Great Barrier Reef - Cascadian Abroad

Cairns is a charming coastal town, but it’s not exactly a tourist hotspot on its own. The real draw for Cairns is that it is the gateway for the Great Barrier Reef.

The world’s largest coral reef system, the Great Barrier Reef is actually a living organism. It can be seen from space. It’s both a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. All that said, the beauty of the reef up close and personal is still understated.

Snorkelers — Geared up and ready to head into the water!

We scheduled two separate trips to the reef; one departing Cairns for the outer reef and another from Port Douglas (about 40 miles north of Cairns) bound for the Low Isles.

Bumpy Ride — The ride to the reef was a bumpy one. A good number of riders ended up seasick on the back deck.

The first trip from Cairns went out about 27 nautical miles to the Flynn, Pellowe and Thetford reefs. The weather was rainy and windy, resulting in some pretty choppy water. As we boarded the boat, we were encouraged to purchase seasickness medicine from the bar. Everyone chuckled with the certainty that WE would not be susceptible, but with the added information that all but six of the prior day’s 40 or so passengers got seasick, most popped the pills. Regardless, about half the passengers spent a good portion of the trip on the back deck filling those little white paper bags.

Fish — The water was crystal clear at the outer reef. We could see the fish swimming under the boat.

All the misery of the ride would be forgotten as soon as we reached the outer reef. As the guides on board said, nothing cures seasickness like getting in the water. The beauty that lay just beneath the water’s surface would cure most ailments.

Floating on the surface of the Coral Sea, the underwater paradise opened up below us. It was like a real-life Finding Nemo with a world of fish in every shape, size and color. More than 600 species of coral provided an underwater maze to explore. The coral gets its rainbow of colors from the algae that makes a home within it. “Bleaching” or whitening of the coral occurs when the coral gets stressed and expels the algae. These are real, living organisms.

The Great Barrier Reef colored the surface of the water, offering a subtle glimpse of the magic below.

We spent about 40 minutes at each of the three sites, guided along the way by the marine biologists who doubled as tour guides on board the boat. Along the way, we were followed by a humphead wrasse who befriended the boat seven years prior and follows it between the different reefs. In exchange for food, the fish poses for pictures with divers and snorkelers.

A couple days later, we headed north to Port Douglas for a sailboat trip out to Low Island, one of the two islands that make up the Low Isles. It was a much slower, smoother trip just a few miles offshore. Low Island has an active lighthouse and the former keeper cottages are now used as research facilities by the University of Queensland.

Snorkeling around Low Island offered a completely different experience. The marine biologists were amazed at how low the tide was, likely a result of the supermoon that occurred the same day. As a result, much of the coral was above water level. As we snorkeled around the edges of the island, we often found ourselves crawling along the sea floor more than floating above it. We were literally on top of the coral in some places and ended up with a front-row seat for one of nature’s most amazing creations.

Shark and Turtle — We had several visitors around the sailboat, including a shark and a sea turtle

As we headed back to shore, we were visited by the island’s natives. A black tip reef shark circled the boat several times and a green sea turtle floated lazily by before taking off on a fast swim toward the island.

On the first trip, there was an underwater photographer who captured some of what we were seeing and while it would have been great to have an underwater camera, there’s something to be said for being able to focus on the beauty and not on capturing the perfect picture.

The two trips were so unique that it’s hard to pick a favorite. If you ever have the opportunity to visit the reef, I’d highly recommend doing something similar or maybe even adding in an introductory scuba dive. The coral and marine life were so unique in each location, I can’t imagine it would ever get old.

It wasn’t long after we found out we’d be moving to Japan that the idea of a trip to Australia came to mind. From the U.S., an Australian vacation is an expensive proposition, including a flight approaching 20 hours and several thousand dollars of travel expenses. However, from Tokyo, the northern coast of Australia is a little more than seven hours away.

Over two weeks, we’ll have visited four Australian cities: Cairns in Queensland, Adelaide in South Australia, Melbourne in Victoria and Sydney in New South Wales. We’re already a week into our journey as I’m writing this on the flight from Cairns to Adelaide.

The bushy Foxtail Palm is popular with tourists

Cairns (pronounced “Cans” by the locals) is on Australia’s northeast coast and is home to the Great Barrier Reef. At first glance, it’s a small tourist town, but as the week went on, the treasures of Cairns began to present themselves.

We stayed in the northern end of town, which is connected to downtown Cairns by the beautiful Cairns Esplanade. Running alongside the bayfront, it features wonderful greenspaces connected by a paved walking path that was usually most crowded in the late afternoon. It was clearly designed to act as Cairns’ backyard. Free exercise equipment, beach volleyball courts, kids play areas and free BBQ/picnic spaces line the Esplanade, leading to the Lagoon, a free community swimming pool and lounging area.

Rusty's Markets — Fresh veggies were among many treats at Rusty’s Markets in downtown Cairns

The downtown area is roughly five square blocks tucked between the Esplanade and the harbor. The obligatory souvenir shops, tour kiosks and a variety of beachwear stores border a wide selection of international eateries. The area comes alive on the weekends with a Saturday Market on the Esplanade featuring only locally-made goods. Rusty’s Market is a large, indoor farmer’s market that runs Friday through Sunday. Primarily a place for the local farmers to sell fruits and veggies, there’s also an abundance of local crafts and plenty of snacks. The Cairns Night Markets are open after 5 p.m. every night and offer another opportunity to snap up souvenirs.

Cairns itself is sandwiched between two World Heritage Sites. To the east lies the Great Barrier Reef. On the west is the Atherton Tablelands, home to the Daintree Rainforest. According to one tour guide, the rainforest once covered the entire Australian continent, but now only covers one-half of one percent of the country.

Further north are several beaches leading into the small town of Port Douglas. We spent part of a day walking along Trinity Beach. The unique beach sand was made up of larger flakes of rock and salt, which sparkled like diamonds against the tan backdrop.

Seashells — A sampling of the gorgeous shells sprinkled throughout the beaches of Cairns

The tropical sea life that makes its home on the Great Barrier Reef left a treasure trove of classic shells on every beach. As with everything on the Reef, it’s okay to look, but we had to leave these beauties behind.

Wallaby Fight — These wallabies were in a boxing match that deserved its own pay-per-view special

Near one of the bus stops back to Cairns, several wallabies made a home in a large field. I’m sure we weren’t the first to confuse these guys with kangaroos, but a tour guide straightened us out later. These guys were even putting on a classic ‘roo boxing match for us.

Over the next couple weeks, I’ll go into more details of our trip to Cairns, including a couple very memorable trips out to the Great Barrier Reef and a local tour of the city as well as our adventures to come in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.