Feels like Florida

Yep, it's been four days now, and apartment life is bliss. Our complex is all painted in cheesy pastel colours and our view is of the tennis courts. The pool is a short walk through the grass, and the beach is just down the road. It's almost like we skipped the whole "real-life" thing and have retired in Florida. Maybe on Friday night we'll whip out the backgammon and reminisce about the good ol' days...

Check out some pics from our new place! And come on over for a visit, while you're at it. (We're the orange townhouse in the middle)

Movin' up

There will be no more drunken dinner serenades of "Sweet Caroline" for us-- we're officially moving out of Dougies Backpackers!

Thursday is the big day, where we pack up all of our worldly belongings and head a little further away from the tourists and more with the locals, to a two-bedroom, two-bathroom, two-storey, furnished townhouse with our cool Canadian friends, Karen and Mark. We're all very excited to not get bug-bitten (me), not get our brand-new bottles of Coke stolen from the fridge (Adrian) and not have bandicoots rummaging through our tent (yes, one snuck into Karen and Mark's, and was caught red-handed, eating all of their bread). We're also very excited to have a TV we're in control of, solid walls (although Adrian and I had a good giggle when we heard one night, loud and clear, a real ripper of a fart emitted from a nearby tent), oh yeah-- and an oven and a freezer! First thing we're going to eat is hot apple pie with ice cream... mmm, have been dreaming about it for ages!! And in other news:

1. New address to come, and of course, photos!
2. We've been [finally] putting up pics on Flickr from Koh Tao, Koh Pha-Ngan, Hong Kong, and our first time in Melbourne. Sorry about the confusion... but we thought it was about time to make everyone drool over Thai beaches (and show you all what we did for the last bit of our real "vacation").
3. The Lonely Planet video contest deadline was extended to May 31. So help a traveller out and give it a watch/rate it if you have a chance! http://www.lonelyplanet.tv/Clip.aspx?key=1AFA989A02E84BDC .... Thanks everyone! xoxoxo, A&D

There's a Bandicoot in our Vestibule

It's always scary when you go to unzip your tent and you hear something -from inside- WHAP! against the tent wall beside your hand.

That's what happened last night when I went to get a sweatshirt. "Oh my God!" I shrieked, as a funny little rabbit-sized creature scooted out from under the front vestibule fabric (or, as I like to think of it- our porch) of our tent, and disappeared into the woods. I don't know what he was doing to our shoes, and I really don't want to know, either.

He's pretty fast (hence I have no picture of my own) and runs/hops like a bunny, digs like a groundhog, and rummages like a raccoon. Some of our camping neighbours have given him French names. The bandicoot that hangs around our campground is usually really cute and tame, but sometimes he just scares the crap out of you.

The bandicoot is just one of the creatures we'll miss if we finally leave the campground... but good news is we may be getting an apartment in Port Douglas. My legs are very happy, because maybe they'll get just 3 or 4 bites a night instead of 14.... And it's not mosquitoes (or mozzies, in Oz speak) that are the problem here, it's pesky critters you can't even see, called sandflies. We've had to coat ourselves nightly in bug spray, and I'm not even sure whether it's working. (Where's my 95% DEET when I need it?) Adrian doesn't get bitten as much as I do, but he's still appreciating the best Australian product we've discovered since Tim Tams- Itch Eze cream. It's like Afterbite, but instead of stinging your bites, it's got anaesthetic in it so your skin actually goes numb for a bit so you can actually get a decent night's sleep (or get through a job interview without looking like you have fleas). Maybe we'll start importing it into cottage country!

In other news... we have been following the Jays, thanks to their website, our people at home who send us news (thanks Dad, Bliss, Laura, Graeme, Neil, and everyone else!), and a cool podcast we found on iTunes called Jaycast. We love listening to it for a little nostalgia, and were absolutely thrilled when Jayscast hosts Colin and Steve read our email and said hi to us on the air! (Download Episode #6 to see how famous we are ;) Somehow the world feels smaller all the time.

Finally- the Lonely Planet video contest closes on Tuesday, so keep watching our monkey video.... pretty please! Miss you all, and keep in touch. And a big Happy Mother's Day to our moms and any other moms who may be reading (except down here you're a "mum")
-- Love D & A xoxo

Thoughts on behalf of Captain Planet...

Being in such a naturally beautiful place like northern Queensland definitely gets you thinking more about the environment. Last Thursday, Adrian, I, and a fellow Canadian hit an environmental forum at the town's community centre about the climate change and its effects on the Great Barrier Reef.

While some of what we heard was very much along the lines of the film An Inconvenient Truth (if you haven't seen it yet, now's the time!). Sure, we all know that climate change is happening, but what can we do about it? While we're trying to do our best to recycle and not litter along our travels, how do you deal with living in a hostel (ie. Dougies) that only recycles cans and corrugated cardboard? And worse, our workplace doesn't recycle anything-- and when we asked the office manager on our second day, she pretty much shrugged it off and said that even though Port Douglas residents have different bins for garbage and recycling, she's heard they all end up in the same truck anyway and are sent off to the dump. And while individuals in this country seem to be fairly eco-conscious, Australia (along with the U.S.) has still not signed onto the Kyoto Protocol. And then there's the masses of old cars idling and polluting on the roads (and the guilt we're feeling from wanting to buy a van and add to it...)

We also learned at this forum about coral bleaching, a phenomenon that's been happening more and more in the past few years. Basically, coral gets stressed out from water temperatures rising (as well as from changes in salinity, disease, pollutants, etc.) and bleaches, and if conditions don't normalize soon enough, a good portion of the coral dies. Apparently it's been happening all over the world, including the Caribbean, not too far from home. So, enjoy it while it lasts...

But despite all the doom and gloom, there are good things happening-- we hear more about green energy sources all the time here, and there is a lot of land (and water) being watched over by national parks. One great thing happening here in Oz is the progression from plastic shopping bags- grocery stores encourage shoppers to use eco-friendly reusable bags, and at $1 apiece, it's a small price to pay to reduce plastic use. I thought Canada was a little behind with this, but I just received an email from President's Choice promoting their own "green" grocery bags, and offering PC bonus points for shopping with them. Hurray! Maybe we'll return to a plastic-bag free country!

Extracurricular reading (c'mon, you're not on summer holidays YET!):
--> Info on coral bleaching from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority

--> More about coral bleaching

--> The debate on how good these "green" bags actually are

--> Good job, Canada! Green bags by President's Choice

We need your help!!

Remember me?
Originally uploaded by bigquestionmarks.

Hey everyone!
Now is that time in our trip we need REALLY your help (and no, we didn't get all our bags stolen, and we didn't go broke at the casino... not THAT kind of help)

We entered a Lonely Planet's contest for coolest travel video, and we need you at home to watch and rate our awesome video as many times as you can! (pretty please :) At stake is a prize pack of everything Adrian needs to become a superstar travel videographer (Macbook & software, video camera) and money to buy our van!

We have until Tuesday, May 15th to get tons of votes. We're a lot behind since we just found out about the contest yesterday... tee hee but we have faith in our Angkor Wat monkeys! (and we've brought 'em back for the contest)

Please tell everyone you know to vote/watch (a few times is even better). Just click on the link and follow the instructions:

click here for our awesome monkey video!

Thanks so much to all of you for reading and watching!
Love Adrian and Dayle xoxoxo