Visiting Cairns – the Tropical North

Wednesday found us flying from Sydney to Cairns, a 3-hour flight from Sydney and another hour time change. We checked in to the Shangri-La Hotel – a beautiful spot located on the water. We had the rest of the afternoon to do nothing and that’s exactly what we did – sat by the pool and snoozed! Hot sun and a cooling breeze – it was amazing.

On Thursday, we were off to the Great Barrier Reef for some snorkeling. The bus picked us up and transported us up to Port Douglas, an hour further north up the coast. We were heading out with Quicksilver Cruises and what an operation they have. The boat holds some 400 people, although there were only 290 on our trip. We were going to snorkel with a Marine Biologist once we arrived at the reef, so we met with him and filled out all the proper forms – medical and swimming ability, etc. There were 8 of us in the group. The boat trip took 1-½ hours to reach the reef where Quicksilver has a permanent platform to dock the boat. From there you pick up your Lycra wet suit (very Jacques Cousteau-like), mask, snorkel and fins. With the marine biologist, we could swim further than the area designated for most of the snorkeling. We spent about 2 hours in the water and could see many species of fish and coral.

Also available was a semi-submersible sub, a helicopter ride over the reef if you wanted to pay extra (we didn’t opt for that), as well as helmet diving and much more. We also had a full lunch served onboard. One exciting event was when the marine biologist suddenly started smacking me and pushing me and he then let me know that we had happened upon a rather deadly species of jellyfish called a Tamoya ohboya (aka Bonaire banded box jellyfish) – the sting is quite painful and can make you quite sick so I was quite happy that he saved me from that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamoya_ohboya

All in all, a great day and great way to celebrate our wedding anniversary.

On Friday, we headed a little west to the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park where we enjoyed a presentation on the culture of the aborigine indigenous people. We were treated to a dance and digeridoo presentation, and even attempted to throw a boomerang and a spear. From there we boarded a sky rail that took us up and over the rainforest, with stops along the way to enjoy amazing view of a waterfall. Following time spend in the town of Kuranda, we then boarded the Kuranda Railway train, which took us through the rainforest to our final destination. It was a very relaxing day and we were glad we could see that part of Australia which they call the “tropical north”. While on the sky rail we caught a glimpse of the Queen Elizabeth which was anchored near Cairns.

We have only one more day in Australia; we’ll head to Brisbane on Saturday!