Wet Days

Yesterday, we ventured underwater one more time. We spent the day at the Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Once again, we took a bumpy boat ride where the little white complementary bags looked quite appealing, but luckily we left them unused (phew). Apparently, it is difficult to get to the middle of the ocean without a stomach churning cruise. But the trip was certainly well worth the travel.

We zoomed away from the rainy coast of Cairns to 70km offshore where the sun was shining and the waters were sparkling with various shades of blue. At this point, Mally and I jumped overboard and spent most of the day with our heads underwater admiring the diversity of life "under the sea". Dr. Seuss would have to write a few sequals to "one fish, two fish" in order to come close to describing all the underwater variations on the reef. Not to mention the assortment of formations and colorful plant life in the coral. Simply Spectacular.

I decided to spoil myself a little more and go for a couple dives... I traveled 20-30 feet below the surface where I came within inches of a sea turtle; held a slimy, soft sea cucumber in my hands; pet a giant clam (and watched it close shut); swam with Wally the giant (but friendly) fish; and ran my hands through the soft, flowing plants on the coral. AMAZING! If I had some gills, I would love to live out on the reef for a while. At the end of the day, Mally and I left our boat with a happiness high that lasted all evening.

Today, we stayed on land, but headed on a tour into the wet tropical rainforest - A world heritage habitat holding over a thousand tree species, 60% of Australia's fern species... and 9 out of Australia's 10 most venemous snakes - Yikes!!! We drove out of Cairns along a scenic coastal road... as some of the passengers began falling asleep, I could only imagine how spectacular riding my bike along this route would be... beautiful blue skies, glimses of the vast ocean, and walls of lush rainforest interspersed with cane fields and tea crops... why did I leave my bike in Sydney?!

Our first stop was a riverboat cruise down the Daintree river. As we roamed along the riverbank, we encountered colorful kingfishers (birds), a turquoise butterfly, and a Crock (Eeek!). We pulled near the bank where "Gummy" the giant 50 year old crockadile was lounging around. While this crock had worn down most of his teeth, our guide guaranteed us that we did not want to get close (as if we needed this warning). Our guide continued to tell us about the killing abilities of a crock (pretty much, we have no chance)... and told us to stay out of the water and at least 10 m. from the bank in order to stay out of the crockadile killing range. After recieving this advice, our guide proceeded to pull the boat up to the edge of the river and tell us to exit onto the bank... needless to say, mally and I did the quickest 10 m. dash of our lives.

After the riverboat cruise, we headed towards Cape Tribulation - "Where the rainforest meets the reef." The myriad of green plants and trees flowed right to the white sand shores where the enormous reef could be seen beneath a swirl of blue and green colored waters - quite a sight! From there, we took a scenic rainforest walk where our guide pointed out an assortment of native plants, a large colorful "wooohoooing" bird, and "green tree weaver ants"... she told us that the ants emit ascorbic acid from their bums and you could taste it by licking them (surely this is some joke she likes to pull on tourists!) However, after watching her lick the ant, I gave it a try... yes, I licked an ant's butt... and it was, indeed, tangy.

We returned home down the coastal road with colors of the setting sun pouring over distant hills and arrived back in Cairns exhausted. One more day left here before heading back to Sydney... and then goodbye to Australia... how sad.