Cairns

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Wednesday - 12 December - I arrived in Cairns at 6.30am, as the hostel wasn't checking anyone in at that time, I went on the hunt for breakfast. Once full i walked around the town and tried to sort out a good deal for diving the barrier reef. I managed to arrange a dive for the following day and by that time i was allowed to check into my room at Gilligan's, the renowned party hostel!! I made myself some food and headed out for a drink with my new room mates. We ended up playing bogan bingo which was a hoot, i won a trip to Port Douglas but i can't tell you how, what goes on tour, stays on tour!!

Thursday - 13 December - Today i took a days boat trip to the outer reef of the Great Barrier Reef. I did three dives, it was great to get back in the sea again, but i'm sorry to say that the reef was bitterly disappointing. I had paid slightly more to go with a reputable tour company who had licenses to parts of the reef that not all tour boats could go to. I had been advised that a lot of the coral had been damaged by tourism and by general ecological events. Considering it is a protected site, I didn't expect it to be as damaged as it was. The coral was bleached and there were very few fish swimming at our dive sites. Compared to the Whitsundays, where you were swimming through whole shoals of fish, the Great Barrier Reef was really sad, even the fish looked sad. I made the most of my dives and explored the reefs and fishbowls that snorkelers couldn't reach. I overheard a couple of snorkelers joking about how they had knocked the coral in the shallow parts and kicked it to pieces with their fins. It was disgraceful and I felt obligated to give them a few stern words, i couldn't believe they found destruction of a reef so amusing, they weren't young either!!! They walked away and the surrounding people all echoed my disgust. I didn't, but i think someone told a member of the crew because they didn't snorkel after that, put on detention!!

Friday - 14 December - Uncle Brian's tour to the Atherton Tablelands today, it was great fun!! will blog later.

Saturday - 15 December - Cape Tribulation tour, stayed in PK's jungle lodge and made a couple of friends in Emma and Nick. Hilarious drunken Finnish and Aussie guys provided amusement to us for the evening and some equally drunken Aussies in the pool amused me with their beer helmet creation.

Sunday - 16 December - Continuing with the tour today, we visited the Daintree Ice-cream (very tasty), swam in the Mossman Gorge (very refreshingly cold and no crocs as a bonus), drove to the Rex lookout and took a tour of Port Douglas (a pretty little fishing town surrounded by huge hotel complexes). For my final full day and sleep in Cairns, i stayed at a new hostel on the edge of town. I booked a large double room all to myself for the night so i could get some sleep before i begun travelling again.

Monday - 17 December - Today is my last full day in Cairns. I took the bus to palm cove and walked up and down the beautiful shoreline soaking up the sun and watching out for sun baking crocs, there were none :-(. Then I made my way back to Cairns centre to buy some souvenirs in the mall before taking a walk around the lagoon in the last hour of sun. It was a filling day really ensuring I had enough supplies for the journey ahead. To kill time, i got another $15 Chinese pressure point massage and watched the screeching fruit bats as swarms of them flew over the city heading for the fruits of the forest. I took the bus back to the hostel in time for the croc, roo and emu BBQ. My favourite was Kanagroo, Emu was like tough steak and Crocodile was a nice mix between fish and chicken. I finished off this my last blog before heading to the airport. I'm coming home!!!! Merry Christmas everyone!!

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