Botanical Gardens

Through the gates, the vegetation changed again, from native bush to a diverse range of tropical plants from around the world. I found myself quickly joining the masses of other tourists with their cameras taking pictures of everything in sight. We slowly flowed with the foot traffic before coming across the timely placement of the washrooms and cafe.  

As we sat at the sheltered cafe with the organic fancy food among the tropical plants, I found my thoughts drifting to my Nana, the one who instilled and nurtured my love of gardening. She would have loved this, sitting in the warmth enjoying a tea before strolling leisurely through this exquisite garden.

We stopped in the giftshop to pick up a magnet and had a wonderful conversation with a very generous lady who gave us lots of advice for the park and a few things we should do around Cairns. Afterward, we continued our walk, enjoying the numerous textures and colours of this great diversity of plant.

The park was also full of life, including several sightings of skinks and these odd spiders, as well as a host of birds which included several brush turkeys who refused to sit still long enough to have their picture taken in the dim light. The best of course was not seen but heard, the unmistakable call of the Kookaburra, fighting off in the distance. So many programs on Australian wildlife would highlight the sound of this iconic bird and now we were listening to it first hand, and in the wild.

The gardens did a spectacular job of highlighting both foliage and flower. We wandered slowly over bridges, down stairwells, and under low branches to see all the amazing splendors the park had to offer. It was really exciting to see many plants that simply would not survive in many of the parts of the world I have had the opportunity to explore. I, of course, also took the opportunity to practice some photography for your viewing pleasure.

Two particular oddities of the park for us were the cannonball tree and some species of vine whose flowers were the most spectacular aqua colour. I tried many photos, but none of them truly captured the odd colour of these flowers, one which is rarely seen in plants.

Mary-Ellen and I thoroughly enjoyed this park and as the afternoon started to set in and our stomachs began to rumble we said goodbye to this fabulous collection of plants and started our way back through the rainforest on our way back into town.

A walk down under

After a great morning breakfast on the waterfront of Cairns, we hopped on a bus and headed towards an afternoon in the forest. The bus dropped us off first at a reserve which highlighted some of Australia's natural habitats. We were greeted at the gates by an ibis poking through the underbrush.

As we progressed through the trail, we passed by numerous unknown vegetation, stopping to admire the tropical foliage. It was a nice calm way to spend the morning, leisurely strolling through the sun and greenery.

The saltwater channel and lake were fortunately absent of crocodiles, at least visibly, and the mangrove embankments gave way to the muddy waters. Lurking in the water were long needlefish cruising the surface and groups of pufferfish patrolling the shoreline. But the highlight of this and my day was the sighting of one of my favourite animals, the mudskipper. These fish spend most of their life out of water on the muddy embankments of mangrove swamps. To finally see one and in its natural habitat was yet another privilege. Although my experience with them was brief, I found myself lingering on the bridge over the channel.

The green grass and occasional trees transitioned into full rainforest and swamp with a sturdy boardwalk cutting through to the botanical gardens on the other side.

This park was definitely worth a walk through, going through several different habitats, such as swamps and paperbark forest. We kept our eyes open for wildlife but found very little, which was too our advantage in terms of avoiding predators but our disadvantage in that we saw none of the many non-dangerous creatures. What was highly apparent was the sound of the native bird life high in the trees, so we wandered around with our eyes wandering from forest floor to canopy.

Although the forest felt similar to those in New Zealand in terms of much of the foliage and abundance of epiphytes, it was clearly different in the types of plants. Ferns, although not absent, were mostly replaced by palms, one of the predominant plants groups.

A magnificent walk almost over, and another ahead of us, we arrived on the other side of the paperbark forest at the gates of the botanical gardens. With continued excitement, we crossed the roads and entered the gates for our afternoon walk.

Once more into The Final Frontier

We finished our venture into the great blue as it began, with a leisurely snorkel together. The experiences of one, no matter how great or small, are enriched by those who share it with them. Although my diving was much my own and can only be shared through the pictures I took, I am so grateful to have been able to share the overall experiences with my wife. With but one last chance to get into the water, we donned our wetsuits one last time.

There was no shortage of new sights on this dive as we ventured around a rather large coral reef. A spectacular clam with florescent blue mantle was perched high up on the reef and highly visible even through snorkeling. We found yet more beautiful butterflyfish fluttering over plates and globular corals as well as yet another species of anemonefish.

One of the more interesting finds, and yet another new sight for both of us were the unicorn fish, black with a large protrusion out of the fish's forehead.

Another great sighting was a large predatory fish, I believe a trevally, swimming around the perimeter of the reef. It was most fortunate that Mary-Ellen was there to spot this wonderful predator as I was far to engrossed in the small fish over the reef.

We went around the reef once, then decided to go around again given how far it would be to travel to the next reef. It was hard to believe this amazing experience was coming to a close, that we would be sailing away from the incredible sights we had seen. A truly fantastic venture into one of the worlds most iconic marine environments. It was a childhood dream come true as we swam through our own real-life episode of the The Last Frontier.

As we began to get cold we started back to the boat, noticing below us a few divers. Just to give you some perspective, they were about 25 metres down, which is farther than you will likely ever see in the Bay of Fundy.

Back on the boat, we cleaned our gear and started packing our bags as the boat pulled away from the reefs. Drying out, we reminisced with the many friends we had made on this journey in the bright winter sunlight.

The most extraordinary adventure we had taken this far in our lives was ending. A childhood fantasy fulfilled and experienced with the most important person in my life. This would be an adventure we would not soon be able to forget.

After three hours, one sea snake, and a lot of sun, we were pulling into Cairns and thanking the crew for the wonderful time. Back through the park which was still loud with the chatter of flying mammalians and one bird of prey sitting above the colony. Finally tossing our bags down in our room, we relaxed and grabbed some food before settling down for the evening.

We laid in bed that night in a bit of a daze, both exhausted and exhilarated from the last two days. We drifted off to sleep, our bodies still swinging in the motion of the boat and our dreams vibrantly laden with the colours of fish and coral.

Corals, fish, and more corals!

With the gentle rocking of the boat, we slept well through till about four in the morning which was six in Auckland. Laying there quietly for the next hour or so, we thought back on the adventures of the previous day and dreamed of the sights we would see on this new day. Although I have not had near as much experience as I would like, one thing I love about these cruises is getting up early and watching the sun rise. The darkness driven away by the fiery light of dawn on the unbroken horizon is a sight to behold and brought a sense of renewed adventure as the reefs slowly became visible from the surface.  

We were all preparing for the days adventure when suddenly there was the sound of something exhaling. We turned around to see a minke whale, probably eight metres in length, surfacing and circling the boat. Many people frantically squeezed into their wetsuits to try and catch a glimpse of the noble creature but I hesitated since the visibility gave us a complete view from the surface and experience from back home suggested to me that these whales rarely hang around, especially when disturbed by a horde of snorkelers. The captain kept telling people to hug the boat and not chase it, but like other snorkeling experiences, few people listen once in the water. Surprisingly though, it did hang around and I jumped into action to get in to the water. I only got to see it off in the distance but it was still a remarkable animal and provided a great start to the morning! As the whale moved farther from the boat, we climbed aboard and headed to our first dive site of the day. This would be my last dive as I wanted to snorkel with Mary-Ellen for our last one. Down into the blue we went, with visibility up to twentyfive metres.

With my Scottish dive buddy in tow, we headed out across the sand and up through gullies in the coral. This dive was definitely my second favourite as I had now overcome at least some of the overwhelming feeling to my senses and could focus a bit more on specific things I wanted to see. Not all were photographable including a few more batfish and a tiny yellow trunkfish that darted into the coral after I managed to point it out to my dive buddy. But by this point I had worked out a few of my camera issues, although not all, but enough so that I got a lot of wonderful shots and some great video!

One of my goals was to get some wonderful macro pictures of the christmas tree worms. These colourful and intricate little creatures are so iconic of a coral reef for me, more so than most of the fish and oddly even the coral... One of the biggest problems was that these creatures were directly in the coral and it often took great care to keep myself steady and ensure I didn't float into coral damaging the reef. This meant that I erred on the side of caution and didn't venture too close. Still, I managed to get a few good ones which I am very pleased with.

While peering close to the coral, I also managed to catch this scallop that was either burrowed into or simply grown over by the coral and sat there opening and closing his valves to draw water into his shell.

I managed to get up close with the blue sea stars I had seen throughout my dives, although their leathery skin is not nearly as exciting as the large sea stars at home or in New Zealand.

This dive was also significantly shallower than most of the other dives and so we were able to get a more intimate view of the reef. Huge coral heads sat like boulders across the landscape while outcrops of branching and plate corals lay out like garden beds around them. The colours and textures were still amazing and never got old. It is amazing to think that these minute creatures were responsible for the entire landscape that emerged like a great seamount out of a sea of sand. The relatively calmer and sufficiently deeper waters allowed me to get up close without the fear of banging into the corals, so I spent a great deal of time examining the many species.

As hard as it is to ignore the corals, it is also hard to ignore the fish. Wrasses swam around me almost seeming inquisitive as to what I was doing but not getting too close. Damselfish small and large swam among the corals like birds in the trees. The magnificent butterfly fish were at this point the fish species I was most enthralled with and I took every opportunity to follow them when they came into view.

Another great aspect of this dive was the large reef wall that was adorned with corals spreading outward into the water column to take advantage of the light that filtered down and the current that ran past. This also gave me the opportunity to get even closer.

On the overhang I also came across this organism, which I am uncertain weather it is an algae or a marine plant species. It provided a wonderful contrast to the surrounding corals that made up its home. I also found a puffer fish who was particularly camera shy and wandered slowly around the rock, trying to stay out of my view.

And what dive on the great barrier reef would not be complete without finding Nemo. Hanging vertically on the reef wall was this gorgeous purple anemone being fiercely protected by a pair of anemonefish. They put on quite a spectacle, taking turns moving out of the tentacles to charge towards the camera in an effort to ward me away. I took a few pictures and then gave them their victory, hoping that at least one picture would turn out. 

Before I knew it, we were running low on air and started our ascent, taking a few shots at the safety stop. This was not good bye quite yet but would be my last chance to get this close to one of the most incredible ecosystems on the planet.