will be facing my fears head on and get to see wild crocodiles up close and personal. Crikey!

The next day we are off to go white water rafting. Awesome.

Then our final day we will go out with a bang by skydiving from 14,000 feet! aye carumba! Don't worry I am flying tandem with someone experienced, so if by chance I pass out the parachute will still open. ;)

Can't wait for our amazing adventure. However we will be missing our amazing families like crazy! Love you guys so much.

Merry Christmas everyone! Lots of pictures to come when we get back. :) xx