February 18 - Australia: Cairns, Queensland

Of course, we slept in today.

The original plan was to get up at the crack of dawn and begin the three-day drive to Ayres Rock.  But, after doing some online research and talking to some camping stores, we realized that our idea of Ayres Rock and Back in a week was a bit aggressive.  Knowing us, the truck would break down somewhere in the middle of nowhere and we'd never get back.  And besides, we've been so wrapped up in the IDC program that we haven't been able to get a camping guide, road book, or anything.  We're really unprepared for a trip like this right now.

So we decided instead to drive down south to Airlie Beach and sail around the Whitsunday Islands.  We picked up some brochures and publicity magazines, and liked the idea of a small sailing boat.  But yesterday, some of our friends told us that the sailing trip isn't quite as lovely as we thought it would be.  And some of the boats are really "Booze Cruises"  geared toward the younger backpacker crowd.  Definitely not what we're looking for.

Meanwhile, Ray works for Taka Dive Center and he told us that we can get a good "stand-by rate" on one of their liveaboards (multiple-day and overnight trips).  And honestly, Jon and I would love to see more of the Great Barrier Reef.  The three reefs that we know well - Hastings, Saxon, and Norman Reefs - are deluged with day-trippers and are slowly dying.  To see some of the untouched reefs would be wonderful.  

The Quest for A Boat Trip

So we spent the day driving around town looking for last-minute deals.  We were still torn between a dive trip and sailing trip, as we want to dive but also want to be pampered a bit.  But we were hoping to find a happy medium.  We went to Mike Ball Dive Expeditions, the place where we bought our used gear and also one of the "upper-class" dive shops in the area.  Unfortunately, they didn't have any trips that fit our time frame.  So they recommended a few other places and we drove around for a while trying some possibilities.  Long story short: we finally decided to go to a tour agent to see if our friend Haley was working.  She wasn't, but a woman named Gail helped us out.  She said that the Whitsunday Sailing trips are lovely, but the diving is terrible.  So she told us about some of the other liveaboards in the area.  Then she made some phone calls and found availability on some trips leaving tomorrow.

Explorer Ventures

In the end, we decided to go with Explorer Ventures on their boat called (don't laugh) The Nimrod II.   It's not as fancy as Mike Ball Dive Expeditions, but neither is it a backpacker trip.  And we got a GREAT last-minute rate since the boat leaves tomorrow.  We leave in the evening from Cairns and will spend the next three days going north up the Ribbon Reef and diving along the way.  At the end of the trip, we end up at the very posh and very hard-to-get-to Lizard Island.  We'll be there for an hour or two before we board our low-altitude flight back to Cairns.  On the 50 minute flight, we'll fly directly over the reefs and will get to see the coastline of Australia.

Here's a map to give an idea of the locations we're talking about:

Yeah.  Can't wait for this trip!  It's a splurge for us, but an oh-so-nice splurge.  We spent the rest of the day running errands and getting things done so we could be ready to go tomorrow afternoon.  Very excited about this trip!!!

So we'll be on the ocean until Saturday, which means there won't be any updates.  But look forward to some lovely journal entries when we return!