This afternoon we flew to Cairns, a seaside town for the Great Barrier Reef.
The Uluru airport was small and quaint. If you panned from right to left, one wall was full of rental car agencies, straight ahead was a single baggage claim carousel, and to the left were two airline counters for check-in. This means you get only two choices for flying in and flying out. We flew in on Virgin Blue. We flew out on Qantas. The difference was noticeable. Then again, the price difference was noticeable, too.
Virgin Blue is definitely "no frills". No drinks. No peanuts. But I did get a kick out of watching the perky flight attendant Madelene describe the emergency procedures to the non-English-speaking couple sitting in the exit row. "You're going to push the door out and RUN," punctuating the actions with hand gestures.
Qantas, made famous by the movie "Rain Man", had a full meal service and a couple drink services on our brief flight. The tortellini was pretty good. Unfortunately, I was sitting next to Mr. Body Odor so I couldn't really enjoy myself.
We shared a taxi at the Cairns airport with three backpacking guys. One of them had been in front of us on the plane. He appreciated the way I pronounced the word "six" when I explained Sudoku to Ma.
We stayed at the Bay Village. It was a nice hotel but a little far from downtown. The location had its good and bad points. It was far enough not to be bothered by the nightly concerts on the pier, but it took about 30 minutes to walk there.
Here's a shot over the rail of Cairns' pedestrian walkway, known as the Esplanade. (Actually, the Esplanade refers to the walkway, and it's also the name of the street.) It's not exactly a white sandy beach below. In fact, they had signs that warned about crocodiles. We didn't see any.
If you follow the left fork of the Esplanade walkway, you'll run smack into the saltwater swimming lagoon.
Traveler's Tip: Looking for the Reef Fleet Terminal? That's where you'll catch the boat for your Great Barrier Reef adventure. And you absolutely
must have a Great Barrier Reef adventure when you come to Cairns! Walk south on the sidewalk on the east side (seaside) of the Esplanade. Keep going until you cross its one and only crosswalk, then turn left (Spence Street). The Reef Fleet Terminal will be on your right.
Lots of different coral.
The yellow "hair" would sway in the waves. Nice pattern on the fish, too.
Up close, this coral looked like leather.
Awesome fish.
No segregation here...
White with black stripes. Black with white tails.
This coral reminded me of the enormous marble stone we laid on at the Turkish Bath in Istanbul.
I think they called this one a bat fish. There were lots of them hanging around the boat.
In the shallows...
Giant clam
There were lots of different kinds of coral. This one looked like a brain.
This coral looked like a pile of twigs, but it effloresced bright blue at the tips.
Black fish (top) and white fish with yellow tail (bottom).
I think these are called parrot fish. They were brightly colored. I assume they got the name because of their "beak".
Here's another parrot fish.
And a couple more parrot fish.
And one more.
There were many areas that were absolutely teeming with tiny blue fish and tiny yellow fish. The blue ones sparkled in the sunlight.
Here's our boat, "Passions of Paradise". Each passenger was assigned a number. There were 81 passengers total. Typically they only take 80 so they had to make an exception to let on passenger #81. So, it's a good thing we booked early.
We had a great crew. As we motored into the Coral Sea, this crew member (Simon?) gave a scuba dive lesson in English. A different member of the crew gave the lesson in French.
Speaking of sense of humor, this kid was hilarious. He gave the snorkel lesson.
Our first destination was Michaelmas Cay. It's a sand bar several miles out into the ocean. But it is surrounded by coral reefs. And inhabited by thousands of birds!
This was my first time snorkeling. Sexy, no? Around my neck was my best pre-trip purchase yet! It's a plastic pouch which enabled me to take digital photos underwater. How awesome is that!
Here's Ma's sexy snorkel gear shot.
Here's a shot over the rail of Cairns' pedestrian walkway, known as the Esplanade. (Actually, the Esplanade refers to the walkway, and it's also the name of the street.) It's not exactly a white sandy beach below. In fact, they had signs that warned about crocodiles. We didn't see any.
If you follow the left fork of the Esplanade walkway, you'll run smack into the saltwater swimming lagoon.
This picture shows two species of tree. The one on the right is the same species I pointed out earlier (used by Anangu to make bowls, etc.). The other one's bark is smooth and white. It looked pretty spooky to us midwestern gals.
The pool was quite serene. Its water looked very clean, too, considering how many visitors it gets (bipeds and otherwise). The black residue was bacteria and the grayish white patches are spots that haven't oxidized yet.
Neither of us wanted to get up really early, brave the cold, and drive out to the sunrise viewing area. If I'd known this view was just a few steps from my front door, I would have taken advantage.
The campground lookout also had an excellent view of Kata Tjuta (the Olgas).
Driving around on the open roads in the outback wasn't too hard. The toughest part of driving on the left is keeping straight which one is the windshield wiper and which one is the turn signal. Hint: they're reversed.
We pulled off the road several times to take photos.
This photo was taken at Uluru's sunrise viewing platform (Talinguru Nyakunytjaku). The sunset viewing platform (day 5) showed the northwest side of the rock. The sunrise viewing platform (pictured here) showed us the exact opposite (southeast).
The sunrise area also had a pretty good view of Kata Tjuta.
It was off to the left of Uluru.
Lots of yellow flowers on this bush, approximately 4 feet tall.
Tiny pink and white flowers on this bush.
This was a flower about 18" tall with striking, bright yellow flowers.
This ground cover had tiny aster-like purple flowers with yellow centers.
This was another ground cover with pretty purple flowers.
