Port Douglas, YHA hostels, no-crocodile tour and diving at the Great Barrier Reef.

I haven’t been to a tropical climate in years and forgot what hot and muggy is - and this is winter! I flew into Cairns and caught a shuttle up the coast to Port Douglas where I stayed for a while. Sugar cane and banana plantations line the roadsides blocking the view. The native bush seems to envelope everything that isn’t continuously cleared, mown or concreted. The big thing to do in Cairns and Port Douglas is to go diving at the Great Barrier reef - and I hoped to catch some beach sun.

In Port Douglas it rains hard. Due to the weather I spent the first couple of days in limbo between the hostel and the township. I am starting to form a theory on YHAs - but I need to experience a few in the U.S. to fully form it. The theory at present goes: YHAs are full of strange and unusual people who through unoriginality or personal social inability move between YHA hostels rather than researching for more ‘normal’ hostels. This one certainly has it’s freaks and geeks - one of my roomates reminded me of Dustin Hoffman’s character in Rainmain. He rocked back and forth while he spoke and he was travelling around the world playing professional poker. The other roomate is a permanent resident and smelled. Needless to say I changed rooms after two nights. The new roomates are much better. One of them is from the Nederlands and his first name is ‘Dick’. Very unfortunate for him - funny for others.

Daintree River crocodile tour To escape the YHA madness, and the weather being too bad for a reef expedition, I booked onto a crocodile tour with Bruce the crocodile man. Ray and Rachel, two normal people I met at the hostel, also happened to be on the tour. One word for it - lame. We saw three crocodiles and only the third one scraped in over a metre. It was hiding amongst the undergrowth so the total of its visible majesty was twenty centimetres of its head. It was funnier watching people trying to see it. In desperation on the way back, Bruce the tour guide called out ‘and now for tree snakes’ as we passed an empty section of bush with no tree snakes. I was underwhelmed and at the price of $40 Aus I wasn’t at all bitter. Thankfully a bush walk in the Mossman gorge made me feel a little better. I learnt to take cheesy long exposure photos of rapids and played with fish in a little rock pool deep in the forest.

Mossman gorge walk

The Great Barrier Reef

The following day I booked onto the Haba Scenic Boat tour to go diving at the reef. I have a fear of being deep underwater that stems from watching Jaws as a little kid. For the past two weeks I had been amping myself up for my very first scuba dive - and it was finally happening! Again Ray and Rachel were going on the cruise and Ray and I went upstairs on the boat to listen to the introductory dive talk. Excitement coursed through my veins, I was about to confront a fear in one of the most beautiful dive spots on the planet. And then I made a mistake. On the what medical conditions do you have part of the form they asked if I had ever had heart surgery. I said “yes, when I was three”, and they replied that I couldn’t dive without a medical certificate. Already being on the boat travelling out to the reef I was then forced to choose between not participating at all or doing a ‘lowly’ snorkel. I felt like crying. I nearly kicked up a fuss to get my money back, so that I could then book a different tour and not tell that operator about my heart operation that wouldn’t matter but…

Massive initial disappointment aside the snorkeling was fantastic and I am glad that I went. The coral is beautiful and life just teemed all over it. I have never seen so much biodiversity in a square metre of space. Plus it being so shallow I was able to get to most depths that the divers were able to. I bought a cheap disposable underwater camera and took some excellent photos of blurry fish and blurry coral (the coral moves fast in these parts).

Underwater at Great Barrier Reef.

Trying to take photos whilst snorkeling is a slap-stick comedy routine. First spot what one wants to photograph. Dive down holding the camera in the right hand whilst equalising (holding your nose and blowing) every metre with the left hand. Swim back up to the surface because the current has carried one into what they are trying to take a photo of. Swim several metres away from the subject and dive down a second time, again equalising. Look up to see where subject is. Line up shot. Give up lining up shot because one can’t locate the subject through the one centimetre square view finder, goggles and bubbles. Point the camera in the general direction and click. Realise by now one was back on the surface, the frame only included half the fish and was blurred.

Underwater at Great Barrier Reef. The most amazing things I saw was a 2 metre long shark which I was too busy winding the camera the wrong way to photograph, and a giant clam. One of the staffers took us on a guided tour of the reef and she showed it closing upon touch. The experience has kindled a burning desire to get my dive certificate. The sea-salt content of my blood stream also doubled.

Today (Wednesday) has finally been sunny. In typical English fashion I rushed to the beach and proceeded to burn my legs and forehead (solar-panel) to a crisp. I am now confined to indoors, writing in an internet cafe on the only sunny day here. Maximum points for me. I am contemplating spending the start of tomorrow before my flight in Cairns to see the sprawling beer drinking fest which it is reputed for. Otherwise it is another beach day :)

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Comments

  1. Grant

    Very funny. I can imagine diving and photographing like that. A bugger about the scuba - who would have thought! Hope your next post includes a photo of yourself. We are not sure if you are actually there!

    55:74 22:22, May 30 2007

  2. Margret

    Probably the only thing you could do better scuba diving would be taking photos. But the blue fish one is quite good. Glad you did the trip though. It’s an enthralling world so hope it doesn’t disappear.

    55:76 18:40, May 31 2007

  3. Jo

    Hey Francis
    Sounds like you’re having an awesome time! Snorkeling is amazing, in Manly Beach we used to see sharks as well but they just cruise past you minding their own business. Except I think someone got attacked last year…..meh. We were gone by then :) Don’t worry about the weirdos either…nothing can compare to a room mate I had once who was a 65 year old raging alcoholic and used to walk round naked, steal your towels and watch you while you slept…..!
    xx

    55:77 11:32, Jun 02 2007

  4. the real mummybot

    So, whats the states like? Are you lost yet?

    55:80 19:24, Jun 04 2007

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