cairns - day 2 - great barrier reef

Gathering for the tour started at 7:30, boat took off from Marlin Marina finger A at 8am.

The Great Barrier Reef is 2700km long reaching north to south right by Cairns. It is formed of batches of corals, which need shallow salt water and lots of sun to grow. There are various different types of corals (~400 types) and lots of sea animals (~4000 species of mollusks) and fish (~1500 different types) living alongside of it. We were warned many times not to touch the coral. Apparently it is not the crowds of tourists or global warming that is dangerous, but the touching - we wear lots of sunscreen and if that gets on a coral by our fingers, it dies :(

Our first snorkeling stop was about 1h boat ride away, called "Wonder Wall" located on the outer edge of Upolu Reef. It is just like a wall in the ocean - on one side is the coral and on the other side the wall goes into depth of the ocean. It is nothing compared to what I saw in Hawaii on Molokini island. Everything is much closer here, there are more different kinds of fish and the water is clearer. We are also allowed to swim around more freely, which I like :)

Once everybody gathered back on the boat the crew held a guided tour on a glass bottom boat. This way they were able to tell us all about the marine life and forming of coral reef. For an example I found out that even the corals sleep :) Right, they have feeding time when they are moving about with water, just like tall grass is moving in different directions with the wind, once the coral goes to sleep, it gets leathery look and is not moving around any longer. We were also explained of why coral dies and how dying coral helps to reproduce for the living coral.

Second snorkeling sight was by Upolu Cay, located about 30km from Cairns - a sand patch that rises out of the sea once the tide goes down. This we did after lunch as before lunch it was still under water :) That was my favourite! Little sand hills in a bright blue sea next to dark coral patches all around. As the sand was piled up there was very shallow water for about 50m down the stream, in shallow areas the water was extremely warm - I just laid there and did not wanna leave, ever :)

While snorkeling I saw nemo fish, turtle (from a distance this time), many different kinds of other fish (some were huuuge and some were tiny, some where plain and some were bright blue, like a colorful fish tank), saw a huge stingray (probably about 1.2m long) and a shark (can't remember what it was called, could it be black shark perhaps? it was also a bit over a meter long i'd say). Stingray and shark were hiding under a huge coral - one on one side and the other one on the other side, apparently they like to hang out together usually :) And of course many many different kinds of corals - some shaped like huge plates, some like fingers, some like cabbage. Corals were in many different colors and with lots of different types of fish swimming all around and inside of it. Snorkeling and staring at the complicated coral/fish/mollusk setting was like staring at an always moving art piece - you just stare and you are not able to take your eyes off as with every second the art piece changes.

On the way back we were served more food, cheese, fruit, snacks and cake. I happened to chat with couple of Germans - it is always my favourite part :) Also the crew was great! There was 6 of them total, two had worked on the boat just for 4 months, one moved here from London and the other one from Canada. Both of them said they got enough of the cold weather :) One of them expressed it in this format: it is 29C, water is 25C and it is WINTER at the moment!

After the trip I got back to the hotel, idea was to take a quick shower and quick nap, then head to town for dinner and a concert - nope that did not happen. I kept pressing snooze for about 20 minutes after that I gave up, had a quick snack and headed to bed for good :) Apparently adjusting and catching up on sleep takes a bit more than one 13h sleep ;)

cairns - day 1

Flight from Hong-Kong to Cairns was 7h, went by in a snap. Got some good movies in and short sleep again. Arrival was great as always, after so many hours of flying any destination probably seems like the best one ever :) Once out of the plane had a small chat with immigration about my finances, when I'm expected back at the office (thought I can forget about the office for now, but nope), why I'm here, when did I start planning the trip and what sort of visas do the people hold that I'm gonna visit. Nothing too surprising I guess, customs was smooth as well - including the cleaning of my hiking boots. I've heard from various people of how they are very careful about the soil that gets brought in here with various shoes, so they deep clean them :) so they did for mine as well, my hiking boots came back nicely packaged :D

After 36h of traveling I figured I should just stay awake as long as possible. Napping in the middle of the day won't work for me as I won't be able to get out of bed, this in turn would mess up the whole rhythm of sleep. Only way to manage staying awake would be walking around. Quick shower at the hotel first, change of clothes and to the town I went.

Cairns is a small place as seen by locals, about 130 000 people (town size is expected to double within few years). My hotel is located 1.5km from the center - there is a nice Esplanade connecting this area to the city center, just about 1.5km walk. Town itself is nice, many eating places, a big mall, quite large marina, parks, water Laguna and little arts shops. Laguna is great - it is located right by the sea, but as the sea is not very suitable for a swim (muddy shore and not very inviting, I found also warning signs about alligators), they have set up a shallow pool with all sorts of fountains for people to swim in. During the day it is packed with people.

At the moment there is Carin's Festival ongoing with a tight program. Happened to find one outdoor live music performance in city center, in the evenings there are pub performances all over town - perhaps tomorrow I'll catch one of those too.

While working on staying awake and walking around town I booked my next 2 days. Tomorrow I will be going to explore Great Barrier Reef and the day after there will be white water rafting - a bit more of an adrenaline kick :) Both are day tours including lunch and a tight program. While looking for a place to have dinner I ran into 2 Estonians on the street :)

Managed to keep myself busy till about 4 in the afternoon, by the time I got back to the hotel the time was 4:45. Bit of unpacking and then preparing for tomorrow's trip, I was done at 5:30 and that is when I fell dead on the bed. Tiredness took over and my 13h beauty sleep started :)