For those who are wondering, Cairns (Aussies call it "Cans") is up the coast and almost to the top of eastern Australia. It's known as "the Gateway to the Great Barrier Reef" boasting the closest access and is also surrounded by tropical rain forests.
We stepped off the plane into heat and humidity (this is what I have to look forward to in a couple of months), got our luggage and got a lift to our hostel. Let's just say the pictures on the website were looking much more elaborate than the lumpy mattresses, ripped up carpet, dirty walled room that we were led into. The communal toilet had a lovely neon green seat and the shower had no curtain so there was usually water on the floor. But it was cheap! The funniest part was getting our top sheet from reception...it looked nice all folded up, but by the time it was unfolded, you could see right through it. Bel's sheet had some small holes in it as well. I think this hostel could use an overhaul! We also had a cockroach running across the wall (I didn't know they did that!) and at the end of our trip, when we were stripping our beds, Bel found a cockroach in her sheets! Gross.
Despite the humble accommodations, we were happy to see that they offered free breakfast AND dinner. We got vouchers to a pub downtown that offers 4-5 different voucher menu options. The free food was...free. It improved after a few bites, but we had to keep reminding ourselves that it was free. The water was good! We drank lots of water.
We also found the Night Markets downtown which had a bunch of touristy shops, but more importantly Chinese Massage at $15 for 40 minutes. (And for those who experienced the intrusive Turkish Massage with me back in March...this was a "clothes ON" experience.) We fell into our lumpy, thin-sheeted beds totally relaxed and content.
On Sunday, Bel had a couple church gigs, so I decided to take a $4 shuttle bus up into the mountains to Kuranda, a village in the rainforest. The drive up was beautiful and the village had a laid-back feel with tons of touristy markets and restaurants. I'm not much of a tourist, but I enjoyed wandering through the shops and then found myself a park bench and sat and read my Bible. I also went for a hike through some rainforest trails. It was beautiful! I love nature.
Monday was our most anticipated day. We booked in on a catamaran sailing cruise that took us to 2 different parts of the inner Great Barrier Reef, Oyster & Upolu. It was a really well-run boat, great staff, good food, and lots of space for everyone.
However, it wasn't quite what we were expecting. The trip to the reef was longer than anticipated and it felt like we spent more time on the boat than in the water. The long boat ride also made Bel sea sick, which made for some interesting moments.
We arrived at Reef #1 and grabbed our snorkeling gear and dove in. I think we saw one colorful fish before we had to swim back to the boat and get suited up for our dive. That scuba stuff is heavy! We learned about breathing into a regulator and popping our ears to pressurize them. We only went down about 7 feet and I think I was concentrating so hard on staying horizontal and remembering to breath through my regulator that I didn't really enjoy it. We did get to kneel on the ocean floor and touch a giant clam, watching it react and close up. That was cool. I also saw some clown fish (Nemo!). Our 30 minute dive was short-lived and before we knew it, we were on our way back up to the surface.
This was a good thing because as soon as Bel got out of the water, she ran for the bathroom. Apparently she had spent the whole time underwater wondering how she was going to throw-up underwater. Her plan was to take her regulator out of her mouth, but then she wasn't sure how she would breathe. So that led to her planning to break away from our group (we all had our arms interlocking) and swimming for the surface, which we found out later would have been the worst thing to do. She would have made it to the surface for about 2 seconds and then her tank would have pulled her back down to about 4 feet, hurting her ears, probably causing her to panic and swallow large amounts of salt water. The guide told us that the best thing to do is to throw-up into your regulator! It would bubble out the side just like our exhalation does. Having been linked side-by-side, I am quite thankful that didn't happen.
The sea-sickness continued for the rest of the trip for Bel. I ended up snorkeling the second reef alone (not seeing much!) and the trip back was so choppy, about half the boat was sick. We did get to see a whale jumping out of the water, which was pretty cool. But the trip back to Cairns couldn't end soon enough for Bel. She was pretty happy to get her feet back onto dry land.
So the Great Barrier Reef wasn't so "great". It was cool to try out diving and I would have loved more time snorkeling, disappointed that I didn't get to see all that much. I'm still waiting to see the colorful coral teaming with life. Someday I will find it! The Great Barrier Reef is slowing being destroyed from coral bleaching, cyclones and of course, tourism.
Still, adventure is adventure. And Bel & I had a great time getting to know each other. She's an awesome girl and we have lots of funny memories from this trip. Now it's back to the books!
