Around the World

Donna and I got a ride into Cairns with Grant and his coworker. They dropped us off in town and we checked in at the YHA. We walked around town and I bought an Akubra (high quality Aussie cowboy hat) with a crocodile band. There were night markets that had a lot of interesting things. We learned to play the didgeridoo (a long wooden log that you blow in). We booked boat trips to the great barrier reef. The beds at the YHA were really uncomfortable.

In 1876, Cairns was declared a town and named after William Wellington Cairns, the then Governor of Queensland. The city's population in 1947 was 16,444 and 30 years later was 34,830. In 1966 the combined city and surrounding Mulgrave shire population was 42,859, and is expected to top 250,000 in year 2010.

We took separate boat trips to the reef. Donna took the Passions of Paradise, and I rode the SuperCat. Sometimes its nice to do things apart for a change. Cairns is the heart of the Great Barrier Reef diving scene. The inner reefs of Cairns and Port Douglas are only 30km away. The outer reefs have plentiful fish life and fantastic corals. A wide variety of reef fish, reef sharks, gropers, turtles, stingrays and scholling pelagic fish. Visibility is usually around 30m and currents are common. All the reefs and islands off Cairns and Port Douglas are located in the northern section of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

It was a perfectly clear calm day. My boat departed at 8:00 am. I met a guy named Garvin from Ireland. We first dove at Norman Reef on the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef. I saw some really big parrot fish, a huge shell from a giant clam, and a big cod. I snorkeled for 2 hours. Norman Reef is rightly one of the most popular destinations in the Barrier Reef. There are several excellent dive sites each offering a different experience, all of them memorable. More practiced divers will enjoy testing themselves in the swimthroughs and caves where Giant Maori Wrasse are common, some up to 5ft in length. The reef as a whole is as idyllic as they come, even in an area that has been blessed by so much natural beauty. Access to sites always depends on visibility, weather and tides but with so many places to go you will very rarely be disappointed.

Our second dive was on Saxon Reef. There was a low tide so parts of the reef were exposed. I swam for an hour and saw a barracuda close enough to see its sharp teeth. Saxon Reef is another of the more popular sites as there are many options available for different dive experiences. Close proximity to the mainland means traveling time can be kept to a minimum. There are some completely unspoiled coral gardens to be explored at your leisure with no two dives ever being the same. An ideal place for one-day excursions and as long as the weather stays fair, each trip could contain some wonderful memories. Turtles and Octopi can regularly be observed. We had a nice trip back to shore at 6:30pm. A couple people got sea sick on the return trip.

We checked out of the YHA and I went for a walk around town to find the campground. There were some white Herons on the mud flats along the coast where I walked along the Esplanade.

The Cairns foreshore has been transformed from a tidal mudflat swamp into a world-class facility incorporating an outdoor amphitheatre, a large sandy swimming lagoon, grassy picnic areas, walking tracks, public barbeques, children's playground, shops and restaurants, an environmental interpretation centre and a Great Barrier Reef Cruise departure terminal. The swimming lagoon is capable of accommodating 1000 swimmers at a time. It is open for free public use between 6am and 10pm daily.

The Cairns Esplanade is an internationally recognised migratory water bird habitat and is a declared fish habitat area and is an important bird roosting site for Whimbrel on their southern migration.

I ran into Donna at the post office. We checked into the International Backpackers Hostel, room 50. We got a free meal at The Woolshed for staying at the hostel. We met Rebecca and Gertrude at the same hostel and made plans to ride back to Brisbane with them in their little yellow corolla.

We rented a little Daihatsu to run around for the day. We drove to see the Tjapukai aboriginee show. It talked about the Dry and Wet origins. There were good shows on their dreamtime story with special effects. We learned how to throw spears and boomerangs. We saw a dance show of fire making, cassowary walking, and didgeridoo too.

Tjapukai showcases the culture of the rainforest people of Tropical North Queensland. Situated on 25 acres of land owned by the Tjapukai people at Caravonica, north of Cairns, TjapukaiAboriginal Cultural Park is a stunning theatrical interpretation of Aboriginal culture from the beginning of time into the future.

After the dance show, we bought some souveigners and drove to Mossman and got our esky (freezer chest) and to say bye to Grant. We returned to Cairns and joined Rebecca and Gertrude to start the drive south. We stopped at a rest area near Ingram, and slept in my tent. It was a little cramped with 4 people in a 2 person tent.