From: Bexxoliver@hotmail.com
Sent: 13 August 2004
Subject: Email 8, Australia 3rd Update
Hi everyone,
We arrived in North Queensland just over 2 weeks ago. We are making our way south along the east coast of Australia and began that journey from Cairns. We spent about 5 days in Cairns, generally relaxing after the long 26hr bus journey we made from the middle of the outback. However we did manage to go to the Great Barrier Reef, part of a day trip from Cairns snorkeling. Andrew paid $50 extra for a 30min intro Scuba dive. Andrew explored the reef and got the opportunity to hold a starfish, sea cucumber and touch a giant clam. We both snorkeled in the reef and was lucky to see a turtle on its way to the surface and a Maori Wrasse they call Wally. Wally is so friendly, Andrew dived down to stroke it and it kept following him, guess that’s why they call it Wally!
We left Cairns to travel to Mission Beach, a quiet little town and the beach is over 20km long! Over 2 days we managed to complete a walk of the entire length of the beach, including some walks through the rainforest. We were even lucky enough to see the endangered Cassowary in the wild!
See a cassowary: -
http://islamic-world.net/children/flora_and_fauna/fauna2/cassowary.jpg
From Mission Beach we traveled to a small town called Tully for a day trip of White Water Rafting on the Tully River. We passed over 45 rapids, stopping halfway for a prepared BBQ lunch. Although we had a few hairy moments we managed to pass safely over all the rapids with out falling out! However we got extremely wet, especially passing under a powerful waterfall!
Next we traveled to Townsville and as soon as we arrived we got the ferry for the 8km cruise straight across to Magnetic Island, locally known as Magie. Andrew enjoyed his intro scuba dive so much he decided to book a 4day SSI open water course with the Diveshack.
See - www.diveshack.com.au
While Andrew was occupied for the 4 day course, learning how to become a fully certified scuba diver, Kathryn explored the island. Andrew passed the 4 day course with flying colours and decided to start a 2 day advanced course the next day. Part of the advanced course was a 26.5 meter dive on one of the worlds top 5 dive sites, The SS Yongala!
The Yongala sank in 1911 with all 121 human lives lost along with a racehorse called Moonshine. The wreck lay undiscovered until 1958 and has become a favorite with divers all over the world. The wreck is completely covered in coral and contains a wide range of marine life including Turtles, Manta Rays, Sea Snakes, hundreds of different species of fish and other marine life.
See: - http://www.townsvillemaritimemuseum.org.au/Yongala.htm
From Magnetic Island we made our return to Townsville. We went to the Billabong Sanctuary. We had our photos taken holding a koala, wombat, red tailed black cockatoo, 3yr old crocodile and some pythons. We also hand fed kangaroo's and watched the rangers feed turtles, eels, crocodiles, goanna's and the endangered cassowary.
The following day we visited the world’s largest coral reef aquarium (reef HQ). While wondering around Andrew was able to relate the marine life he saw on his scuba dive to the marine life in the aquarium. During our visit Andrew gave Kathryn a running commentary on the knowledge of marine life he learnt on the dives.
See - www.reefhq.org.au
We are now in Airlie Beach, the entrance to the Whitsunday Islands. Tomorrow we are going on a day trip around the Whitsunday’s with a company called Ocean Rafting, and hopefully do some snorkeling.
We will update you on our progress soon!
Lots love
Andrew & Kath
xx |
