Cairns Continued!

            It is finally Thursday, and I really can’t believe it is already time to leave Cairns.  I am currently on a Greyhound Bus with Laura, Ashley and Kaitlyn headed to Airlie Beach near the Whitsunday Islands, so I have a lot of time (13 hours, with breaks!) to blog about our amazing days Tuesday and Wednesday.  This drive is pretty cool too- I attempted to nap when we first got on, but now that I am up am enjoying the scenery.  Northern Queensland is insanely tropical, and really feels like a different world. We are passing acres and acres of sugarcane fields, banana farms, and tall palm trees like I have never seen before.  One thing I notice about this area is destruction.  While we were in Cairns we learned that this season 2 very powerful cyclones hit this part of the coast south of Cairns and did a lot of damage.  Many roofs were ripped off, trees fell down, and rubbish was tossed around.

            Tuesday was our earliest day in Cairns- we had to be up and ready at 4:10am for a bus pickup by our tour company Raging Thunder to head into the tablelands for a hot balloon ride.  It was hard to wake up, because snorkeling and rafting had seriously worn us out, but I was really excited for hot ballooning.  The drive from Cairns was about an hour, and when we finally got there it was still dark!  We watched the company warm the balloons up with fire in the dark, and in the sunrise.  It was a beautiful sight seeing the balloons getting ready, still on the ground. 

            We were in the second group to go up, so we had a wait a few minutes and watch the balloons that had already left.  One of the coolest things about being on the ground is that you have to chase the balloon because the balloon pilots can only control the altitude of the balloon, no steering- we felt like Stormchasers driving around the country hoping the balloon would land in certain places.

            When the first balloon trip finally landed (and we got there), our group was ready to go up.  The baskets are pretty large, and the weight has to be evenly distributed across the basket for it to hang evenly.  We had to climb in, literally, because the baskets are just like picnic baskets; there are no doors or openings on the sides.  The pilot, who has been flying hot air balloons for 10 years, stands in the middle with all the gas canisters and the fire-y machine.  There are four compartments in the basket, and 3-4 people stand in each. 

            The lift off of the ground was very slow and steady.  We stayed in the air for atleast 20 minutes. It was surprisingly solid feeling, and not shaky at all.  While we were up the pilot was able to rotate the basket, so we were able to see all angles of the tablelands, and got some amazing pictures.  We could see many private farms underneath us with heaps of mango, pineapple, and sugarcane plants.  When the pilot began to plan our descent he told us where he was aiming for a dirt road beyond a big field of really high grass. Also, he taught us the ‘landing position,’ as landings are oftentimes rough in hot air balloons and we would need to brace ourselves, literally, for the possibility of many bumps or a turnover.  We went down pretty slowly, and he hit his target almost perfectly considering he had no steering.  We did have to get in the landing position, however, because the basket did turn over onto its side.  The grass in the field, a mint I believe because of the smell, was taller than the sides of the basket.  The balloon landing flattened out a lot of it, but we still had to tread through grass taller than us to get to the road. 

            When everyone was out of the basket, we were all asked to help the crew pack up the balloon.  Everyone mashed the big balloon to get air out of it, and then the staff laid it out all along the road.  Us girls were then given a HUGE bag to hold, and the staff packed the balloon away into the bag.  The balloon and basket were stacked on a big trailer and hauled away, and we jumped in our buses to head to breakfast.  We almost felt like we were on a working holiday! Haha

            At this time, around 8:00, we could not believe how long we had been up, and how much we had done during the day.  After breakfast at a small heritage museum the bus drove us about an hour to Kuranda, a small rainforest village with some shopping and the Skyrail ride for our afternoon. In Kuranda we shopped around at the heritage market.  The prices for souvenirs were significantly cheaper than many others places I have been; I bought a lot of really unique shell jewelry and a kangaroo fur purse.  I also bought an Akubra style, Steve Irwin-like kangaroo leather hat.  I am lucky that I can pull hats off- I really love wearing interesting hats, so I was excited to find such an authentic Australian hat for a deal!  Also, while we were at the markets we met a very nice Aboriginal man who taught us how to play the didgeridoo, the traditional aboriginal musical instrument.  I was not very good at it.  I had a delicious fried snapper and chips lunch, too. 

            Around 1:15 we headed over to the Skyrail experience.  The Skyrail was built in the late 1990’s as an experience through the World Heritage listed Northern Queensland Tropical Rainforest.  The actual gondola ride is about 40 minutes, but including the walks at stops along the way the experience took us about 1.5 hours.   The first stop was at a lookout point for a beautiful rainfall. The second stop was at the peak of Red Fern mountain.  At the second stop a ranger offered to give us a guided tour of the walkway around the area.  He told us about survival tactics in rainforests, different animals that live in the rainforest, and a lot about the rainforest plants.  The rainforests in Northern Queensland are the oldest rainforests in the world, and even though they don’t take up a large part of the Australian continent, are considered very important ecosystems.  One animal he told us about is the cassowarie.  Cassowaries are big birds that are almost like giant roosters; they even have spurs on their feet. It is believed that certain seeds in the rainforest are only germinated after passing through the digestive system of the cassowarie, so the birds are heavily protected because loss of them would mean loss of many flora species.

            At the end of the Skyrail we were bussed back to our hostel; I know I was happy to have such a relaxed day, as the last couple of days had been pretty tiring. 

            Anyway, for an update about my Greyhound ride: it hasn’t been so bad.  The bus is not packed, so we all have two seats to ourselves, and the ride has been pretty interesting.  We have stopped at several different places for breaks when we are required to get off the bus, and each has had a place to grab a snack or use the bathrooms.  One place we stopped had a nice café, and would you believe this: a sign in a Cardwell café advertised the local fish Spanish Mackerel, and fish my dad and I catch all the time right off of Murrells Inlet.  Cool, huh?  Right now, we are almost to the Airlie Beach, and the landscape has changed dramatically. I can still see huge mountains off in the distance, but the land around me now is flat and kind of desolate looking.  It almost looks like a plain; short grasses on the ground, with very dry and funny looking trees sticking up everywhere. A far cry from Cairns! The sun just set, though, and that was pretty beautiful. 

            Yesterday was our big Great Barrier reef day!  We were booked with one of the leading Great Barrier tour companies in Cairns, Reef Magic, and arrived to check onto the boat around 7:15 AM.  It was a beautiful day to be boating.  There were lots of staff onboard who were willing to answer any questions we had, and there were many extra activities we could plan.  I tried to do an introductory beginners drive, but when the group leader saw that I was mildly asthmatic he told me that I would not be allowed to go down.  Nevertheless, I was excited to arrive at the hub ‘Marine World,’ a huge covered dock structure almost 40 miles out in the middle of the reef, situated on Moore Reef (1.5 hour ride on our boat).  The scenery on the way out was pretty similar to our boat ride out to Fitzroy Island.  The wind was blowing a little harder, though, so the boat rocked a lot more.  A lot of people onboard got some motion sickness.  I sat on the top, in the sun, and kept my eyes closed, and normally I get motion sickness on boats, but I was so proud of myself when I didn’t at all!

            When we finally got to marine world I immediately claimed a lounge chair in the sun and then ran and got my fins (I had my own mask and snorkel).  I was the first one in, and so happy to finally be snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef!  The coral was awesome.  The tide was low when we first got there, so when snorkeling in many places the coral was literally an arms’ length away.  The fish were awesome!  All different kinds of fish swam around the coral- the variety was absolutely endless.  I loved to find a fish and then chase it around the reef, seeing where it would go and what it would do.  One interesting fish we learned about was pink, green, and turquoise.  I don’t remember his name, but he eats the living and dead coral.  He grinds up the coral with a second jaw, and then poops out the silt and sand (which I got to see!).  He is responsible for at least 50% of the sand around the Great Barrier Reef, which means he is really doing work!  There was also a huge fish swimming around named Wally, who was trained by the photographer and staff and mingle around in the area.  He was probably almost my length, and he didn’t mind if I free dived down and touched his side and swam with him.  There were also little tunas darting round, especially during fish feeding time. 

            During our breaks between snorkeling we jumped on the free submersible tour around marine world.  This awesome boat was sort of like a glass bottom boat, except for the glass was on either side.  I got most of my underwater pictures here because we did not end up renting an underwater camera, and they turned out ok. 

            After a full morning, I was ready for lunch.  The company served lunch of a huge variety; I had a bit of sushi, lasagna, a sandwich, fruit, and salad.  It was all mostly good, and filling, and after a bit of resting and digesting, I jumped back in the water for a fish feeding right in from of the snorkeling area.  I did a lot of snorkeling, but I think it can be a little scary in the dark parts, or without a buddy.  I am not sure I would be brave enough to scuba dive, because I freak myself out when I get too close to a gorge or too far away from another person.  Anyway, towards the end of the day a group of us held hands and challenged ourselves to scuba all the way out to the end of the ropes.  It was thrilling to fight the current out there, and even more thrilling to tell one another to look for sharks  (haha), and it was so nice to be out there with friends.  It was another Australian ‘postcard’ experience that made the day. 

            I did a little free diving while snorkeling, and when I equilibrated sort of hurt my ear. It ached and squeaked and everything else, and I was ready to go back in after that.  I laid out on my lounge chair, though, and attempted to truly get the full bronzing affect of the Australian sun… I did, too!  The boat ride home was nice, and I can seriously say that today not only am I a bronzed goddess, but I am a sore bronzed goddess from all the snorkeling and swimming I did.

After snorkeling our group popped into Woolworths and grabbed a pack of 10 hamburgers, buns, and cheese to grill on the barbie on the esplanade at Cairns.  I also bought myself a $4 steak (surprisingly high quality and delicious).  We fit right in with the Australians grilling out at the park- there were so many people there we almost didn’t get a barbie.  My ear was still bothering me, so I was happy that the other girls in our group were enthusiastic to barbecue. The cheeseburgers turned out great, and my steak was delicious too ( I cooked it perfectly medium rare!!). While we were hanging out, we met a group of travelers from Canada and Europe.  It reminded me how social traveling can be, especially when traveling around youth hostels. 

When we got back to our hostel, I passed right out by 8:30 pm.  We had all wanted to go out, but we were just too tired.