On our first day in Cairns, the city closest to the Great Barrier, we did an all day snorkel trip. It was a 9am - 4pm trip that included two different sites and of course lunch in between! We had the option (of course for additional costs) to scuba dive as well. A few decided to do that, but we figured and were told that most of what you want to see is right on the surface anyways. On our first dive out we saw a sea turtle right away! SO COOL! Everything we saw really did just remind us of Finding Nemo. This picture looks exactly him in anemone. Even the sea turtles were great!
I am so thankful I had the underwater camera - the colors were amazing. And since the reef is only estimated to be around for another 10 years - well worth the investment. All of these pictures were taken by my camera - and as you can tell - the underwater portion is much more exciting and has much higher quality. We had to be super careful while snorkeling over the sites because coral only grows 1-2 cm a year.
These two look like they are straight out of a postcard :)
The reef was a blast and we saw all we could. It was so beautiful and would go back in the drop of a hat if I could! Meanwhile, the bar crawls and nightlife was a great time as always. We felt like we were in Cancun, with every bar having dance contests, jelly wrestling and other crazy things. I decided to enter a challenge where girls had to get down and string a piece of wrapped bubble gum up a gentlemen's pant leg and down the other. The first one to do that and then blow a bubble with the piece of gum won a trip to a getaway island. The nice fellow running the pub crawl gave me two since I told him I wasn't traveling alone. The tickets are for some castaway island in which you are flown in a little private plane and basically left to camp on your own. You can collect oysters, enjoy the sun, snorkel, kayak, fish etc. They have a community kitchen areas and basically little porta potties. Another boy from our group one the same thing the night before so we might take a trip out there, but it is still a ways north and we would have to fly north just to get to the port to get us there. It would definitely be an experience though.
This is a picture of our group plus the many mates we met in our hostel. The hostel was like one big dorm room with 3 sets of bunk beds, a balcony, and a bathroom/shower. It was a bit strange to be living with complete strangers but since the area is common for dive trips and things like sky diving and bungy jumping, nobody was there except to shower and sleep. We met a few germans, and actually met a boy (on the left) from Texas who works as a summer counselor in a camp in Michigan (right outside of Kalamazoo). He is backpacking Australia then off to Europe. What a small world. This is considered one of the crazier hostels so majority of everybody is 30 or younger and enjoys the nightlife. The bar area was right on the first level of the hotel and is free entry to those that are guests there. Below is a picture of the group that made it to Cairns! The one on the right is from Boston, and the one with the snorkel on is from Indiana. The small petite girl is from Chicago, and Steven next to her is from Michigan (as well as Julie my roommate). They all attend Marquette in Milwaukee so we have a little bit in common from being in the mid-west! Travis of course is from Colorado but he fits in too!
Of course the next and best part was the bungy jumping.. Still cannot believe I did it - but it happened. Here is the professional video for those of you that haven't seen it. I had a minor freak out and wouldn't let go of the poor blokes shorts. There were different dives you could choose from and I chose to do what is called the titanic. I knew I would not jump on my own once I stepped onto that platform. So (even though you cant tell because I was so ungraceful and scared) it would mean that I would stand out onto the platform and have the middle of my feet resting on the edge with my toes pointed down. The man would be holding my harness from the back and I would not know when he would let go. I was supposed to have my arms out, as Rose did in the movie.. but thats not how it went..
But you know what.. I did it. There are a few other versions and was going to post the video of Grant doing the actual titanic form but for some reason there's an error for the rest of the uploads. I will try to get them up soon.
The Great Barrier was such a blast and the bungy jump was quite the experience. I am glad I did it though! Not sure if I could ever get myself to do it again, but that's another story! I will be slowly updating this trying to catch up on all the activities so check back soon :)
<3 Kali
