My trip ended in Cairns, Queensland, Australia -- the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and a popular tourist destination. It's just a hop, skip, and a jump from New Guinea, and you can't go all the way to New Guinea and not see the Reef. I only had 2 full days here, so apart from the obvious trip to the Reef, I chose to spend my other day rafting on the Tully River. Most visitors choose a side-trip to Kuranda via a scenic railway and/or cable car that offers views of Australia's tropical rainforest. Since I had seen plenty of rainforest in New Guinea (and in Ecuador last year), I opted out.
This entry will be brief because there isn't too much to say. There are plenty of tour operators that will take you out to the Reef and offer snorkeling, scuba, and semi-submersible options. Rafting the Tully was even more fun, but this brings me to my one tip: if you're coming to Cairns, you're in north-eastern Australia and it gets hot up here, particularly this time of year. The temperature gauge was in the low 30s C/low 90s F, but with the humidity and the more direct rays from the sun, it easily felt over 100 F. It was worst-sunburn-of-my-adult-life hot (which is more my fault than Cairns' fault), but if you have a choice, you'll probably want to visit during the Southern Hemisphere's winter, even though hotel prices will be higher than I found this week. (The already expensive Australian food and tour prices are probably the same all year round.)
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| Obligatory Reef Photo #1 |
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| Obligatory Reef Photo #2 |
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