Sharks and Crocodiles

Another 5am alarm clock woke us up but this time it was because we were off on holiday! We got a domestic flight up to Cairns (which oddly takes longer than a flight from London to Faro) and once we arrived, our hostel sent a minibus to pick us up from the airport. Seemingly a good start, if it hadn’t been a too-cool-for-school hippy weirdo picking us up. When we arrived at the hostel, I suddenly had a series of flashbacks to Africa 2008 and quickly realised that I am not 18 anymore. It was a true backpacker hostel and I have never felt so out of place wheeling my floral Cath Kidston suitcase through the bar area whilst a teenage girl told us about the snooker competition happening that night where the loser has to jump in the pool. She genuinely asked if we were up for it. Needless to say, we politely declined. Instead we went out for a nice meal and a glass of wine.

The next morning we began our Open Water PADI course. I was a little bit overwhelmed when we first walked in and saw all of the equipment by the swimming pool thinking that I would never figure out how to use all that. However, after 4 hours of theory in the classroom a few things had become slightly clearer. After lunch we headed down to the swimming pool. We were informed that our group of 6 would be with Hiro. When we

first met Hiro, he was friendly and I thought he seemed nice. Little did I know that he truly was a hero and that he would turn a great trip into an amazing, unforgettable trip. He showed us how to set up all the gear, we put the 30kg on our backs and got straight in the pool. We spent nearly 3 hours in the pool going through various skills. By the time we had finished I was exhausted, wrinkly and overloaded with information from the whole day. That night we met up with Sparky and Katie who had spent 1 night on a boat doing their PADI/Advanced PADI courses so they told us all about what it’s like. In a lot of ways it made me feel more relaxed about doing it but they also dropped in a couple of scary comments which contributed to my overall apprehension and anxiety. The next morning I woke up an hour before our alarm was set feeling anxious about everything that day. What if I can’t equalise my ears? What if I don’t pass the exam? When we got there, we headed straight into the pool. I had a tiny panic when I thought I heard Hiro saying ‘Fast skill’ – are we going to need to do something really fast? I soon realised he was actually saying ‘First skill’ and I relaxed slightly. This pool session was shorter than the day before so lunchtime came soon enough and we headed to a burger place where we got free chips and a drink – happy days. However, I couldn’t hear anything out of my left ear because it was totally blocked so conversation was a little difficult. I couldn’t stop fretting about it, thinking that it would stop me diving in the ocean so we nipped off to a pharmacy so that I could get some eardrops. Then we had a short theory session before the final exam. Some of the questions were surprisingly tricky but since our

instructor had left the room we sneakily checked a few answers. Unfortunately, I have to admit that Matt beat me by 2 points. That night we went along to ‘ReefTeach’, a 2-hour lecture all about the marine life that we were likely to see when we went diving. Geeky in the extreme but it did mean that when we got out to the reef we actually knew what types of fish and coral we were looking at.

The next morning I woke up an hour early again, feeling anxious about just about everything I could possibly think of. What if I feel seasick? What if I can’t equalise my ears? What if I get an ear infection? What if I get eaten by a shark? What if I have an asthma attack? And so on. We left the hostel at 6:15 and were on the boat by 7:00. I took my seasickness pills and focused intensely on the horizon as we left Cairns. We had barely sat down on the boat when Hiro came along and told us to set up our gear. I panicked and completely forgot how to do that. Luckily, Matt was slightly calmer and generally has the capacity to remember things from the day before. So I copied him. Hiro then briefed us on what would happen when we get to the reef and then left us to stew for 2 and a half hours before we arrived. At one point I was distracted by a couple of dolphins we spotted but after they had disappeared I quickly went back to fretting. The good thing is once we got there it was all systems go and there was no time to think about it. We jumped in the water (as clear as a swimming pool) and descended “slowly, slowly”. It was actually pretty cool doing this in the ocean. Once we got to the bottom, Hiro made us do various skills like filling our masks with water and then clearing them. This was a bit freaky in the sea compared to the pool but we all managed it. Then we swam off and explored the dive site. It was awesome seeing all the coral up close and being surrounded by thousands of fish. But before long, it was time to ascend and once we got to the surface Hiro made us do some more skills like towing our ‘buddy’. After all these tasks we were exhausted and when we got out of the water all bedraggled I remember looking at Matt and saying ‘I’m not sure why people love this so much’. I wasn’t 100% convinced yet. On the next dive we had a similar amount of skills to complete but we had slightly longer to swim around and explore. The difference was - this time I absolutely loved it! A combination of feeling more comfortable and confident in the water as well as having more time to look at all the incredible fish. This was our last scuba dive of the day though and I was actually a little relieved because I was totally exhausted. Before supper, we had a chance just to go snorkelling which was amazing. It was great jumping in the water without 30kg on our backs! A lot of the coral was really close to the surface so we saw loads of fish and the highlight was a baby reef shark that came slinking through. It was our first shark sighting and although it was only small, it still counts! That evening the certified divers on the boat went out for a night dive. We watched from the boat knowing that this could be us tomorrow night. The nerves set in as I saw them

jumping into the cold water with the shadows of sharks circling around. I was definitely happy to be safe and warm on the boat!

The next morning we went down to 18metres for our deepest dive. I was a bit worried about how my ears would handle this, as they always took a little longer than others to equalise. But it was actually completely fine and I didn’t realise how deep we’d gone until I looked at my dive computer and realised it said 17.5 metres! I was buzzing after this dive because I was so pleased that I had made it that deep. Also I knew we only had 1 more dive to go before we could become certified Open Water Divers. For our final dive, we only had 2 skills to complete: compass navigation on the surface and then under water. These were quick and easy to complete. Once we had all finished, Hiro produced a waterproof slate that said ‘Open Water Divers!!!’. We all gave high fives and Hiro followed this up by doing a backwards somersault. Just like he did with any skill, he demonstrated and then gave us a signal to have a go ourselves. So we all set off on our backward roll. It was really fun and I was happy to have made it all the way around. Once I returned to an upright position though, I saw one of our group members was writhing around on the sand. It took me a moment to realise who it was and what had happened. Shelley had tried the somersault too close to the sand so she got half way round and got stuck in the sand! The funniest thing was that, because of how weightless we were, it was all happening in slow motion. It is hard to interpret expressions underwater but on this occasion I think it was clear that everyone, including Hiro, was laughing uncontrollably. Poor Shelley… Anyway, after this Hiro took us exploring the dive site and it ended up being one of my favourite dives. We swam around for ages and saw so much life everywhere. As soon as we got to the surface, the mocking of Shelley began and continued throughout the rest of the trp. In Hiro’s words, it was ‘soooo nice!’ After lunch it was time for Matt and I to go it alone. Along with the certified divers, we were briefed about the dive site and then expected to head out into the ocean and somehow find our way back to the boat. We listened so carefully and I thought I knew exactly what route we were going to do and felt confident that we would be able to navigate our way around. This all changed once we got underwater though. All these ‘obvious’ landmarks that had been described to us just looked like coral to me. As we cruised past each ‘bommie’, I had no idea which direction we were going in. We were both confident using a compass but it turns out it doesn’t work when you don’t have a clue where you are. Twice we had to pop up to the surface, check out where the boat was and then go back under and aim for that general direction. It was definitely a learning curve! That evening, I was actually looking forward to the night dive because I knew we would have an instructor to guide us! After supper, we stupidly went to the top of the boat to have a look at the fish. We could see 2 or 3 sharks circling and weaving in and out of the smaller fish. We were both getting more and more nervous and this wasn’t helped by our brief before the dive. The instructors seemed to find it funny to wind us up about the

sharks. In fact the instructor who took our group called us ‘team sharkbait’. It felt totally bizarre jumping into the pitch-black sea with just a glow stick attached to our air cylinder and a torch around our wrist. Because of my issues equalising, Matt and I went at the front just behind the instructor and this turned out to be a win. We were the first to see Brian, the massive green sea turtle, and were able to get the closest. After this, we spotted another massive sea turtle and again we got really close to it and just watched him chilling – he was probably wondering why we were looking at him. These were definitely the highlights of the night dive because unfortunately once we were in the water we didn’t actually see any of the sharks – it turns out they didn’t fancy hanging around with 20 humans blowing bubbles from steel cylinder tanks. The whole experience was completely surreal, somehow it was totally relaxing swimming in darkness. I was so scared before, I thought it was going to be something that I just had to get through and would feel pleased afterwards (like a bungee jump). But I loved every moment of it and would definitely do it again if I ever get the chance. After showering and getting into warm clothes we had a well deserved beer and sat in the living area. Everybody was buzzing talking about what they had seen. Hiro suggested a card game to our group so we played spoons (basically an aggressive, hectic version of musical chairs – if you don’t grab a spoon in time you are the loser). We had such a funny time and after only a couple of rounds, people were hovering nearby hoping to join the game. Quite a bizarre group of people from all around the world grabbing spoons as if their lives depended on it. Another surreal experience.

The next morning we were in the water by 6:15am. This was one of my favourite dives, the fish seemed busier than ever. I felt like we were swimming through rush hour in the barrier reef. We saw a shark, 2 sting rays and a sea turtle feasting on some coral for his breakfast. However, when it came to returning to the boat Matt and I pointed in exactly opposite directions. For once I felt quite confident that I knew the way. I showed Matt on the compass and he accepted that maybe he was wrong – sense of direction being one of his weak points (to put it lightly). So we headed back to the boat and I was just praying that soon the boat would come into focus and confirm that I hadn’t just taken us further away. Needless to say I was right! The last 2 dives gave us more time to practise our compass navigation – let’s just say it’s a little hit and miss. When we came to the surface after our last dive I actually felt really sad that the trip was nearly over. Although, it was a slight relief to take off all our heavy gear for the last time. We set off back to Cairns and I sat on the back of the boat looking at what we were leaving behind. The Great Barrier Reef was everything I hoped it would be and so much more. Scuba diving was 100 times better than I ever imagined it could be and I already can’t wait to go diving somewhere else.

That evening we met up with everyone from the boat in a restaurant in Cairns. Everybody was tired so we expected to just go for a drink and some food to show willing and then mosey home nice and early. It started off that way, chatting and reminiscing about the trip. But then Hiro arrived... He walked in to applause and cheering (because he was by far the best instructor on the boat). He was definitely on a mission to get drunk and was on hilarious form. We had barely finished dinner when he was marching us all to a sleazy club around the corner. Again I thought to myself, we’ll just have a drink or

two and then go home. It turned out to be one of our craziest nights out in Australia so far, led mainly by Hiro and his manic dancing. If Hiro is anything to go by, I now fully understand why Nick loved Japan so much.

ANOTHER early alarm woke us up the next morning as we had booked a trip into the rainforest. We were both hungover and feeling extremely sorry for ourselves. We had to wait in this old, weird-smelling train station for the first part of our trip; ‘a scenic rail up into the rainforest’. Finally the train arrived and we had to sit a little too close to a family with 2 stroppy teenagers arguing over the window seat. A bit too much for us to handle in our state. We quietly sipped our tea and coffee hoping the nausea would soon pass. Amazingly it did and we soon went into hyper chatty mode talking about everyone and everything on the trip. (The boat was very confined so there were no opportunities to discuss other people) This chattiness was interspersed by some amazing views from the train to take in so I was glad we got up early for it. Once we got to the main village, Kuranda, we had a quick brunch before heading to the ‘Skyrail’, a cable car that takes you over the top of the rainforest and gives amazing views from the rainforest all the way to the coastline. I thought this was awesome, if a little scary. Matt, on the other hand, was freaking out so much about the height and the possibility of the cable car falling and crashing that I don’t think he enjoyed it quite as much! Once we got to the bottom we were taken to Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures. This is what we were both looking forward to the

most. We had a tour of their crocodile farm, watched a snake show, went on a boat cruise surrounded by crocodiles and last but definitely not least… the crocodile attack show! Basically some crazy Australian guy goaded a (massive) crocodile with a dead chicken whilst prancing around the water’s edge barefoot. There were times when I really thought the crocodile was going to go for him instead of the chicken and it looked like he had some very narrow escapes. I was sitting there uncomfortably thinking, I hope I don’t see this man get eaten by a crocodile. Luckily he survived, as of course he does every day. Even so, it was very impressive. Well worth the visit.

On our final day, the flight didn’t leave until late afternoon so we wanted to make the most of the rest of our holiday. This was not going to happen in Cairns itself, which has no redeeming features apart from how easy it is to access other places. So we hopped on a ferry to Fitzroy Island, which we had heard was a beautiful island with good snorkelling. The only unfortunate part was that stinger season was nearly upon us where deadly jellyfish hang around the beaches. Even though it wasn’t quite November, I didn’t fancy being stung by the first jellyfish to turn up on the beaches. So we wore the stinger suits, which were essentially morph suits covering our heads, hands and feet. Looking like blue jelly babies, we plunged into the sea hoping to find some turtles. Although we were unsuccessful in this pursuit we managed to spot lots of the fish we had seen out at the Great Barrier Reef and a few new ones. The best was a fish we learnt about at reef teach. It had beautiful

colours and was only about the size of a hand but the strange thing was that it was actually looking back at us as we watched it. In all of our diving, not one fish had laid its eyes on us. This one was different, it would swim towards us a couple of inches then wiggle away backwards, then swim towards us and wiggle away backwards again. Oddly aggressive for such a small fish. And then the weirdest thing happened – as we swam away Matt felt something tap his flipper. He turned around to see this fish head-butt his flipper twice more! It was the feistiest fish we had seen all trip. At lunchtime we got the ferry back to Cairns and then made our way to the airport. Despite the fact that we were heading back to Manly, where it feels like we are living in a constant holiday, we both felt sad that such an incredible experience had come to an end. I haven’t been so far out of my comfort zone in a long time but it was totally worth it.