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Published: April 25th 2008
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On our last full day in Cairns we decided it was time to something more adventurous than just relaxing by the pool and having BBQ's everyday. We booked a diving boat and headed to the 'Great Barrier Reef' for a day of scuba diving. Me, Rick and Nick were in tip top condition for the dive however Ross had only had one hours sleep and was feeling worse for wear...this became evident on the boat journey to the reef. We were briefed on safety and where the dive spots would be and exchanged our ISS scuba diving qualifications. Today we would be diving on our own with no guide woooo. On our first dive we pretty much were thrown off the boat as the skipper had to keep to his diving schedule. This was slightly scary considering we hardly did any safety checks and didn't have a clue where to go. Anyway we remembered what we were doing and released our BC and sank to the bottom, equalizing continuously. The reef was beautiful, hundreds of fish, schools swimming in every direction, coral covered in different species of plant life. I inspected the sea life closer and saw several little nemo fish
hiding, clown fish peeking their heads out the rocks and the braver rabbit fish and trigger fish brushing against my wetsuit. Nick picked up a 2 foot long sea slug and we all stroked its slimy back until Rick dropped it 😊 We then headed into deeper waters where I saw what looked like a massive rock. We all dived closer and suddenly a little head popped out and four legs..it was a giant turtle! We stroked its shell and then it gave us a very gawpy look and very slowly kicked its legs and swam off. We followed its route for a few minutes until it buried its head in seaweed so we let it be( Unreal experience). For some reason I think because of excitement I had used all my air up twice as fast as the others so had to head back to the boat.
On the boat we met some guys our age from Kent and decided to go snorkeling with them for an hour. This was great fun as it wasn't as serious as diving so we doing flips, chasing rainbow fish and swimming under each other and yanking their legs pretending we were
sharks. But on a serious note sharks were only on the other side of the reef about a 5 minute swim away!
After lunch it was then time for our second dive; we arrived at Hastings another part of the reef. As we descended we straight away saw a 4 foot type of eel circling the boat and some very large rabbit fish. As we hit the reef at the bottom Rick was taken by surprise and flung his arm out to avoid crashing. His flailing arm smacked me in the mouth and took my regulator straight out! After a few seconds of panic I managed to grab the floating regulator and stick it back in. We laughed about it when we were back on the boat. We were lucky to see one turtle in a day but we stumbled across an even bigger one! This one let us stroke it and swim next to it. The dive instructor on the boat said that it was about 80 years old!
On the way back from the dive we sunbathed on the deck in the ozzy sun , no clouds in the sky. We later had our last BBQ,
beat some Koreans at football, partied at Woolshed and said a goodbye to our Bristol mates who we had been traveling with for a month.(legends)
Magnetic Island
On the way we stopped off at a crocodile farm. We fed kangeroos, held baby crocs and snakes and watched the guide tease the big croc.
After a very uncomfortable Oz experience bus journey and ferry ride we arrived on Magnetic Island. It is a small paradise Island just off Townsville. The hostel was situated next to the koala sanctuary and we managed to see a few just hanging around in the trees. We played a great game of cards over a few beers and had a few visitors as well. Possums (large squirrel/mouse looking animals ) would run around our feet; but they bite your toes so we had to keep running away.
I had the worst night sleep imaginable. I slept about 3 hours due to my arms nerve damage and the sanctuary next door with the birds squawking. I leapt at the chance to chill on a beach all day. The beach was lush as you can see from the pictures. It was slightly annoying though
that it was stinger season so we could only swim in the netted area. When we all jumped in the water our legs started itching and we thought we had all been stung, however it was only sand fleas phew..we thought we may have had to urinate on each other! we chilled all day, soaking up the sun and catching up on lost sleep. We waited till sunset and then on the way back up to the hostel we caught another glimpse of a koala.
In the evening we all got involved in a hostel pub quiz. We did very well and out of 10 groups we came third! We were the youngest group as well.
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Auntie Liz
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Happy Birthday
Hi Jonathon, loving reading all about your adventures! Wishing you a very happy birthday and take it easy with the celebrating! Nannie sends her love on your birthday. x