Bobbi's Australian Adventures...and more!: Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef

Last week we headed up north to Cairns (pronounced cans...remember Aussies don't pronounce the letter "r") for an awesome time exploring the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef. When we arrived in Cairns, we rented a car and drove to the rainforest where we stayed the first night. We had to take a ferry over the river to get to our hotel, and this wasn't no ordinary river...it was crocodile infested. I was hoping to see at least one this trip, in a controlled atmosphere of course, but I was unlucky. It was dark by the time we got to our hotel, but we spent the next day going on short little hikes as we made our way down to Cairns.

The next day we went on a day trip by boat to Green Island. This is a small island with nothing more than beaches, a lot of trees, and one resort. We did some snorkeling and laying out. This was just a glimpse into what we would be seeing the next couple of days.

The next 2 days were spent on the Rum Runner, a live on boat that would take us out about 3 1/2 hours from Cairns. There were 15 passengers and 5 crew on board and we had a great time. We slept in bunk beads in super tight little quarters and showered/used the toilet in a small area barely bigger than an airplane restroom, but were well fed and able to snorkel about as much as you wanted. One introductory scuba dive was included, for those of us that were not scuba certified, and I was very excited about this. After a crash course in scuba diving, I was gung-ho, not a care in the world, until I was in the water, about to go under for who knows how long, and trying to breathe through a device that never really let me feel like I was getting enough oxygen. I attempted several times to go, but never getting more than a foot underwater, when the instructor lost his patience with me and I resorted to snorkeling. It was quite upsetting, as this was the one thing I was super excited about on this trip. Sarah and Amy did awesome though, and were able to actually scuba. After a short while, one of the other crew people, the captain of the boat, agreed to give me another chance and take me in again. I did a little bit better this time. I was able to stay under water for a short while, be distracted by what I was seeing, but then I would make myself come up(faster than what the instructor liked, though) when I felt like I couldn't breathe. I have been told you just have to get used to the feeling, but something about not feeling like you are unable to breath when you are underwater is a little bit freaky. Anyways, I still did tons of snorkeling and it was absolutely amazing! The coral was just a few feet under us and there were so many bright and colorful fish all around. We took some pics with the underwater camera, but haven't gotten it developed. So these pics will have to do for now.