Great Barrier Reef - Cairns

'I'd like to be, under the sea, in an octopus' garden in the shade' - Ringo Starr

Crazy lyrics from Ringo but after today's diving and snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns Australia I can understand why he'd like to be down there. It's peaceful, calm, beautiful, it's another planet!

Sep 20th - Thursday
Yesterday Lynn and I had a long lie before heading into town for amazing sandwiches at a place called The Big Apple. I have a bit of a sandwich fetish so I can't tell you how good it was to have proper cheese again after 3 months in SE Asia. I got a magic Turkey sandwich with cheese, salad and cranberry sauce and Lynn got a chicken one - ideal!

It's the simple things that keep us happy!

We realised in our very first hour of arriving in Cairns that Australia is one big country and, to use an Aussie expression, there is heaps to do. So yesterday afternoon we planned our itinery for the next 4 weeks or so. The schedule runs as follows.

1) Great Barrier Reef - diving for Lynn and snorkelling for me - more about that later
2 ) Swiftly followed by a 2 day/overnight trip to Cape Tribulation, where the rainforest meets the ocean
3) Hop on a bus down the East Coast for 3 days/2 nights on Magnetic Island
4) Back on a bus to go sailing and snorkelling in the Whitsundays for 3 days/ 2nights
5) Back on the bus to Fraser Island, the biggest sand island in the world, for camping on the beach, driving 4-wheel jeeps, trekking and generally chilling - another 2 nights
6) Then we are on the bus to Brisbane, stopping off to pay our respects to the late and very great Steve Irwin at Australia Zoo. Could be quite emotional as the guy is a legend!
7) We then have a few days to get down to Sydney - we may need to catch up on some sleep!
8) We fly from Sydney to Alice Springs, we then spend a night in Alice Springs followed by 2 nights camping out under the stars at Ayers Rock! Another night in Alice Springs before....
9) Flying to Perth to visit an old friend of Lynn's and to chill out

It's a hectic schedule but we want to pack as much in as possible to our 8 weeks in Oz. We'll have time to chill in Perth before booking a flight to Melbourne, then making our way to Sydney before flying to New Zealand. For all the flights, tours (with accomodation and some food included), buses etc, yesterday we spent about 1,800 pounds. 900 quid each.

After SE Asia this seems like a hell of a lot of money, but things are more expensive in Oz. But last night we put it into perspective. We're doing a heck of a lot for that money, including flights to the middle and the other side of the country, so we think it's a good deal.

In the afternoon we had a dip in the magnificent pool at Cairns Quay before catching a repeat showing of the 2nd half of the United game from Wednesday night in an Irish pub. United won 1-0 for those that care. The other big news was that Mourinho had walked out of Chelsea!

Friday - Sept 21st
What a fab day we have just had. It started early as our guest house drove us to the quay at 7.30am to get our yacht for the day, meet the other passengers and head 1.5 hours out of Cairns to a sandy bank named Mickalmas Cay. We split into groups of divers (of which it was Lynn, one other guy called Paul and the instructor - a good deal), intro divers, old folk for the glass bottom boat, and snorkellers.

I went snorkelling right off the beach and it was mindblowing. I had a flating device on, snorkel mask and flippers, meaning I could casually kick out from the beach and into the Great Barrier Reef. Within 2 metres of the beach you start to see beautiful coral beneath you and small shoals of fish are swimming around you. Further out I came across even more fish, bigger and just breathtaking. I came up for air and as I did a guy 10 yards away shouted that a turtle had just swam underneath me. I dove down and followed the turtle for a good few minutes. It was so graceful, it just gluided through the water seemingly effortlessly.

I really enjoyed the snorkelling. Most people went to lie on the beach for a bit but I stayed in practically the whole time, only coming out to check the time. I had 20 minutes left before lunch, so rather than come out to get the small boat back to the yacht I opted to snorkle back instead. I was rewarded with more out of this world underwater scenery and hundreds of fish, sometimes almost touching my mask. It was one of the best experiences I have ever had, I'm still buzzing from it.

Lynn was slightly disappointed with her dive, saying that she had ended up coming in to snorkle as more fish were nearer the sand bank. However she had an amazing second dive in the afternoon when the boat headed further out to sea, whereas my snorkelling was nowhere near as good as it had been nearer the sand bank.

Ths sun shone, the sea sparkled and we had an amazing day. I imagine it will be one of the highlights of the Oz trip and the whole year. I've uploaded some photos we bought from the tour photographer on to www.flickr.com/photos/murrayandlynn so check them out. We also have to get some photos from an underwater camera we got developed, I hope they turn out!

Not sure when the next blog update will be as we have so much planned. All the best until then.

Live it like you love it
Murray and Lynn
xxx