Great Barrier Reef

Yesterday we caught the "Osprey V" to two of the outer reefs (Saxon and Hastings) for 5 hours of absolutely incredible snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. Unfortunately there had been a little bit of wind and rain overnight so the previous day's 20m of visibility had reduced to less than 10, but despite the murk it was still brilliant. The 100's of varieties of Corals were just amazing, as were the sheer number of fish of all colors and sizes. We didn't manage to see any Green Sea Turtles, but one young girl on the trip did and had her photo taken with it. My biggest thrill was the giant clam I luckily stumpled across. It would have been about 4 or five feet long, three or four feet high and 2 or 3 feet wide (open). Unforgettable!
The only downer of the day was that they wouldn't let me scuba dive because of one of the medications I am on - they said I probably can dive, but I have to get a medical first. Arrrgh! I was pretty dissapointed about that :( Libby did don a scuba tank though and did a 5 minute trial dive just to see what it was like. We also took the semi-submersible ride which was pretty good too (we saw a "Nemo" hiding in an anemone!)
On the way back to Cairns (almost a 2 hr ride), they gave us free wine (and naturally I also bought a few Crownie's to top that up), and the cook/submersible-guide "Elvis" took out his guitar and amp and played some tunes to entertain us. It was a huge laugh - he kept changing the lyrics of the songs for people on board of different nationality, and made the Aussies (only Lib and Me!) sing along to "Down Under" by Men at Work. Of course he also called out "Aussie Aussie Aussie", so we had no choice but to loudly and drunkenly reply Oi! Oi! Oi! What yobbo tourist's huh??


Last night we went back into the Cairns CBD for a "free meal" at the RhinoBar courtesy of the Osprey V. It turned out to be just a bowl of "Tandori Chicken" (that was actually butter chicken) that you got for free if you bought a drink (which was no challenge at all ... we'd already bought drinks before we checked out the grill options). It tasted ok but we were both feeling a little queasy this morning ... perhaps not so good? While we were eating/drinking on the verandha we "admired" 100's of Eclectus Parrots returning to roost in a Mango tree in the sidewalk. The noise was deafening!! We also saw quite a few fruit bats flying past. After dinner we wandered towards the Casino and we soon found out where the bats where heading: there were a few trees in the median strip outside the Casino covered with little red berries - as well as dozens of bats! This was the first time we got a real close up look at them in the wild (if one of the major streets in Cairns can be considered "wild") as they gorged themselves. They are incredible creatures, many with wing spans up to about a meter.

A few hours in the casino (and too many drinks) we were back in the Caravan Park for a bit of a nap. Bright and early this morning we hit the road again for the short trip to Port Douglas. This is a very beautiful drive ... well worth it if you are in the area even if you aren't staying at "Port". It was also a bit of a reminder about the perils of travelling, as we had to stop for 20 minutes or so while they cleared the winding road of a car that had rolled. Nothing on the nightly news so I guess the guy survived but the car was a mess!
So now we are relaxing in our room at the resort, waiting for Christmas Day to roll in...

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!
Stay safe, and love to all