I think Australians do well here because we feel a bit naughty, like we're in America and if they only knew how much fun we were having, we'd all get thrown out, you know - Melissa George

Day 5!

Since the past week, I have been mooching off the hostels internet, which is really slow so I haven’t been able to update my blog as much as I wanted. The internet is different here, which I expected but I had to pay 5 dollars for 75 minutes of internet while staying at the Bohemian Resort, so I had to use it sparingly!

Today was a super important day/ dream come true/ straight out of a postcard….it was GREAT BARRIER REEF DAY!!!!! So I had to get up at about 5:45 to catch the bus early to head out on the boat by 8am. The boat ride to get to the reef was actually 2 ½ hours away from land, but my friends and I had the best seats ever on the boat. In the front there were giant hammock like beds that you could just relax on and at the same time, you could see the water underneath you. When we first got on the boat, we had to fill out a sheet to be able to go snorkeling or SCUBA diving. There were a bunch of medical conditions that you had to check off, and I had FULL and I mean FULL intentions of going SCUBA diving, I even packed my own mask, snorkel and fog cleaner all the way down here. So I filled it out, then about an hour into the trip, I was called in….apparently in Australia, you are not allowed to SCUBA dive when you have taken an inhaler/steroids in the past 48 hours. The dive master, Emma, showed me the Australian law because I thought they were joking ( aussies just about everything). Of course I was really upset because this law is only in Australia. So I started crying ( yes, I cried..i was pissed.) so all the dive masters came over and kept saying “no worries mate no worries” which I understood, I knew it wasn’t the end of the world since Dan and I will be coming back here in a few months. It was just in the moment I was so angry that I didn’t lie for once!

I guess the AustraLean people were supposed to tell us that but had failed to mention it, and the dive masters were so mad, that they told me I could have a free stinger suit ( which were 7 dollars, and protected your body from jellies ( jellyfish) or a free drink on the way back.I said it wasn’t a big deal I just wished I knew and I said “ no worries no worries, I’ll be back anyways”. I ended up snorkeling which seemed to be the best option anyways. If I went diving with them, it was only for a half hour and they took anyone who wanted to try it out there, so I wouldn’t have been albe to have the experience I was looking for with newer divers.

So! I got over the fact of the SCUBA situation ( even though I couldn’t bare to look at the divers)  and decided to get a stinger suit and pay 7 dollars, I wasn’t going to ask for a free suit since it wasn’t really expensive.  The girls and I headed jumped right into the clear water! From the pictures it doesn’t seem as clear, but if even if you just looked from the boat, you could see coral everywhere. So I’m swimming, and swimming and staring at the coral and pretty colored fish I all of a sudden feel a REALLY sharp pain in my lip. I jumped out of the water, more then ever before and realize oh sweet I got stung by something. So I had to swim fast back to the boat to make sure I was oaky. It could have been sea lice or a small clear jellie but it hurt so BAD. The dive master put this disguising tasting (since it was on my lip) spray to make the pain go away. It wasn’t poisonous whatever it was and of course…what did they say “you’ll be right mate, no worries” I’m defiantly bringing this line back to the states.

So! I’m finally in the water! With a throbbing lip and ready to see underwater! It was absolutely beautiful! The coral was amazing! Bright blues and greens and the tropical fish were lovely. Being able to see them in their natural habitat was breathtaking! There were schools of squid and GIANT clams! It was amazing; I took a few underwater pictures which came out amazing. We went to two different locations. The first location I completely forget the name of L sorry! But the second location was so amazing! It was called Micahealmas Cave. Right by the reef there was a sand beach formed atop a coral reef cave and it underwater it looked just like Finding Nemo! I know that’s a terrible reference but it seems that all the 20year olds were referencing it to that too! As we were snorkeling we saw a foot long bright blue starfish and a sea turtle! It was beautiful! I cannot wait to go back.

 Overall the reef was absolutely amazing. This is definitely a long post, but it’s the REEF! It had to be! But to end my story from the beginning…the dive master, Emma, came up to be about half an hour before we left the boat and asked if I got my free stinger suit or my free drink. I obviously said no, since I didn’t think they were serious and Emma couldn’t believe it and told me she’d be right back. So I waited and then about 10 minutes later, she came back with $7 dollars and a small 200mL of Pink Champagne! She told be she was so sorry I had such a rough day from not being able to dive to being stung (which was really only the first hour or so of the day, other then that I was in all my glory on the reef!) and she hopes that I return soon. I guess Aussies don’t like when your not right.