There are many things to do in Cairns, so we didn’t get bored at all! First we got an extremely blue rental car *blush* – the first time to rent a car on our trip. Throwing the backpacks in the trunk was somehow strange (I felt as being a “Spießer”*smiley winking*. Nevertheless, it was very comfortable after the first tensional 5 minutes (didn’t drive for 3,5 months and especially not on the wrong side of the road…*smiley winking*.
The first day in Cairns was a bit wet (the shower did not provide as much water as the rain outside) – really no chance for bush fires at all…
We did a nice trip to the botanical garden of Cairns, very interesting for people with a “green thumb” as Germans would say. Even for me (no “green thumb”*smiley winking* it was interesting, there are so many different kind of palm tress (even after one month on different islands I didn’t know that there is such a variety) and at least 10 different types of bamboo, e.g. black giant bamboo, Buddha bamboo (not as slim as the other ones)…
We also made a trip to Kurunda – a village with yummy mango sorbet – via a winding road with some fabulous views…
Next day we did a tour to the Great Barrier Reef (Outer Reef – Upolo Cay). And – yes!!! – we had booked an intro dive (there is still an open x-mas voucher for a diving course, so at least this was a start!) After surviving the quite rough sea conditions on way out (no, this time I was neither green in my face nor my breakfast was in danger) we got heavily equipped. No kidding, it was really heavy… 17kg oxygen bottle, 4,5 kg extra weight, some more kilos for the regulator, etc. –> in total much more than I carry as luggage for half a year of travelling!!
Fortunately we rented a professional underwater camera, so this time no complains please, you get pictures
My first impression with head under the water: I do not get enough air, I am drowning! Well, others can do as well I thought and with a snorkel I have no problems at all, so I just relaxed and took a lot of deeeeep breaths. Like this, I was quite OK with the amount of oxygen. Only problem was the pressurisation on one ear (I have had a cold some days ago), but somehow I managed…
It was an interesting experience and we saw rays and an underwater world which is different from snorkelling I have to admit…
Our diving guide checked several things on our equipment during the dive and suddenly she hurried to get us back to the surface…
On the surface, she explained that I was below the limit with the oxygen after only 29 minutes… We started with 200bar, Thorsten had 100bar left, whereas I only had 40bar left… an experienced diver can dive for 2 1/2 hours with one 200bar bottle… Probably I should not take that deep breaths next time or go for two bottles
In the afternoon, we did only snorkelling and I saw the first shark in my life which was not separated from me via a thick aquarium glass….
It was a really nice day – with lots of new experiences! When we returned to Cairns and our hostel, two more Hardmäns (Thorsten’s sister Kirsten and his father Peter) where there – with 48 hours delay (due to some difficulties with the Lufthansa check-in) but very happy to be in Oz and travel with us for the next 2 weeks!