Day 5 – Melbourne to Cairns
Australians have it easy when it comes to flying. They have self-tag and self-drop for baggage, you keep your drinks full and shoes on through security and nobody even checks your I.D. The other cool thing: Qantas serves meals on domestic flights so you can save some money on meals. Not a bad way to start our escape to tropical Cairns.
Cairns is like other beach paradises with worn down facades from the saltwater, beautiful public parks, wide sidewalks and plenty of tourists. We settled in at the Cairns Plaza Hotel, which wasn’t fancy at all, but close to everything, making it another great place to stay.
That evening, we walked along the bay to find a seafood dinner. We pegged Red Prawn, a slightly swanky and somewhat pricey venue with delicious food. Matt had swordfish with a yummy green salsa topping and I decided to see how Australian beef lives up to Nebraska’s. My steak was awesome, but there’s just something about corn-fed beef. Nebraska remains on top for best steak.
Day 6 – Great Barrier Reef
Our Cairns hotel was the only one with a continental breakfast during our trip, but it wasn’t a full spread. We enjoyed toast and fruit and waited for our bus to the Great Barrier Reef.
While some reef tours leave from the Cairns docks, Quicksilver left from Port Douglas, about an hour from Cairns. The drive was gorgeous, hugging the coast and winding through forests the whole way, but it was rough. I highly recommend some motion sickness meds for this one.
We arrived at the dock, grabbed our boarding passes and hopped on the huge boat that would take us 1.5 hours out to the reef.
I have to say; Quicksilver has their shit together. Our pre-booked package included the bus ride to and from the hotel, the boat ride to and from the reef, complimentary tea and lunch, complimentary snorkel gear and three full hours at the reef. They also had medicine for my motion sickness and stations for groups to sign up for reef extras. Those included renting a waterproof camera, riding a helicopter, a certified dive, a beginner’s dive and/or an ocean walk.
Matt is a certified scuba diver so it was a must he dive the reef! I wanted to do the beginning diving course, but I filled out their form too honestly. Since I have asthma, they wouldn’t let me dive. Obviously, it’s important to practice safety first, but my asthma rarely bothers me so I probably should have lied about it. Instead, I opted for the ocean walk.
After paying for our extras, we enjoyed the rest of the boat ride. It featured some great commentary from a marine biologist about the reef and marine life we would see. Matt and I’s extras started later in the day, so we ate a yummy buffet lunch as soon as we docked.
Next, we suited up in our gear and started to snorkel. We saw so many cool things! There were big huge fish and little tiny ones with tons of different colors. This part of the reef was deep so we couldn’t get too close to them, but it was amazing to see a rainbow under the sea!
Next, they weighted me down, and put a huge helmet full of pumping air on my head. It looked like an astronaut helmet. The pumping air was loud and a bit disorienting as I submerged. I walked slowly down the steps popping my ears as we lowered. My group spent about 15 minutes down there and even got to touch and feed some of the huge fish. It was an underwater wonderland!
I came back up, snorkeled some more with Matt and he got ready to dive. It was his first time in four years, and he did awesome. He was able to get right up on the reef and spend some quality time with the fish. He saw everything from Nemo to a large clam. After our extras, we shed our wetsuits, grabbed some celebratory drinks, and talked about all the creatures we saw on our journey back to the hotel. This was an experience to remember for both of us.
Our second day in Cairns was reserved for an island paradise. We walked along the water down to the wharf to meet our boat. The cruiser would take us 45 minutes to Fitzroy Island. The boat was almost as big as the Quicksilver one and we piled on noticing the flotation devices labeled RFD and being reminded of where Matt and I met. 
The island was huge and covered in tropical forests and beaches. We signed up for the afternoon turtle tour and made our way to Australia’s number one beach so we could beat the crowds.
It was a one of a kind hike to get to Nudey Beach. The path through the forest had tons of lizards and birds moving about. It led to a clearing of absolute paradise. We climbed over to the rocky side of the beach for more privacy and took in the gorgeous scene. Blue blues stretched from sky to water. Vibrant greens of neighboring lands shone across the sea and white rocked sand lined the shore.
We hiked back to the island bar and restaurant called Foxy’s. The choices were minimal, but they had Barramundi, a popular Australian fish. I’ll give it a B-. It wasn’t my favorite and I feel cod or other “staple” types of fish taste better. But I’m glad I gave it a try.
Once finished, we had a short period before our turtle tour, so we headed to the other side of the island for a quick swim. This was gorgeous as well and we enjoyed the view and some more swimming before meeting our tour guide.
Up next, we go all over Sydney. We cozy up with Australia’s wildlife, feel the tight spaces of submarine living and find a cool suburb just a ferry ride away. Keep an eye out for my next post!
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