Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef

This weekend I took off on the 1,753 mile journey to the top of Australia to visit Cairns. That is equal to the distance from New York to Denver. Since my mom’s maiden name is Cairns and my first dog Rags was a Cairn terrier, I felt quite a connection with the place. Although I’m sure there is some sort of family connection down the line since the city was named after an Irishman and that side of the family has a strong Irish connection.

The first day there I took an all day reef tour. Now on the way out we saw two whales. Since I just paid money to go on a specific whale watching tour the week before in Sydney, my first instinct was to be mad about wasting money the weekend before. Then I realized how ridiculous that kind of thinking is. I mean how often does one have the opportunity to see these animals that close in the wild. The whales got closer to the boat than they did in Sydney and actually swam around us a few times.

Once we got out there I hopped into the water and did the snorkelling thing. On the way out they told us not to forget to breathe and I remember thinking how ridiculous that sounded. However, after jumping in the cold water and then looking underneath you, it was very easy to freak out. Gignormous is all have to say. I don’t mind saying it took a moment to catch my breath. It looks like it does in Finding Nemo. It is shallow where the reef is situated and then it dramatically drops off and there is just a wall of nothing beyond it.

After about twenty minutes or so passed, I got back on the boat and got my scuba gear on. We got in the water and did the instructional thing and we started our descent. The only problem was that I couldn’t get my ears to pop. The instructor took me back up and said that since I’ve recently had a cold that I couldn’t go under without risking hurting my ears. My heart sank instantly. So I got my snorkelling gear back on and hit the water. I thought Jennifer would appreciate the purple wet suit shot.

Snorkelling was fine, but it would have been cool to have gone a little deeper. It was still one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had. I did find a sea turtle and followed him around for awhile. He was literally just out of arms length and didn’t seem to mind me being there. After a few hours at that location we pushed on to another spot on the reef that was just as amazing.

The next day I was somehow able to book a day trip to Green Island that is normally $70 for only $10; snorkelling gear and all. Green Island is one of the more famous reef destinations and is a tiny island off the coast. I walked around it in about forty minutes. I took a boat to the outer part of the reef that was close to the island with a group of people and spent an hour or so in the water out there and then spent some time snorkelling closer to the beach. I had a great time and have tons more pictures. It was good to be in 80 degree weather again. This was probably my last out of town trip on the weekends. I plan to spend the next few weekends really exploring Melbourne and surrounding areas. Probably go into wine country and go to a few Aussie Rule Football and Rugby games as well.