East Coast Adventures!

After a week in Perth during a heatwave the rain in Cairns came as a bit of a shock. We spent 4 or 5 days in Cairns which is in the north of the east coast of Australia, which looking back was maybe a bit much given the rain.

On our second day we got to dive the Great Barrier Reef. It had been about a month since we had our last dive and so we were a little rusty but soon got used to it again. Unfortunately the weather hadn't improved and it was raining and cloudy. Our boat went to the outer reef so the weather was a bit nicer there than the coast but it was still cold. Thankfully at 30 degrees it was warmer in the water, and we really enjoyed our two dives at Saxon and Hastings Reef. We even saw some sharks, huge 5 metre Great Whites although the instructor claimed they were only metre long reef sharks.

We also did a 2 day, 1 night trip to the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation, it was really beautiful but the constant rain put a bit of a 'dampner' on it.

In the rainforest at Mosman Gorge

On our way up the coast during which we seen a huge croc swimming in the sea, it was amazing to see. We then had a trek through the rainforest where we saw some wildlife, ancient trees and the powerful river above, apparently you can swim in normally but due to the recent heavy rain it was a raging torrent. We had the afternoon free to explore the beach and surrounding ourselves but it was raining so much we just stayed in our room for most of it. We did venture out enough to see the huge spiders everywhere, we weren't scared at all!

It was honestly the size of my outstretched hand

The next day we were picked up and taken on a crocodile spotting river cruise, after seeing the huge one yesterday we were quite optimistic about seeing one but the tour guide told us that because of the heavy rain the river levels were very high which meant the crocs couldn't lie on the river banks, their usual spot, so we probably wouldn't see any big ones. We found a few small baby ones early on, they were only about half a metre long. The guide told us the parents probably would be close by so we kept our eyes peeled but unfortunately we didn't see any.

Isn't he cute??

After Cairns we headed down to Airlie beach to sail the Whitsundays. If we had longer and the weather wasn't so bad we would have probably stopped at a few places on the way down but we thought it was probably best to just try and skip the rain. Our trip to the Whitsundays was something we had both been looking forward to since planning our trip so we were both a little downhearted when walking to the boat in the torrential rain. Thankfully we got on well with the other people on our boat, Powerplay, so we still enjoyed our trip in the rain, we had 3 days 2 nights on the boat and sailed around some of the islands. We did a bit of snorkelling at a few stops and I (Rob) tried paddleboarding....

Looking pretty steady

...and a handstand...

...which either failed miserably or Leanne was too slow to capture it, we will let you decide which one is more likely!

The second day we woke up early and went to Whitehaven beach, which should look something like this...

...but in the rain looked a bit like this...

looking great in our wetsuits (they were needed as there were deadly jellyfish in the water)

Thanks to the rain and our early start we had the whole beach to ourselves which is apparently really rare, it was amazing. We had a swim, but the current was really strong and we all nearly got washed away. The sand on the beach is really fine and 98% silica so Leanne and the other girls used this chance to polish their silver jewellery, we are backpackers, every freebie we get we take advantage of! I even managed to get myself a little snack...

It was a bit rubbery!

Go go  Powerplayers

We also managed to complete a night dive on the second night. We were both really nervous about this but thankfully it all went ok. It might seem obvious but it was so dark down there. We each had a flash light and a number of glow sticks attached to our tanks for light. When you looked around away from the beam of light it was eerily dark, like nothing above water, it was scary. There wasn't as much life as during the day but we got to see sleeping fish, squids, cuttlefish, nudibranchs and the biggest lobster we have ever seen. We were both a little relieved to surface again but it was a great experience and we are pleased we did it. Dangerously Leanne nearly ran out of air in her tank, we went through it a lot quicker than normal, I guess as we were a bit scared and breathing quickly.

Looking good

Ready to go down!

After we finished our dive we tucked into a much needed bbq feast. We got our first taste of some Kangaroo sausages, Aussie steaks and tried some fish that someone caught off the back of the boat, it was nice but a little boney.

The next day we sailed back to port in more rain. There didn't seem to be a whole lot to do in Airlie beach, I suppose this was made worse by the rain. Considering how well known Cairns and Airlie beach are around the world their small size has surprised us.

From Airlie Beach we were due to get an overnight bus at 11pm to Bundaberg. The rain however had continued falling and had got increasingly worse so we were a little worried that we wouldn't make it out as the only road in and out is liable to flooding. Our nerves weren't helped when by 2am the bus hadn't shown up and the rain had flooded the bus stop almost to our ankles...

This was taken a little earlier in the night when we first arrived. 

...thankfully the bus arrived 4 hours late at 3am and we made it out. Some of our friends who were scheduled to get the bus in the morning weren't as lucky and got stranded in Airlie beach for 2 days. We later found out a cyclone had formed further north and wiped out a lot of Townsville further north.

Stay tuned for more of the East Coast...