Brisbane to Cairns

(Pictures to come, the internet won't let me upload them)

Oh the joys of travel. We arrived at Brisbane airport Tuesday afternoon with about two hours before our flight. While in the Quantas line my dad told us a story about two guys who went fly-fishing and in customs they had to throw out all of their fishing line because it was a weapon. All of this line they threw out was about $800 worth. Once we finally got to the lady to check in, she told us we actually needed to be in the Jetstar line. Awesome. As a side note, we have a ridiculous amount of luggage we are carrying with us. My dad has a bag, my mom has two and somehow over the past 5 months I’ve accumulated another 50 pounds of luggage so I have 3 bags. Not to mention backpacks. So we lugged all of our things to the Jetstar line and checked in. We then headed up to security and my mom and I got through fine. Dad, of course, did not. The main security lady told him that his reels were considered weapons and he needed to check them. His backpack had already gotten through with all of his lures but he asked her if those were still fine and she said they were. So mom and I headed off to the gate while dad went to go check his reels and rods. He went back through security and was stopped again, this time because there were hooks in his backpack. Not sure how you can attack someone with a small hook, but they wouldn’t let him through none the less. So he had to go BACK down, wait in line again and check his backpack. Luckily, he made it to the gate in time but he was not a happy camper.

The flight was uneventful. I was in between my mom who slept the entire time and my dad who is a giant. A few hours later we were finally in Cairns. The coach that picked us up at the airport was a luxury limousine. SCORE! He was a lil uneasy about how much luggage we had, but he made it fit. We’re staying at the Sebel Hotel and it is top notch. They have a beautiful Christmas tree that goes about two stories high. Our room overlooks the harbor and they have a fabulous pool and gym. After we arrived Tuesday afternoon we headed out to get some lunch. The city is definitely beachy and there are a lot of vacant buildings and graffiti, but for the most part its pretty nice. We’re also very close to Chinatown, which makes finding restaurants a little difficult. Between dad’s sesame seed allergy and mom’s limited meal choices, I’m lucky to find a restaurant they can agree on. We had lunch near the Lagoon and walked around the city before heading back to the hotel. We then went out to the pool for some relaxing in the Jacuzzi and watched the sunset. Then I was off to the gym while they napped. Once we were clean and showered we headed out to find some dinner. We ended up at a Seafood and Steak restaurant and it will be a long time before I’ll be able to eat raw oysters again after that nasty experience. We ended the night with some Baskin Robbins. Oh how I love American ice cream.

Today we were up early for our Great Barrier Reef adventure. We enjoyed our complimentary breakfast at the hotel and then caught the bus to Port Douglas. The bus took us along the Great Coastal Road, which has gorgeous views of the water and has multiple pristine beaches along the way. Port Douglas is a cute, classy town. We got our tickets and boarded the Quicksilver 5 to head out to the pontoon they have anchored out on the reef. It took about 90 minutes to get out to the reef, but we worked on our tans and saw sea turtles and flying fish from the boat. Once there we hopped off to get all of our snorkel gear. It is jellyfish season here but the jellyfish are usually closer to the shores so we didn’t need stinger suits which made the experience much more enjoyable, not to mention better pictures. I hooked my dad’s waterproof camera to my wrist and we dove in. It was a great place to snorkel. Right as we were diving in, they started feeding fish so there were tons of large fish right off the edges of the boat. Most of the coral was close to the surface and there were so many different kinds of fish. I pointed out things to my parents and found some nemos to show my mom. I also took a lot of pictures with the underwater camera, which will make it to facebook soon. We stayed in the water about an hour and then headed back to the boat for lunch.

It was an all you can eat buffet again, so dad and I were happy. They had shrimp, seafood medley, chicken, fruit, rolls, salad and more. Delicious. Once we were fed we decided to go on the Mini Submersible. It’s a boat that dips down like a V at the bottom and has windows all along the sides. You sit on small benches and have phenomenal views from underneath the boat. They took us on a tour around the coral and told us all about the different types of coral and the fish. We saw some cute fox-faced rabbit fish that are yellow with black and white faces. They travel in twos for life. If a predator captures one of the fish, its mate gets frantic and usually travels out into unsafe open water looking for the other one and meets the same fate as its mate. Now that’s love. We also saw coral that was about 1,200 years old. Whoa. At the end of the tour we were headed back to the pontoon when we veered off course to see a SEA TURTLE!! He swam right by our boat and played in the water for some prime picture taking. Loves it!

After all that, dad was tired and stayed on the boat, but mom and I headed out for one more snorkel. We only had about 30 minutes but it was great. The water was also a balmy mid 70s F so it was quite warm. We then loaded back on the boat for the trip back to Port Douglas. The day on the reef was great and I think mom and dad are finally starting to get impressed by Australia. They now understand why I’ve fallen in love with this country.

Tomorrow we might rent a boat and go fly-fishing and Friday we’re planning a day out on the Daintree Rainforest. More fabulous stories to come!

PS- at both hotels, when you shower the mirror doesn't fog up in the part of the mirror over the sink where you would use it. They have a heater behind so it never fogs. Freakin amazing and I must have that at my house in the future.