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Published: December 14th 2006
Kaola
It's worth noting that another 8 ft of climbing down and this thing could be comfortably asleep on ground!Aye captain...I will! and dive we did. So the morning of the 10th, I drove up to Townsville. I took the ferry out to Magnetic Island and went for a hike in the rain...I had packed for the night so my day bag was a little heavy with my camera and all, so I got very wet/sweaty while walking. I hiked up to an old WW2 look-out built on the Island which has the remains still there for the ammo huts and the two large, very accurate cannons that protected a 20 mile radius around Magnetic Island...although they never fired a shot at anyone, they did fire a warning shot near a U.S. ship that failed to announce it's presence in the area. I got some very cute photos of the 4 koalas I passed on the way up the hike, all tucked into crooks in branches and sleeping. I decided not to stay on the island as I wanted to get an early start on my drive to Cairns to arrive in time to find a hostel and plan a dive excursion. So I took the last ferry back to Townsville and took a room at a hostel and did
Magnetic Isl. Magestic Sunset
I still can't explain the yellow stripe.. laundry. Just had a couple of pints and a tasty lamb stew and got to bed early. On the 11th, I drove up through the lushest part of Australia, Northern Queensland. Of the 55 world heritage sites, 13 have all 4 of the criteria. Northern Queensland has 2 of these, and they are connected. The Great Barrier Reef, and the NOrthern Queensland Tropical Rain Forest. Home of the Cassowary, who is the only bird capable of eating the fruits of certain trees, eating them whole and leaving the seed in a large pile of Cassowary poo which helps the seed to germinate. Don't quote me on this, but I beleive the Cassowary is singularly responsible for the survival of at least 8 species of tree. I drove into lush Queensland, booked a hostel and a 2 day/1 night dive excursion aboard the Reef Encounter. What a fantastic boat. We left from the Marina the next morning at 8:00 am aboard The Compass, which makes day trips for divers and snorkellers and carries passengers to the Reef Encounter. It was a cloudy day but it was warm so I didn't mind. it took about 3 hours to cruise out to the
Finding Nemo
"you know, for a clownfish, he's really not that funny" Reef Encounter and we transferred over, had lunch and began diving. My stars but that reef is an amazing sight...DO NOT TRAVEL TO AUSTRALIA WITHOUT DIVING( or at least snorkelling) THE GREAT BARRIER REEF! We proceeded for the next 24 hours on a schedule that loosley resembles; ...eat, dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, relax, sleep, dive, eat, dive, eat, dive. The under water dive photographer aboard the boat has a Nikon D70 which he uses in a $4000.00 underwater housing unit, which breaks my heart as I really want one. He sells his photos individually or as packages to guests. I tried to talk him down in price, but instead he just offerred me more photos in the full package one, so I took it. As I retreived my visa, he tells me he's not doing the last dive before we leave the boat and asks if I want to take MY camera down in his rig. Did I? Don't ask stupid questions...It was a lot of fun. As a rookie to the whole underwater photography thing as well as being a newbie to Scuba, not all the shots worked out...but I got a few good ones (including Nemo) and
Great Barrier Reef
Underwater Digital Photographer Extraordinaire...Ryan Hogan :) was happy to have the experience. We switched over to the compass again for the ride back to Cairns, stopping at one more reef for snorkelling where I scratched a turtles back at 7m. he seemed to like it. A few of us from the boat connected last night for some beverages with a guy from the crew. Now, I'm just attempting to procure some accomodations in Bali for tonight then I'll get some breakfast and look for an internet cafe with USB to try to drop a photo or two. Until Later, Ryan.
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jenica
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sting ray?????
By cricky, my brother the awesome underwater explorer... If he were home he would be taking pictures of trees on powerlines, blowing winds and rain. He would also have a few nice shots of his car covered in snow from last week, and today...I saw 4 rainbows...One in sechelt, a double in gibsons and one in roberts creek....all very bold and brilliant. So, i bought me a lottery ticket so i can buy my brother an underwater camera case...just in case he needs it. xoxoxoxj