Wanderings in Australia - 3 - Cairns & the Great Barrier Reef

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Flying from the small Uluru airport transported us further across the outback and looking down from the aircraft revealed a dramatic change from the red sand and featureless landscape into the verdant green sward of the tropical rainforest of Queensland. A dramatic change in weather was also apparent with hot and humid conditions and occasional torrential tropical thunderstorms!!

A 90 minute catamaran trip took us out to the Great Barrier Reef. WanderingAlison & Jackie had an amazing experience with a short helicopter flight over the reef seeing the turquoise colours of the Coral Sea.

Now kitted out in latex stinger suits and lifejackets we all enjoyed a fantastic snorkelling experience seeing the brightly coloured corals in shades of blue, purple, yellow and red together with a myriad of small and large reef fish swimming in and out of the corals. We only "found Nemo" once! What an amazing experience!

The next day we had a totally different Queensland experience taking the scenic train to Kuranda – an old aboriginal village set deep within the rainforest. Here, it has to be admitted within an animal park, we saw cute koala bears asleep within a tree, a wombat and our first Kangaroos and Wallabies. Hopefully we will see more of these iconic Australian animals in their natural settings later in the trip. We also had a little exercise doing a 3km walk through the rainforest and down to the Barron River. Our return journey was an exciting 5km Skyrail trip flying over the top of the trees.

Next day we boarded another catamaran bound for the small Green Island. Unfortunately it was not the best day of the trip with poor snorkelling - broken and dead corals and few fish - and then a deluge from a tropical storm in the early afternoon!!

Overall we enjoyed Cairns, with its mix of expensive restaurants down by the harbour and cheaper Asian food markets - we ate well at both.

Accommodation - Pullman International Hotel

Weather - Hot, humid, cloudy and tropical rain storms.

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Comments

[David Smith]

Fantastic Photos
Seems like you are all having a great time. No helicopter ride for Peter? Skyrail looks too frightening for me.

[Helen and Bob]

Wanderings 3
Sounds as if it is going really well. We visited Cairns and surrounding area also, so it is good to read about them and see the pics. X

[Helicopter Flights Rides in Cairns]

GreaCait Barrier Reef
It seems you really enjoyed wandering around Cairns and Great Barrier Reef. Never been to Reef but reading about snorkeling really excites me! It's sad you did much have a great time at Green Island but I am glad the overall experience of visiting these places was good!