Cairns and Green Island

 Although we are now in Adelaide I have been slack in keeping our blog up to date so I thought it was about time to put some notes and pickies on line.

 While we were at Fletcher Creek my sister Andrea rang to say she was going to Cairns at the end of July for a week and then taking about a week to drive back down the coast before flying back to Hobart. As we had already made the decision to go to the Rodeo at Mareeba  it meant that we just had to fill a week or so before she and her husband Ron arrived in Cairns. Living in Hobart we don't normally see much of them but we had already caught up with each other at Cowes / Phillip Island earlier this year ( see earlier Blog).

 Most of the time they were in Cairns the weather was okay but not terrific. We had rain most days in the few days before they arrived.  As we were unable to get out to the reef last year when we were in Cairns I was really looking forward to going out on the water. However the weather wasn't the best and Andrea is not much of a swimmer  we opted for a day trip to Green Island.

 Departing Cairns

 We departed from the ferry terminal where all the boats going out to the island and all the other reef destinations leave from. We went out on the " Flyer " and by the time we got there the weather was picking up a bit with some of the cloud lifting but there was still a cool breeze around .  As we arrived about lunchtime our first port of call was the  buffet lunch on board the bigger ferry that was already out at the island.

 After lunch we went for a walk to the other side of the island . It is a self- guided walk through a national park with lots of story boards that  give lots of insight into the island ecology etc. at the end of the boardwalk we were able to see Fitzroy Island and Ron decided to continue along the back of the beach and meet up with us back at the main swimming area near the jetty.

 Story board on boardwalk

                                                  Looking towards Fitzroy Island


 Back at the beach Lynn took a break and Andrea went beach combing wile I decided to be brave and go for a swim as the breeze had dropped and it was a little warmer. It took me a long time to get completely wet as it was quite cold in the water compared to swimming in Darwin.

 Buff Banded Rail

 There were lots of  these birds wandering around between the tourists and picking up left overs.

 After our excursions on the beach  we wandered back along the jetty to participate in the reef viewing trip in a glass bottom boat followed by a trip in a semi submersible  which gave us a closer look at the reef. The coral was fantastic and the colours of both the coral and the fish were really something. Both trips had a spot where they fed the fish so we could get a good look at them.  We also saw turtles and sharks as well as lots of different types of coral including some very large clams. However because of the weather the water was not 100% clear and the glass also needed a clean so we didn't much in the way of photos.