On our return to Cairns we checked into Corona guesthouse again and booked a trip onto the great barrier reef for the following morning. We didn't like the thought of leaving Sherbet outside all on his own but it was the cheapest option as we didn't know of any cheap camping grounds in Cairns. That evening we returned to the woolshed and enjoyed another free meal, this time we purchased a couple of beers to have with the food.
Up nice and early the following day, we were re-united with Sherbet, only for a short while, as we drove round to the harbour front. After checking in at the passions of paradise check-in desk we made our way to the boat. It was a quite stunning sailing boat. We got comfy after a briefing and enjoyed around an hours trip out to the reef. The sun was trying to show his face through the clouds.
Our first snorkelling point was just off Michael Bay Island.... it was a little sand island in the middle of the ocean with coral reefs surrounding it. If were honest we didn't see that much at this site, apart from some colourful small fish... but nothing we hadn't already seen on other snorkelling trips. Nearer the boat though there were a few larger fish roaming around. After re-boarding the boat, one of the men fed all the big fish... the fish must of known it was nearly feeding time! After a fair lush lunch.... plates piled high to the top, we went to our 2nd snorkelling point. This was called paradise wall, just around another 10 minutes further out that our first site. The visibility here was ok but nothing spectacular like we had been hoping and the things we saw under the water weren't anything spectacular either unfortunately.
We then had a 2 hour journey back to Cairns, the boat turned its engines off and we sailed back for the majority of the journey. The boat looked quite amazing with the sail up. We just sat back and enjoyed the sunshine whilst occasionally get wet from the waves. All in all, we were disappointed with the experience as we had hoped for so much more... maybe we should of paid more and gone with a better company to another part of the reef??
Anyways, as soon as we arrived back at Cairns we jumped back into Sherbie and drove out of Cairns. The sun was going down and it was starting to go dark. We had decided that we wouldn't be doing any driving in the dark, as the risk of wildlife hitting your car at night is alot higher than during daylight. We made it to a little place called Babinda in around an hour... we stayed at a free rest area overnight. It rained and rained all through the night... in the morning when we'd both had showers and getting ready to leave, some park rangers came by and said 'are you leaving?', Peter said 'yeh when were ready'... The rangers said ' you best get out of here before your stuck here as the road round the corner is flooding!!'.... Smart... quick jump in the car and off we went. Sherbs had no bother in getting through the water. He is the daddy on the road!