Once we were out on the reef we checked out what the platform had to offer: glass bottom boat, underwater tunnel, snorkelling, sundeck, and for those that wanted to scuba diving. Then Lindsay and I got our mask and fins to go snorkelling. I was heaps scared, but I had been telling myself since probably May that I was going to snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef, because who doesn’t go to it and not get in?!?! So there was a ton of mental preparation beforehand, but it was not enough let me tell you!
Well I stripped down to just my swimmers, placed the mask and fins in my hands, and slowly made my way down the metal steps to the water platform. I was way too nervous to actually sit down in the water to put on my fins so instead I stood up and struggled a little bit to get all the gear on. While doing so though a little fish swam up through one of the holes in the grate platform and I screamed! The lifeguards and heaps of people were laughing at me, but I don’t care what other people think, fish are not my friends! After I calmed myself down some from the terrifying fish going after my foot, Lindsay and I got our picture taken and then had to sit in the water to take another picture. Let me tell you I was holding on to that platform for dear life! Then I had to let go into the blue water. It took me several long, long seconds before I would stick my face in the water because I just had a feeling that there would be heaps of fish. MY THINKING WAS CORRECT; THERE WERE FISH EVERYWHERE! I don’t think my breathing has ever been as hard before in my life! It was so scary, but after a little bit I got use to there being fish in the same water as me. Saying that though, I kept my distance! Lindsay and I swam out quite a good distance, passed over some coral, and then were heading in the direction of the raft again when I saw the biggest fish ever! I screamed probably the loudest anyone has ever been able to through a snorkel and I am not ashamed because seriously anyone in their right mind would have been scared of this fish as well!
We probably stayed out in the water for about 30 minutes then headed in. Then we hopped on the glass-bottom boat with my grandparents, which was pretty cool since we were able to see the deeper parts of the reef. After that we ate lunch and then Lindsay wanted to go back out and snorkel, so I figured I would give it another go. Well of course there had to be heaps of big fish this time just out a little ways from the platform and then my wonderful big friend kept swimming past so it took me about 5 minutes to let the big fish swim away before I hopped back in. This time I was holding onto the camera to take pictures so here I was trying to take a picture of this really pretty fish, but he/she started swimming for my hand, and I was heaps scared so I swam back to the platform and decided that I had did a good job facing my fears and that my heart couldn’t take any more in one day, even though I was only in the water for like at most 7 minutes! Oops! The rest of the day I caught some sun and watched the fish feeding happen. The Great Barrier Reef was amazing and I reckon I will have to try snorkeling again. (Dad we will see if I can get the courage up enough to do scuba.)
The next day, October 3, we took a tour called the Kuranda Sky Tour. We took an old train from the 1940s up into the mountains to this little town called Kuranda. The train ride took an hour and 15 minutes. We passed by one waterfall, went through 15 tunnels and 6 bridges. The views from the train were fantastic! Kuranda was this cute little town that was filled with heaps of shopping and had two different markets. Well of course we did shopping because that was about all there was to do in this town and my grandma hadn’t gotten to shop in a few days so she was up to the “challenge”. The best part of the day though was taking the Skyrail back down to the bus stop. On the Skyrail we passed over the tops of the rain forest canopy and the view was remarkable! I took heaps of pictures. After the tour we came back and walked around Cairns. Cairns has a really pretty swimming lagoon and a beautiful boardwalk around the bay. Then we went out to dinner at a restaurant on the boardwalk and got ice cream following. By this time it was dark enough for me to take some night pictures! So we walked around a little while longer and I went around snapping my lens till there was nothing left to take pictures of.
On Sunday, October 4th, we caught our morning flight to Sydney and then caught our connecting flight to Auckland and arrived around 11:50pm. Unfortunately we lost a whole day in travelling, but you have to do what you have to do.
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