Great Barrier Reef

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When it rains it Cairns

Posted by Peter on August 2, 2008
Posted in: Australia 2008, Chiquita, Peter, Photos, Travels. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Wow, it’s really raining in Cairns!

We arrived very early in the morning, somewhere around 6 am, and after a phone call to the hostel we were picked up and driven to our home for the next four days.

Cairns isn’t that big but still we managed to book a hostel on the outskirts of downtown. This means it took us 5 minutes by car to get downtown. :-)

It rained the entire time the first two days and then it was full on sunshine the following two days. Pretty good I reckon.

The first day we had the famous “forgotten the name”-pie at a local cafe. And then we just strolled around town trying to find something interesting to see or do, we didn’t really manage. Anyway, after walking around for a while we found the big mall. It was freezing cold inside, once again the air-con was spewing out cold air to a maximum. Why do they do that? I couldn’t be bothered walking around in shops so after a healthy Burger King meal I went to the movies (and saw Vantage Point) while Chiquita went shopping.

We got a tip on a restaurant from a very nice girl in the reception so after a short taxi cab ride we ended up at the rather fancy Waterbar & Grill down by the water. We were dressed like backpackers, and all the other weren’t. But, our money was as good as theirs, so we got served. I had steak and Chiquita had a Mediterranean platter. The steak was decent, but Chiquita’s platter was really good! Yum!

The next day we were up bright and early to go to Kuranda. There had been a land slide over the railway tracks during the night, so unfortunately we couldn’t go by the scenic railway but the cable car ride was working. It was very nice going over the hills like that. We had two stops before Kuranda. One in the rain-forest and one at a waterfall.

It’s much more humid here (Cairns and Kuranda especially) that the rest of the places we had visited during our Australian trip. In the southern parts there is drought and here there is an abundant amount of water. The heat was more of a sticky, moist heat up here which made you feel rather yucky all the time. But since everyone else probably felt the same it was alright.

Kuranda is a small town with lots of Aboriginals, and Aboriginal art. The also have a market that’s kinda famous I guess. We strolled around, had a mediocre lunch, browsed the market and then went home. Couldn’t really say that it was worth it, but the trip there was kinda nice.

The girl at reception tipped us of another restaurant as well, so unimaginative as we are we went to that one as well. We did, however, stroll around for somewhere else to go but nothing really stuck out. It was a lovely pasta place and I had a lovely spaghetti something (that I now don’t remember).

We woke up bright and early again for yet another day trip, this time to Cape Tribulation which is located within the Daintree National Park and the Wet Tropics World Heritagearea. It is (apparently) the worlds oldest now living rain-forest and has lots and lots of plants and wild life undiscovered anywhere else.

For me it was just yet another rainforest, but still nice to see.

The day-trip involved a trip to (yet another) zoo. But this one was fun to go to since we now got to pet the kangaroos and wallabies and get really, really close to them. We also got to see a Joe up close. It was, I think, the best zoo.

After the zoo we went to Mossman Gorge and swam in the river. It was a bit cold but felt rather good.

So, when we had freshened up a bit in the river we went to Cape Tribulation and watched the rain-forest meet to barrier reef. Lots of stingers in the water so you couldn’t swim but that was OK. We had lunch at a (I guess) fancy resort there and then we headed back home (after a quick stop to wander in the rain-forest of course).

On the trip back home we also went crocodile hunting. We were pretty lucky and got to see two baby crocs, an eagle (of some sort), two pythons and one hell of a tour guide. He looked bushy, like he didn’t like people – but he was alright.

We were both pretty tired after the long trip so we just had a bbq at the hostel and then crashed.

Next day, up at daylight for some snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef. I was somewhat reluctant to go since we had had such a good time in Airlie Beach (didn’t want to ruin that impression with something not so good) but boy, am I glad we went.

 We went with Ocean Spirit to Oyster Reef and Upolu Reef and they too were totally different to each other. From what I have seen of the Great Barrier Reef I consider this trip to be absolutely magical when it comes to the corrals, the colours were vibrant and it felt like swimming in an aquarium. We never did get to see a turtle but Chiquita (I’m so envious) got to see a reef shark. I was in the water perhaps twice as much as Chiquita but I didn’t get to see any shark, it really unfair.

The lunch buffet on the boat was also amazing. I had the best shrimps (or whatever they were). I was so happy we took this trip.

We left Cairns and Australia the next day to start our journey home.

Thank you Oz, you are magnificent!

And I must say that Chiquita did a truly exceptional and absolutely amazing job when planning and booking and organising our trip. Everything was planned, that needed planning, nothing left to chance, nothing not looked at. Everything ran smoothly and was just right. Thank you my darling for all you hard work (and for me nagging about it when you did it)!

Airlie Beach, Whitsunday’s & The Great Barrier Reef

Posted by Chiquita on April 28, 2008
Posted in: Australia 2008, Chiquita, Peter, Photos, Travels. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a Comment

We arrived in Airlie Beach around 9 o’clock in the morning (11th of March) after approximately half a day greyhound bus ride out of Hervey Bay. I don’t think I’m exaggerating, when I say half the bus was full of Swedish or at least Scandinavian speaking passengers between the ages of 18-22. Even before I arrived in Airlie Beach I had a notion I would really like Airlie Beach… 

Our bed and breakfast was on a steep hill about 5-10 minutes walk from the town centre, we took a taxi as our bags were weighing us down and we didn’t really know where we were going. Also taxis are way cheaper in OZ then in Sweden, so this was luxury we treated ourselves to many a time during our holiday. Our B&B turned out to be just lovely with an almost private pool and a great view. After checking-in and leaving our bags we headed back down to town for some breakfast and to explore our new surroundings. We ended up at the man-made lagoon (as you can’t swim in the see due to the deadly jelly-fish), which for being man-made really was quite lovely. After relaxing at the lagoon for a while we headed for some lunch. The restaurant we chose was nice but we got the least service-minded waitress in history I think… In a somewhat bad mood after our not so great lunch experience, we headed back to our B&B to meet the lady who I had booked our stay with. She wasn’t available when we checked in and now we were to have a brief meeting to receive our voucher for the excursions we had booked through her and also adding an other excursion to our plans, a trip to The Great Barrier Reef. Included in our package I had booked at the B&B there was sparkling wine and chocolates included. We decided to enjoy this out by the pool, this was not difficult! In the evening we went back to town for dinner and ate some beef I believe and finished off with a drink a few doors further down. We didn’t make it late as we knew we had an early morning next day.

On the 12th of March we had an outing to Whitehaven beach with The Camira, a very purple Catamaran, with a pick-up early morning. The weather wasn’t picture perfect but good enough and we were excited to do some snorkeling and to see Whitehaven Beach, ranked as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Our first stop was to do a little snorkeling just outside one of the many (74) Islands belonging to The Whitsunday’s. After putting on our stinger suits for protection against the deadly box jelly-fish we plunged into the water. Unfortunately this was no good at all and all we saw was brown water and sand… A little disappointed we continued our trip towards Whitehaven Beach. As we started to get close to the beach we were very lucky to see a giant sea turtle in the distance. The beach was beautiful and very bright as the sand was so white. The high percentage of silica even made it possible to polish jewelry (just like the sand at Lake McKenzie). Back on the boat after an hour or so at the beach, we enjoyed a delicious grilled lunch on board the boat heading back to Airlie beach. It was first on our way back Peter realized it was an open bar and made sure to make the most of that before getting of the boat in the late afternoon… After having freshened up back at our B&B we went to town for some dinner and drinks. That evening Peter kept on “collecting” friends for us in the bar and we ended up with an English vet, an English marine biologist and a young back-packer from Switzerland I think it was at our table.

The next day (13th of March) after having changed rooms (as we decided to stay on it was necessary to change rooms) we finally had a bit of a “slow” day and we enjoyed a pick-nick by the sea and a slower pace. In the evening we had dinner at The Hogs Breath, that we had been recommended by the cabdriver on our first day in Airlie Beach.

On our last day in Airlie Beach (14th of March), after yet another early start, we headed out to a pontoon on The Great Barrier Reef . The trip to the reef was to put it least “difficult”. Even though I had taken a seasickness pill I felt very sea-sick and just managed to make to the Reef a couple of hours out of the port without throwing up. The crew warned everyone about the rough sea and highly recommended anyone who was prone to seasickness to take seasickness pills. Even though, many people were sick and the crew were busy handing out bags to throw up in, nice… not! Despite the rocky boat ride to the potoon it was well worth it! After getting into our stinger suits and snorkeling gear we jumped into the sea and this time not to be disappointed. The first fish to greet us was a huge bright blue fish that they call Wally. Even though his size, we were not intimidated as he was a very kind fish and we could pat him without difficulty. We continued to enjoy a guided tour in the water by a marine biologist and saw many other beautiful fish and sea-creatures. After lunch aboard the potoon we headed home and even if it was a very bumpy ride, I felt much better then on the way out. In the evening we had dinner at the same place we had dinner on our first evening in Airlie beach, before heading to the bus-station and Cairns…

When it rains it pours

Posted by Peter on March 16, 2008
Posted in: Australia 2008, Chiquita, Peter, Travels. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

My god! This is indeed the wet season here in Cairns. It is raining more or less all day long.

Before Cairns we were in Airlie Beach and the absolute highlight was going to the Great Barrier Reef. It was really wonderful, lots of beautiful fish! We even got to pet a really big fish, Wally. We don’t have that many underwater photos but some with us with stinger suits on. Looks funny.

We have seen Kuranda today and taken a sky rail. Unfortunately the scenic train was cancelled due to land slide. Tomorrow Cape Tribulation and the rain forest (just what we need, even more rain) and the day after tomorrow were are going the the Great Barrier Reef again.

Have it great! We are!