April 15, 2009: From Sydney to Cairns
Today, we woke up at 4:42 am. We had to catch our shuttle at 5:25 am. We boarded the plane and the two of us slept for most of the way until we got to Cairns. It was a 3-hour plane ride, our longest flight of the entire trip. In Cairns, there was an instant change in climate. It was incredibly muggy and humid, but very nice. Once we arrived in our hostel, we planned our activities for the weekend, swam, walked around Cairns, ate Mexican food, searched for crocs and went to bed around 8:30. I know, I know..we are so lame!
our hostel
Meg celebrating after we spent 3 hours planning our weekend
This is why we couldn't swim-crocs!
Cairns!
April 16th, 2009: Scuba Diving in the Great Barrier Reef
Today had finally arrived-the day I had been looking forward to months before I even arrived in Australia. I got to see the Great Barrier Reef!! The company we decided to use was called Reef Trip. The boat was fairly large-it had 2 decks-one in the middle and one on top for tanning. We spent the entire day laying out, snorkleing and scuba diving. Scuba diving was actually much more difficult than I had anticipated. I wasn't afraid of the creatures underwater(as I had originally predicted)-I was more afraid of the whole "breathing underwater" thing. They took us down in groups of four and we had to make sure we could clear our masks, breath property and unplug our ears. Overall, the reef was not what I expected. I was expecting to see a plethora of colors and lots of cool animals. We did see a lot of beautiful fish, but the reef was mostly brown, with hints of color. The pictures actually make it look even worse than it did, but you get the general idea.
Meg and I snorkeling
Lots of brown reef and one zebra fish!
I was clearing my ears at this point and had no idea that this
GIGANTIC fish was so close. His name was Frank.
Me putting my hand inside a huge clam!