I just finished with my diving yesterday and left Cairns this morning. I'm now at Cape Tribulation in the Daintree National Park just north of Cairns. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site which means it's protected by UNESCO from development. It is amazing. But back to the past week in Cairns...
Scuba class was pretty fun and kept me busy everyday. Every night a few of us converged on the Wool Shed, a backpacker bar and stayed late, so I got little sleep between the diving and the nights. Cairns is a busy backpacker town with lots of solo travellers. I met lots of folks from all over: Israel, Germany, UK, Netherlands, Sweden, Scotland, Japan, and the US. Actually there are few Americans there, and a lot of Germans and Japanese. It's easy to hang out there and continually meet people that move into the hostels. The scuba class was awesome, and in total, we had three days of diving on the Great Barrier Reef. I saw a shark, a stingray, a giant clam, cuttle fish, and a wacko Maori Wrasse named Wally. It's a huge blue fish that comes up and nuzzles your hand if you hold it out. The water was nice and warm and super clear, and just breathing underwater around the coral was amazing. The snorkelling was pretty good too. Those guys that did Finding Nemo did a pretty good job depicting reef life. I would float and watch the entire community at work. It is really amazing. Expect pictures forthcoming...
Now I am in the rainforest. There are things croaking in the darkness and big bugs buzzing me, but they're not biting, so it's fine. The beach is a stone's throw away, but apparently there are deadly box jellyfish out there from November to April within 300 yards of land, so it's off limits. Oh well. We walked through the rainforest with a guide. It really made the walk meaningful. He told us a bunch of statistics and factoids that I have completely forgotten but have left me with the impression that they're pretty important. haha.
I'll be here for another night and then I'll find my way down to Airlie Beach to catch a boat to cruise the Whitsunday Islands. I'm travelling with a UK dude named Bernie who was my diving buddy. Please refrain from making gay jokes.
Thanks for the emails, and I'll send pictures later.
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