Reefer Madness

Telen is healing.

When we arrived in Aus. Telen was not moving very fast.  She said it only hurts when she laughed and then grimaced as she laughed.   Laughing with cracked ribs is a no-win situation.  We were worried that we were not going to be able to see the Great Barrier Reef, which is the main reason we came to Australia and Cairns in particular.  The good news is she is getting better.  Her right cross is as fast as ever with almost as much power.   Now I have to be more careful what I say again…  

It was good while it lasted…

One of the nice things about travelling is meeting other travellers.  We met a delightful Swedish couple that was staying in the same hotel as us.   We hit it off right away and ended up chatting for quite a while.  The next day they invited us along on a drive up the coast to Cape Tribulation and along the way we went on a Wildlife Cruise up the Daintree River.   What you find in the Daintree River are crocodiles.

The Crocodile being mellow...

I have to tell you about Australian.   It is a language that I am starting to develop some facility with.  So, I am going to write what the wildlife guide said and then I will translate.

“Gudd Oy, Tudoy will be lukkin fer cruks inna wota.  Duh domnint cruc eer eesa myle koled Scahfiss.  Eesa big boi an woyes but fo hun fiffy keelas an is bat fonaf metahs lung. Now wuriz, mite”

Translation: “Good afternoon.  Today we will be looking for crocodiles in the water.  The dominant crocodile here is a male called Scarface.  He is a big boy and weighs about four hundred fifty kilos and is about four and a half meters long.”

The phrase “now wuriz” seems to be a catchall phrase that can mean: “yes”, “thank you”, “I am well, thank you”, “how are you”, “nice weather we are having”,“can I buy you a drink” or simply means the speaker is finished speaking.  Sometimes it is just used for no apparent reason.  A similar phrase ‘Oy now!” is used in a similar way but tends to signify agreement.

We did see Scarface and he is a huge crocodile.  Luckily he was pretty docile as he was guarding a dead pig and waiting for it to marinate until it was disgusting enough to eat.  When I see a crocodile that is 450 kg and about 4.5 meters long I really, really want him to be mellow and with a full tummy.   I don’t feel comfortable with cranky and hungry.

The rest of the trip was through the rainforest.  It is certainly different from the rainforest we have a home.   It is very lush and all the vegetation has huge leaves and the flowers are large, succulent and look slightly carnivorous.  Most of us northerners think of Australia as desert but this area it is anything but.

I don't think it's carnivorous...but I am not sure.

On a side note – I got to be sexy again for a few minutes.   As we were boarding a bus to come home from the beach the other day I felt someone pulling the hair on my shoulders.   I looked around and there was a little Korean lady stroking the hair.  She gave me doe eyes and a smile.  On the bus she kept looking at me and smiling.   Maybe she thought I was some kind of weird Australian wildlife.  Maybe I shouldn’t wear sleeveless shirts anymore…  Or maybe I should wear them more often…  

We finally hit the reef.

Me on the Great Barrier Reef.

Since we only had 10 days in Australia we wanted to see the biggest attraction.   The Great Barrier Reef fit the bill.  Apparently it is larger than England and almost as large as Japan and is the largest living organism on earth - certainly the only one visible from space.   The last bit may be fairly recent knowledge.  The Chinese have been saying the Great Wall is visible from space but they have been saying that for centuries and only recently has that been proven false.

Speaking of the Chinese...

The tour company that took us out to the reef caters to Chinese tour groups.  I never thought to be a visible minority in Australia.  Probably 85% of the clients on board were Chinese.   There are cultural differences.  Having been to China I am aware of those differences but I was a little unprepared to find them in Australia.  Like Americans who are great in their country but terrible travellers – the Chinese are terrible travellers.  Except the Chinese are not great in their country.  They were loud (talking over the announcement and the speakers), physically pushy, and inconsiderate of others not in their group (I had put my sunglasses and hat down on a chair while I went to the bathroom and when I came back a group of Chinese had taken my chair by simply sitting on them).  The buffet lunch on boat featured prawns but we weren’t fast enough.  The first group of Chinese passengers through took them all – they just kept loading up plates until there was no more.  I was used to it in China – it just felt odd in Aus.

However, we were not going to let that ruin our trip to the reef.

We went out snorkeling with a local naturalist.  Strangely, out of the 300 people on the boat only Telen and I went with the naturalist.  She gave us a great tour and showed us all kinds of things we would not have seen on our own.  I even got to touch a giant clam and watch it snap shut – but I was told to take my hand away quickly after touching it or I might spend a lot of time down there…   We spent about 45 minutes snorkeling with her and neither of us got cold. Pruny, but not cold.  The water temperature is like a warm bath – 30^o.

Salt water and electronics are a bad combination.  My super-duper waterproof, shockproof fancy camera turned out to be somewhat less than waterproof.  I managed to get two photos, a warning came up on my screen and it went blank and developed white streaks.   Not a good sign, I thought.  When I got out of the water I opened up the compartment that housed the battery and SD card and a viscous green fluid started pouring out.  The lens was milky and the viewing screen was a spider web of white streaks.  Not good.  The timekeeper on the camera said, “Time to buy a new camera”

After a small break we went back in the water (sans camera) and had an encounter with a Maori Wrasse.   His name is Wally and he is like a cow.   He follows the cameraman around because the cameraman keeps a prawn in his wetsuit for him (he got to the buffet before the Chinese).  We got a few pictures with Wally.   Wally was so focused on that prawn that we could touch him and pose with him and he did not notice.   So we had to make due with those photos rather than all the ones we could have taken. 

Swimming with Wally 
Rand on the left, Telen (most of her) on the right

While snorkeling I saw a sea turtle. I was within 1 meter of him.  He was swimming along with a grace, serenity and majesty that is hard to describe.  He turned his head a looked at me and said “Kaw!  Duude!  What brings you to the EAC on this fine day?”   Ok, maybe not, but I liked to think that is what he was thinking.  I’ve watched “Finding Nemo” too often…  That was when I really missed my underwater camera.

I did not take this picture - but this is how close I got to the Sea Turtle.

One of the crew told me where to find some clown fish so I swam out there.  Apparently a lot of people don’t swim out to where I was because of the distance from the platform and the sudden deep drop-off so I saw an incredible amount of fish.  I was out there by myself and who came swimming by?  The sea turtle!  Either I saw two sea turtles or the same one twice but it was a fabulous experience.  I watched as he serenely swam off into the blue and counted myself lucky.  Then I swam down to a coral formation and there was a little clown fish about 3 cm long swimming in and out of the anemones.

Clown Fish.   I did not take this photo.  Cameras don't like salt water.

When I got back to the platform Telen was there so I convinced her to come with me.  She saw the clown fish but the sea turtle was long gone.  We could not stay out there long because Telen’s ribs were bothering her a little.  It was unfortunate but probably time to get out of the water anyway.  The sun was hot, the water was very warm and I think we were getting a little dehydrated.  It is amazing that you can be soaking in water for a few hours and get out dehydrated.  I guess it is like Campbell’s Noodle Soup.  How do the noodles soak in a can for years and still come out as noodles?

Telen with her favourite crew member.  His name is Beat (pronounce Be At)