Queensland - Cairns, Daintree, Cape Tribulation, Mossman Gorge, Port Douglas

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Well.....a whole week of not packing and unpacking packs...of being able to buy food and eat what you want and generally just chill - heaven!

It was so nice and relaxing we're not going to write too much...too much effort for this chilled out place. Its lovely and sunny (80 degrees even at night) and for the first time it feels like we are on holiday! :-)

Alex finally turned her man radar on after a little push from Thierry and I. I suggested that we all went out for dinner but funnily enough I was ill and couldn't go....Thierry you owe me! ;-)

I did what I had been thinking about doing for ages and tried scuba diving - Tim, Sarah and Jen you are right its amazing. I loved every minute of it. I had a great instructor Karl who was very patient with me, he knew that the minute I saw the reef and was away from the guide rope I'd love it. He was right...truely amazing experience just like being in another world...Its so peaceful and calming and the way the fish swim up to you and interact is really special. The colours are so vibrant - bright blues, greens, orange...I saw everything from clown fish (little Nemos), sharks, clams, sea cucumbers and so many amazing corals...the scariest thing was breathing through your mouth after you'd forgotten your nose was blocked! and swimming over the edge reef to see a huge drop of another few thousand metres below...the water down there was so dark as it dropped to nothing.....


A few notes from my Reef school class......

Little Nemos are really called clown fish and they do like to play...they
come up to you and then disappear and hide very sweet.

They live in their family circles only and don't mix with other groups. This
means that if one of them dies the other changes sex so that they can carry on
breeding?!....I can't remember the details of the film Finding Nemo but if Nemos dad died his
mum would have turned into a male and Nemo into a girl!?....strange eh?.....

Turtles breathe above the water like us. They take a breath above the ocean and then swim
for 2 hours....at night they take 1 big breath and stay at the bottom till
morning!...that's why if you are diving at night you should absolutely not
disturb them...if they wake in a panic they will breathe in water fill their
lungs and die or they have to swim all the way to the surface to breathe and
then get eaten by all the sharks on the surface.....(The great barrier reef is home to 6 of the 7 of the worlds turtle species)

Also there is a very pretty white piece of coral that grows called mushroom
coral (its in the shape of a mushroom)...due to the fierce sun it has developed its own sun
lotion which it squirts on to itself which has an spf of 50...amazing!
Scientists are now using it to see if they can make it for humans....

There is loads more but I wont bore you.......... Hows the weather and xmas preparations in England? ha ha

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Photos

Hmm probably wont swim today
Crocodile warning sign in Cairns

Rainforest tree
I cant remember the name so i'll look it up! :-)

Comments

[thierry]

thanks ella !!
thank you so much for beeing sick that night !! i had Alex all for myself and i loved it !! lots of kisses to you Alex ! one more thing : the picture of the room in Cairns was taken on the first day, from the second it was already a mess...ah 2 girls together you can imagine...oops i promised never to tell what i witnessed !!

[Alex and Ella]

Yes Thierry!
I totally agree about the room!...I have a picture of Alex's bed in every city!...you can never see it!...I'm now sharing with my boyfriend who after Alex seems to be very tidy ha ha! :-)