Close Encounters | Great Barrier Reef

Last weekend, I flew up to Cairns, that crazy town in Queensland, home to the Great Barrier Reef. Cairns is up in the northeast part of Australia. It's still the wet season in the jungle, but even the rain didn't stop me from having a great time! An old friend of mine was visiting me from Hong Kong, so it was fun to have a travel buddy. We left Sydney early Saturday morning and arrived in Cairns at around 10am with the whole day ahead of us.

Croc Hunting
We checked into our hotel, which was about a 20 minute walk from the center of town. It's a cool little town; booming with tourists and activity booths, yet still has a cool local vibe. Cairns reminded me a bit of Lahaina, HI - which once again made me miss Hawaii! Saturday afternoon, we rented a boat and headed up the murky-brown estuary, searching for crocodiles. The light blue aluminum boat screamed "we're tourists!" It had a crappy 6hp engine, so it took us a lifetime to navigate through all the little nooks and crannies of the river - but we did see a couple of crocodiles, er salties. We really just saw the eyes, noses and bubbles because the crocs were all hiding underwater - could have been a combination between the engine noise, the high tide, and the fact that the air was much cooler than the water - not that I was about to put my hand in there to check the temperature. I need my hands, thanks.

Are you for scuba?
On Sunday, we headed out to the reef on a catamaran. It turned out to be the nicest day Cairns had seen in a couple weeks, so we were told - which made for the perfect day out on the reef. It was a 2 hour journey out to the reef. Luckily I'd already popped some dramamine to avoid losing my breakfast like 7 other people on the boat. Smart thinking.
Heading out to sea.









Once at the reef, I'd planned on just snorkeling, but decided to give scuba diving a shot - no license was needed, so what the hell! While waiting for the scuba instructor to arrive from below deck, I was picturing a tall naked French guy named Claude, talking about "hippo-pot-o-mooses" and constantly asking "are you for scuba?" But I wasn't disappointed when the instructor showed up - a really cute Aussie girl.

Scuba Steve, ready for action:












We went over all the gizmos and gadgets on the scuba gear, then jumped in the water for some practice. Once I figured out how to use the Force and breathe like Darth Vader, we headed down. Right away, I spotted a giant clam (more than a meter wide) and silly me, I stuck my hand in it. Of course, it started to close its jaws, but got my hand out in time. It took me a few minutes before I touched anything else. I spotted nemo and his girlfriend who were hanging out in the anenome, just like in the movie. I dove back down and saw all sorts of coral, 2 eels, crabs, sea cucumbers, pretty fishes and 3 evil-looking sting rays.

Chilling after a hard day's work (not sure why I bring out the shaka in every picture...)












Making Friends
On Monday, I hopped on a bus and headed up to Cape Tribulation, a cool little jungle town. It took all day to get up there - lots of stopping along the way. We stopped at a cool little wildlife park, where I made some furry, and slippery friends.

Yep, there's a python... wrapped around my neck.













Something so cute shouldn't taste so good.










(I'm not showing the picture of me holding a koala because I look like a freak).

Later on, we headed up the river and hunted for more crocodiles.
This was a big one, and within striking distance. Yes, I'm an idiot.