Good Day Matey—

This morning morning we left Brisbane and flew to Cairns. It was a 2.5 hour flight and everything went very smooth. Our Globus guide Sandy, had us all organized and our check in at the airport and at the hotel was easy.

Cairns is a laid back city with a very busy night life. It is also home to the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest. The population here is about 150,000 people and the average temp is 85 degrees.

We checked into the Pullman Hotel, which is a beautiful hotel that has a tropical vibe. We got situated and all headed to the Cairns Aquarium. It takes groups in after hours and we got a private tour with a guide.

A couple interesting facts we learned on our way through the waters…. Besides being delicious, the Barramundi is both a fresh and salt water fish. The female lays approximately 32 MILLION eggs and all are born male. Weird right? But it gets weirder…..After the male matures and goes through at least one spawning season, they become female.

Another fish with the same but opposite transition is called the Hump headed Wrasse. It is large and puffy is found in the coral reefs. Born female, at about age 9 they transition into males. In the pictures below, he is the bluish fish with thick lips but when he was a she, she was purple in color.

We saw snakes and bugs and lizards, beautiful coral, sting rays and sharks.

After the tour, we went to a restaurant called Dundees where they had crocodile egg rolls that most of THEM tried.

The day ended for us with a walk back to our hotel and in that short time, we passed three UGG stores inviting me in to shop.    I so wish I could but my luggage is at its limits.    We also passed the Night Market which is a, for lack of a better word, flea market that opens at 4:30 p.m.  We walked through and it was jam packed.  There were tons of vendors, many of which were offering massages and foot massages.  

That’s all for now….gotta get my swimmers on for the Great Barrier Reef. More tomorrow.

Cici at Sea signing off.