My Fellow Australians, here is todays blog.
This is another blog that began last night when on my way to bed at 10pm I couldn't find the Telstra phone which had been in my top pocket with the Optus one. After ringing it, searching and not finding I concluded I had most likely dropped it in the camper trailer when we were looking for an audio book that was actually in the car. However since it was late I didn't want to alarm the neighbour blundering around in his yard so decided to leave it till this morning. In the meantime in a wave of paranoia I decided to back up my contacts on my optus phone just in case i needed to purchase another phone. By the time I had loaded/updated the software, done the sync and ended up with a lot of extra crap on my phone that I deleted bedtime became 1230, terrific! just what you need before a trip to the reef.
Anyway the Telstra phone had fallen into the camper trailer and was duly recovered this morning.
We left for our reef trip at 7 arriving way early at the wharf. The boat pulled out at around 830 for the 2 hour haul to the reef. Conditions were a bit bumpy but not too bad. Susan had no motion sickness.
We elected to try the introductory 20 minute scuba dive which was only $35. We snorkelled for 10 minutes while the first group did their dive. The fish life was abundant and seemed to my memory more plentiful than my last visit in 97. Then it was our turn to get kitted up. I always have a a wry smile when I think about going swimming in the sea with a whole heap of lead weights tied around me. Just doesn't seem right. An interesting exercise standing from the sitting position with half a tonne of gear strapped to your body. We splashed around to the mooring rope where the instructor took me down several metres where i waited for the others. Susan at this pointed decided that scuba was a bit too claustrophobic for her which is ok because it's all free until you decide to descend into Davy Jones locker and returned to the boat. I did around 20 minutes to a maximum depth of about 10 metres. It went pretty smoothly although I did have some problem equalising the pressure in my ears something that has bothered me in the past but i did get on top of it. By the time i felt relaxed and started to enjoy the sights it was time to return to the surface. I would have to say that you see a lot more fish in the shallow water around the reef than in the deeper water where you scuba.
Returning to the boat we had lunch and the underwater camera rental man arrived and charged us the reduced rate of $25. After lunch we snorkelled and the fish life was amazing. I struggled with the camera as it was necessary to focus by pushing the shutter button half way in waiting for an ok on the lcd and then all the way in to finish the picture. Fine in theory but with the surface choppy, the sky overcast, your mask leaking and the fish refusing to stand still i was getting about a 1 in 20 decent shot ratio. Unfortunately the pictures don't do it justice but you get the idea.
It seemed like an eye blink and we were recalled to the boat to begin the return journey. Common wisdom is it is better to go to the reef from Port Douglas since you much closer and spend less time travelling more time observing. Something to bear in mind for next time. Our boat was fairly small by Cairns standards and the diesel quite noisy. The fumes wafting in the back were uncomfortable for Susan but she made it back, lunch intact confirming she has beaten her motion sickness. Next challenge moths and cockroaches. On the way back to the car we passed a charter fishing boat party with large plastic bags containing large reef fish.
We returned to Gordonvale and popped into the patisserie for coffee scoring ourselves some end of the day pies and pasties for free, which we had for tea with veggies. Susan was taken by the cake decorating pictures in their display album. Apparently the chef used to be a patisserie cook for Harrods.
Anyway folks it is always a tiring day on the water and I am the last person up here by an hour or so and it's only 1010pm so time for an early night.
Catch you tomorrow.
Cheers Simon
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