Day 15 Great Barrier Reef

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So our day started with an 8am check in (will I ever get a lie in and a leisurely breakfast). Luckily as we were staying very close to the harbour we didn't need a transfer (yeh!) and just sauntered down to the reef terminal to check in. Damn. Another big queue!

We had decided to go on the trip with a company called Reef Magic. They have a fixed platform out on the Moore reef which is 50km out of cairns. They take you out on a big catamaran which takes about 90 mins. This stays moored at the platform as extra sitting space. Once there you have access to snorkelling as well as an underwater observatory, glass bottom boat and a semi submersible.You get 5 hours out there and they provide lunch as well as unlimited tea/coffee/water. To gauge size the maximum they take is 190 and it only had15 places left when we booked so was pretty at capacity.

So with the queue, followed by name tags(!), followed by the mandatory photo on the way onto the boat we were beginning to fret if this was going to fulfil our dream of a lovely day on the reef or maybe it was going to be a queuefest or disappointment.

On the trip out there a lot of lovely young surf dude types who told you about the trips in a very soft sell way. I decided to treat myself to a 5 min helicopter ride over the reef after it had been recommended by someone we met at Uluru. For some reason my sailor husband had gone a bit green around the gills and so decided against it himself. I think it was really that he hates helicopters. Due to need to balance weight (trust me to pick an activity that requires me to announce my weight to a load of strangers) she went away with a list of everyone who wanted to do it and came back to tell me that I was straight out once we docked at the platform!

What a brilliant way to start the day (for me anyway). And cos I was on my own I was right next to the pilot. Anyone who wants to say that it was because I was the heaviest can stop reading now!

Views from the air give a real feeling how the coral reefs shapes look in totality? It did look very brown but he said it would be better underwater. The pilot was also a diver- I assume to live in Cairns your divers certificate is as required as your driving license.

Back from the helipad onto the pontoon, Ian and I headed onto the semi submersible for the next tour. This took you around the corals, pointing out the different types of coral (hard corals such as stag horn and soft corals like spaghetti) as well as the different types of fish. Very interesting. Still looked quite brown so again asked the question. So much is reported about the dead coral. The view given was that this is due to the issue of looking at it underwater where red and whites are bleached out. I have to say it was much brighter when the sun came out than when you were looking when it was cloudy.

Off the boat and sometime in the underwater observatory and suddenly it was lunchtime. Good lunch, probably too much as we then decided to go snorkelling.

First things first. Get your stinger suit on! Although the staff said they hadn't seen any yet, the official season started November 1st. On the trip out we were worried we might look a bit British but pretty much everyone put them on. Fetching as you can see but actually not at all restrictive. They are made of the thin Lycra. The worst thing is that with them on it is pretty much impossible to tell who is who! This is where I start to become a bit of a wet. I'm a rubbish swimmer and don't like putting my head in the water. In fact until the late 90s I had never opened my eyes underwater. Then a family holiday in Egypt meant that I had an added impetus and my lovely patient husband spent at least an hour just trying to get me to put my head underwater in a snorkelling mask in the hotel swimming pool with a lot of

'But I'll get water in my eyes'

'No you won't i promise'

'Yes I will'

'No you won't, just trust me,

'I can't do it'

'Yes you can'.... This bit also included a lot of encouragement from my two young daughters who by then could not only swim like fishes but duck dive and everything!!

Anyway as you can see I eventually did it and went out for the first time that holiday. Still no snorkel at this point, just holding breath. After that I had a managed to snorkel a few times when the holiday required it such as Egypt and Caribbean but cannot pretend that it still doesn't put the fear of god into me!

But this was one of these times. My other problem is being a weak swimmer so as well as snorkel and mask I kitted up with a life vest. But once in the water I was struggling! I was about to give up when Ian patiently asked me to try with a 'noodle' - one of those foam tubes. I say patient as he asked me about 10 times! Finally I agreed, he went off to get me one and after that I was like a pro!!!!!!! It was absolutely brilliant.

Again the coral was not as colourful as the pictures would have you think but it looked pretty healthy to me. Occasionally there was some bright blue coral which I got told later is the colour of new coral. However the structure and variety of these corals with these amazing coral towers like cliffs underwater just were something I had never seemed before. And so close, sometimes enough to make you panic that you would touch it by accident. The variety and colour of the fish added to the experience and we were lucky enough to get our timing right to be in the water at the time they fed them so there was an abundance.

I came out to let Ian have some time on his own (he was a having to pull me around as it had got quite breezy and my inabilities in the swimming department meant I couldn't steer myself!) and went off to wait for the last glass bottom boat trip of the day. Ian managed to make it as it left late which was a treat as the skipper took us straight back out to where he had just seen a couple of young reef sharks hunting down some prey. We watched them for ages. Apparently this is a bit of a rare sight so was the perfect end to our day.

Back on the boat for our trip back to Cairns. So after our concerns of the morning we ended up having a brilliant day. Although the trip was at capacity we never felt that it was hectic. The five hours passed in a flash - I had taken my kindle thinking I would end up sitting with nothing to do! And the snorkelling was really special. And we have more planned when we get to Airlie Beach!

Amazingly over the last couple of days, despite us spending time in well known tourist spots I havent seen a bridal couple? Maybe it's just a Sydney thing.

So our last night in Cairns although we haven't seen much of it due to our schedule. We decided to go back to a restaurant called Dundee's that we had seen on our first night and had looked very popular. Even on a quiet Monday night when most other restaurants were very quiet this one was heaving and we were lucky to get their last free table. Our lucky night we thought........... we were sat next to three New Yorkers. That's fine but they were the loud, moany type and boy did they moan, question, challenge everything our poor waitress said or offered. It was so off putting it was really beginning to spoil our evening. So imagine our delight when another three of them turned up and they asked if they could be sat together. Which meant they moved!!!!! It gave us and the waitress something to bond on though (they moved to someone else's station). Again we had a lovely meal and as we had had such a great day I decided to celebrate with a pudding. And what a pudding!!!!

So tomorrow we are on the Sunlander. Supposed to be one of the best rail trips. Hope so as we are on it for 12 hours!!!!

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Photos

Stinger suited up!
Better than being stung by a box jellyfish though

Reef shark
Taken in the glass bottom boat luckily... Not sure I would have been so keen to see him when I was snorkelling

Dessert
Well if you're going to have a pudding then might as well have three!