Australia Abroad: Weekend Getaway! Cairns

Hello everyone. It has been a few days since I’ve updated this but that’s because we have been on a little side trip! After just two brief days in Brisbane, Meghan, Patrick, Stuart and I left for Cairns on Friday afternoon (the 6^th). Cairns is located about two hours (by plane) north of Brisbane on the coast and is one of the premier places to go to see the Great Barrier Reef. We arrived in Cairns around 5 in the afternoon and decided to cook a gourmet meal that consisted of fish, vegetables, rice, and bread. It was delicious. We felt like we were on the show “The Real World” just without all of the drama and police appearances. We stayed in that night because the next morning was another early day but instead of going on an insane hike, we were going scuba diving and snorkeling on the Great Barrier! We got a ride to the docks around 7:30 that morning and boarded our Reef Encounter charter boat. We had about a 45 minute boat ride out to the first diving point. On the way out to this spot we were served breakfast, which was devoured before I could even get to it. Finally we reached this first dive spot and I was in one of the first groups that got to go scuba diving. We were given a brief introductory class on scuba diving where we learned the basic under water hand signals for “help I think I’m drowning”, “oh crap there’s a shark”, and other little signals like “I’m ok”, etc. We made our way to the back of the boat where I suited up and jumped into the water with the instructor and proceeded to go on a 20 minute dive around the reef. It was INCREDIBLE. It was an entirely different word 30 meters under the surface. It was teeming with life, the fish, the coral; it was all extremely colorful and simply stunning. After the 20 minute breath taking dive seeing too much to take in in just 20 minutes, we made it back to the boat and had lunch. We were then told that we had the option of going on another and longer dive at the second reef location Hastings Reef for an extra price. Of course I was going to take up that offer, I mean, who gets to say that they went scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef?? After arriving at the second reef location and we got into the water, it was even better than the first one. We had about a 40 minute dive around an even deeper and more spectacular site. I know I keep repeating myself about how amazing it was under water, but I know that pictures cannot do it any justice. It is definitely one thing that I will never forget and will tell my kids and grandkids about my experience there. The boat guides were telling us that we had picked the best day of the year to come out and go diving. They said the weather had not been this amazing nor had the water been this calm in over 4 months since they are in the wet season right now. What luck we had! However, the day had to come to and end. We got to enjoy about an hour and a half boat ride back in the beautiful Cairns weather. Arriving back at the docks around 4:30, we headed back to the condo to shower, change, and head out to a nice dinner and enjoyed another relaxing night. This morning we got up around 8 and packed up for our 10:30 flight back to Brisbane. We don’t have to meet back up with the group until Monday and couldn’t get our flight changed, so we just came back to Brisbane. We got a nice hotel room at the Meriton Hotel and Apartments right in the downtown area. After doing tons of diving and swimming all day yesterday and traveling today we have been worn out and have just been hanging out enjoying the city until tomorrow when we meet back up with the group to resume our study abroad. Here are some pictures from our weekend trip to Cairns and all the things that we got to see at the Great Barrier Reef!