1995/11 Australia trip - Barrier Reef |
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Wednesday was our first day as package tour cattle. As this was a trip out to the barrier reef, we had to take some kind of tour anyway. They come in about 20 varieties, taking you out to the reef in various craft, all the way from sailing ship through catamaran to parasailing behind a jet boat. We opted for the catamaran trip. We were picked up from the campsite, loaded onto the cat, snorkel equipment issued and on our way in quick time. Very efficient process. We were going to Green Island which is where the Barrier Reef tourist industry began some 50 years ago. The island is on the reef, built up by coral sand, and covered now, with coconut palms. Exactly what a desert island is supposed to be. It’s now a national park, but there is a resort on the island, owned by a Japanese company Daikyo.
The catamaran dropped us off on the pier. Sandie transferred to the glass bottom boat, and I headed for the beach to try out the snorkeling equipment. The view from the boat was very good, some amazing coral and fish, but there was too much spray flying to take pictures.
Snorkels seem to have changed a bit in the 30-odd years since I last used one. The goggles have a nose bung to stop you breathing, which is a good
idea, but the snorkel no longer has a valve and a ping pong ball, which seems a backward step. If you forget how deep you are and go to breathe you get a mouthful of Pacific Ocean, which is really difficult to get rid of. I didn’t go out far as I had to meet Sandie for the next session, but I found some clams and coral and a few fish. After taking my last picture, I decided to chase this little fish, but then this four foot long giant wrasse glided across inches in front of my nose, and I decided I’d better be nice to the fish.
We both took the submarine trip. The submarine never goes under, but the lower deck has glass walls, and they take you inches above the coral so that you get a really good view. In shallow water like that the thing rolls like crazy so we think that we’ll be sea sick when we watch the film I took. Giant clams, starfish, all kinds of coral, and fish of all colours and sizes. Then, it was a barbecue lunch on the cat, and we then had a couple of hours to ourselves on the island.
Shopping was somewhat limited and at Japanese prices, and once in among the island’s trees, you were out of the breeze and into the oven, so we headed back to the beach. Sandie was good enough to sit and fry on the beach for an hour while I went out into deep water for some better coral. The tide was going out so in places it was difficult to swim over the coral without it scraping me, so the trick was to find canyons in the coral and follow these. I can see how people in scuba gear can lose track of time and direction, as I’d have to come up and look around to see where I was and where the boats were going. The biggest fish were big and black, but the prettiest were the tiny ones: blues and yellows and reds and greens. Occasionally, I’d collide with another swimmer, also with head down looking at the bottom, and we’d scare each other to death.
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Great Barrier Reef Green Island (18.09) |
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Eventually, I ran out of energy and film, and we finished off the afternoon walking over the exposed beaches looking for crabs and things in the shallow water. Sandie found a baby leopard shark, about a foot long, and I found a stinger, a transparent jellyfish.
They had us back in the campsite for 5.30. I guess everything is geared around the hotel meal schedules. Then we had to really set to work, as we had to return the camper the next day, all cleaned and looking as if it had never seen a dirt road. Luckily, the camp ground had a nice bay for car washing so we used that, and then finished our packing. It looked like we had more stuff than when we started. Surprise!