Cairns

pronounced “Cans” (Australian r’s are very soft to non-existent)

Saturday evening
We drove to our beach-front cabin with no problems (Kate and Tara chanting "Stay left" the whole way). Our view when we arrive is of a beautiful full moon over an offshore island. Later, I learn this is Double Island. For AU$20,000 a day, you can rent the whole island.




Sunday
Easter day

Almost nothing was open, so we hung around the cabin and beach all day.

We ate breakfast at a small café on the other side of the road from our cabin. We ate takeaway for lunch (Australian meat pie), and we cooked steaks for dinner on the “barbie”.

Tara got a travel kit for her Nintendo DS-Lite from the Easter Bilby. Her charger is US-only, so she'd had no way to recharge in Australia.

There was a swimming area with a shark/stinger net and lifeguards only a few hundred yards from our cabin. We all swam in the ocean in relative safety that day.

Because it is a four-day holiday, Tara met and made friends with several kids that were staying in the cabins for the weekend. One of the girls gave Tara one of her large chocolate eggs because Tara didn't get much candy. Tara went to a beach bonfire that evening and played with her new friends. Kate and I walked on the beach, watching Ghost Crabs run from our flashlight.

Tara learning to play cricket

Monday

We scheduled a snorkel excursion on the Great Barrier Reef for Monday. We caught the boat at 9:30am in Cairns for a 1.5 hour ride out to Michaelmas Cay, which is a tiny sand island. The boat was full of Japanese tourists – I believe they are all from a single tour group. Many of them got seasick on the ride. We chatted with a couple from England that have been touring New Zealand for a couple months.

I rented stinger suits for us, and right after that there were a lot of people renting suits. The Japanese tourists got all of the small fins, so Kate had to go with a mismatched pair. A small boat ferried us 28 at a time over to the island, where we got a short snorkeling lesson and then about 30 minutes in the water before we had to head back for lunch and a “semi-submersible sub” tour of the reef. The weather was completely overcast, so there wasn’t much light for seeing fish or underwater photography. It also rained for about 10 minutes while we were snorkeling.

I had a 28-shot, disposable, underwater camera. I think my shots will come out about like this.

Later, we returned for another hour of snorkeling. Kate and I were the last two out of the water and joined about 8 others on the last boat off the island.

That night we shopped in Cairns near the wharf for souvenirs.