Monday, May 26, 2008

Great Barrier Reef

The Australia leg of our trip started with a fair amount of traveling on to the Cairn's airport, and ending in Port Douglas. New Zealand's weather was great, but relatively cold compared to Port Douglas which is all the way at the top of Australia. Our resort was large with big pools throughout, as it was not recommended to swim in the ocean due to "ocean stingers." The beach was the famous four mile beach which stretched for, four miles. However, this is not even a big deal since almost Australia's entire coast is a beach. The rest of the day was very chilled out, enjoyed some drinks by the pool and some necessary relaxing. We we're able to meet up with some friends from Park Ridge for a little pizza dinner and went to sleep early in anticipation for a long day on the reef.

The next day began with a quick grab from the bakery and a shuttle to the marina. There we got on a medium size cruise liner with about 50-75 travelers and about 10 staff members. The night before at Dinner, we were warned that the water was rough, but I brushed off the talk. I had been on the ocean numerous times and was not someone who would ever get sick from such a mundane thing. When on the boat, the warnings came again. "The ocean was extremely rough, and it will take an hour and a half to get out to sea." The message kept coming, and the staff endorsed the purchase of sea-sick pills. We declined.

We set out to sea, as Kevin and I decided to ride all the way on top where it was most rocky. I was surprised to find the most intense movement of a boat I'd ever been on, as you couldn't stand without holding on to a rail. People we're crawling around, and the back of the boat was filled with people throwing up. Those scuba diving (a group Kevin and I were in), were asked to come to the inside cabin area. This was an area where you were specifically not suppose to be if either sick or wet. The instructor went through the various instructions a person needs to know before scuba diving, and we felt relatively prepared. However, through his monologue a sudden heat hit my body as the rocking of the boat started to get to me. I quickly stood and grabbed some water, but this was not enough. I looked at the staff member behind the counter and said, "is it to late to get one of those pills." He smiled and said that we only had about 15 minutes till our destination, not enough time to even feel better. I agreed and felt slightly better.

I walked towards the end of the boat and started talking with one of the female workers. We laughed and I made fun of all the people that were sick. As I walked back into the cabin area I suddenly felt worse than ever and threw up, but was able to hold it in my mouth. A worker quickly shook his hands, "No! Not in here," and motioned me outside. Luckily, I held it in a let it out in a bag. The girl took it from me laughing and through it off the back, "and you were the one a second ago making fun of everyone for throwing up!" Yes, I was that guy. After that I felt much better. We got the laughs out and continued on. Suddenly, the feeling came over me again and as I held it in and ran with a worker to the back deck I let lose uncontrollably, on the Worker. After letting it go, a "oh my god I am so sorry," came out quickly behind the mess I had just let ago on his shirt. I had thrown up on one of the workers. Priceless.

The day continued on relatively uneventful as we scuba dove and snorkeled in three areas of the outer reef. The coral was amazing, as was the diving. We were able to rent an underwater camera and got some great photos. The reef was amazing, especially looking off the back of the boat and seeing it from outside the water. It is Earth's only living element which is visible from space. The fish were also beautiful and interesting and it was a great day on the water, besides the worker who's life may have been altered forever, or maybe just his career path.

That night we ate dinner at "Nautilus", an outdoor seafood restaurant that was in the rain forest. As you walk down the street of Port Douglas, you come to some forest that has a path of about 75 yards leading you to the restaurant. It was extremely unique, and only was the way it was because it was the first part of the town, and the rest of Port Douglas was built around it. Originally it was not a eatery, but over time it developed into one. The food was excellent and we were surprised to find through conversation that Bill Clinton had actually ate there twice. We were equally amused to find that the last time Clinton was there was the week of September 11th, 2001, and at the time of the bombings he was in a bar which in Australia's time was 1am. I wonder where Hilary was? The next morning it was another early flight and off to Hamilton Island.

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