Day 10: Great Barrier Reef

We woke up far too early, given the amount of wine consumed yesterday and the lateness of our flight, headed down the harbor, and hopped on the SilverSwift Catamaran out to the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef. Luckily we were able to get another hour of sleep on the boat, and were a bit better rested by the time we arrived on site. The reef was spectacular – water temperature was in the high seventies, you could see to a depth of about 30 meters pretty clearly, the coral was spectacular, and there were tons of fish around. We saw a ton of different species; highlights for me were the turtles, a 3 foot long clam, listening to a parrot fish munch on the coral from a foot away, and the bright blue staghorn coral. We didn't take any underwater photos (I think Hunter will have some available later), but our photos from the surface are available on Picasa.

Cairns is a small town; you can walk from one end to the other in 30 minutes. Everything is built around tourists and supporting the tourist industry. Besides the obvious diving, there are also a large number of tours out into the rainforest, plus a wide range of adventure sports. We decided to only to the snorkeling, since we had limited time (and money) and were pretty worn out from rushing all the way through Melbourne.

Australia is incredibly expensive. It’s hard to find restaurants with food for under $12 per person, and $25+ is more common. Supermarkets are hard to find, and the food there isn’t that much cheaper sadly. Lodging is expensive too – even hostels can run around $90 per night for a double (this is largely due to it being the high season).