Well I have survived my first Aussie week, though I’m still pretty much on holiday. It only took me 25 hours to get here! You may think that’s a lot but that is by far the fastest travel time I have had. The first couple of days in Cairns were very quiet. It’s not a place to save your money for sure so I read a lot and walked a lot.
I was waiting for Sabrina, my closest friend from Maui, who was working with the whales here in Aus the past couple months. It had been 10 months since we had seen each other so I was more then hyped to see her! I had plans to take her diving so the next morning we set out for the Great Barrier Reef.
It was an interesting trip, to say the least, although we definitely got what we paid for. We did 6 dives in about thirty hours at Thetford Reef. It was not the greatest reef and there seemed to be quite some damage and bleaching from maybe a warming event. There was not a lot of color and algae covered a lot of the corals. One spot we dove 3 times, even though we were in THE GREAT BARRIER.
I will say the food was great though. We were definitely satiated the entire time. Sleeping was hard for me because I had gotten a massive sunburn in the first couple hours out to the reef. And yes before you ask, I had sunscreen on AND had reapplied it. There is a hole in the ozone layer above certain parts of Australia and we happened to be in one of them. Also, Sabrina’s bunk had bed bugs so she slept in the kitchen. My bunk was above hers but I took the chance anyway. We washed all of our stuff the moment we got back to the hostel in case to not affect anyone else.
The last spot before we headed back to port was our favorite. This part of the reef seemed much healthier and there were plenty of colors. It was a significantly shallower reef so we thought that maybe the shallower reefs may not have been as affected as the deeper reefs. All in all I was still happy to dive and be in the water and I think Sabrina really enjoyed it as well.
After getting back to Cairns, we wanted to go explore elsewhere so we rented a car and headed up north to Port Douglas.
Now this was a great little town and somewhere I could see myself having a job (so my eyes were open for places I would like to work). We grabbed some lunch and snacks and headed to Mossman Gorge for the afternoon. It was a short loop in the rainforest that ended with a freshwater swim. The landscape was just incredible.
The next morning we headed towards Cape Tribulation even farther up north. It is a World Heritage site and one of the only places in the world where two beautiful things connect; the rainforest and the Great Barrier. It is a very scenic drive and is more of an area than a town.
For lunch, of course we decided to be healthy and have ice cream. It was freshly and locally made so that automatically makes it ten times better! All the fruits are grown on the farm and the ice cream is made at the little shop.
It. Was. So. Good.
Our day consisted of more rainforest walks and beautiful scenic spots to stop and take a breath of the beautiful fresh air. I stayed out of the sun as much as possible so shade was my best friend in this hot weather.
Our night ended with Cane Toad Racing, an apparent must-do here in Australia. I can’t say I was very happy with the way these poor creatures were treated but also couldn’t help but find it funny at the same time. See these roads were brought here to get rid of these beetles that were on the sugar cane. The difference between frogs and toads, I learned, is that toads can’t climb. And of course, the beetles that the toads needed to eat, were up high in the sugar cane. So after reproducing 30,000 eggs twice a year, these toads became an abundance.
So what better to do than to race them!
This happens every night at one of the local bars in Port Douglas. And just as you can bet on a racehorse at the Kentucky Derby, you can bet on your frog to be the first to jump off the table and people blow party favors at them to get them to move. A silly silly thing to witness for sure.
Sabrina and I decided we wanted to give the Great Barrier another shot because we didn’t believe it could all be like that. So we booked an all day sailboat (whom I will be sending my resume to) out to a reef that only they and one other boat go to. MaKay Reef was incredible! All we did was snorkel, but we are happy as long as we are in the water.
We got these really cool head to toe skin suits that made you look like a smurf. It was so great. And the best thing about them? You didn’t have to wear sunscreen and damage the reef! We were very happy with that. Also there is no way you could go snorkeling in this summer heat, no matter how much sunscreen you have on, and not burn.
We were fish and always the last ones back on the boat but since there were only 12 of us on board, normally 50 or so, the crew didn’t seem to mind. We were nerding out so hard on the fish and coral, the marine naturalists of the boat seemed to appreciate it. We walked away that day with a much better outlook on the reef. I can’t wait to go again.
After 4 days, we did have to return the car back Cairns. We headed to the lagoon for the rest of the day and again spent our time in and around the water. For the next day we would part our own ways for a bit. Sabrina off down the East coast and I to New Caledonia where I would hop on a sailboat and sail to New Zealand.
I will be out of service for the next few days but if you were curious where our boat, Pantagruel, is on the journey, you can find it here and even send a message if you would like.
https://share.garmin.com/pantagruel
The Travelling Cookie 