That's the first thing I learned. Next, it's so weird that you go north for the tropics. Hurts my upside down brain thinking about it. But as I saw when I was flying in, Cairns is indeed the tropics. It is the gateway to the oldest wet tropical forest and green, green green. After navigating how to get to my hostel, I arrived at Traveler's Oasis and it was also indeed an oasis. By far best hostel I've stayed in through all my Australian travels.
I was greeted by the owner Kathy and shown around the lush tropical grounds. It has a beautiful swimming pool, multiple kitchens and lounge areas, a yoga space and the best part......an outdoor shower. Yes, I did shower there multiple times under the stars and the crescent moon. Loved it.
So as usual, dropped my stuff, freshed up and hit the town. I walked through their mall to get to the city center and had to laugh at the Christmas decorations and Santa station. It's hard to imagine they always have a bright sunny Christmas. I arrived at the esplanade and was greeted with another large pool with sand. I love this idea. With the amount of things that can kill you in the ocean here, it's so nice that the city provides a safe space to let kids play in the water and even at 5 pm many kids were out swimming and playing. Then I saw.... you will never guess....a Ferris wheel. I probably should have at least taken one Ferris wheel ride while I was in Australia. I'm thinking must be a cool thing to do with almost every town I've been to having one. The esplanade had a variety of little restaurants and bars. I had to stop and eat at the one called "Little Sister" because well, that's what I am. What a better place to spend the birthday money my Big Sister, Yvonne, gave me. Thank you Yvonne. After dinner, I got an ice cream and strolled along the beach path, stopping in front of two musicians playing just off the path. With the lit up Ferris wheel in the background, lovers holding hands while walking the promenade and music drifting over the ocean, I felt light and happy. It felt like magic.
The next morning started early. It was Great Barrier Reef Day. As one of the seven natural wonders of the world, the Great Barrier Reef is the largest living object on earth. It has almost 3,000 individual reefs, 900 islands and stretches more than 1,600 miles, so big it can be viewed from outer space. It is millions of years old and home to 10% of the world's fish species. Having been a dive master in my younger years there was nothing I wanted more than to dive this living masterpiece, but I had not been scuba diving in a very long time, and it was a little out of my meager budget, but with the way things work out when you tell the universe that you want to do something, my generous Dad, for my birthday gift, provided the funds and Google provided the refresher course. Thank you Dad and Google! So I boarded the beautiful catamaran, Passions of Paradise, at 7:30am and settled in for the two hour ride out to Flinn Reef, where our first dive site, Point Break was located.
A little nervous, I met the five other divers and our dive master, Ben from England, for the dive brief. I quickly relearned the hand signals I forgot, how to read the depth gage, and how to do a buddy check then shoved the regulator in my mouth and plunged in the Pacific Ocean. Just like riding a bike, my breathing slowed; I got my buoyancy under control and off I went to explore the wonders of a living reef. There were so many little treasures, giant clams, spiny lobster, so many colorful fish (as my friend Katrena would say). I didn't see the whale shark I tried to manifest, but was very happy seeing with my own eyes this wonder of the world.
We got back on the boat, had some lunch, and rested as we headed to the second dive site, East meets West at Tedford Reef. Again, same routine and I plopped in the water. This site didn't have the visibility of the first one, but the coral seemed healthier and the fish were much bigger. Some others saw a turtle and a reef shark, but I was too busy looking in all the cracks and crevises at the little underwater communities. The favorite critter I saw was the big goofy looking the sweet lips fish.
The Great Barrier Reef is having some issues as most people know. Warmer oceans are causing coral bleaching, and although coral bleaching is a normal part of its life cycle, it is happening more frequently. I feel privileged that I could still enjoy it while it's around. (The good underwater photos are credited to the passions photographer)
After the dive I cruised through the night market. This place was very cool. It had little stalls with all sorts of Australian made gifts and goodies, and the best part .... cheap massages. After dragging around a tank on my back all day and using muscles which had been dormant for many years this body was ready for a massage. So good.
After having a little dinner at Rattle n Hum bar & grill, I headed back to the hostel to get ready to go out for my last night in Australia, but made the mistake of laying down after my shower and didn't get back up again til morning. Oh well, I guess that this is the difference from when I was 20 and could go to school, go diving, go to work and then go out all night and being 50 where a little diving knocked me out, but I'll take it.😁 I could have spent another week here exploring the tropical wet rain forest, the many white sand beaches or more of the reef again, but was very happy with my brief taste of Cairns (pronounced Cans).
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