We love Cairns!!!!!!
On Thursday we decided to just completely hang low. We spent the day swimming at the beautiful concrete pond. Cairns doesn’t really have a beach. It’s situated much like New Orleans right off the river and the ocean tides create a large mud flat at low tide. We explored the mud flat a bit and saw black crabs as well as a land walking fish called a mudskipper. Strange creatures.
After a day in the sun we stopped at Woolworth’s, which is the local grocery and variety store, we picked up roasted chicken and pre made salads and a six-pack of very good local beer to bring back to our hotel pool for a picnic. This is something every parent traveling to Australia should know about. Eating out at a mid range restaurant is still on average $100, and even McDonalds is around $25 to $30. The nicer restaurants have been closer to $200.
We woke up early on Friday for one of our two days out on the reef. We sailed on Ocean Free to the inner reef and Green Island. The sail out was gorgeous. And the snorkeling was amazing. Ethan did GREAT! He didn’t want to come back in and he stayed with the guided keeping mom’s worries calm. His highlight was swimming side by side with the reef sharks.
While Danny was diving Ethan and I saw giant clams, a sea turtle, Nemo in his anemone, and of course some beautiful corral. While on the boat, Ethan enjoyed feeding the reef sharks and driving the boat. On our short stay at Green Island Ethan found a tide pool filled with hermit crabs. He can spend hours playing with anything that crawls!
I’m so glad we opted for two trips out to the Great Barrier Reef! This is one of those things we may never do again and it really is an experience of a life Time!
Find the little black crabs below.
Now find the tiny Mudskipper, look for the eyes…
This is Fred
Yes, the colors of this giant clam were neon!
You can’t swim on the Cairns shore for many reasons, so they have this wonderful public pool in the city center.
Whether you like bats or not, this sight in the evenings in Cairns was amazing. These are Spectacled Flying-Fox Bats, taking off for their nighly fruit feeding.
Our Trip to Australia 