Finding Nemo...Cairns to Hervey Bay

Our journey to the North has been somewhat eventful so far! Upon leaving Melbourne we were kindly informed there was a cyclone just leaving and in fact it appears it is the wetseason in the North! So it was raining, hot, but raining nevertheless... Still Ruthie and I, determined to see what has been deemed as the largest living entity, visible from space, one of the great wonders of the world, went on our great barrier reef tour -"passions of paradise". Fish not really being my thing I was understandably sceptical, especially given the rain. Yet I have to describe it as nothing short of AMAZING, the boat was so nice and as soon as we left cairns the sun came out and we were able to lie on the sun deck, we were given a great lunch with salads! Of course this is not what makes the reef amazing, although it helps, but I was finally persuaded by one of the guides to give snorkelling a go (I had already done the glass bottom boat tour)-and he would take a ring out and tour me round the reef. My stomach in my feet I finally agreed and Ruthie and i jumped in, grabbed onto the ring and he toured us round.yes I, fish-phobe that I am- went snorkelling with all the fish-it really was incredible, the reef was one of the most amazing things ive ever seen. The fish were gorgeous, and we did find Nemo (aka clown fish) as well as dori and many other famous characters. I would say it was comparable to safari in that you think youve seen fish until you go to the great barrier reef and realise you havent! The coral was amazing too-all different colours and sizes/shapes-a whole different landscape underwater.

So that was the good news. The bad news is that the greyhound bus had stopped running south because the cyclone flooded the roads to airlie beach. Not knowing when they would open up again and pretty much stranded we decided the only thing to do wasto buy a flight otherwise we would miss our sailing trip! So we flew south in search of the sun, and yet landed in but more storms, from bush fires down south we seemed plagued by cyclones up North! When the words thunderstorms, cyclones and monsoons were mentioned we feared perhaps a sailing trip wasn't the best plan and in fear of being stranded yet again we got our bags together and got on the next available bus to the sunshine...

So here we are, in Hervey Bay, the sun is shining and it is beautiful out. We have been lying and reading and eating and drinking. There is no rain, there are no monsoons, all is right with the world!