Cairns, Days 9 and 10

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Friday November 4, 2011 - Day 9
As you may have seen in the last blog entry, there were pictures of the Great Barrier Reef. Jim was a little ahead on that one. We took a tour of the Reef on Sunlovers Cruises. We boarded a catamaran around 10 AM and set out for our adventure. When the crew went through the safety orientation at the beginning of the trip, they showed how to put on the life jacket and stated in the event of an evacuation order we should say a prayer and jump overboard. Luckily we did not have to experience this. There was one stop at Fitzroy Island where some people disembarked for an overnight stay. The total time to the reef including the short stop was an hour and 15 minutes. Sunlovers has a permanent platform structure on the reef and two boats that are moored closed by. In addition to the large platform, they also have a helipad. The tour included all the necessary snorkel gear to snorkel on your own, trips on a semi-submersible boat, and the glass bottom boat.

We went on the semi-submersible boat first and it was fantastic. They took the boat between the coral beds and the variety of fish was amazing. We saw Barry the Barracuda, one of the local fish that hangs around this particular area of the reef. When we came back to the pier, it was time for lunch which was included in the price. A nice variety of food was available and Lisa was very excited to finally get some bread. Jim enjoyed the shrimp as he said the trip on the semi-submersible made him crave fish.

After lunch Jim gathered all the necessary snorkel equipment and jumped in. The second he was in the water lot of fish just swarmed around him, hopefully you can see this in the pictures. He was having a blast until Wally came close to him. Wally is a huge Wrasse. His head was about the size of Jim's chest, friendly but just too big to be next to so Jim headed back to the platform until Wally went away.

After snorkeling we went on the glass bottom boat. The ride took us over the coral beds. There were lots of sea cucumbers, large sea clams, tons of coral of course, and a large variety of fish. When we got back on the platform, the helicopter was coming in to land on the helipad which is about 100 yards from the platform. As some of you may know, Jim has quite a few remote control helicopters and he has practiced landing on magazines or some other item to simulate a helipad. This pilot had to land a helicopter on a platform that was moving up and down and side to side with the motion of the ocean. It was interesting to watch as the landing pad is only about 50 by 50 feet. Helicopter rides were available for an additional fee, for example a 15 minute ride was $148 AUD. Another option was to take the helicopter back to town instead of going back on the boat, for only $325 per person.

Overall the day was great and we recommend it. The crew on and off the boat were very friendly and accommodating. They have lifeguards on duty at all time when the tourists are snorkeling. Someone wrote the following on the back of one of the lifeguard chairs: "Quiet Please. Lifeguard Sleeping". They also have a good sense of humor. We were very lucky that the boat was not very full and we never felt crowded. The water was fairly calm, especially the return trip. Another great adventure! When we returned to town we did our normal hanging out on the Esplanade, beers, something to eat, yadda yadda yadda.

Saturday, November 5, 2011 - Day 10
We planned the day to be our relaxing pool day. Before heading to the pool, we ventured out to Rusty's Market. It is only open on the weekend and since this is our last day here, we stopped by. The market was mostly fresh fruits and vegetables but some vendors had prepared food and hand-made products for the home. The first thing we saw that made us stop was homemade samosas, a triangle shaped pastry with various types of fillings. This is a food item we have never made but we love them so we had to get some. Jim also had his eye on an apple and poppy dessert in phylo dough so we had to get one, it too was delicious. And to go along with the dessert, we purchased a sugar cane drink. The vendor crushed the sugar cane in front of us to get the juice. On the last pass of the crushing process, she put a small kefir lime in between the cane. It was delicious.

Now that we had our fill, we wandered through the rest of the market checking out the fruits and vegetables. There were a lot of items we were not familiar with at all. Some of the fruits and veggies were a lot smaller or a lot bigger than what we have at home. The cabbage was the size of a watermelon. The green onions were about 18 inches long. The corn on the cob was almost half the size. The prices were reasonable and we could tell the locals stock up at the weekend markets for the week.

We had an early flight the next day and our shuttle is picking us up at 5:00 am. We will not be heading out to the Esplanade tonight so we stopped at the local store and picked up boxed selection of four New Zealand artisan cheeses, crusty bread, Penfolds cabernet, and a fresh pear for our dinner later tonight. But first, it was time to cool off at the pool. After about an hour, it started to rain. Most of the people left but it was still warm and we were under a large permanent umbrella so we "toughed it out". The rain stopped within 20 minutes and the sun came through again. We figured this would be the last of our warm pool weather so we soaked up as much as we could before dinner.

We then headed to the outdoor seating area of the pool bar to enjoy our dinner under the veranda. Others were looking at us with jealousy in their eyes. All of a sudden the sky opened up and we experienced a real rainforest downpour. It was still warm and we were under cover so we just enjoyed it. It appears it rained most of the night and the next couple of days they were expecting thunderstorms. While we have enjoyed Cairns very much, it is a good thing we were leaving in the morning. We head off to Adelaide and are hoping to visit the Barossa Valley (similar to Napa Valley). Lisa is going to miss the heat but we keep saying we are going into a new adventure instead of leaving one we have enjoyed - always looking forward! Oh yea, we are not even half way though yet......

Aussie Translation

Shopping Carts = Trolleys
Now = Straight Away
Large bumper on the front of a truck = Roo bar (to protect the front of the truck in case of hitting a kangaroo)

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Photos

Getting Ready to Jump In
The platform has a nice bench to get ready to jump in the water

Sea Slug
The crew brought up from the reef a few sea slugs in a holding tank for us to pet, ugh

Helicopter Landing
It was amazing the pilot could land the heli on such small platform in the middle of the ocean

Lisa, high and dry
She opted to stay dry and keep an eye on Jim

On the Tour Boat
One of the crew offer to take our picture while on the ride back to Cairns