To save me some time, I'll just post the email I sent to my family.
hello everyone,
i just got home from a busy and tiring weekend. my friend from oracle, tina (who i used to work with at my firm in SF) was back for business last week. she is now the 2nd and 4th friend i've seen since i moved here. when i wanted to plan this past weekend, i just wanted to stay in sydney to watch the mardi gras parade (gay and lesbian parade which seems to be a very very big thing over here). but tina said she wanted to go to the reef coz she might not be back to australia for work. i wasn't sure i wanted to go coz i had mitch's wedding food tasting this sunday. i had to be back by sunday morning to get to the food tasting.
well, i guess you already know which decision i made. we didn't actually book our hotels, the day trip, and our flights until thurs and friday of that week. this is probably the most spontaneous trip i've ever done.
thurs night, i stayed at tina's hotel, Intercontinental. its a pretty high profiled hotel coz the previous weeks, they had guests such as harrison ford and the olsen twins staying at the hotel. that was cool. before retiring for the night, tina and i checked out the Establishment, a bar in the city, where everyone seems to go. but there were too many people so we headed to the shangri-la hotel. they had a bar on top of the hotel overlooking the city. very cool! less people and more relaxing.
the next morning, friday, i had breakfast at the lounge on top of the intercon hotel. this is a VIP lounge for those clients who have upgraded rooms. tina said, all you see are americans eating breakfast there. she was right. most of the people there were americans. anyway, the lounge also has a great view of the opera house and the harbor bridge while eating breakfast. and i get in there all for free!
so i went to work, which is literally two blocks away from the hotel. our flight was at 9pm on friday. there were actually three of us: me, tina, and aaron (also from oracle) that flew to cairns (pronounced caynes...they don't pronounce the 'R'). we got there at around 11pm. they are one hour behind. it was warm, humid, and muggy over there. it felt like i was back in hawaii again...or florida. we stayed at "The Lakes" - kindda like time share type. we got a suite in a gated community. they actually have bars and restaurants inside the gated community for the residents. i think some of the units there are actually owned and lived by the owners...and maybe some are rentals just like maui hill in hawaii.
anyway, we went to bed asap coz we had to get up early for an 8am start. next day was great barrier reef day. we went to the reef terminal in downtown. there were tons of tourist waiting to get on board. the package we got was from "passions of paradise". i would recommend this company as well as the hotel we stayed in. from the terminal to the snorkelling site was actually abt 1.5hrs away...or maybe even 2hours. first thing we did was snorkelling. yes, i'm still unsure about my swimming skills so i had a life saver to hold on to with the floating device around my waist. no melinda to snorkel with me this time. i was on my own. surprisingly, i survived without drinking too much water this time. hahhahha. the corals/reefs were beautiful. very colorful. huge corals. its a once in a lifetime experience to check out the great barrier reef.
next up was diving. i've never done this before and i got kindda worried. but to really get up close with the reef, you have to go deeper into the water. but we did some testing with the breathing on the regulator of the oxygen tank. they taught us how to blow out the water if water gets into your mouth while deep in the water. you just say "two" while breathing into the regulator. if water gets into your mask, you have to pinch in the middle of the goggles, turn your face up, then breath out. it leaves a small opening in the goggles to breath out the water. anyway, we tested all of these while in the water. by the way, i think the oxygen tank and all the gears were about as heavy as i was. i could have fallen backwards carrying that thing behind me. oh yea. while in the water, i had to hold on to the instructor the whole time coz...i don't swim. so i was in safe hands. it was really cool. i got to touch some of the reefs, i found nemo and even got to touch nemo, i saw a giant clam that the instructor touched and it closed and opened. scary if you get stuck in that huge thing. i can't believe i was able to do that and not once did i swallow water while down there. they said its actually easier than snorkelling. all you do is breathe and never, ever hold your breath. and that's a skill we all know how to do since we were born. right?
next stop, we went to michaelbay cay island. its a small island in the middle of nowhere. its a bird island coz its mostly birds in it. a rest stop for them if they've been flying that far away from the mainland. how did they get that far anyway? from the boat, you could either snorkel your way into the island or ride in the smaller boat into the island. i was the lazy one and got on the small boat. hehehhe. but i went back into the water to do more snorkelling. this is where i saw a baby shark (i think its the grey nosed shark which is really harmless). but i still got scared eventhough it was probably 1/3 of my size. maybe even smaller because our goggles actually makes things bigger and closer than you really think. this is also where i got stung by a jellyfish. by the way, they have deadly jellyfish here (called bluebottles). i felt something stinging my arms but when i looked, it looked like nothing. i showed it to one of the crew members and saw two tentacles on my arm. you could barely see it. i think they were just tentacles...i didn't see any jellyfish heads. the crew said, nothing to worry about. if you start to feel getting sick later, then let us know. i asked one of the other crew members for those jellyfish spray and he said jokingly, "well, you don't really need it coz in about 5 min, you'll die anyway". and they keep scaring me and telling me that it will scar forever. thankfully, most of the "scar" went away in about an hour. most importantly, i didn't die in 5minutes. just kidding!!! hahahaha.
on the way back, we got to see some dolphins, too. and also on the way back, i started to get sea sick. the waves were really getting bigger and stronger. with lots of fresh air and a nap, i made it back safe. what a great experience!!! i didn't think i'd get to do this as early as now. its something everyone has to try. well, for some people, its not good if you have motion sickness.
next day, sunday, we have to wake even much earlier...430am to catch a 610am flight back to sydney. geez!!! but i made it early enough to relax a little bit at darling harbour before meeting up the party for the food tasting event at mitch's reception. what a deserving lunch. we got to taste six entrees, six mains, and six desserts. we were to choose two of each and i think we pretty much all agreed with what we liked among the selections. i think it'll be good food. sorry for those who can't make it. hehehehe.
like i said, this was gonna be a busy weekend for me. the food tasting wasn't the last thing i had to do. after that, natasha (my roommate) and her two other friends went to watch the finals for soccer. it was sydney vs central coast for the championship. sydney won! yay! my first soccer game. that's about it.
