Finding Nemo: A Reef Encounter...

Hello All!

Well our reef trip yesterday was fantastic! We got down to the jetty for 7:45am and boarded our Compass boat (which turned out to be the slowest of the lot - no wonder it was so cheap!). After filling in a medical form it became pretty clear that I wasn't going to be able to scuba dive, and after asking one of the crew my suspicions were confirmed. They said that because I'd used my inhaler in the past two weeks (in Mackay - the place was so dusty) they didn't want to risk it. It was a bummer at first but in fairness I did save myself $55, and I was having second thoughts anyway cos it looks so constricting!

We first sailed to Hastings Reef, and Claire did her dive while I went snorkelling on my own for a while. It was really funny - the whole crew were fascinated by Claire's burns, couldn't stop staring at them and asked her to repeat the story over and over! She went in with a plastic bag tied around her bandaged hand, and she said it kept floating upwards due to the pressure and it was taking all of her effort to keep her hand down! Meanwhile I was having a blast with my underwater camera! The sea was incredibly choppy - it kept throwing you about everywhere - so I don't know how many of my photos are going to be focused! I saw loads though. The water was so much clearer than on the Whitsundays, and there was lots more variety of fish and coral to see. I saw parrotfish (rainbow coloured with bright green fins), butterflyfish (like angelfish but bigger and yellow, white and black), lots of little fish the colour of UV light, and loads of coral - braincoral, spaghetti coral, platecoral, anemomes... It was amazing. I had my eyes wide open the whole time. Then when I'd seen my fifth jellyfish I freaked out somewhat and got back on the boat to wait for Claire to finish and come in with me!

When Claire did come in with me, we saw pretty much what I saw earlier, and took some more photos. Just as we got in though, I spotted a little yellow fish with black stripes swimming around the crotch of the guy next to me in the water. I tried to get a picture but gave up and snorkelled off after realising how dodgy it looked! Then I noticed it was following us, but forgot about it. About ten minutes later it was swimming right in front of my goggles, then under my chin where I couldn't see! I had this fleeting anxiety that it had swam into my suit, so I asked Claire to see if she could see it swimming around me and she could. It followed us all the way around the reef - I would've taken him home if there wasn't a $10,000 fine! We named him 'Little Nemo', as we hadn't found Nemo yet so he was an adequate substitute!

After dinner we sailed on to Breaking Patches, where we did some more snorkelling. Unfortunately I didn't see a shark, turtle or a stingray (all of which apparently live in abundance here), but I did see a Nemo! (or Clownfish - whatever!). I was well chuffed! And gutted that we'd run out of film! We also saw Giant Clams, Sea Cucumbers and plenty more fish and coral here. Our underwater films from yesterday and the Whitsundays are being processed as I type - I really hope we got some good shots to show you guys, snorkelling on the reef really was one of the most amazing things I've done so far on my trip. And well worth the $60 for the boat trip!

Last night we investigated Cairns Night Market (they're being clever and holding their markets at night cos all the consumers are going to be on trips during the day!). I was hoping to maybe pick up a secondhand book as I finished the Da Vinci Code in Airlie Beach, and maybe find some nice chocolate or fudge, but the shops were ALL souvenir shops. It was quite amusing sifting through all the tat, but I only came away with a kangaroo keyring and a fridge magnet for Mum. Sometimes you can just have too many tat shops!
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First Leg of The Globetrotter's Australia Tour complete...

It is so weird to think that the first leg of our trip is over with. We have actually been in Australia for 6 weeks now, which is exactly half of our time, and the moment has come to say goodbye to the East Coast as we fly to Darwin and Northern Territory tonight. The East Coast has been like paradise on Earth - I've had so much fun, and even decided on places I would like to live if I was ever to move out here! But in a way I'm very excited about seeing Northern Territory and Southern Australia, because I've always regarded it (probably somewhat unfairly) as the real Australia. Whenever I pictured what I imagined Australia to look like before I came out here I always thought of the Outback. So now I'm torn between grief for leaving the lusicious East Coast and immense excitement at a new chapter of our trip. It's a strange feeling!

So I guess my next post will be from Darwin, NT! That's if I'm not too busy fending off all the flies that we're supposed to have to combat when we get there. Take care all!