Cairns–Great Barrier Reef

Finally we arrived at our last destination: CAIRNS
This city forms the center of the far north district of Queensland. It is clearly directed to tourism, mainly to the nearby Great Barrier Reef. Of cause I had to take my chance and go scuba diving in the No.1 diving destination in the world (as long as the reef still exists). It was quite an adventure. It takes about 2h with the boat to get to the outer reef and everybody (including me) got quite sea sick :P.

 

 

 

 

It was worth it, the corals were amazing and we saw turtles and sharks. And then my diving buddy suddenly disappeared. We searched for her about 15min around the reef and got quite worried. It turned out that she had a problem with her inflatable jacket and drifted to the surface. She could not get down to us again. Strange that we didn´t see her when we looked up to the surface (maybe the sun was too bright?). Nothing happened, but quite a  setback for my first dive in 12 years! Generally, I think its not really worth to deal with all the equipment. The corals and fish are so close to the surface that snorkeling (in combination with apnoe diving down) is actually enough to see the beauty of the place. I am glad that I ve done it though :D
Since I didn´t spend the extra 150$ to rent a camera, here some youtube footage: It is actually very accurate to my dive:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDSf4itbZ0Q

 

 

After giving back our campervan, we used our time to relax and enjoy the tropical temperatures and pools around the city. It was quite a relief to have 3 nights in the same place (in a bed!) and it was a very nice finale of our journey.

 

 

 

 

After 3 weeks of traveling together we finally had to say goodbye to each others. My plane goes on Sunday to Melbourne, my last Australian destination. The show must go on.

 

 

 

 

Thursday 7th of April to Sunday 10th of April