Didn't sleep a wink the first night. The club essentially never shuts down, so I heard Rihanna bumpin below me and the girl above me snoring. So we were all pretty tired in the morning. We grabbed a bagel at a cafe for breakfast and headed to the harbor. We got on a boat and began the 2 hour journey out to the Great Barrier Reef! That water was CHOPPY. The manliest of men were stuck in the bathrooms throwing up. Everyone got sea sick, even myself, and I have been on a boat several times before (unlike some of the other kids). The boat ride was miserable. No one was talking to each other. Everyone looked pale in the face and was either laying down or throwing up. Gross. We were all pretty worried we wouldn't be able explore the reef, but thankfully as soon as the boat stopped moving everyone's stomachs calmed down. You could scuba dive if you were certified (yeah, no way in hell I would ever do that), or snorkel (the obviously safer option-taken). We were given a lengthy tutorial on reef safety. You could purchase a wetsuit to wear that went all the way over your head to protect you from jellyfish. Just hearing that that was even an option kind of freaked me out, as if deep water doesn't freak me out enough already. Anyways, I decided to go for it. And it was SO worth it! Man, was that reef gorgeous. We had a blast exploring it. We made 3 stops at different parts of the reef. It was very surreal to be swimming in such a famous place. I went on a snorkel tour at one of the stops with a guide and literally felt like Nemo when he goes on the school tour aboard the sting ray. I didn't see any sharks or jellies, so it was a success. We got to enjoy the rest of the afternoon laying out on the sun deck (where I managed to get yet another nasty sun burn) and eating another buffet lunch. Played the movie game the rest of the ride home (which thankfully was a much smoother ride-no one got sick this time) and watched the sun set over the water.
A group of us found the first Mexican restaurant I have seen in Australia for dinner. Ordered queso, only to discover that it was cream cheese? No thanks, I do not want to dip my chips in that. My meal was excellent though. We wandered around town and found a fun jazz bar, so we stopped in and listened to the music for a while. An all around excellent day.
Day 3: Free Day
Slept in, had a delicious pancake breakfast, and then decided to rent bikes to explore town a bit more. The bike man liked my friend's smile... AKA free bikes #thanksCatherine. It is a law in Australia that you have to wear a helmet, so we looked pretty cute on our beach cruisers. We went on the Cairns esplanade and rode along the beach-it was so gorgeous! Cairns doesn't really have beaches, since the water isn't very safe to swim in, so they created a man-made pool, called the Lagoon, for people to hang out at. We rode around for about 2 hours, reveling in the serenity and finally feeling like we were on vacation (a vacation from a vacation, if you think about it). This was definitely one of my favorite moments of the trip. Such a relaxing, happy afternoon. One of those memories that will make you depressed when you are back home and you realize you aren't in the most amazing place in the world anymore... Biking was followed by gelato overlooking the esplanade and a MUCH needed shower. Have I mentioned how much I sweated in Cairns? We had a group dinner at Cafe Mondo and another fun night out at Gilligan's.
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