Day 141: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, SHARK

Way, way back in January, I wrote a post on this blog about how I was beset with endless choices about what I wanted to do while in Australia. I had just arrived, and was overwhelmed with the amount of amazing (and expensive) tours that were available to me. There was one tour, however, that stuck out above all the rest in terms of sheer awesomeness: a 5 day Learn-to-Dive course on the Great Barrier Reef that included a 3 day live aboard dive cruise. I knew from the get go that I wouldn’t leave Australia before taking part in this adventure. No matter where I went, the tour was always in the back of my mind, and when I left Fraser Island with a little over a week to spare in my Australian excursion, I knew exactly where I was headed.

It’s a good thing I followed my instincts, because it was fucking awesome.

My first stop was the city of Cairns, gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. It took me a bus ride, a boat ride, another bus ride, a train, a plane, and over 24 hours of travel to make it there, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. My fist two days were spent learning how to dive in the pool at the Pro-Dive training center in Cairns with my instructor Al, who, despite being fairly serious and at times scary, could do nothing to subdue my enthusiasm that holy shit I am breathing UNDERWATER. The pool training was so exciting to me that I was worried that I’d have an aneurysm as soon as I set fin in the reef.

The on-reef program consisted of 4 guided training dives to complete my open water certification, and then 5 independent dives, including an optional guided night dive. From the first time I hit the water to my last slow and gradual surface ascent, my mouth was wide open, and not just because I had a regulator in it for breathing. I may not have had an aneurysm, but I’m pretty sure I wet myself when I saw my first turtle, nonchalantly munching on coral while groups of divers swam next to him taking pictures. It’s a good thing that you can’t speak or make noise underwater, because I pretty much spent every dive making loud surprised noises whenever I saw anything even remotely interesting.

It would take me days to write out a complete synopsis of the trip, but thankfully I was smart enough to rent an underwater camera for the duration of the cruise. I was able to take a few decent pictures, including not only the turtle, but also the clown fish the coral the stingrays the THREE different kinds of sharks found on ONE dive the….

You get the point.

Day 134: We're Very Close to the End

My, how time has flown.

I arrived on Fraser Island seven weeks ago, unsure of what I was getting myself into, as usual, and not knowing what to expect. It seems like I’m still trying to learn all of my co-worker’s names (to be fair, 70% of my co-workers are Korean immigrants who speak limited English) and yet I’ll be heading off the island tomorrow. All in all, I’d give the whole experience good marks. I’ve got a pretty decent cash wad stored up in my aussie bank account, and I’ve made some pretty good friends here, but I can’t say that I’m going to miss the Fraser Island locale terribly. Maybe it’s because of my impending return to the states, which has me about as excited as a crack addict on a multi day bender, or maybe its because backpackers aren’t meant to be chained to one spot for too long. All I know is that my feet are itching to tread new ground.

Cleaning out my tiny cell block (I won’t bother calling it an apartment) I realized that I’d be repacking my bags for the last time tomorrow. I’ll be back to living out of my suitcase for my last 10 days in Australia before coming home to a permanent room once again. I’ve got a pretty awesome adventure planned for my last week in Australia, hence my leaving Fraser island before June 3rd. I’m a big believer in going out with a bang, and this upcoming escapade definitely qualifies as a bang.