The Great Barrier Reef

So this weekend. I had the pleasure of going to Cairn, Australia. Cairns is on the coast of North Eastern Australia and is best known for the Great Barrier Reef which I actually got to see.

Cairns from the Plane 

So when I flew into Cairns, the line for getting taxis was really long and taxis were very expensive. I decided to walk to Cairns which is only about 3 miles away from the Airport. It was hot and sticky but I was having a nice walk when about halfway there a mom pulled over onto the side of the road and offered me a ride. To be honest, this was really stupid but I was hot and I took her up on her offer. It turned out fine but I don’t recommend anyone doing this kind of thing because it is really risky. I made it to Cairns and I started walking around. I ended up at the Lagoon which is a local hangout that resembles a swimming pool.

The Lagoon

It cooled me off and I continues exploring the town. After seeing the harbor and walking around town I ended up at the mall because I was so hot. After drinking three bottles of water, I went swimsuit shopping which was fun and I ended up getting a new swimsuit. I then checked into the hostel that I was staying at. The hostel was great it had a VW bug just sitting in the common area and lots of cute things like a book exchange and giant Jenga constantly going. It looked like it came right our of the 70's

The retro hostel

After a quick rest, I wandered back to town and went to the night market which was a cute tourist shop under some of the bigger hotels near the beach. I didn’t buy anything but it was fun to talk to the shopkeepers and see all the Australian made things.

I then sat on the dock and watched the sunset while eating fish pizza and listening to live music. It was a really busy day but It was really fun.

On Saturday I went on a Great Barrier Reef tour with Compass Cruises. I didn’t know what to expect. The reef has been dying for years so I wanted to see it before it dies completely but didn’t know how it would look. Also, it was my first-time scuba diving so that was really exciting.

Getting Ready to Scuba

I started scuba diving and due to my Go Pro malfunctioning I didn’t get a lot of pictures but I will post extra pictures later. So the first thing I saw scuba diving was Nemo! I am not joking I saw an adult clownfish and a baby clownfish living on the Great Barrier reef. I learned afterward that this is actually really rare because a lot of the clownfish on the reef have been taken away to aquariums. I also got to hold a sea cucumber and touch a jellyfish and an anemone. It didn’t hurt it just startled me. I then got to snorkel over the reef.

It was the prettiest reef I have ever seen. The colors were amazing, the fish were huge and they were very friendly even coming right up to me at times.

Isn't it pretty

I saw parrot fish, barracuda (I think), and a lot of other huge fish. It was like swimming in a giant fish tank.

Rainbow Parrotfish

We went to another reef that was just as pretty but looked like the Reef in Finding Nemo, the drop off included. I didn’t get to see the turtles that live there but I didn’t mind because everything was so pretty. On the way back I tried boom netting which is the Australian equivalent of tubing except you just hold onto a giant rope net. It was really fun and I loved it.

All in all, I loved Cairns the town was beautiful and the reef was spectacular. I did a lot of firsts on this trip and had the best time.