Well, we are sitting here early in the a.m. at our berth in Marlin Marina in Cairns. We stopped here yesterday to take a quick peak at the town and get Bill that passport photo he desperately needed for work. The photo is off to the post and we have had a little taste of the town. It is a quite busy place with a tourist population which is obviously from all over the world. The trips and dive to the Great Barrier Reef is the main attraction. There are hundreds of dive boats of every quality to take the trip. There is even the Nudey Beach if you so desire on Fitzroy Island But there is no shortage of trips to the rain forest, camping grounds, and visits to the aboriginal lands. This is an interesting place and full of energy.
There are so many restaurants just in this one place around the marina. We have heard that the waterfront was designed by the same man who designed the Baltimore Inner Harbor. It has the same lively, busy, and interesting quality. There is a man made salt water lagoon pool directly in the middle of the town. All the young gorgeous bodies lay there and soak up the rays. No worries about crocs here yet.
I am still a little intimidated by the crocs and as we go north I am sure we will see plenty of them. I have read the stories of the other bloggers from the ARC and they have had to be careful and ever vigilant while going near the water- even in the dinghy one must be careful. Well, as they say here-"when your time is up mate..." And as Eric would say "it will make a great story". Sorry- I don't want to be part of that story!
We will be doing laundry today and checking out the museum here. Tomorrow we get fuel early and then head up to Cookstown to see the museum and the path that Cook took through this reef. It is amazing that he was able to get through here with no Charts, radar, and GPS.
Rosemary, Bill and Matt