By Linda Bach
At Cairns, you can dive the depths of the Great Barrier Reef or soar the world’s oldest tropical rainforest.
That is how spoilt for choice I was during a recent visit to Cairns, the administrative centre of North Queensland.
Luckily, I didn’t have to sweat about making that choice. A day before the 12th International Coral Reef Symposium, which was to be held at The Cairns Convention Centre from July 9-13, journalists covering the event were invited to visit the Great Barrier Reef in the company of eminent scientists attending the meeting.
Cairns enjoys around 300 days of sunshine a year, a friendly, relaxed tropical lifestyle and is, therefore, one of Australia’s most popular holiday destinations. Most of the tourists are locals, Chinese, Japanese, Americans or Europeans. I did not spot any African tourists probably because of the cost of travel and the distance; given my own experience.
Australia being both a continent and country is vast; flying from Sydney alone to Cairns takes about three hours; just about the same time it takes to fly from Nairobi to Democratic Republic of Congo.
The journey, the longest I have ever made, took me across three continents. My journey began on Thursday night. I checked in at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport two hours before my flight at about 10.45pm. After five hours, we landed at Dubai International Airport.
After a four-hour wait, I was airborne again, flying to Sydney, a journey that took about 14 hours. Thanks to advancement in technology, there was no dull moment. I whiled away time eating, sleeping, watching movies or listening to music.
Long haul
We arrived at Kingsford Smith International Airport in Sydney at 6am on Saturday. How I wished I could continue the rest of the journey by train or bus but that was out of question, as it would take me days to reach Cairns.
Tired but enthusiastic, I disembarked from the plane and joined a long queue through immigration. Later, I collected my luggage and went to the domestic departures. I finally arrived at the Cairns Airport at 1.30pm; after 22 hours of flying and a day since I left home. I was, therefore, more than glad when the drive from the airport to the Sebel Hotel where we were staying took just about ten minutes. I had a good rest. I woke up refreshed for a dinner organised by our hosts Jodie Rogers and Gina Dow.
Cairns is a relatively small town, with a population of about 130,000 people. There are no traffic jams that is characteristic of Nairobi. Australia is a continent that experiences a variety of climates due to its vast size. Being in the Southern Hemisphere, its seasons are in reverse to Europe and America. I had been duly informed it was winter and came expecting the worst. It, therefore, came as a pleasant surprise when I found the place rainy and warm with temperatures ranging between 18-28 degrees Celsius. But that is not to say the entire country enjoys warm winter. In other parts, such as Canberra, it was freezing cold with temperatures dropping up to negative five at night.
Flora and fauna
I woke up early the following morning for our scheduled visit to the Great Barrier Reef. Exploring the reef is an exhilarating experience, cruise and dive operators are highly conscious of eco-tourism and the sustainability of this beautiful natural phenomenon.
Marine biologists accompany most reef trips to interpret this natural phenomenon, and all cruise staff exhibit a special pride and respect in the reefs ecology.
Most reef trips are designed with both swimmers and non-swimmers in mind, with visitors taking part in diving, snorkelling or underwater observatory viewing. Alternatively, one can get a bird’s eye view from the air on a scenic flight in a helicopter, light aircraft or seaplane.
As we left our hotel, it was cloudy and we thought the trip might be cancelled. However, it was not and soon after arriving at the port, we quickly boarded Silverswift, a posh cruise boat with comfortable lounging tables and seats.
Before leaving the port, the crew warned about the conditions at sea and gave everyone a chance to back out if they felt they were not up to the stomach-churning challenge.?
He advised everyone on board to take sea-sickness pills, saying it was necessary even if you were used to travelling out at sea. We obliged, took our pills and settled at one of the tables.
Great reefs
Terry Hughes, the convener of the forum and one of Australia’s prominent coral scientists, gave a short talk about our destination.
Lying off the coast of the Tropical North, Australia’s Great Reef Barrier Reef extends over 1,500km and is home to the greatest variety of flora and fauna found in any one location in the world.
The scope of the reef is magnificent, encompassing some 21,900 individual reefs and hundreds of continental islands.
In 1975, the reef region that extends 2,300km along the east coast of Australia was renamed the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which at 34,400km is the largest marine park in the world and the first Australian site to be inscribed on the World Heritage list.
The Great Barrier Reef is not one large reef but a collection of almost 3,00 individual reefs in various sizes ranging up to 100 square kilometres.
The sea was indeed rough and many people on board got seasick and had to be taken to the open air section for fresh air and ice cubes. They were given barf bags to use whenever they felt the urge to throw up.
Snorkelling lessons
I was lucky not to get sea sick. After about an hour and a half into the sea, we arrived at the marine park and the crew announced that those who wanted to snorkel could pick their kits. I had packed in a haste and in the process forgot my swimming costume. Therefore, I wasn’t going to be part of this great experience. The only consolation I had was that I wasn’t the only one left out of the fun. Two of my colleagues also chickened out after the experience at sea.
I took a vantage point and watched as the rest changed into their kits and took to the water. The experienced ones took to diving while the rest were comfortable snorkelling not too far away from the boat under the careful watch and guide of Laurence McCook, a senior park official.
A humongous humphead wrasse swam right up to the platform among the divers, the crew have named it Nigel because every time they take visitors out, it comes out.
The reef boasts many kinds of marine animals such as sharks, whales, turtles, dolphins, bony fish, maori wrasse, parrot fish, crustaceans, sea urchins among many others.
When the snorkelers had had enough, it was time to embark on the journey back to the port. It had indeed been a nice experience.
And to quote Sara Smith, a scientist, “ The Great barrier reef is a constant source of amazement, amusement and humbling grandeur — a world of incredible discovery with so much to be found that a day trip or even an entire lifetime can be easily filled exploring and constantly discovering new facets of the reef”.
