Trip to Cairns 10/19-10/25

Here is a map of where Cairns is in relation to Sydney and the rest of Australia. It's about a 3 hour flight from Sydney, roughly the same distance from Florida to NY. The northeastern part of Australia has a very tropical climate and is home to some of the oldest rainforests in the world.

Here is a picture of the Great Barrier Reef from an airplane that I thought was pretty cool:

I told my cab driver today that I was going to Cairns and he told me to make sure I stayed away from any canals, rivers or small bodies of water that I might see because they are known to be home to saltwater crocodiles. Saltwater crocs can get up to 18 feet and kill an average of 2 people each year. One famous story is from World War II when Japanese soldiers were forced to retreat and spend the night in a swampland home to over 1000 saltwater crocodiles, which killed around 400 Japanese soldiers that night. The Guinness Book of World Records has it listed as "The Greatest Disaster Suffered from Animals." Saltwater crocs can't swim too far off the shore, so I won't have to worry about them when I am scuba diving or snorkeling.