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Published: April 14th 2009
So we headed out of Melbourne's sweltering heat and into far north Queensland's torrential rain, cyclones and floods - it was quite literally out of the frying pan and into the fire, and it really hit home not only how diverse the weather is in Australia, but also how devastating with the effects are as in both Victoria and Queensland it was fatal and tragic.
We flew into Cairns as Daisy had work lined up in Brisbane, and we firstly set about buying a car (an estate car so we could sleep it in, but in Australia its a "Station wagon") so we could drive down the coast. Cairns was very wet, but also very hot and humid, and it was difficult sleeping in such humidity, but as we were in the tropics we couldn’t really complain. Cairns is best known as the gateway to the Barrier Reef, but we didn’t realise its also the 'Ibiza of Australia', which meant it was tacky, full of morons, and nowhere near as charming as most nearby towns and villages.
We had heard bad stories about the visibility on the reef, as the rain had stirred up the sea and people had
Atherton Tablelands
Sliding down the waterfalls - so much fun!said it wasn’t worth the money heading out as we wouldn’t see anything, but we had come so far we weren’t about to give up! We booked onto a tour that was recommended to us, particularly as we wanted to try scuba diving, and headed out to the reef one cloudy morning. After zipping across the sea for about an hour we kitted up, received our briefing and were quickly in the water (and surprise surprise, the visibility was fine!). The Scuba diving was very easy to pick up and after a few minutes we had the breathing and hand signals down to a tee (well nearly, Dais kept giving me the thumbs up as she was having a great time, oblivious to the fact it means "I need to go to the surface!").
As soon as we descended we saw a shark, and although incredible it was quite a scary site! But we were told it was a reef shark and wouldn’t bother us. We spend the next 30 minutes exploring under the sea, viewing the incredible coral, sea cucumbers, giant clams and of course fish. We were even lucky enough to spot a sea turtle and a
ray, so managed to see all the biggies.
It was an incredible day, and anyone who says the Barrier Reef is overcrowded, ruined and too touristy needs to take a step back and remember why it attracts tourists in the first place - it is a natural wonder of the world! It was incredible and one of the best days we have had on the trip.
Before we headed down the coast we spent some time exploring far north Queensland, and had a great road trip up to Cape Tribulation, visiting the incredible Daintree Rainforest, numerous beautiful beaches, and Hartley’s Crocodile village, where we got to see some close up local saltwater crocs.
After returning to Cairns we had been recommended to do one last trip before we left, with the only hints being to "go see Uncle Brian" - not really knowing what the day meant. We were intrigued so booked onto Uncle Brian’s tour and had an absolute ball on the road with Gus the Wonderbus and Cousin Rowan. Throughout the day we visited a number of beautiful waterfalls, rainforest, rock pools (and slides!) and sang and danced our way around the Atherton Tablelands -
sounds crazy, and it has to be seen to be believed, but it was an awesome day!
After returning back to Cairns one last time, we set out on our two week journey to Brisbane....
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