Cairns, Queensland

Cairns is named after a Governor of Queensland of Irish descent. He had no interest in Australia at all and did not care about the honor that was bestowed upon the city that bears his name. A year after the city was named, Cairs returned to Ireland and never visited the people who honored him. Today it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Australia.

With Ivan and Kolbe, we set out for a reef trip on Ocean Freedom. The staff was quite large and very friendly. We had a nice breakfast awaiting us on ship with lots of beverages. We sailed out of Cairns harbour to the Great Barrier Reef. The folks offered us scuba diving lessons and I declined because it was too expensive. The other two were not interested in it either. Snorkeling was too much fun and there was no need for Scuba diving.

As I saw people get suited up, I wanted to join them. I asked if the others had interest and they said no. At last, I said, "I'm going diving." Ivan followed suit and Kolbe resisted, but finally gave in. I did not even try to tempt them. Kolbe liked it so much he went for a second dive.

When I said yes, I had no idea that I would encounter any fear. It just was not in my mind. But as soon as I went under, I began to not trust myself with breathing and I did not trust my mask. It felt claustrophobic. However, I went down again and it felt like a great freedom. I became used to breathing. Breathing is quite essential. After a while, it just felt natural to do and then I was home free. I contemplated going down a second time, but I also enjoyed snorkeling and did that for a long time. However, I got sunburned on top of my head and I realized I had to turn in. A highlight of the day was seeing the white tip reef shark - only about 4 feet long, but the other schools of fish, sea cucumbers, starfish and other living organisms were there. Yes, I saw many Nemos.

Snorkeling can be tiring because you swim for a long time. My legs were sore the next day and I knew I would be tired but it could not deter me from the sheer excitement of being miles offshore and swimming among such a beautiful reef. The corals were so colorful. We even stopped at a sand beach that rose from the waters during low tide. We dug for clams, looked at seashells, and watched the birds. The coconuts that were on the island were form the cyclone a month ago that hit Fiji.

After saying Mass the next day, we boarded a ship that went to Trinity Cove, so named because Captain Cook arrived there on Trinity Sunday. We went into the rivulets where giant mangroves lived. It was here that we would find wild crocodiles. It was a very pleasant trip.

After we deboarded from the ship, a bus picked us up to bring us to a crocodile farm. This farm supplies crocodile leather to the fashion industry in France for handbags and clothing. It sounds terrible and I felt so bad for the crocodiles, but as the tour guide explained it, one in 100 crocodile eggs survive in the wild, but there 98 out of 100 hatch into crocodiles. Therefore, the local scene is not imbalanced. They have a very sophisticated way of managing the life, reproduction, and growth of the crocodiles. Did you know that you can change a female crocodile into a male by heating the eggs? Males are desired by the farmers because they grow larger than the females. The male genitalia is surprising. Anyways, it is quite a complex farming community that they run. The worst job seems to be the three men who are charged with gathering the eggs from the sea rivers where the crocodiles live. They wade barefoot and sans shirts so they can escape an angry female quickly.

I had a great day.