Didgeridudes: Hello from the Great Barrier Reef!!!

Cairns!! Tuesday October 14th, 2730 km north of Sydney

On Tuesday we arrived in Cairns, the end of the road for our Greyhound trip. We spent Tuesday night relaxing by the pool ready for our big adventure the following day. On Wednesday morning at 6am the hostel firm alarms went off and we stood outside the hostel with a hundred or so other bleary-eyed backpackers waiting for the firemen to give us the all clear. After that we quickly arranged our flights back to Sydney and headed down to Cairns harbour to catch the catamaran out to the outer reef. Ninety-minutes and a hundred or so sick bags later the catamaran pulled up alongside the pontoon. Lee and David went on a guided snorkeling adventure to a part of the the reef ominously known as 'scary point' - although it's only really frequented by reef sharks that are completely harmless. Whilst they were doing that I had an hour or so of tuition aboard the catamaran with my scuba diving instructor. I learnt how to communicate under water with different hand signals, how to breathe using the regulator mouthpiece under increasing water pressure and how to equalise the middle ear and sinuses during descent, and how to use the diving belt and buoyancy compensator - basically how to press a button to inflate and deflate the dry suit jacket. After that I walked down some steps into a partially submerged chamber beneath the pontoon deck before descending 50ft down a rope to the sea floor.

The reef was amazing and everything I hoped it would be. Once down on the floor I was able to chase brilliant green parrotfish that seemed to almost fly over the coral with wing-like fins. A 2m long humphead wrasse known as Wally came over to investigate us weird-looking creatures floating about clumsily with our tanks on our backs. Wally rubbed its head against my arm - a truly massive head that dwarfed my body! I also managed to find Nemo, this particularly timid clownfish was hiding near a giant clam that was about 4ft in diameter and felt velvety and smooth on the inside, as I touched it it suddenly sprang shut.

After some more fun aboard the semi submersible I did a bit of snorkeling over the reef. Once again chasing parrotfish I managed to stray quite far from the boat. The reef ended sharply as I floated out over a coral cliff that dropped below me into the depths. As I squinted through my mask I could just discern a large bulbous-looking shape in the darkness followed by what I thought to be tentacles dripping down around it. Having decided in my irrational state of mind that I was now being pursued by a giant jellyfish I turned around, slapped the parrotfish out of the way and swam like crazy back to the pontoon, grazing my knee over a piece of coral jutting out from the cliff.