Blogs from open water, Cairns, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 6

Tuesday we woke up fairly early to go snorkeling. The boat first took us to White Haven beach on Whitsunday Island. This beach was rated the most beautiful beach in the world. It has the whitest sand, which if you get caught stealing any, it’s a $40,000 fine. Everyone took pictures, splashed around in the bluest water I’ve seen, and laid out on the sand. After about an hour we headed to another island, where we laid anchor in Pitstop Bay. A ten-minute hike led us to a beautiful lookout of heaven. See pictures attached. White sand bars surrounded by the bluest water. I chose not to pay $60 to scuba since we’d be scuba diving later in the week. The water looked cold, especially when a boy in a wetsuit got out of the since ... read more

What an awesome 5 days! It started on Friday, 7am pick up to start my Open water scuba course to get me qualified in the open water, aka THE GREAT BARRIER REEF. Two days of theory / classroom work later (won't bore you all with that bit) then Sunday arrived. 0615: Hostel pick up then to dive shop to pick up scuba gear - then to the boat. 3 days / 2 nights. We were on board by 9am a quick bite to eat then in we go. Legs shaking ( with adrenaline i think). One hand on my mask and regulator and one on the weight belt and in i jump! As soon as we got in you looked to your feet and all you can see is colours! Evey colour imaginable and more! Fish ... read more

Das ist bislang unser zweiter Trip zum Great Barrier Reef nach den Whitsundays. Diesmal gings zum äußeren Great Barrier Reef, wo das Korallenriff und die Rifffische wesentlich farbenprächtiger waren. Inkludiert waren neben Essen und Getränken auch ein Tauchgang bzw. eine geführte Schnorcheltour, sowie eine Fahrt mit dem Glassbodenboot (Kosten: 165$ pp). Da es beim letzten Tauchausflug Probleme mit der Unterwasserkamera gab und die geschossenen Bilder größtenteils unbrauchbar waren, hatten wir uns diesmal eine digitale Unterwasserkamera ausgeborgt. Während sich Michi auf das Schnorcheln beschränkte - das Riff war auch an den seichteren Stellen sehr beeindruckend - entschloss ich mich dazu, nach dem ersten, freien Scuba Dive noch einen weiteren Tauchgang zu machen. Und das hat sich auch voll ausgezahlt. Ich sah u.a. eine Schildkröte, Riesenmuscheln, einen Stachelrochen, Seegurken u... read more

Hello! I know it's been a while but I didn't really have much to say while I was Perth, but now we're back on the move I have plenty to talk about! We got into a very rainy Sydney last week which made a bit of a change to the 40 degree sunshine we'd been getting in Perth. Getting back to staying in a hostel again also took some getting used to. I wish I had gotten used to it sooner than I did then perhaps I wouldn't have locked myself out of my room at 2am wearing just a sleeping bag! In my defense it's been a long time since I had to use a key to get back into my room after going to the toilet! After getting over that minor trauma, we spent ... read more

Since leaving Noosa Heads we continued our voyage North, stopping at 1770. We anticipated staying there for a couple of days but upon our arrival it was a dismal town with nothing to offer but a beach. We have seen so many beaches on our travels North that it was just not enough of a selling point for us to stay more than a night. The next morning we continued our journey and wound up in a place called Airlie beach, which was amazing. It was beautiful, quaint, and very good for our tans. One thing we did not realize until this location is the lagoon's that much of Australia offer. Little pools just off the ocean where you can swim, lay out and tan or just enjoy the sights. We got lucky and happened to ... read more