A short but sweet trip to tropical north Cairns!
Tuesday June 26th
After saying goodbye to apartment 7, Alison and I caught the Conxion transport to the Brisbane airport for our flight to Cairns. Cairns is in far north Queensland, almost all the way at the north part of east coast Australia. We booked a short time here, mainly for a Great Barrier Reef tour. We now wish we could’ve spent at least one more day up here to see the Daintree Rainforest and enjoy the heat, but we loved every moment here. Upon arriving into Cairns at 4pm, we were greeted by beautiful mid-70 degree weather! Surprisingly enough, this was one of the more “cold” winters that Cairns was experiencing … so you can just imagine how warm it gets in summer there! After grabbing our checked bags (I’ve been carrying around 2 large suitcases stuffed with everything from my past 4.5 months of living here so that’s been fun haha) we hopped in an Uber and had a short 20 minute ride over to our AirBnB. It was a very nice little bungalow with a bed, bathroom, living area, and kitchen. We didn’t stick around there for long though since we wanted to get out to the CBD before it got too dark.
We first went to the Cairns Esplanade Lagoon which was essentially a large infinity pool that overlooks the ocean. Up in Cairns, it is not necessarily safe to swim on the beaches due to crocodiles and sharks. So this was a good alternative and it was very pretty to just sit in the water and watch sun set over the city and ocean!
At around 6pm we made our way over to the hotel that Erin and her family were staying at. Since her parents, 2 brothers, and herself were in Cairns at the same time as Alison and I, we all decided it’d be fun to meet up for dinner! We went out to eat at Barnacle Bills, mainly to try one thing: crocodile. Quite honestly, it tasted just like chicken! If I had to do a taste test and try to tell the difference, I’m not sure I would be able to. We also had prawns (that looked creepy), kangaroo, and fish & chips. It was sweet of Erin’s parents because they told us to “just be college students for one night!” and paid for our meal! It was a lovely and delicious dinner, and so great to hang out with Erin more and meet her family.
After dinner, we made a quick stop back at their hotel. Then Erin, Alison and I decided to walk around the town in search for some ice cream. There were about 1-2 ice cream shops on each street it seemed like, so there definitely wasn’t a lack of options! We ultimately decided on Devine Gelato and I tried a delicious tiramisu flavor. We continued to just walk around, explore Cairns, and stop at a couple tourist gift shops. We eventually ran into Erin’s brothers walking around as well so we got a few drinks together and strolled around the night markets that also had a lot of tourist gift items. At 10pm Alison and I called it a night since we had to get up bright and early for a trip to the Great Barrier Reef!
Wednesday June 27th
We were up and moving at 5:45 am, getting sunscreen on, hair braided, and bags packed for our full-day Great Barrier Reef tour with Passions of Paradise! At 8 am we were on the catamaran boat and leaving the port – starting our 2 hour cruise to the reef. Thankfully we both learned our lesson from kayaking and both took motion sickness pills which we were very happy to have as the ride got quite bumpy. Ali and I made our way out to the front of the catamaran where parts of the floor was essentially netting (see pictures to get a better idea of what I’m talking about). It was so awesome because we could feel the spray of the ocean waves, soaked up the sunshine, and finally felt like we were in a tropical paradise. After a few hours we arrived at our first reef stop for the day: Hastings Reef. We got our snorkeling gear all strapped on (unfortunately we had to rent wet suits so that was a no-go for us) and climbed down to the ladders on the back of the boat. We put our flippers on and off into the water we went! It definitely was a bit cold upon entering, but like previous times we easily warmed up to it. We had 2 hours to explore this reef and that’s exactly what we did! The GBR was just as beautiful as went I went with Sharon at Lady Elliot Island. I do have to say I did prefer LEI more than this section of the reef since it seemed more full. But nonetheless, it was still beautiful! One thing I did like more about this time is that instead of wanting to film everything, I was able to take more time to just be slow and really look at things. My favorite thing to do is duck dive down closer to the corals and just see all the colors up close! I also love just following the big fish around – by far my favorite is the bright green and purple one (which I should have some pictures of). Soon enough we were both getting pretty worn out and in need of a breather. We were surprised to find out that we spent almost 2 hours out there already! Time really does fly, especially when you’re swimming in the GBR. So we then decided to sit on the netting at the front of the boat and just relax more – that’s what vacation is all about!
At 11:45 am, the crew started serving lunch. So we made our way inside to enjoy a delicious meal – we were quite eager as both our stomachs were growling. Lunch honestly reminded me of like a sports banquet potluck haha! There were a bunch of different pasta salads, bread, and then the main course of rice and chicken. We hung out for a while there while everyone finished eating and the crew got everything packed up (and Alison got a mini nap in – snorkeling in the ocean wears you out!). Then we set off to our next location and made our way up to the front of the boat again. Not 5 minutes after we got up there, they announced we were at our next location already. This time we only had one hour at the reef, so we got our snorkel gear back on and were some of the first people out in the water! This one was definitely the best of the two reefs. The coral structures were a lot closer to the top of the water and more full so it was easy to just float and not have to duck dive down to see anything. The only problem with this is if you’re not looking, a large coral can sneak up on you and scratch you (which is bad for the coral and you). This happened to the back of my ankle, but thankfully nothing too big. We swam around more and just were amazed by all the beautiful fish and corals. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any sea turtles or sharks – I was really hoping that Ali was going to be able to see them since that was probably my favorite thing about LEI. After 45 minutes we were both wiped so we made our way back to the boat and per usual sat up on the front of the boat. After a while it started raining so we made our way back inside. We got afternoon tea and coffee, but more importantly we got snacks like fresh fruit, cheese, and crackers! Alison and I also talked to the couple at our table for quite a while, who were from Australia, and they were telling us all about Sydney and how we would love it! Then a crew member, Phoebe, who was about our age sat down with us and chatted for a while. The 3 of us talked about school, traveling, scuba diving as a job, and Australia – it was a super good time and helped pass the 2 hour boat ride back. The ride back actually felt much shorter than on the way there so that was nice. After docking at 5 pm, we made our way back to the Reef Fleet Terminal and caught an Uber back to our AirBnB so that we could shower up. After relaxing for a tiny bit and a short nap for me, we headed back into the CBD. We walked around some more tourist shops and bought a few things, decided to try on some apparel from Rip Curl, and we eventually made our way to a gelato shop again! This time we split a delicious Ferrero Rocher flavor! Then we split a Chinese takeaway meal and brought it back to our AirBnB where we had some much-needed relaxing time after a long day out on the Great Barrier Reef. What a great day!
Thursday June 28th
Today we got up around 7 am and got everything re-packed to head to the airport. I don’t know how I’m able to swish all my stuff into my 2 suitcases (oh yeah, with the help of Alison squishing my bag while I zip it … that’s how haha). But got a quick call in with Logan to catch up with him (side note: so proud of him because he got a promotion at work!!). Then we were off to the Cairns airport again for another flight. And here I am, a few thousand feet in the air typing this up. We are currently onto the last portion of our trip: Sydney! We are both very excited to see the iconic opera house, take a ferry ride in the harbor to Manly Beach, enjoy sunshine for the next 3 days, and have a great time in the famous city!
Another Point of View 