You are now entering crocodile country

It took over a week but we finally made it to Cairns. We decided to have a relaxing day before our trip to the reef. We decided to stay at a hostel to get some laundry done, have some showers and hang out by the pool. We also had to go out and hire an underwater digital camera - which is the source of our numerous beautiful photos. At 7am the next day we made it to the harbour to meet the captain and crew of our boat. Our captain was a former phys ed teacher, who retired to run a volunteer organization for a few years, all while sailing recreationally. He then decided about a year and a half ago to buy a boat, and run a diving and sailing company. He was an amazing and friendly captain! The crew consisted of a cook and a diving instructor, who both helped out with the boat. It took us about three ours to get to the reef. It was high tide and got a little rough for a while. A few people were getting a bit woozy. Then we finally got there! Our own spot on the reef. Not a boat in site and we took up all 10 spots on the luxury yacht. We started off with a little bit of snorkelling before lunch and then went for our first dives. We had to learn a couple skills before heading in and then do them again at the surface before descending. Without a diving license we were allowed to go to a depth of 12 meters - so the plan is to hover around 10. At about 7 meters, my one ear wouldn't pop. It was a little frustrating not because of the pain but because I thought I wasn't going to be able to dive any deeper. All I had to do wasgo back up to 5 meters, than slowly go back down again. The first dive was quite the experience. 10 meters is really far underwater! However, I definately felt a lot more relaxed on the second dive. I was less concerned with my gear and my ear and just swam and embraced the ocean. While snorkelling at this spot enjoying the unbelievable reef life, I saw something big out of the corner of my eye. I look over and saw a 6 or 7 foot White Tipped Reef shark!!! Looks like a miniature Great white.......quite scary at first! But I figured, the odds are slim of seeing this thing so I can't let it go. I only managed to call over one other person - to enjoy (and verify) my sighting. We followed it as best we could. It only eats little guys and didn't mind us cruising up to about 5-10 feet from it. After we had all been amazed with the first site, we pulled up the anchor and moved down to another site. We had a chance to do a quick snorkel and some people dived in what would be our overnight location. We weaved into a location that had us surrounded by reef on all locations and hence had the name "360". The reef protected us well overnight so the waves weren't too much of a bother. We had a great dinner - all the food was freshly cooked and delicious. We played some games and hung out on the deck before calling it a night quite early. I really wanted to see the sun rise and woke at 6am.....10 minutes too late! Nevertheless, it still looked stunning. Somehow I managed to be up before everyone except the cook. I was done breakky and back in the water by 730-8am. The reef at 360 was quite built up, but as it builds it gets too heavy for it self. Certain portions collapse in on itself and create amazing swimming lanes to flow through. It also had one area known as the "swimming pool". A massive circle of reef had caved in creating 10 meter walls on all sides (except a few channels to swim into the pool). I believe this is in one of the clips from the youtube video I posted yesterday. We then packed up early in the morning to head to one more site. After seeing how good 360 was compared to the first chunk of reef, we thought there was no way it could get any better. Turned out, they saved the best for last. The final spot was a chunk of reef - that if viewed from the air above - was heart shaped. It also had about 870000000000 fish of all colours. One of the most neat lookign fish was a "trumpet fish". (Sorry mom, I didn't have the camera with me at the time to grab a shot of it.) After a second wonderful day, we had to pack it in. We were lucky enough to see two turtles (I only got a glimpse from theboat, never in the water), a shark, a trumpet fish, and about 380 thousand different types of fish. On the way home the ocean decided to give us one more treat: a fleet of dolphins cruising beside our boat.


We then spent the night camping in a small town outside of Cairns, by a river called "Butcher's Creek". Felt like we were in a cheesy horror movie.......for the girls. Turns out it was only Justin scaring them. The next day we made it to the Undara Lava Tubes. 180000 years ago a massive volcano erupted spewing tons of lava. It burnt holes in the ground and made massive tubes which are still around today. Pretty cool sights to see. It was also nice to make a bit of a trip into the outback and away from the coast. When we left the Lava tubes we saw a sign that said "DONT MESS WITH THE ROAD TRAINS". Turns out its easier to attach 5 truck beds than to have 5 trucks..........these big beasts get up to 55meters long. Basically you move to the shoulder when they are coming the other way. You also try to ignore the dead kangaroos and odd cow that have been smashed every 50 feet.