Captain Matty's Photos

Here are a couple of the greatest photos taken from the Barefoot Tours, see last post. Captain Matty had taken a couple of the group that I liked. Here they are:

Sunday June 17 - Any Questions about Butterflies?

We decided that we wanted to do something fun on Sunday because we didn't have any other plans. We went to a few travel agencies on the Friday before and tried to find the cheapest, yet most convenient one for us (we don't have transportation, so we wanted to find a tour that could pick us up. That's not uncommon here, lots of tour agencies provide transportation, which I find incredibly handy).

We booked a tour, called, "Captain Matty's Barefoot Tours". Were we in for a surprise or what? It was $80, so when I tell you everything we saw, I'd consider it one of the best deals ever. Our ride for the day included fleece blankets for warmth, Bob Marley and some Reggae-techno mixes. This was mega relaxing to ride in.

We started to Josephine Falls when Capt. Matty wanted us to introduce ourselves. Most of the questions were normal, except, "Scrunch or Fold when it comes to toilet paper?" That should give you an idea of how the day went. Arriving to Josephine falls, we had to walk a little ways to reach the falls. The walk was gorgeous and so worth it (I've come to find that walking to places makes it so much more magical). 

 At the end of the path:

 This was the first stop of the trip...and little did we know that the water was FREEZING. It makes sense now when I think about it, but at the time it didn't matter. There was a natural water slide that Capt. Matty took photos of people sliding down, however he didn't get mine. No, really, it's fine. I almost hit a rock on the way down head first, so I probably didn't look my best. Needless to say, after sliding down, I was finished with the water for the day. It just wasn't worth freezing. Besides, I can swim at home.

The water, however, was freakishly clear...it's clear everywhere here. I can't stand to go back home and look at the solid color of the Ohio River. C'mon America!

 One thing that may explain the title of this blog would be the fact that Capt. Matty had been researching butterflies for quite sometime now. He kept asking us if we had any questions about butterflies at random. We were all laughing because no one ever had a question. I figured that I would record some of his knowledge, just so that I had something learned.

We were passing many banana farms (we visited one, a cool experience to post later) and scenes such as this:

To the left is a picture of an animal bridge. The trees that were cut down to make this roadway served as animal homes, so the least they could do was build a bridge to cross from tree to tree. 

We came to this breathtaking lookout. Unfortunately, I don't think that the picture captures what this looked like, but here it is anyway:

This is the North Johnstone River. There was a walkway that took us closer, but we didn't get a chance to walk there. This was so neat because you could hear the water from all the way up. It would've been a long walk down this steep hill. 

Millaa Millaa Falls was the next stop. This is a waterfall that, according to Captain Matty, is used for modeling. Jeff swam at this one and walked behind the falls. We got in too, but we didn't put our heads under....with the exception of Rachel who had no choice. Capt. Matty picked her up and dunked her. Here are some pictures...

We had lunch at a Millaa Millaa Pub, Fish and Chips :) Then we were off to the Atherton Tablelands lookout.

 We then headed to the Crater and Dinner Falls. This Crater was HUGE. It was formed from a volcanic explosion. This crater was a place where the gasses escaped from underground. The farthest record of depth is 93km or about 57 miles. A picture wouldn't suffice, so below there is a video. These are some pictures from dinner falls as well.

 The last stop was Lake Eacham, which has the same story as the crater. It was supposed to be the 'warmest' swim of the day, but it was still cold. The lake was gorgeous on this overcast day. We also stopped at "The Cathedral Tree", which was a large fig tree. I put a picture up showing the scale of human to tree. It was pretty dark when we visited, so pictures aren't perfect.

I should include that Captain Matty had food for morning tea and afternoon tea. So, fruit, milk, coffee tea, biscuits and bread. The fruit here is amazing, especially the passionfruit. Our professor gave us some of her home-grown passionfruit, which I haven't tried yet.

On the way home, we were presented with Jeff Dunham comedy, since we had a long drive. It was relaxing to sit on the bus and just rest after touring the Tablelands. Well spent 80 bucks, I'd say.

Saturday, June 16 - Everything in between an Ecosystem

I don't know what drinking games Australians play, but whatever it is it must be fun. I didn't sleep at all this night thanks to those party animals. The evidence is on your left.

After the Great Barrier Reef, Jeff and I went to meet up with Ken and Rachel on the Esplanade. We decided to hit the night markets for a little bit. The Night markets are like the souvenir central of this city, so I bought a few things. Fun fact: Australians have a lot of the same car companies as we do in America. This includes: Toyota, Hyundai, Nissan, BMW, Honda, Mazda, and Dodge. The license plate for Queensland is "The Sunshine State" which is funny because this area reminds me of Florida very much. However, on my friend Amanda's car, it's "The Smart State". She said they're trying to change it over to that.
We then ventured to this amazing Gelato spot near the night markets. They had some amazing flavors, including Red Bull, Pavlavo (The one I tried and LOVED) Tiramisu, etc. We all had some, it was irresistible.

We then attempted to get on a bus back to our campus. Took forever, as usual, since the bus systems are never on time. But, this time we knew.

Many people travel barefoot in this country, however, it's hard for me to accept when I get an earring stuck in my flip-flop (aka thong). I can't bring myself to say thong when referring to my shoe. It's definitely weird to say flip-flop, though.



We were walking back through our pathway to our accommodations and found this little fella on the roof of a tunnel. They have gorgeous butterflies and bugs here (never thought I'd say bugs). However, I have never had so many mosquito bites in my life! Mozzies are what they call them here...I may switch to that, it's easier to spell. 

Here's another video I found, I don't know which day I took it, but you can see the roundabout system and how effective it is! I really want the US to push for this, it's more sufficient.

You'll also hear one of my assistant professors talking in the background. I'm not sure what I was trying to hear other than the accent. This must've been taken soon after I got to AU because I was so determined to record someone's accent. This is the last bit of random info that I can find inbetween my visit to the reef. Next blog will be on my adventure into the Tablelands! Stay Tuned! Cheers!

Saturday, June 16 - The Great Barrier Reef...need I say more?

I'm dedicating this entire post to the Great Barrier Reef. I will do another on the rest of the day...

This was one of the most exciting things I had on my list of things to do for this trip. The Great Barrier Reef is home to so many species and brings in so much money to Tropical North Queensland. The city of Cairns probably wouldn't be as well off if it weren't for the tourism industry.

So, take a look at the most wonderful and amazing thing I've ever experienced. Even though it may look like a bunch of fish, it's their home and another brilliant ecosystem of the world.

Jeff and I got a "nutritious" breakfast for the day...$5 for this... :( Here's a couple of pictures of where we were, which is the small convenient store across our lodge. Jeff forgot his ticket so he had to run back, sausage roll in hand. I took a picture of the Australian KFC and the view from our bus stop (left).

After waiting for about 10 minutes, thinking we had missed our bus, he came! We kept switching sides of the road because we weren’t sure which way he’d be coming from. We drove down the Esplanade once again, since the boats to board were at the end of it. This time, I got a picture of the tide in on the mudflat on the bus ride to Cairns. I found some nice sunrise shots, even though they were through a bus (sad, but what choice did I have?) So here's a couple I liked:

 We arrived at the port (I don’t really have a better word) and stood in line for our boat for about ten minutes. We had the longest line, probably because it was the cheapest deal we could find online. After acquiring our ticket from the desk, we walked to our boat, Gate 5.

There were a lot of boats, meaning lots of companies to go to the reef. Not so sure if it was a good thing…

 Here’s our boat!

We walked on the boat, checked in, grabbed our snorkel and flippers and headed into the main cabin. We were served morning tea (coffee for me) and took a seat amongst the many others provided. There were rows with tables in between, two bathrooms and two changing rooms. There were instructors buzzing around, trying to get everyone to sign their sheets before we started the boat. Jeff and I sat together and met our table-mate, Jason. He graduated from Penn State in the States and was taking a business trip to Australia (well, looks like I need to switch majors). He had some vacation time and traveled from Sydney to Cairns for the Reef. We basically talked to this guy the entire time. Here is a picture of the cabin and Jason in the front there…

Once the boat started moving, the instructors started to talk about the trip. The only thing I could remember at that point was instructions on what medications were on board. That’s right, sea sickness had struck.

I hate that I always panic in the worst moments. These moments are supposed to be the best of my life! So, the first thing I did was grab some ginger tablets for sea sickness. Once I started walking around the boat, I felt tons better. I never thought that I would get sea sick. I go on the boat at the lake every year and have never had an issue. However, Barren River is far from the Pacific Ocean. It was really wavy and fun after I felt better. I went up on the boat to take some pictures of where I was…I was in awe.

Here is where the flippers and snorkels were stored. Everyone was given a number for their storage bins. (Left)

Since I was to dive at the Reef stop, I got fitted for a wetsuit. Don’t try this at home. They couldn’t understand that I needed a size bigger, rather than smaller. I was just trying to squeeze into the suit they gave me. That was embarrassing and made me feel fat.

Before we got to the first Reef stop, we had to fill out some paperwork and listen to a diving info session. I checked “Panic Attacks, Fainting and Dizziness” because I didn’t want to lie. It doesn’t happen everyday, but it can happen if I start to feel funny. I was crushed when the instructor told me that I couldn’t dive.

After explaining that I want to try it, they were still iffy. I told them I wouldn’t push it, that I’d come out of the water if I didn’t feel okay. To me, that’s better than passing out in the ocean, even if it looks bad. I’ve learned the hard way not to be shy about having this issue.

I didn’t get an immediate answer, and we had stopped the boat, so I decided to try snorkeling. I knew that wouldn’t be a problem, because it’s swimming with a mask. I can swim fine.

I slid into the water off the back of the boat and tried to get my bearings together. I took a few seconds to get the mask on and swim a bit out with the flippers on. Must have been a sight. Suddenly, I look down in the water and I see this:

(Not the actual first sight, but this is the first picture I had on my camera. The first thing I saw were little fish swimming around a reef just below my feet.)

I am finally accepting that I’m here, at the Reef, somewhere I’ve always wanted to see. I was so excited. I started swimming everywhere within the limits of the roped off area. It may sound like a small place to swim, but we actually had lots of room. The Reef is extremely huge, and we were only at one spot. It’s amazing. At first, I didn’t even feel like I was in the ocean. It was pretty shallow waters, since it was a reef, and the ocean doesn’t usually look like this when you go on a beach, it’s usually not too much to see underwater. It was totally different and had extremely clear waters.

I spent almost all of the time we had on that reef snorkeling. I decided to finally come in. Jeff was placed into a diving group, two spots ahead of me. When I saw him about to dive, I figured I’d better see if they had okay’ed me to dive.

 Lunch was beginning to be served, so I grabbed a plate. The next thing I know, someone Is calling out my safety number (The same number assigned for our flippers and snorkels) and they said it’s time to dive. What?

First of all, I had just eaten two bites of my lunch, which was sitting on a seasick stomach. I wasn’t thrilled that I had no warning of a confirmed dive. Regardless, I jumped up and got my too-small-wetsuit to climb into. I had a sudden rush of adrenaline. I actually thought I was going to dive deeper into the reef. They put so much equipment on you to sink you down under water. There are many knobs and whistles and such to regulate breathing, bring you up, etc.

Once I was geared and ready to go, I slid into the water with my group. We went over the breathing techniques about ten times with the instructor. You’d think I’d understand, and I thought I did too. Once we descended down, I felt my ears adjusting to the pressure. That was no problem, no worse than a plane ride. But, I got water in my breathing regulator, which is a common occurrence. But when I tried to get the water out, I didn’t take a large enough breath. I just swam to the top and said forget it.

I would’ve stayed in the water longer, but it was just uncomfortable. So, I saved myself 60 bucks and probably a panic attack. Not a bad deal in my eyes.

After that fiasco, I met back with Jeff and Jason for lunch. I was gladly welcomed with my plate from earlier. The lady in our row covered it with a napkin for me. The lunch was pretty plush, including salad, slaw, shrimp, sausages and bread. I tried to eat something, but was very careful. There was a bar on the boat, so Jeff got his Bundaberg as usual and I got nothing, since I’m broke.

We traveled to another reef, where helicopter rides were on sale and glass-bottom boat tours were free. Option B, please. The tour was accompanied by entertainer/class clown of the boat, Elvis, yes, Elvis. He was the marine biologist of the boat, so he gave us some information on the reef.

                                                                          

As we looked through the bottom, we saw that some of the reef was colorful and some not so much. He claimed it had to do with photosynthesis and the warmer waters due to global warming, which causes the irregularity of the coloring. We saw some giant clams, and we saw them move. He claimed they were more than 100 years old, which I believe.

The tour wasn’t too long, which was okay with me. I wanted to go snorkeling again. The crew was feeding leftover shrimp to the fish. Some BIG fish, I might add.

There was one point where this fish on the right sped up out of nowhere to steal another fishes’ food. It’s hard to see, but was amazing to watch.

Snorkeling on this reef was so much better! There was more color and more reef to see.

I would find myself diving down to see more and forget I was breathing through a snorkel. Eventually, I got used to it on this dive, so naturally I have better pictures.

Keep in mind that I was using my cheap, underwater camera to capture these photos. In fact, I’d like to thank Alyssa Ray for letting me borrow it. I sold it to her last summer and promised her a new one if I lost the one I used. Pretty good deal, eh? It also took me FOREVER to pick and choose which photos to keep and edit.

There was one issue I saw throughout the tourists. Many were flipping their flippers onto the reef. You shouldn’t kick the reef…I was appauled. I did it on accident, but I realize it’s wrong. These people were almost standing on it. I almost swam over and yelled at them. It’s so sad that people don’t care. They really should, you know.

I snorkeled here until it was time to leave. It was so pretty, but the water was also pretty chilly. This is mostly because of all the wind on the ocean.

So, we packed up and traveled back to Cairns. I attempted to get some “boat in motion” pictures.

It didn’t take long for me to retreat to the cabin once I got sprayed by a giant wave. My camera might’ve died. Jeff and I changed to get ready for getting off the boat. We were served white or red wine and some cheese and crackers. I didn’t take wine, because I’m picky and Jeff had some red.

When we got a little closer to Cairns, Elvis got out his guitar and did some successful Bob Marley, Bing Cosby, and of course his most requested impersonation, Elvis Presley. Some good entertainment right there!

We were given a muffin on the way out of the boat, since they were also leftover, and Jeff and I headed to meet Rachel and Ken. I was slightly relieved to be on the ground again, but wouldn’t trade that experience for anything.

It was not exactly what I expected, but I didn’t have much to go off of. I recommend everyone doing this, because it’s such an incredible part of our world that needs to be appreciated and cared for. Then you ask, “Why is there so much tourism?” Well, it actually isn’t doing much harm. Tourism is the main income for Cairns.

That’s my Great Barrier Reef adventure! What about yours?