Underwater World

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It's been another busy few weeks since we left the Town of 1770. After the overnight bus from hell, we arrived in Airlie Beach, ready for our trip to the Whitsunday Islands. Once again there was a noticeable difference with the heat and humidity, finally in the tropics, home of eternal sunshine (well almost).

After a quick dip in the freezing cold waters of the local lagoon, since there isn't actually a beach at Airlie Beach (go figure), we visited the Shark Museum. This was certainly an experience, thought it was going to be really informative about the sharks in the waters of Australia, but it was more one man's dedication to killing sharks and displaying them as trophies. There were turtle heads and dolphin fins displayed in boxes, as a presentation of the things found in the stomachs of sharks that he had caught and killed. He thinks he is doing his part to make the waters safe for humans, despite the fact that he is hating the inert nature of the creature. It was completely hypocritical, his museum was suggesting that sharks should not eat dolphins, but not that dolphins shouldn't eat fish, or that humans shouldn't eat meat, it's all part of the food chain after all. Sharks are known to eat more than they need, keep eating out of want, but then again, I know many humans that are like that as well, just part of nature. There were newspaper clippings on the walls of the shark attacks and missing people out at sea that have occurred all around the country, including a baby that had been rescued out of the stomach of a shark, still alive, which was interesting. His biggest trophy was the frozen carcass of the largest great white shark ever measured, that he had caught and killed, and put on display. It was really weird, if I saw that swimming towards me I would freak out, it was huge!

We sailed around the Whitsunday Islands on an ex champion 80ft maxi yacht, where we had to pitch in to raise the sails, maneuver the boom and even had a turn at steering the boat. It was great. When all the sails were up and the wind was blowing strong, we moved at a fast pace with the boat tipping to the side, so much so that one side was almost under sea level. It was crazy being in the cabin when all this was going on, legs turned to jelly when I walked about, and it felt like I was really pissed. The islands were mostly covered in greenery, beautiful rainforest, and amazing long stretches of sandy beaches. Whitehaven beach was the most stunning, we visited a remote part of it where there were no other tourists and made the first footprints on the perfect, untouched sand, as the small motor boat pulled up on shore. It was really a place where dreams are set, beautiful, especially in the morning sunshine. There is nothing quite like sailing as the sun is setting, with the wind blowing through your hair, when whales are swimming along their migration path within eye shot. The most incredible part was the snorkeling, over part of the Great Barrier Reef. The visibility was perfect, and the sea life abundant. There were brightly coloured fish and corals of many varieties and a giant grey fish about half the size of me. When we were back on the boat massive angel fish swam to the surface, and giant turtles swam by. Learnt a few new drinking games aboard the boat too, had a wicked group of people to share the experience with.

Next stop was Townsville. There wasn't really a great deal to see or do in Townsville as it is primarily a residential area, but had a swim in the rock pools, the stinger safe area where you can go in the water. Box jellyfish are frequently found in the northern seas, but even though it is out of season there are still some around. Some of them can stop you breathing in about 5 minutes, so best to stay out of the water, or where a stinger suit. All along the promenade are work bench stops for doing exercise, which I thought was pretty cool. We visited the Reef Aquarium, which was amazing. Not sure how or why they were allowed to take it, but there was an actual piece of living coral reef that is growing in the main tank, with much of the natural wildlife swimming around it. There was everything there from clown fish to stingrays to a white green turtle, poisonous stone fish and reef sharks. It was amazing to see it all. We watched the feeding in the predator tank, with the massive green turtle eating most of the food, followed by the sharks, and then all the smaller fish eating the scraps from the turtle, he was really greedy, but it was reflective of the natural process in the sea. We followed the turtle around for ages in the glass tube walkway. We met up with a friend, Mike, with whom we met in Bundaberg, and soon persuaded him to quit his job and come to Magnetic Island with us to do the open water diving course, wasn't too hard though!

Magnetic Island is a short ferry ride from Townsville, and as soon as we got there we hired a miniature soft top jeep, called a Moke, to tour the small island. But first we had to wait for an hour and a half in the medical center to have our dive medicals done, a little frustrating! The island is beautiful, and really small, so it didn't take long to drive to the peak and back down. Most of it is covered in forest, so we checked out a few of the beaches and visited the wild rock wallabies. They were so cute, some of them were really tiny. We took carrots to feed them, where the brave ones would eat out of our hands. One of the locals came along and covered the floor with seeds, fruit and veg, banged something to create a noise, then about 40 wallabies came hopping out of the rocks to eat the munch. It was really cool to watch.

The diving course at Base: Reef Safari, was so much fun. Our first lesson was classroom based, we had to watch some informative videos and then learnt a little additional theory. I had no idea of the amount of knowledge that I would have to learn to be able to scuba dive. As well as learning about all the equipment, there are other important things that you have to remember, the most crucial being that you must not hold your breath at any point. This leads to increased pressure in your lungs, and can make your lungs explode!! This can cause an air embolism, which can lead to death. So pretty important!! You can also get nitrogen narcosis from going deeper than your body can handle with the increased nitrogen pressure on your brain, and decompression sickness from ascending too quickly. So much info to be bombarded with on the first day. The second day was in the swimming pool with all the equipment, learning skills like what to do if the respirator comes out of your mouth and if your mask comes off, emergency oxygen sharing and ascending, and removal and replacement of the equipment under water. I had difficulty taking the mask off and putting it back on, but got it down in the end. The weirdest thing was getting used to the bubbles that come out of the respirator when you exhale. The equipment was really heavy out of water, but weightless in the water, about as heavy as my backpack on land! It was a bit daunting going into the sea to do all the skills and swim around on the third day, but really amazing. There were so many different types of coral on the reef, and some beautiful fish, but the sense of achievement was the most rewarding part. We did 2 dives on the third day, then 2 more on the forth day, then we were qualified. So amazing. We had 2 more free dives on the afternoon that we qualified, but something crazy happened with the weather and it got really stormy. So the waves had suddenly got really huge and the visibility was really poor, only one meter! We had to hold hands with each other so we didn't get lost, and had to be really careful not to swim into the coral. However, I did manage to see several stingrays along the sea bed, so it was worth it along with the experience of diving in extreme conditions. Incredible, I'm so glad that we did the course, amazing.

We managed to persuade Mike to come up to Cairns with us, and visit Cape Tribulation, the Daintree National Park, full on rainforest. It was incredible, once again. To suit the place, it was raining, but incredibly humid. One minute it would be cloudy, the next minute there would be the most extreme downpour, then stop again a few minutes later. We were on a crocodile hunting cruise along the Daintree river when it started raining heavily, so we only saw two baby crocodiles as they sunk into the water for protection. The tree and plant life in the rainforest is so much different to back home, there are spiral shaped vines, and you have to be really careful when you walk around as there are also ultra thin spiky vines that can cut you badly if they catch on clothes or skin. I've also heard stories about poisonous leaves that silly people have unsuspectingly wiped their bums with, and have been in pain for 12 years! The beaches of Cape Tribulation were beautiful, with the rainforest coming right up to where the sand begins, looks really tropical and idyllic. It was really touristy derived though, we had to use the shittiest kitchen in a campsite to cook food (the hostel kitchen had been closed down), luckily some nice people in the campsite let us use their pans, as the ones they had were incredibly rusty. They have such bad cooking facilities to encourage people to buy food from the expensive restaurants, such a blag. Noticed that this is a common occurrence in accommodation throughout Australia. Some of our friends that we had met in Bundaberg were working in one of the hostels in the resort, so we borrowed cutlery from them to eat!! It was really good to see them, had a blast of a night.

It seems that Cairns is primarily shops and bars, so having explored them quite thoroughly, we took a day trip to the outer Great Barrier Reef to go diving. The boat ride was the choppiest I have ever been on, there were people throwing up into brown bags everywhere. I managed to keep my stomach settled, which surprised me! So much water came over board too, everyone got soaked. When we reached the dive site it was a lot more calmer. It was our first dive out of a boat, as we had entered on the beach before. It was so amazing, and different from the inner reefs that we have previously explored. The coral was huge, went much deeper than previously too, and even swam through a tunnel in the coral. It was obvious that we were the newbies at diving though, we were the first to use up our air! There were so many more fish at the second dive site, living off the coral. There was a giant clam that moved like an opening jaw when one of the experienced divers touched it in a certain place, and loads of huge sea cucumbers. I cannot express how amazing it was. Didn't see any reef sharks though, which was a shame, but recon that it would still freak me out a little, although they are harmless. Since approximately 72% of the world is covered in water, there is a whole new world available to explore. It's crazy to think that there is so much life if the water that you cannot see.

So here we are, ready to leave Australia tomorrow morning. We tried to persuade Mike to come to Asia with us, but our efforts were not successful this time! I have had an amazing time here, and met some wicked people, but am looking forward to the challenges and difference that Asia will bring. Australia has seemed to be mainly beaches and bars, can't wait to get away from backpacker party bars and the beer that gives you a horrendous hangover. Now we will have to deal with different native languages, the travelling is going to get a little bit more difficult and exciting. Watch out Asia, here we come!!

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Photos

Turtle Power
Swimming green turtle.

Airlie Beach Harbour
At dusk.

Sailing Over The Ocean
Part of our boat, all that could fit into the frame.

Whitehaven Beach
The photo doesn't do it justice.

Townsville
What more is there to say.

Reef Fish and Coral
Aaahhh...

Happy Rock Wallaby
One of the friendly ones on Magnetic Island.

Hard at Work
Mike, Adam and me, doing our homework for the dive course.

Theres a Storm A Brewing
The day of our free dives on Magnetic Island.

Cane Toad
The ones that farmers hate and always try to kill, because they destroy the crops.

Coral and Wrasse
Underwater world.

Random Rainforest
Through the trunk of an interesting tree in the rainforest at Cape Tribulation.

Cape Tribulation Beach
Where the rainforest meets the beach and sea.

Fishy, Fishy
Fishy, fishy.

More coral.
More underwater world.

Comments

[christine/mum]

beautiful
WOW what an exciting time you two are having.Certified divers now ..... well all holidays will now have to include diving .... all those beautiful fish the turtles and the barrier reef ... take care .. love mum xxx