Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef
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Cairns,
Australia
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Mon October 18th - Day 174
The midday courtesy bus dropped us right in the centre of Cairns and following a little world wide webbing we had a wander round.
The wind had dropped somewhat and the sun was hot and high. Our Barrier Reef trip is booked for tomorrow when the wind is forecast to be still.
Onward travel plans have changed a little. We had planned to fly from Cairns to Perth but that flight is completely full for the next week or so. Now we're going via Sydney and staying a few days with my cousin Jim and his family.
Surrounded by hills on three sides Cairns (pop 100,000) has a lush and tropical setting. Low tide reveals Morecombesque mud flats on the foreshore. In 2003 a large area of the mudflats were reclaimed to facilitate a $45 million sea front makeover. The Pier Marketplace, grassy parkland, extensive boardwalks, a marina upgrade and the ubiquitous swimming lagoon were the results.
It's all pleasant enough to walk around but nothing seems to connect the different areas together, it's all a bit open abd clinical looking and not a patch on Brisbanes South Bank or Airlie Beach.
Later, with Australia still rocking from last weeks shock eviction of Ricky Lee, I was a bag of nerves waiting for the start of Australian Pop bone Idol.
Expenses (A$2.5/pound): Accom 71.10, Inet 6, supermarket 15.10
Tues Oct 19th - Day 175 HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY WIN / NANA
With the forecast spot on, we awoke to clear windless skies. Being first pick up for the bus meant a 7.15am start, but it was 8.15 by the time we reached the marina.
The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is a huge business in Cairns and the Marina was full of large tour boats packed with tourists. It's no surprise, as the GBR was recently voted alongside the Grand Canyon as the worlds most top must see natural wonder.
Everyone knows it's the only living thing visible from space and is larger than the Great Wall of China, but what about these nuggets of facts:
*The mass of colourful coral which runs parallel to the Queensland coast is made up of 2600 seperate reefs
* Nasa astronauts called it a 'white scar on the face of the Pacific Ocean'
* From its southerly tip off the coast of Bundaberg the GBR stretches 200km north to the Torres Strait (80km at its widest point)
* It's 300km offshore in the south, 30km in the north
* The GBR has an estimated age of between 600,000 and 18 million years old
* It's home to whales, dolphins, dugongs/sea cows, 1500 species of fish, 400 types of coral, 4000 breeds of clam and other molluses, 800 echinoderns including sea cucumbers, 500 varieties of seaweed, 200 bird species, 1500 different sponges and 6 types of turtle
There's loads more info about coral polyps and different categories of reef etc, but Rene, who has to type all this has imposed a fact limit, which I've apparently reached.
Unless you can afford to pay large amounts of money you will visit the GBR on a day trip. This means lots of big boats packed to the gunnels with a mix of divers and snorkellers, all heading to the same areas of reef.
An hour and a half out from Cairns we reached Hastings Reef. Only about 10 foot below the surface the reef sought of glowed through the turquiose water, beckoning you in. The water temperature was a tepid 26C so there's no real need for a wetsuit, but sunburn is a snorkellers major danger, so we donned them anyway.
Despite quite a swell coming over the reef the water was clear. The coral was beautiful but by no means pristine, with many areas bleached (dead) and damaged. With so many boats in the same areas and hundreds of people in the sea day after day, I suppose it shouldn't have been a surprise, but it was. We were expecting a kaleidoscope of brightly coloured coral teeming with fish, but instead the sea was teeming with snorkellers.
The GBR is under threat, coral polyps need a water of 17.5 to 28C to grow and cant tolerate too much sediment. Recent global warming and El Nino conditions, occasionally cause areas of ocean to overheat, killing brightly coloured living polyps, leaving only the white skeleton (bleaching). Pollution is also poisoning some of the coral.
So it seems by keeping 95% of tourists and the resulting damage in one area, 99% of the Reef is tourist free and therefore you would hope pristine.
After a low quality lunch we moved to Norman Reef, about 10 minutes away. It was a similar story, the coral was beautiful but not that colourful and damaged and dead in places. There were fish, but not that many. Another large Maori Wrasse and a lone barracuda were the highlights.
Don't get us wrong, snorkelling on the GBR is fantastic and we had a really good day, we were possibly just unlucky with where we were taken and we certainly had been spoilt previously when snorkelling in the Perhentian Islands. They are a tough act to follow and this particular part of the GBR didn't come anywhere near.
Blue sky all day, but as we neared the marina on our return, dark heavy clouds were gathering over Cairns. We just made it onto the bus before the heavens opened.
It was an evening of thunder, lightening, heavy rain and bag packing, ready for our 7am flight to Sydney.
Expenses: GBR tour 218, bus 14, accom 71.10, phone and inet 15.50
