Can't Believe we're swimming the Great Barrier!!!

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Our late afternoon flight was uneventful and we arrived in good time to arrange another two days on our car rental. We've decided to drive up to Cape Tribulation...everyone talks about the beaches. We are staying at the hostel for two nights so we can focus on a full day on the reef.

It was interesting to drive up north of Cairns, you can't see much because there is sugar can everywhere, right up to the road right of way. The white seed heads are really pretty in the morning sun. We made our usual stop at a quaint little cafe for coffee and breakfast and head off for a boat tour to see the infamous crocs. We were told by some on our safari that the boat trips are all about the same so we picked the smallest operator with the smallest boat...it's only an hour, the others are 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Got on the water and got to see the crocs...they are definitely bigger than our Okeefenokee gators. Ends up our little boat made the same circuit as the bigger boats, so we're glad with our decision..probably could have skipped this part. Then we headed up to Cape Tribulation, great drive along the ocean. We walked out several times to the beaches along the way, but didn't see much...guess we're not beach people. Doesn't help to have all the signs and bottles of vinegar hanging all over the place warning of jellyfish stings. (By the way...IT"S WARM! and we're in T-shirts and shorts.) We did find a great boardwalk hike thru the rainforest. We are still amazed at the tree formations and variety of ferns. The oak leaf tree fern forms a circle of the tree high in the canopy. We head back to Cairns and decide to fit a nother hike in at Mossman Gorge...are we glad we did! It's along the river and thru a rainforest..special time especially as the sun set.

We are up early to get the 8:00am boat ride out to the Great Barrier Reef. The kids (young adults) running things on the boat are all excited because it looks like a perfect day..it's been raining for 10 days. It's a two hour ride to the reef, but coffee and conversation make the time past quickly. First stop is a "cay." Where the reef has a portion of sand always above water and with the bird's poop carry seeds, now has vegetation. It's a national protected area so we can only walk on a small portion. We are there for an hour, water is shallow so with the bright sun over head and snorkeling looking down the colors are fabulous.

We load back on the boat for a great lunch and troll on down to another spot where it is much deeper, so here besides the coral, you have 3,000 varieties of fish swimming about. Some kinds of the fish swim in a big school and allow you just to swim through them as tho they don't care. The Parrot fish are amazing colors and eat algae off the coral. They scrape the algae off the coral and get coral in their mouths which then gets crushed in a structure in their throat. Supposedly 60% of the sand anround the reef is from parrot Fish poo.

Everyone is called back to the boat and we make the two hour trip back to Cairns for a 6:00pm arrival. On the way back, the captain shuts down the engines and hoists the sails...it was gorgeous...and this is a boat holding 75 passengers!!

We hoped in our car with our bathing suits still on to drive the hour or so down to mission beach to stay a place called the Sanctuary Retreat. It's in the middle of nowhere, but in a rainforest that goes down to the ocean. We got there just after sunset, park the car and call to be picked up by the 4WD for the steep ascent to the "long house" and out hut. We were amazed at the view from the deck of the ocean and the full moon. They are a long way from anywhere so they serve meals, which we really enjoyed with the full moon and candle. I couldn't resist the opportunity to hike down to the beach, they said it was only a 10-15 minute walk thru the woods. Well needless to say it was a lot longer in the dark ...Ruth was a real trooper and we made it to the beach for a glorious walk. We walked back via the 4WD road, very steep but lit by the moon.

The huts are screened and high in the tree canopy..felt like we were sleeping in a zoo's aviary. This place was just too nice to rush, so we took our time and had an enjoyable breakfast, a couple of cups of coffee and left midday for the neighboring Mission Beach. While looking around the shops I noticed a hairdresser and asked if she did buzz cuts...sure enough, and could do it right now. "Do you have a No. 2 attachement?" Sure do, and it should be same as in the states. Liters/gallons; miles/KM; kilo/lbs, but sure enough a No.2 is a No.2.

On top of all that we finally got to see the Cassowary bird we had been looking for...it's been a fanastic 24 hours.

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