Week 510 · Cairns · Great Barrier Reef · Coral Sea · Bush Tucker
Great
We had some friends from our neighbourhood bike group, Stephanie and Anish, visit for a couple of weeks — we spent some time in Melbourne, the Great Barrier Reef, and they added a Sydney side-trip. Now that we are "locals" we have our favourite places: a bike ride to Half Moon Bay, a day on the Great Ocean Road, and a trip north to Cairns for the Reef.
First we showed Steph and Anish some of our favourite Melbourne spots — a ride to Williamstown across the bay, the Brighton Beach Boxes, and a trip down the Great Ocean Road to Loch Ard Gorge. The fog moved in fast at the end — within 10 minutes we couldn't see anything.
The Great Barrier Reef is about the size of Montana — so you have to pick a central point, and Cairns is one of the main destinations (although it is one of those places where "a croc will get you"). I only went for the weekend — a day of snorkeling and a visit to the rainforest — while Sharon, Steph, and Anish stayed a couple more days and went to some tropical islands.
The day of snorkeling was a little more involved than we expected — it was a 1.5-hour boat ride into the Coral Sea, you had to wear "stinger suits" to protect from deadly jellyfish, and we also had scuba divers on board which made it more hectic. But once we got to the reef — it was worth the travel time. I haven't snorkelled much so I don't know if this was great or is typical of a snorkelling site in the tropics — but it was like being in an aquarium with the coral reef and fish everywhere. Better than Lake Keystone. The stinger suit was good to avoid sunburn but by the time we got to the last dive, many people had taken them off as there were no jellyfish (or crocs). I did see two sharks but couldn't get the picture — they were about 4 feet and apparently harmless.
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, stretching over 2,300 kilometres along the Queensland coast — roughly the size of Japan, or as noted, Montana. It comprises over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands. The reef has existed in various forms for 500,000 years, though the current structure is approximately 6,000–8,000 years old. It supports over 1,500 species of fish, 4,000 types of mollusc, and 240 species of bird. The stinger suits (lycra stinger suits) are required in the main snorkelling season (October–May) due to the presence of the Irukandji jellyfish — one of the world's most venomous creatures at just 1cm in size. Despite its size, roughly half the reef's coral has been bleached since 2016 due to warming ocean temperatures.
We rented a GoPro which supposedly had 3 easy-to-use settings (photo, video, and time lapse) — I thought I was on photo mode but was actually taking videos wildly swinging the camera/selfie stick, so a lot of useless footage. I did get some pics — but pictures don't do it justice.
We rented a GoPro which supposedly had 3 easy to use settings: photo, video, and time lapse. I thought I was on photo mode but was actually taking videos, wildly swinging the camera on a selfie stick. A lot of useless footage. I did see two sharks but couldn't get the picture — they were about 4 feet and apparently harmless. Ended the day with "Bush Tucker" — Australian sourced food — including a raw Roo filet on a hot stone. Really good.
Finished off the day with a nice meal — went to a place that featured "Bush Tucker," meaning food sourced from Australia (like Croc or Kangaroo). I got a raw Roo filet and a hot stone. Really good.
"It was like being in an aquarium with coral reef and fish everywhere. But better than Lake Keystone."