The Great Barrier Reef

After an early wake up and a breakfast of peanut butter on toast we headed down to the reef terminal to get on our tour boat. It wasn't the sunniest of days which made us a little worried about whether the day was going to be good. We stood in the longest queue in the terminal (our tour company must be good) before boarding the boat with a load of other people (maybe too many people). We collected our free coffee and biscuits before starting to worry that we'd been put in the wrong group. We'd been given a form for certified divers and both of us thought this was wrong but went along with it for a good 10 minutes. In the end I asked a girl and she put us in the correct group (intro divers and snorkellers) as we most definitely weren't certified divers. 

The boat set off and during the hour and a half rocky ride out to the reef (I felt pretty nauseous the whole way) we were given a general safety talk and then, as we had an intro dive as well, we got another safety talk on diving. The diving talk scared me a little and so I was rather nervous to dive. Luckily, we got to go snorkelling for 10 minutes first so after donning a wetsuit (it was bloody freezing) we used their exceptionally good snorkel and goggles to explore some of the reef. I had to teach Matt how to use flippers (I really just told him to kick) and had to remind him how to use a snorkel (he didn't enjoy snorkelling much in the Philippines as he couldn't get the hang of it). I didn't notice much of the reef or fish as I was still nervous about this dive. We headed back to the boat and weights were attached to us before the oxygen tank was strapped to our backs. It was all a lot easier than I thought although some people tried going under water and panicked so didn't do the dive. They didn't get a refund! Once in and used to the breathing (I didn't even think that I'd blow bubbles when breathing out so that was a real shock) we all linked arms and set off with the instructor. Linking arms was a little annoying as it was hard to kick (I kept kicking everyone) and I hadn't a clue where the instructor was directing us to. My goggles filled with water a little but it didn't bother me too much so I gave up trying to sort them out. It was a very strange sensation diving down to however many metres we went (maybe 8 or 10) and I don't think it's like anything I've done before. Luckily my ears didn't hurt at all (Matt's did a little) and so I got to enjoy the scenery. We'd dived in an area where there wasn't a lot of scenery but we did swim into some colourful fish and I saw a big giant clam like thing close up when we moved nearer. It was over rather quickly as the other two girls in our group had taken a while to get used to their gear before the dive down. I would have liked to have spent more time down there or maybe tried swimming alone (with an instructor in close proximity) but another dive cost an extra $45 and I'm pretty poor right now. I'd say the key to being able to dive is not to panic. I breathed slowly and got used to the gear quite quickly. I'll just have to dive again somewhere else and maybe bring my papa with me as apparently he used to do loads of diving! I'd say diving is rather fun, it just takes some getting used to. 

When we came back up from the dive there seemed to be no one in the water which surprised me as there were over 100 people on our boat. After looking at my watch I realised it was already lunch time (the time had flown by) and so we climbed out, pulled off our wetsuits and went to pile our plates up high. There was a lovely fried white fish (can't remember what it was), some big meaty prawns, a piece of beef (overdone but still tasty) and some big sausages topped off with various salads (pasta salad, potato salad, green salad, coleslaw). I was in heaven a little bit so obviously ate a lot and had to let my belly settle before going back in the water. When we'd eaten the boat moved to a different location and once I was warmer (I'd been shaking I was that cold) and less full I put my wetsuit back on and went snorkelling for an hour or so. This time I was far more relaxed and I also think the reef was more spectacular. The wetsuit helped me to float on the water so I barely had to kick my feet (flippers are the best) and I was sailing along slowly, head in the water checking out the fish the whole time. The fish were beautiful and because the reef was so shallow (I had to be careful I didn't scrape my belly) there were tonnes of fish to see. The big turquoise ones were my favourite. 

Back on the boat and out of the wetsuit I struggled to warm up again so went inside and ate some cheese and biscuits and a glass of wine (couldn't refuse all these free things). The boat set off back to Cairns but for our return trip we had some entertainment from one of the crew members. This Australian man (probably late 50s) played his electric guitar and sang songs that most people knew. I joined in a little, enjoying the cheesiness of it all. The staff had been super friendly all day making my impression of Australians change slightly. 

Off the boat we headed straight for the shopping mall to see if we could find a cheap hoody (Australia is cold). For some stupid reason the shops only seem to be selling summer clothes so there wasn't a hoody anywhere to be seen. A tad heartbroken we went into the supermarket and bought veg and fajitas (vegetable fajitas as meat is too expensive for us). Back at the hostel we whipped up our tasty tea (so much more exciting than yesterday) and checked through our itinerary for the rest of Australia. This was a bad idea as we realised maybe we shouldn't have booked all these big tours and maybe we could have done it cheaper. We also looked at reviews for one of them and decided that tomorrow we should cancel it (we were given it for free so it would be fine to cancel). This made us feel pretty shit and we realised we should never make decisions when tired and hungry. After doing washing we both went to bed feeling rather foolish.