Cairns

After Sydney, which is in the southeast corner of Australia, we flew up to the tropical northeast corner of the country to Cairns. Despite the fact that our flight got in around 11pm, it was still in the 80's, and extremely humid. It was definitely a huge change from the New Zealand climate, and even from that of Sydney. It was kinda cool being in a more tropical and wild area (our shuttle driver told us that there were crocodiles in a creek next to the airport) and get a feel of the true Aussie experience. The second day in Cairns was the day of our trip out to the Great Barrier Reef - the biggest and most expensive activity of the Australia trip, but well worth the money because it was a day I'll never forget!

Our first day in Cairns, we headed a bit north of town to Palm Cove to hang out at the beach.

We're not in New Zealand anymore...

Don't let the clouds deceive you into thinking that the temperature was anywhere below the upper 80's in Cairns, which is actually only about 1000 miles from the equator - a big difference from New Zealand, which is the third closest country to Antarctica. 

We became regulars at this froyo store that was next door to our hostel.

On our second day, we had our big trip out to the Great Barrier Reef! 

The biggest fish I saw. It was probably at least two feet long!

Our first experience scuba diving! It was a bit scary at first because you have to breathe very slowly and equalize the pressure in your ears about every meter you swim down, but I'd like to try it again for sure.

After our scuba dive, we had the rest of the day to snorkel around the reef.

Obligatory snorkeling selfie!

On our third day in Cairns, we took a trip out of town again to one of the many rainforest areas nearby.

The town we were in had many local vendors. This tasty treat is blended strawberries, coconut, mango, and pineapple.

Not sure how or why the branch looks like this, but it's a natural formation!

I laughed way too hard at this bench set up with a view of the rubbish bin.

Looking out at the rainforest.

The view from the road back to Cairns.

Watching the sun rise from the Cairns airport as we waited for our 6am flight to Brisbane.