Mar 2007

And so we're back in Cairns, organising and preparing ourselves for the next chapter! Over the next few days we'll be having a quick stop in Brisbane and visiting Dawn and Dave. Then we'll be catching a flight to Christchurch via Auckland and beginning our New Zealand adventure!

Don't worry we'll let you know when we arrive safely!!!

Port Douglas

Possibly David's last ice cream in Oz?

On the Great Barrier Reef:

Jellyfish!!!!

A white tipped reef shark - like the one Nic saw!

After one night in Cairns we caught the bus to Port Douglas. A relaxed, chilled out tropical town. The hostel was so cool, we extended our stay here almost immediatley! It would be a great base to go and explore the Great Barrier Reef.

Before we knew it the day dawned for our Great Barrier Reef snorkelling adventure! It took just over an hour to get to the outer reef and although the boat we went on guaranteed a smooth ride, we both nearly chucked our guts up. It was worth it though. We had three snorkelling spots throught the day. The first was brilliant, so many fish and coral we'd never seen before. All different colours, shapes and sizes! It began raining whilst we were in the sea and although the water was a little choppy, underneath it was perfectly calm. The second spot was a little wavy but the fish and coral were still in abundance. Out last spot though was unreal! We saw large Barracudas and Stingrays. David found Nemo and Nic got her wish and swam close to a shark - A White Tipped Reef Shark to be precise! This spot was right on the edge of the continental shelf - as the floor fell away to darkness the feeling of being out in the open ocean made it even more exciting! Seeing all the life going on beneath the surface was a wonderful experience and one we'll never forget.

On the way to Airlie Beach

Whitehaven Beach

David helping with the sails

Enjoying the trip!

Sunset amongst the Whitsundays

After a draining train journey we arrived in Airlie Beach at 4am! We dozed on the benches by the bay while we waited for Airlie Beach to wake up and for the hostel to let us in - we were wiped out! After sleeping and eating we set off to book ourselves a boat trip to the Whitsunday Islands.

The following day we were still a bit tired when we climbed aboard Siska, our home for the next two days. She was an 80ft long, old racing boat and would get some speed going! We set off towards the Whitsundays. There had been a storm the night before and the winds were still fairly high - it was awesome sailing. We stopped off at Whitehaven Beach for a bit of a wander through the rainforest and along the beach before getting back on board. By now the sea was really choppy - the swell must have been a couple of metres, at times we thought we were going to capsize! The entire side of the boat was in the water with all of us perched high on the other side legs dangling over. The sails were really falpping around and no-one really spoke as our concentration was on clinging to the rails!!

We spent the night in Black Pearl Bay - wow! As soon as we dropped anchor we were both in our wetsuits and jumping into the water. The sea here was so calm and we could see fish below! It was too dark to go snorkelling but as the night drew in small fish were attracted to the boats lights. These small fish then attracted bigger and bigger fish (1.5m long Trevelli) and by dinner time we could all hear big splashes at the sides of the boat - no one slept out on deck that night........

The following day we got to do our snorkelling. It was like being dropped into a fish tank, the fish were so close we could almost touch them - we've never experienced anything like it - the fish were so tame! We snorkelled here for just over an hour - it was fantastic!!

Nic body boarding - woo hoo!

David facing the waves!

Nic taking some time out from her hectic schedule

We had heard a lot about this place from quite a few people. The Town of 1770/Agnes Water was apparantly the first place Captain Cook saw of Australia on his voyage back in 1770! It was so un-commercialised and the locals so friendly we didn't want to leave. The fact that this whole area is surrounded by national parks meant no more development is allowed - some of the most basic houses/shacks we saw were worth a cool $2.2 million because if this. You would get an outside rain water shower and a compost toilet at the end of the garden for that!

We basically chilled out here (sense a running theme?) made use of the free body boards, which Nic is getting pretty good at now and sunned ourselves on the beach! We also met a couple here from Eastcote here who went to Haydon and live just off Cheney street! Bizarre! A walk through the rainforest on route to the beach gave us a bit of a fright - 6 wasp stings between us for no reason at all - yet another thing now to bear in mind next time we walk though a rainforest...!

On our way over the sand dunes

David making his way to the lake

Dingo!

The Maheno shipwreck

How the Maheno looked when she beached

We handed the car back at Hervey Bay and checked into the YHA. Hervey Bay would be our base for the next couple of days whilst we visited Fraser Island. We'd booked ourselves on a 2 day safari trip to the Island. After a rough boat trip out there we jumped aboard a big 4WD truck and headed into the rainforest. Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island in the world, it literally is a massive pile of sand! This is easy to forget when you're driving through lucious green rainforest! On our first day we walked up, over a sand dune to a secluded lake and took a dip. This was paradise! After four wheeling down the beach we all took another dip in a creek before heading to camp. Wow! This was camping in luxury!!!! We had a double bed, complete with crisp white towels placed neatly on the bed!!!! Our second day on the Island was spent spotting sting rays in the sea, visiting the Maheno shipwreck and swimming in a freshwater lake with turtles. We returned to Hervey Bay tired from our adventure but knowing that we had just visited a very magical place!!