Cairns

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We got the bus transfer at 1030 to the airport from the kiwi basecamp hostel where we had stayed. It was time to leave NZ which was sad but we were looking forward to the warmth of Oz. The flight from Christchurch to Sydney was 3 and a half hours. We got food on the plane and there was a movie but we just read our books for the flight. We arrived in Sydney in the afternoon and had 3/4 hours to kill in between the flights. We had to collect our bags and bring them through customs before sending them on to Cairns. At customs we were told we couldn't bring a key holder made from wood that we had bought in Iguassu into the country without having it treated which would probably have destroyed it anyway, the guy from customs suggested we post it home by sea mail which was much cheaper than air mail so that's what we did. Already we could feel how much warmer it was going to be in Australia. It was a balmy 18C in Sydney and this was the middle of winter! We couldn't wait to get up to Cairns and see how hot it was up there. After sending our post and checking our bags through for Cairns we treated ourselves to a McDonald's to kill time. Our flight up to Cairns was 3 hours. We arrived in at almost 11pm and were told by the pilot that it was 23C! Nice. There was a free transfer to the hostel included in our booking so once everyone had arrived onto the bus we were brought to our hostel 'Caravella' on the waterfront in Cairns. It was late when we arrived so we pretty much just got our key and went up to the room. The room was sweet as with lots of space, air conditioning and a fridge too. We'd booked in for three nights originally but quickly figured out we would probably be staying in Cairns for a bit longer. We asked at the reception desk the next morning if we could book in for another 3 nights but they weren't sure they could keep that room for us, they could at least get us a bed in a dorm though so we were happy enough that we'd at least get that. Our first full day in Cairns we had great weather, it was sunny all day and we spent most of the day hanging out at the pool. That evening we walked into the town along the boardwalk. The boardwalk is along the bay where there are mud flats and the tide goes way out and comes right in too like in sandymount. The bay is a nature reserve for a load of species of birds, crabs and fish. The birds were really impressive with a flock of pelicans and loads of spoonbills, ibis, herons, godwits etc. so we were always taking pictures and using our binoculars when we walked into town. That first night we went to claim our free dinner at the woolshed, all the hostels have same deal with this place where you buy a beer and get your dinner free. It was real 'school dinners' stuff but Australia is expensive so we were happy to eat there when we weren't cooking in. After dinner we strolled home and had a look through all the flyers on the different activities we could do while we were there. We agreed we would do the whitewater rafting, a snorkelling trip out to the reef and we were thinking about a skydive.

The next morning was Friday and it was decision time, Orlagh said she wanted to do the skydive so I said I'd do it if she was doing it... she called my bluff and we went down to sign ourselves up for the skydive on Saturday morning - we wanted to do it asap so it wouldn't be in the back of our minds! We also signed up to do a half day of whitewater rafting on the Sunday afternoon and the trip out to the reef was on Monday. After this we were on a bit of a buzz as we were signed up to jump out of a plane the next morning so we used some of that energy to stroll down to the public swimming pool beside the pier in Cairns. Cairns has lots of cool free public stuff like that along the waterfront, the swimming pool is massive and really nice, there's countless free BBQ stationed where you just need your own plates etc (which we didn't have unfortunately) there a skater parks, tennis courts, a running and cycle lane and loads of exercise stations too - Aussies are big into keeping fit. After hanging out at the public pool and browsing the souvenir shops we went back to caravella and booked our hop on/off greyhound ticket from Cairns to Melbourne and claimed our vouchers for another free dinner in the woolshed. We took it easy that night as our pick up for the skydive was 7.45 in the morning. It was tough to get to sleep that night with the excitement/fear of what we were going to do, we were glad we'd signed up though as we knew it was now or never.

So the next morning rolled around and the weather wasn't great with a bit of wind and low clouds so we were sceptical whether it was going to go ahead, sure enough at 7.45 the he arrived and told us that as it stood the dive couldn't go ahead due to the weather but they'd come back at 1030 and pick us up if the situation had changed. We took this as a cue to go back to bed for a couple of hours. At 1030 we were ready to go again but it was the same story so we opted to try again the next morning. There was a sense of relief but we were also disappointed as we'd psyched ourselves up to do it. So we spent the rest of the day buying a few souvenirs, attempting to find the post office and lounging beside the pool in caravella. We cooked in that night (butter chicken Mmm) and played some cards, again taking it easy as we were up for 7.45 again the next day.

The next morning we got up at 7 again, got breakfast and went out to wait for the bus, the weather was pretty much the same as the day before so we weren't too excited/worried that it would go ahead. 7.45 rolled around and I got a phonecall saying that the weather wasn't suitable again, we were booked on the rafting that afternoon so we couldn't wait to do the later dive, our only option was to push it back to Tuesday - our last day in Cairns, we were planning on leaving for Hervey Bay that day... so much for getting it done asap!

So after lunch that afternoon we were picked up by the bus for the rafting and taken on an hour or so long drive up to the starting point on the Barron river. The group got split into rafts with 5 people and a guide in each raft. Our guide was Laura and she was good fun. She put me and Orlagh in the front as the other three were Chinese and not too good at understanding the instructions Laura gave us, they were a nice family of three with the boy , "Bob", only 13 but he looked 25! It was important for us to get the instructions right as the guys behind us were just copying what we did! Once we were all settled in the raft and had gone over the instructions and safety stuff withe Laura we set off and straightaway were into a big rapid/fall, Laura would shout "big hold on get down" when we were going through one of these and we'd all jump down into the boat and hold on, there were lots of rapids the whole way down and it was great fun having to jump down into the boat over a fall and then get straight back up into your spot at the edge of the boat with Laura screaming at you to back/forward paddle, the intensity of which was determined by the veracity with which she shouted at us. There was also a lazy river period where we could get out of the boat and float down the river in our lifejackets which was nice and chilled out. Just before the last of the rapids we went 'surfing' which is where the guide steers the boat so that it stays in the rapid and you get absolutely soaked - great fun! After this we paddled downstream to the jetty where we carried the boat back up onto the trailer. We gave them our details and knocksinna's address for them to send the photos back to Ireland for us. When we got back to caravella we checked out the times of the buses to Hervey bay. We discovered that the bus would take 24 hours and it only left at 8am in the morning. This was a problem as we were due to do our skydive on Tuesday before we got the bus. So we decided to book an extra night in caravella to give us one last chance to get our dive in before we left.

We ate in that night, played a few games of cards and hit the hay relatively early again as we had to be down at the pier for 7.15 the next morning for our trip out to the barrier reef. We rose early the next morning to head to the pier and catch our boat. We departed from the pier at about 8am and we were the gathered together into our different groups depending on whether you were snorkelling or scuba diving, we were snorkelling, and given a talk on the rules of the boat, safety on board and in the water. There were some of the crowd who were blatantly not paying attention so the instructor, Pat, called them up to help demonstrate and made a show of them, it was quite funny. He also explained how to act around the reef such as giving turtles and sharks space so as not to startle them and under no circumstances were we to touch the reef as we might damage it. It was going to be another 2 hours until we got out to the reef so we went back to our seats and got some tea etc and they showed us a film about the reef and the different wildlife we might see at it. It wasn't the best day really for going out to the reef as it was overcast and quite windy too so the sea was very choppy. This made for a rough sail out to the reef and with some people hung over and others just not good sailors it seemed me and orlagh were the only people who weren't throwing up over the side of the boat at some stage! When we arrived out at the reef the sea was slightly less choppy as the reef blocks a lot of the swell so we were ok to suit up and go for a snorkel.



We were given our snorkel masks, wetsuits and flippers. Once we'd got all the gear on we got into the sea off a ledge at the side of the boat. The water wasn't too cold and we had our wetsuits on anyway so we were happy out. We had about 10 metres to swim to get to the edge of the reef, when we got there we used the snorkel masks to view the reef below. The reef is amazing with all sorts of different types of coral, colourful fish such as clown fish or zebra fish, giant clams and we were lucky enough to see a sea turtle also. The sea turtles look so cool underwater, they just look like they're floating effortlessly about the place and are inquisitive enough to hang around you for a while. There was a guy who was taking photos with an underwater camera that you could buy off him afterwards if he had any you liked. He kept calling people down to swim behind the turtle and he'd get a picture of you with the turtle. We almost managed to get into position when he called us down but some annoying college student (I'll let you guess what nationality!) pushed through and stuck her fat head in and ruined the photo! That was annoying but we didn't dwell on it as there was so much to see. We must have been snorkelling for at least half an hour before we got tired and went back on board for a rest. Back on board then and they were starting to serve lunch (all included in our ticket) which was a buffet with lots of salads and meats. After lunch it was time to head to the second dive location which is another reef a bit further South - the GBR is not one big reef, it's made up of hundreds of small reefs. Unfortunately as we were travelling to the second reef the weather deteriorated and when we got there they weren't sure if they could let us get in the water. They gathered us into small groups so that we could go out with a leader to make sure nobody got into trouble in the water but after another ten minutes of waiting they decided that it was just too dangerous to let us all go in the water and we'd have to skip our second snorkel. This was a shame but at least there was free wine to drink on board as we made the 2 and a half hour sail back to the harbour in Cairns. That evening we ate in and took it easy again as we had another early morning to see if we could finally get our sky dive done. So Tuesday morning came and we were up early to get breakfast. The sky was cloudy again but not overcast, fairly similar to the two previous days we were due to go so we weren't too nervous as we felt there was a good chance that it would be called off again. We got talking to a couple of girls at breakfast who had done the sky dive before and they said it was brilliant and not even scary at all, that helped put our minds at ease also. 7.45am rolled around and we were outside waiting for either a phone call to say that the jump was off or the bus to show up, the bus showed up. The guys on the bus were unsure whether the jump would go ahead with the weather but that it was probable enough that we should go out to the jump site anyway and hope that it would be clear enough. one guy who got on the bus was over a certain weight which meant he would have to pay an extra 30 dollars, he wasn't happy that he hadn't been told this previously and decide to get off the bus - possibly just an excuse to chicken out. The drive out to the jump site took about an hour and a half. The site consists of one large field that is the landing area and another larger filed which is used as the runway. It was completely overcast as we arrived out there so we still weren't really expecting things to go ahead, just as we got out of the bus though we saw a two pairs of people coming through the cloud with parachutes... we now realised this was really going to happen! Apparently the problem the previous days had been that the cloud was too low but today it was high enough that we could make a safe jump. They have a building at the site where you wait around for your turn to go up. Usually they have a bigger plane that they can take 5 pairs up at a time but it wasn't available that day so the plane they had could only take two pairs at a time. Thy had a TV in the waiting room where they were showing videos of jumps done by customers and also of when all the professional sky divers had gotten together (they do it once a year apparently) and done some cool jumps together, guys with wing suits on and some pretty crazy stunts. All this was helping to build the anticipation and nerves about what we were about to do. The instructors who do the jumps with you are good at keeping you nervous too, they keep making jokes about forgetting to bring the parachute or not having done any jumps before etc. We got talking to one guy who was the least experienced instructor there, he said he'd done 1,500 jumps, we then asked him how many times had he needed to use his reserve parachute... 3 times he said and once it was in a tandem jump! So while it was comforting to know the reserve parachutes seem to be reliable a 1 in 500 chance that the first parachute would have to be cut was not long enough odds to keep us from being nervous! The first couple of guys went up and we watched them coming in to land. It seemed to take about 30 to 40 minutes between take off and when you'd arrive back down to earth. The next group would usually head off about 5/10 minutes after the previous group had landed. We were going to be the fourth group up that day so we knew we had a couple of hours to kill before we'd be heading up... this helped to build the tension! We spent the time waiting watching the re-runs of the videos and also watching the other groups coming in to land which was reassuring. When our turn was coming around they got us to come outside, our instructors were going to be John (jumping with Dave) and Terry (jumping with Orlagh). They start off chatting to you while they fit your harness on checking to see how nervous you are and making jokes etc. We had paid to get that video and photos done so before we got on the plane they did a quick interview with each of us. we got on the plane, adrenalin kicking in now, and were just taxiing out to the runway when I noticed Orlagh had no goggles with her. I asked her if she had any with her and it turned out Terry had forgotten to give her any so we had to turn the plane around and taxi back over to the gate and get some. Terry said she could have done the jump without them but she wouldn't really be able to see anything so we should get them. We made sure Terry hadn't forgotten the parachute too and then went back out to the runway and took off, no turning back now! We asked the guys had they ever had someone who had gone up in the plane and not done the jump. terry said it had only happened to him once and he had a feeling the girl was on drugs so he hadn't really wanted to do it with her anyway. On the way up in the plane the guys were kidding around again to keep us from getting too nervous with Terry saying he'd take Orlagh out to dinner that night if I didn't make it down safe!! the plane climbed for about 15 or 20 minutes before we were up at the 14,000 feet we were going to jump from. All we could see below us now was fluffy white clouds so it gave the impression of a soft landing! And then it was time... they opened the door and straight away there was the deafening noise of the wind outside the plane. John tightened the straps on our harness and got me to swivel around and stick my legs out of the plane. Once I was in position I took a deep breath and next thing I knew John had jumped us out of the plane. The first couple of seconds are probably the scariest as you feel yourself falling and also you spin around upside down to get into the freefall position. Then the instructor taps you on the shoulder and you can spread your arms out. After that you don't have the sensation of falling really but just feel the air coming against you faster and faster, it was brilliant. Just as we arriving down to the top of the clouds I saw my instructor counting down from 3 with his fingers, so I knew he was about to pull the parachute. Straight away the was an almighty jolt and we were floating down through the clouds with the parachute open. You can't hear anything except the wind rushing by as you're freefalling so once the parachute was open we could talk and John asked me how I felt and reminded me about what to do when landing etc. as we were coming down to land we could see Orlagh and Terry floating out from the clouds also. We came down and landed in the field. We had a couple more people to jump before we left but we didn't mind waiting around as we were buzzing.



So once our group had finished we were back on the bus and heading back to Cairns. We were told we could pick up our DVDs that evening from 7. We all had a snooze on the bus back as we were knackered from all the nervous energy that morning. We got dropped off back at Caravella and after getting changed etc we went out for a celebratory lunch in Nando's (where else!). We were absolutely starving by this stage as we hadn't eaten anything since breakfast so we truly enjoyed our barbequed chicken. After lunch we headed back to the hostel to pack our stuff up as we were heading off the next morning. That evening we went for one last free dinner in the Woolshed and had a few beers too. Again we were going to have an early start the next day as our bus was at 8am so we turned in relatively early. Next morning we walked down to the bus station to catch our all nighter to Hervey Bay. It was time to say goodbye to Cairns. We had a brilliant time there and were hoping that the next few places we visited would be as much fun (and as warm) as it had been.

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Photos

The mudflats at sunrise
Since we got up early and our skydive was postponed, we took a rare early walk along the esplenade!

Splash!
Our first rapid