March 14 - Great Barrier Reef

Yesterday was a travel day for us.  We went from Darwin to Cairns in Queensland Australia.  For reasons that don’t make sense to me, Globus our tour operator only uses Quantas Airlines.   They didn’t have a direct flight, so we flew from Darwin to Brisbane and then to Cairns, a trip of 6,000 km as opposed to a direct flight with a regional airline that would only be 1,700 km.  We didn’t get into the hotel until around midnight.

We are staying at the Cairns Pullman Hotel.  It is a beautiful, classy hotel, with spacious rooms and an imposing lobby.  Unfortunately, our room faces several bars and the casino, so it is extremely loud. Also the trees are filled with birds and bats that make a tremendous amount of noise.

This morning we walked over to the harbour and took a boat to the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometres. The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms. This reef structure is composed of trillions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps. It supports a wide variety of fish, turtles and birds and is often called one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

The boat company is a well run machine, that offers several activities such snorkeling, diving and glass bottom excursions. 

The coral had many shapes and colours and the fish ranged in a variety of sizes and colours.  It was a feast for our eyes.  

We took a glass bottom boat.  Their was a large number of jelly fish around the boat.  I guess that is why it recommend that swimmers don a wet suit.

Because there was a cyclone offshore in the south, the water was very rough.  Our trip to the reef had us bouncing and tripping over our feet.  There was some seasick people on board.

On board we found out that the New Zealand government has said that people arriving in their country must go into quarantine for fourteen days.  Globus has cancelled any tours to New Zealand, so that means several couples in our tour group have had their vacations plans cut short.  I’m not sure what this means for us, because we are due to fly back home, stopping in Auckland overnight before catching our flight to LA via Fiji.  Some of the web sites that I have read, seem to say that people coming from Australia are exempt.  I'm not sure if that exemptions means Australian citizens only or flights originating in Australians.