AND WE'RE BACK!! (PART I) - ***NEW - PICTURES ADDED!

April 1 - Finally - we are posting again!!! This blog has been unfortunately silent of late due to numerous issues in Cairns - very limited internet access (which allowed me about 5 minutes a day to check in with work) and a suspected bit of malware which knotted up Explorer in various nasty ways.  It is always a bit of a shock to realize just how tied we are to our computers and phones - I was actually getting antsy because I was falling behind on the blog with no way of remedying the problems.  Or perhaps that is just my adult-onset OCD talking again.

In any event, we are now in Brisbane, the internet access is flowing (for a price) and the anti-malware software appears to have done the trick.  So on we trod with an update of the past 4 days!  Although Cairns was a disaster as far as the computer was concerned, it was delightful in every other way. It was probably the most active stop on our tour, and everything that we did more than lived up to expectations.  As a starting point, we have been so incredibly fortunate with the weather - there is usually a great deal of rainfall at this time of year but we have managed to dodge most of it.  Granted, part of that is because it has been a fairly dry season here on the east coast,  but in some cases, we just slipped in between bouts of heavy rain.  For example, on Hamilton Island, it rained fairly heavily on the days before our arrival and on the morning that we got there.  During our entire stay, beautiful sunshine and great weather.  The day we left - pouring rain.  It was basically the same in Cairns. The weather gods must be smiling on us!

The city of Cairns is itself not much of a draw - it was described in one of the guidebooks as a "hurdy gurdy" kind of town and I tend to agree (it reminded me a lot of Niagara Falls, without the whimsy).  But we were there for two reasons - snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef and touring through Daintree Rainforest.  Both of these activities are tightly controlled because they are World Heritage sites, so access can only be  done through approved tour operators.  Needless to say, this made Cairns the most expensive stop on our trip, without question.  But it was money very well spent.  The husband and wife who ran the hotel where we stayed were incredibly helpful and friendly, and gave us great advice on which operators were the best.  I think they were spot on, because we had two really great days.

Day 1 saw us going out to the GBR on a catamaran, a trip that took about 90 minutes each way.  The company, Reef Magic, has its own platform at the dive site, which was a nice bonus as it provided great shade and a place to sit and relax off the boat.  After we got our stinger suits, masks, snorkels and flippers (and got the mandatory safety briefing) we entered the water to snorkel around the reef.  Those of you who know me know that this was HUGE for me - I hate the water, I hate things in the water and I generally get panicky just thinking about being in large bodies of water.  This despite the fact that I was on the swim team in high school - go figure.  But I had already done some snorkelling on Hamilton Island (albeit in much shallower water closer to shore) and figured that you really cannot go out to the GBR without at least trying to look at the marine life.  It was utterly fantastic, a real "bucket list" item.  There were hundreds of different kinds of coral - different shapes and colours - but it was the vast number of fish that was really breathtaking.  It would be just impossible to describe them all.  I have some photos which were helpfully provided by the tour company, as we did not have underwater cameras.

I was in the water for about an hour in the morning, and then Liam and I decided to get out to take a guided mini-sub tour of the reef.  We managed to see even more sealife, including turtles and - gasp -  a shark.  Not my best moment on the reef!  However, I did manage to go back in the water for some more snorkeling in the afternoon.   It was, shockingly, incredibly peaceful - when I was not getting kicked in the face by pushy people from the tour groups.  Pete and Siobhan got really adventurous and signed up for an adventure snorkelling tour that went even further out around the reef, for much longer.  They both got a first-hand experience with the reason we were all wearing stinger suits, unfortunately.  The recent cyclone has pushed huge numbers of juvenile jellyfish closer in to land, and the waters we were snorkeling in were just packed with them.  Siobhan and Pete got stung numerous times on the only part of their body which was exposed - their face.  They said that it stung but was not that bad (these were baby jellyfish). I told Siobhan she should look on the bright side - jellyfish venom is used in some Botox treatments and how many of her friends can say that they have had that?  They also got to see a shark (5 feet long!!!), turtles and plenty of Nemos, so apparently a good day was had by all.

On the way back to Cairns, we were all fairly exhausted but we all agreed that it had been a wonderful day.  I do not imagine that we will be coming back any time soon, so I am really grateful that the trip to the GBR was so wonderful.  We went to the Daintree Rainforest the next day, and that will have to be the subject of another blog post!