Cairns, Queensland!

To look at the pics in this post please click the links!

On September 25th I flew into Cairns which is in northern of Australia and in the state of Queensland. From the airport we checked into Shenanigans (much like the bar in Belleville) and our room was so nice! We (meaning me and Dom) had our own double bed and a very nice sized bathroom and a TV! It was a very nice place and in the center of town, a great location! The first thing we did was walked to the marina to have lunch and scope out where we would be coming for snorkeling the next day. We walked around a little and then went and changed into our bathing suites and we to the lagoon aka a huge pool right on the water, Cairns does not have a beach in town. My friend Andi was in town and he met us for an ice cream by the lagoon and then he had to get to the airport to get back to Sydney. The rest of the day we spent exploring the city and we went to bead early we had to be at the Reef Fleet Terminal at 7:30am to go snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef!!





PICS of day 1!

Day 2 – September 26^th

As some of you may know I have an ‘issue’ with the ocean so I thought that I was going to have a very difficult time snorkeling…this however was not the case! When we got on to the boat, a huge catamaran sail boat, I just didn’t think about what I was about to do and then when they went “ok time to get your gear together and get in the water” my nervousness hit a high but once I was in my wet suite and was on our way to the first reef, one off an island called Michaelmas Cay, it subsided. When I first got in the water it took me a while no relax, which is very important in snorkeling since all you do is lay on your stomach and look down at everything, but it eventually happened and it was so much fun! I even snorkeled all the way back to the boat! I did this just in time because soon after this we saw a black tip reef shark swim by the boat! We had lunch, which was lovely, and then headed on to the main reef which was just in the middle of the ocean we had to hop off the back of the boat. It was amazing there was so much color and crazy fish that were rainbow colored! It felt like I was swimming in a larger and colder version of Sarah and Steve’s fish tank!

The pics are not the best quality but what do you expect from a Kodak underwater camera?

PICS OF DAY 2!

fishys in the water

Day 3 – September 27^th

So the day after going to the reef I slept in until 9am! Woohoo!! I went to breakfast where I had a wonderful scone and butter outside and then caught a bus to Palm Cove an amazing beach 50 minutes north of Cairns! The pictures are mostly from the 29^th but the are all of palm cove!

Day 4 – September 28^th

Today me and Dom went on a tour called “on the wallaby” by recommendation of Becca and it was SO much fun and we got to see so much of the country side, the rainforest and waterfalls and lakes around the area! The first stop was Hailes Look out where it was almost a white out from the bush fires then on to the Cathedral Fig Tree, a tree growing on top of another tree. Then Lake Barrine where we had our first rainforest walk. The next stop was Lake Echam which is the top of an inactive volcano that has filled with rain water. I swam in it, another huge feat for Ellen, and it was so cold but apparently good for your skin! We ate our picnic lunch here and it was delish! We then went on the most photographed waterfall in the work, Mila Mila Falls! It was sooooooo cold I couldn’t get in past my thighs! We then had fresh fruit and chocolate J mmmm too good. We went to our final rainforest walk, where we were to be cautious of Cassowaries, and to the last waterfall – Dinner Falls – and the coolest thing ever called The Crater.

pics of day 4!

Day 5 – September 29^th

Today I went pack to Palm Cove to get tanner! The last time I went it was the late afternoon and I didn’t have much time to explore the town or walk the whole beach but today I did and the pictures tell the whole story! Beautiful! (see day 3 section for pics)

Flight drama – September 30th

The day that I got the Cairns Jet Star (the airline I was flying) called and told me my flight was cancelled for on the way back and they were going to put me on a Qantas flight, since they are owned by them. Then the night before the flight I went to check the flight online and it was no where to be found! I called Qantas and they told me (this took them about 30 min to figure out) that I had been told the wrong information and then had been erased from they system. The end result was me being on a flight to Brisbane on Jet Star then re-checking in to a Qantas flight there to get to Sydney. This day, which started at 3:30am, only got worse when I landed in Brisbane. There were about 100 people waiting in line to check in fro Qantas, the line was out of the terminal it was so long, and about 5 workers! It was chaos! But since my mom taught me to always be nice to people the worker at the service desk checked me in before he was allowed and I made my flight on time! Also the singer MIA was on my plane for anyone who cares lol. When I landed in Sydney I had forget that it was the equivalent of the Super bowl happening and the trains were a mess for the NRL final, the national rugby league, where Melbourne beat Manley – once again for those who care ;)

Hope you all enjoyed the update I’m off to Hobart, Tasmania tomorrow with Becca! Update next weekend about that trip! Love you all!!