Cairns and Learning to Dive

Monday (8th) Meagan and I toured the city of Cairns. We came across two shopping malls which was pretty exciting for us since we haven't seen a "real" mall since we've been in Oz! We came across an Aboriginal man who sells handmade boomarangs, didgridoos, etc so we bought a few souveniers. It is really rare to meet the person who actually made your item! Then, I got my medical examination completed for my SCUBA trip that would begin in the morning. For lack of anything better to do, we watched Ice Age 2 at the theater (not recommended) and then ate dinner at Sushi Train. The Sushi actually rides past you on a conveyor belt and you choose whichever item you want!



Where's Jenna? I'm hiding in the plush rainforest planted along the sidewalks.








Tuesday I was picked up promptly at 8:00am and taken to the ProDive school to start my 4 hours of theory and 4 hours of diving in a pool. By the end of the first day I was taking to the course very well and had all of the diving skills down. I really enjoyed being in a classroom again... learning and taking notes! That night, Meg and I ate a free backpacker meal at The Woolshed and then watched a blues band at Jono's Blues Bar. Considering there were less than 4 people watching the band, two young girls from Texas got quite a few shoutouts from the 70 year old band members!

Wednesday went similarly, with diving and theory. Then we stopped by the ProDive shop to pick up our equipment and I was convinced that I needed to buy a very expensive diving mask and snorkel to make my trip better! I did... and I really liked them. I'm considering it an investment. ;) We also went to "Reef Teach" which is a performance by an eccentric marine biologist that teaches you how to put the fish you see on the Great Barrier Reef in to 1 of 9 families of fish. It also taught us about the coral, how it's formed, and why it's dying.

Ex. Did you know that a parrot fish encases itself in it's own mucus every night so that the mucus bubble acts as a barrier that conceals the heartbeat from preying sharks... in the morning it eats the mucus bubble and carries on with it's day. If you disturb a parrot fish while it's in it's bubble, it won't be able to make another one that night and will be in danger until morning!!