The Reef

Tuesday was spent checking out a small corner of the Great Barrier Reef and to do some snorkelling. Of all the days we’ve been on the road this was the worst, the weather was over cast and windy … not ideal for being out on the reef.

The trip out reminded me of a previous snorkelling trip on the reef where I was really sick. And I mean really sick. I’m afraid for me that is the entrance ticket for these trips – a few hours of misery offset by a few hours snorkelling on the reef.

However as soon as I’m in the water the feeling of being crook goes away.

Best sea sickness remedy … get off the damn boat.!

For this trip to Queensland I bought an DJI Osmo Action camera so I could include a few short videos in my blog and then possibly have a play editing the videos later.

The little osmo has been doing great, I’ve been really happy with the quality and the stabilisation when filming on the bike has been excellent. However even though it is waterproof to 11 meters the first swim i took it on it came up with an error as the front screen cracked and let in water.!

I think there may have been a small stone chip on the screen that cracked under the extra pressure of being under the water.

After I let it dry out overnight it is now dead.

Not happy Jan. Not happy.

Luckily I still had my little Olympus tough camera to take a few photos.

Here are a few photos from today.

And Deb went for a quick 10 minute ride in a helicopter to look over the reef.

The other highlights from Cairns was a dinner cruise to celebrate our wedding anniversary.

And a walk to Cascade Falls just out of Cairns.

Vanilla Slice

We were beginning to believe that there were no Vanilla Slices up this way. But we found one.

While technically this was a French vanilla slice … beggers can’t be choosers. This one largely restored our faith in Queensland bakers and was pretty good overall, and had two types of custard and the pastry was really nice. For me it lost points due to the think dusting of icing sugar on top.

Overall we rated this one: 8

And that about wraps up Cairns as we start heading south tomorrow.