The Great Barrier Reef

March 28
Before leaving for Port Douglas. I booked the train/skyrail trip to Kuranda. for April. 3. On my way up to Port Douglas, I stopped at Palm Cove. It's a quaint little town with a gorgeous beach and jetty. As I walked the jetty, I noticed lots of people fishing. Watched a father / son duo catching a fish that had teeth like a barraccuda (can't remember it's name).

I stopped at Rex Lookout, it gave stunning views of Four Mile beach.

Four Mile beach is beautiful... long stretch of sand. They have set up a swimming enclosure (stinger net) to keep the box jellyfish out. The box jellyfish has been called "the world's most venomous creature. In Australia, fatalities are most often perpetrated by the largest species of this class of jellyfish, The venom cells can lead to cardiovascular collapse and death as quickly as within 2 to 5 minutes. So knowing all that..... would you trust a stinger net? NOT!!!!

Port Douglas's main street is very nice, stores and cafes line both sides of the street. Lots of different stores there. I had the most delicious fish and chips there.

March 29
So what does one do when they are at the Great Barrier Reef?.... Learn to scuba dive of course!
Today, I'm going to face my fear of claustrophobia. I did my course work online while in New Zealand.

I headed out at 6:30 am to the marina in Port Douglas. Met the crew and instructor at the marina. Chris is the instructor; Paul is the dive master and snorkel guide (he is also a Dive Master and naturalist for the area), and Jay the owner of the company. A family joined the boat, they are from Newcastle. The daughter and father were both getting certified while the mother and little daughter were just snorkelling.

It was raining, cloudy and windy as we headed out. The 30 minute trip out there was very rough, we all got soaked by the waves coming into the boat. They anchored between Low Isle and Little Isle. The boat was rocking and we were in the cabin doing paper work. Giselle (the daughter) and Kitty (the mother) got sick overboard. They moved the paperwork and course out to the deck hoping it would help, but it didn't. So we moved the class to the beach.... got geared up with a stinger suit, snorkels, fins. They floated the tanks and all the equipment over there. We sat in the rain learning how to put our equipment together.

Finally in the water, ready to scuba for the first time ever.... i had a very difficult time breathing under water. I kept feeling the need to come up to the surface for air... felt like I was going to drown. Chris, the instructor, was awesome. He talked me through it and calmed me down... worked with me till I was able to do it. This took almost 45 minutes.

We did our 5 confined dives and 1 open water dive. It was a gruelling day but I made it. Only one more day and 3 more dives to go. Hoping weather is good for Tuesday otherwise I will have to stay another day.

Came home feeling water logged. My fingers and toes were all shrivelled up, the tops of my toes are all blistered from rubbing on the fins, my feet and shoulders are very sore. I barely got dinner in and I headed off to main street to look for a pay phone (you know how hard it is to find a phone that takes coins?) I had to connect with a Facebook Friend that lives in Canberra. I had $19 worth of coins in front of me. Rachel and I chatted and chatted until my money ran out. It definitely was not long enough. Thanks for the connection Rachel!

For the first time in years, I fell asleep without any problems.... but only for 3 hours! I was up and ready to rolled at 12:30 am!!!

March 30
Today I'm heading off to the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation. It is part of the World Heritage Area. It is famed for its ancient rainforest, sandy beaches and rugged mountains. There is no electricity North of the Daintree River, power is supplied by generators and solar power. The rainforest tumbles right down to two magnificent, white sand beaches (Myall and Cap Tribulation).

I was picked up by Adrian, the driver, at 8:20 am. Introduced to the 7 other people in my group. There were 3 Americans (Virginia and 2 from Oakville) and 4 Australians (all from Melbourne). We did a guided walk in Mossman Gorge. Adrian talked about the trees and plants. Showed us a Bush Turkey making a nest.

Next we went on the Daintree River Wildlife Cruise to seek the elusive Estuarine Crocodile. We saw one female, one baby croc, and the dominate male.... Scarface.

Next we went to Alexandra Lookout with sweeping views from the Daintree Rainforest to the Coral Sea.

We walked to Kulki Lookout and then to Cape Tribulation. Cape Trib is the only place in the world where two World Heritage listed areas meet.

The cassowary is a fliightless bird without a keel on their sternum bone. They are native to the tropical forests of New Guinea and northeastern Australia. They can be found in the Daintree Rainforest and are shy birds. We were lucky to see one.

On the way home, we stopped at the Daintree Ice Cream Company for ice cream. It was very tasty and refreshing.

I had a wonderful day with lots of laughs. Thoroughly enjoyed the day!

Once back to camp, I walked into town for dinner. I was told to go down the side street and look up.... I saw thousands of Flying Fox bats hanging upside down in the trees on that road. Apparently, that is where they roost. For the last 3 nights, if you look up in the sky around 7:00 pm, you will see thousands of these bats flying around. It's pretty erie.

I will be heading out tomorrow to the Great Barrier Reef to complete our 3 Open Water Dives.

March 31
At the marina at 6:45 am to head out to the GBR. The way out there was very, very rough. Water kept coming into the boat, white caps on the water.... we were soaked. But it's beautiful out there. Not another boat in sight.

We got into our gear and into the water and did some skills (what we learned on Sunday). Then we went for a quick look at the reef around us. After 40 minutes in the water, we came up for a snack. An hour later, back into the water to do more skills. The water was so rough and the current kept pushing us everywhere. We had to hold on to a line (attached to the boat) in order to finish all the skills. Back up after 40 minutes for lunch. I had to do a 10 minute float (part of the course) in the waves. It was not comfortable at all.... water kept washing over my face and into my mouth and nose. Last dive was 15 minutes, did the final skills and swam to the back of the boat. Jay (the owner - pictured at the end of the boat) and Chris (the instructor) congratulated us on completing the course. We then headed out for our first dive... it was great. We saw black tipped sharks, angel fish, clown fish, so many colourful corals. 45 minutes later we were up and on our way home. I did it!!!!

Out for dinner now and then heading back to Cairns tomorrow for the last 5 days.