We're ALIVE!!!

So to quickly fill everyone in on what we have been up to recently there have been some long kept secrets that are finally revealed in this blog entry. First off our stay here in Cairns has been quite eventful already. We took a free bus trip out to the rainforest and went swimming in the river. The exciting part though was climbing up the path until you reached the point where you were able to jump off the cliff into the river. The cliff itself was about 8 meters above the flowing waters and Amanda carefully sized up the feat before committing. For those of you who don't know I am practically blind without my glasses and since I have already lost a pair of glasses to diving into water, I had to do this jump partially blind. We stepped up to the edge, memorized where all the jagged rocks were below us, and started the prejump prayers. Being to polite Canadians that we are we allowed another jumper to go first. Now you may be thinking that this is pretty crazy, but you are able to rationalize that the only way you will die is if you slip... because that way you won't have the force to clear the rocks. So a little more comfortable with the idea we watched the last jumper go and what do you suppose should happen?... He slipped at the last second... but he managed to regain his footing and prevent himself from falling. At this point you just have to accept that there is a level of lunacy that comes with being a backpacker... and you throw yourself over the edge. It was quite an adrenaline rush... and as Terry recommended really made you feel like you were living each moment and just giving it! (be aware that my mom won't be to happy with you now Terry... haha) But this is only the beginning of this crazy blog entry... so get comfortable.
Okay so this is where the secret is let out... since I decided that I was joining Amanda on this trip we had been planning a few activities that were must do's while over here. And for those of you who were already informed... yesterday (our Christmas Eve) we willingly jumped out of an airplane at 14,000 ft! The reason I kept it a secret was for sanity sake. You have seen the amount of posts our parents (especially my mom) post on here, so I decided that rather than stress my family out with the worry I would wait until I landed to tell them. Good news... I landed. The experience in itself was unbelieveable and definitely something I recommend you do. It is a bit expensive and definitely but a dent in the wallet, but make sure that you ask to see our videos when we get back to Canada, they sum up the experience fairly well!
Aside from the adrenaline Amanda and I have tried to make this Christmas away from home as normal as we possible can given the conditions. Last night we hung up our ankle sock stockings and thankfully Santa was able to find us even in the hostel... so we are both convinced that we must have been pretty good this year. First thing this morning we opened our stockings and then we exchanged the gifts that we had got one another... all of which had to be useful and packable... and under the thrifty $10 budget... whoever said Christmas needs to be about the money and gifts haven't experienced a backpacker Christmas.
For lunch today we signed up for the hostel lunch which had chicken and stuffing, salad and ... the crackers that you pull and pop to get the little toy and colourful crown. And tonight we are serving up some lazy man's cabbage rolls (found some sour kraut)... and Amanda's immitation Pistacchio salad? I'll let you know how that works out.

Anyways Take care everyone and I hope you all enjoy you Christmas!
Ryan and Amanda