The GREAT Barrier Reef

Just a short post to let everyone know that we are still alive after three days and nights scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip so far. The night before we celebrated Tree's birthday in Cairns. Stayed in a swanky hotel and had a lovely meal with a bottle of champagne delivered courtesy of the girls in England. Then it was off out onto the reef for three nights. Although we both got our PADI diving qualification last year we forgot everything and didn't have a clue what we were doing. Some of the people diving with us had done over 300 dives so we were a little bit on the nervous side. Poor Tree couldn't equalize very easily and returned to the boat after each dive with blood pouring out her nose. She battled on but had to pull out of the advanced divers course. We both had some really good and really bad dives. As you'd expect the coral and sea life was amazing. Some of the highlights were feeding the giant Potato Cod, seeing lots of sea snakes (including one swimming through my legs), a night dive when you can't see anything without a torch and seeing loads of different fish in all colours, shapes and sizes. However, there were a few scary moments. On some of the dives the visibility wasn't great. Due to this and some bad communication we got split up from each other which is pretty worrying. It all turned out fine and Tree made sure for later dives that she could understand the difference between my signal for "I'm running out of air and about to die" and "Ooh...Look at the gills on that" Running low on air was a constant problem for me as I wasn't the most graceful figure through the water. That said I did pass the advanced diver course which included a 30m deep dive to highlight the problems of Nitrogen narcosis. This effects people in different ways. We did a test at 30 m to show how it takes you much longer to perform simple calculations. For some reason I did it quicker than on the surface which makes me think that if we all lived under water I might be a genius!

Mark, truly at one with nature!

plenty of danger and a bit of luck too!

So our next destination was Darwin, thankfully by air. We booked a "rainy room" deal at a nice hotel on the seafront, if the weather wasn't going to be great I at least wanted free shampoo and conditioner. The weather turned out to be great in fact and we enjoyed the city more for it. We did experience a thunderstorm and monsoon rains but with the temperature still around 30 it was just like a hot shower. The rain settled quickly in time for us to swim in the local lake(like swimming in a hot bath)and to fit another barbie in, perfect.
Darwin hosts a fantastic museum which was absolutely packed full of dangerous things native to Oz. We knew the snakes, spiders, sharks, crocs and jelly fish were scary enough but here you even have to suspect certain trees(they sting you), fruit(poisons you) and little things like caterpillars(venomous)- great! The most impressive museum find was "Sweetheart". 5m and >700kg later we learnt a little more about this stuffed croc which was killed when locals tried to rescue him from a local river in the 1970's. Just what we needed to see to relax us for our planned trip to the Adelaide river the following day!
At the river our guide suggested we were "lucky" when we boarded the boat(small) and a croc of a similar dimension to Sweetheart(huge) was already waiting for us by the boat. It was massive! We saw many more, of a "normal" size- a wee 3-4m! The crocs circled the boat but thankfully no limbs were lost as they took to jumping from the water, up to surprising 2m! We also got up close and personal with Neil, a Diamond python. This time I was pleasantly surprised to know pythons don't have venom but hey, they just constrict you to death! Mark seemed to enjoy Neil caressing his neck, I wasn't going there.
We also got to see an amazing national park called Litchfield, not too far from Darwin. We enjoyed some croc free swimming in the natural swimming holes and waterfalls, now this is what I call lucky.

From Darwin we flew to Cairns and headed straight up into northern Queensland to Port Douglas. This was a great base to explore the wet tropical rain forests and the Atherton Tablelands. This region is absolutely beautiful, there are volcanic craters where we swam, more waterfalls, creeks, gorges, amazing wildlife, forests and not to mention the fantastic beach at Port Douglas- no swimming here though thanks to the stinger season(aka the deadly box jelly fish). We loved Port Douglas and felt pretty relaxed and ready for more R+R as we headed further north to Cape Tribulation. Our expectations were now very high and they were definitely beat by the beauty here. It's where the rain forest meets the Great Barrier Reef and home to really rare, mainly endangered, wildlife and forests. We stayed in a forest hideaway with our own resident bathroom snake! I'd actually seen a brown tubular thing up in the rafters but just thought it was a pipe or something. Mark, being more snake experienced, later announced his find to me and the owner- I was pleased to hear that it was "just a tree snake"(not that pleased when it had disappeared and it was time for bed though!).
Danger was everywhere in Cape Trib. Mark, now known as Mark "Attenborough" Forshaw got the gold star when he spotted an Amethyst python on our night jungle walk(we must be mad!). The guide was very impressed, all I spotted all night were a few centipedes and a moth, spiders too but only after their webs attached to my face.

The danger didn't stop there. The following day we fancied a nice tranquil stroll along the beach but no-here we go again! It seemed Mr Croc, Mr Shark and Mr giant Lizard also wanted a piece of our tranquility and beach, they just couldn't leave us to it! We sacrificed the tranquility pretty sharpish and left some Japanese tourists to it!
We did actually come closer to death than this- "no!", I hear you scream. Whilst walking through the forest, now in daylight, we heard and saw a huge tree fall just short of where we were again enjoying a tranquil stroll! It definitely would have crushed us. We hold a Spanish tourist(a real Manuel character) responsible for this near death experience. We'd met him whilst trekking through the forest and thought he was a bit odd when he took to picking up fruit from the forest floor and suggested his girlfriend try it. When we were fortunate enough to spot a very rare Cassawary(only 1000 in Oz remain) he labelled it as a just a "big bird"- sure you're geting the picture. We got to the creek(after passing the "beware crocs" sign)and obviously gave him the privilege of getting wet first only to be alarmed to hear him screaming- not a scream of pain but his Tarzan impression! Well, I think his girlfriend was impressed, we were certainly not and quickly left him, Jane and the crocs to it and headed off back through the forest. He must of continued his party piece, shaking the poor trees to the ground.

So we've left the Cape Trib danger behind, our final memory being a sighting of a family of Cassowaries with their 2 chicks-no danger just luck again!

We hope our luck will continue tomorrow when we head for the reef and a bit more danger!

Oz - The West coast journey

Perth
We flew into Perth and were looking forward to some Australian sunshine. Instead we were greeted with the type of climate you would expect to find in Manchester - cold, wet and windy. The following day, however, the sun shined and it hasn't stopped since. Perth is a lovely city and the most isolated one in the world. As in keeping with our holiday we started off pretty actively but have now slipped into the local, laid back approach to life. We (of course) went on a tour of the local vineyards and sampled plenty of fine wines. During one of the tasting sessions the guy pouring the wine announced to the group that I had the perfect nose for sampling the wine - I have no idea what on earth he could possibly have meant! We started off with good intentions of remembering the best wines but they all blended into one for me. Tree was far more discerning and now likes 'wooded Chardonnay'. She can taste subtle hints of melon, cigar and chocolate. All I can taste is woodpecker cider - and I kept getting my nose stuck in the glass!
It was good to meet up with my relatives so far away from home. Joe, Robin, Richard and Meg took us on a tour of Perth showing us the sites and taking us for a lovely meal. Joe and Richard also took us to see the local football team, Perth Glory, play in the A league. What a treat! Bottom of the league and without a win all season. They were playing the next to the bottom team. What a thriller. Imagine Everton v. Bolton and you're nearly there. We were hoping for a high scoring classic but the Glory lost one-nil and the manager was promptly sacked the next day. Still we had a good time and it was good to get my fix of footy.
Our last few days in Perth were spent in the beautiful King's Park, biking around the lovely Rottnest Island and drinking coffee in the relaxed Freemantle. On the last day we were due to get a coach up the coast but the laid back taxi service cut that short. We ended up sprinting through the city in 'rush' hour with our fully loaded backpacks in the searing heat. Obviously we missed the coach, our connection and our three days overlooking the Ocean in Kalbarri. Stranded in Perth our relatives once again came to the rescue. They kindly provided a fantastic bed and breakfast facility, a jacuzzi, a taxi service, hot meals, wine and more expert advice. On our last night they took us to one of Perth's fine beaches for the traditional Aussie BBQ on the beach. It was great to watch the glorious sunset whilst having a cold beer and eating good food. However, it reminded us of the biggest single problem with Australia. Not the crocs, sharks, redbacks, jellyfish and snakes - but the Aussie FLY. These are the most persistent b******s you could possibly imagine. You can swot a fly away ten times and it will still come back and starting eating you face. Imagine 50 of them doing the same. It's worse spending an hour on a Saturday afternoon in Primark or Ikea.

Coral Bay
We set off from the fine city of Perth for a mere 19 hours coach journey to Coral Bay. Coral Bay is a very small town that is perfectly located next to the coral, which you can swim to from the beach. It's a beautiful place with miles of long, white sandy beaches. We went on a Quad bike tour, which involved biking over sand dunes and along beaches. We had a bike each. At first, Tree was adopting a safety first approach - at one point being overtaken by an elderly turtle. However, when the guide pointed out a long poisonous snake alongside us, she shot off like a bat out of hell. We spent the last few days relaxing on the beaches and swimming in the sea and pool.

Broome
After five days of chilling out we set off on another short 18 hour coach journey. Now it started to get really hot. Stepping off the coach at a roadhouse it was the same feeling as when you open the over door to check on how the dinner is doing. It was a wave of heat that I've never experienced before. Although Broome was also very hot (39) the breeze made it a bit more bearable. Broome is a small, laid-back place and (like everywhere on the West coast) it's hundreds of miles away from anywhere else. Broome's Cable beach is really beautiful and one of the best in Australia. Unfortunately, we were unable to swim in the sea this time of year because of the resident box jellyfish. Apparently, they can kill if you happen to swim into their tentacles and if you are stung the pain is the worst imaginable - we decided to stick to the pool. We're about to fly onto Darwin. We're both very well, tanned , just about within budget, not missing work and having a great time.