My, a lot has happened since my last post. The main event of course was the scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef. First, it was a very exciting dive. I spotted a large manta ray, there were two sea turtles, giant clams, and of course hundreds of fish and gigantic stacks of coral. Visibility was about 10 meters, which is nice for the reef, but I had been spoiled by the 30 meters we had in the Cook Islands. The thought that there could be something so close, just out of sight, bugged me. One hour after the dive, during the boat ride back to Cairns, I started to feel uncomfortable in my chest. I had experienced a similar feeling in the Cook Islands and was able to sleep it off, so I wasn't too concerned. After I was back at Traveler's Oasis (my hostel where I ended up spending 10 nights) the pain escalated and I went to the medical center. But they couldn't tell what was the matter, so I was ambulanced to the Cairns Base Hospital. I was given oxygen and painkillers to deal with the matter, and they took an xray of my chest which revealed a pocket of air sitting outside my lungs and around my heart, likely caused by a pulmonary barotrauma, a pressure-induced leak of the lung. The xray in the morning showed improvement, so I was discharged with some more painkillers, and all discomfort was gone within two days. But the doctor said that I could not fly for 4 weeks. That was back on the 20th, 5 days before my scheduled flight to Singapore, so as a consequence, there have been some changes to my plans.
After a few days of shock and resolving the problems created by the injury, I finally was ready to start travelling again. I went on a two-day guided trip into the rainforest of the Atherton Tablelands. The journey began with a long, uphill bus ride. We were eventually wandering through rainforests, watching turtles and fish swim in lakes formed in the craters of extinct volcanoes, and wading into waterfalls. The only bummer was how much it rained. We went platypus-spotting along a creek, but none of the duck-billed creatures showed up. The second day consisted of bikeriding, more waterfalls, and a canoe trip (we tried to take on some rushing water, but quickly capsized).
I was then in Mission Beach, the town that was closest to the eyewall of Cyclone Yasi. That category 5 storm struck just over a month ago, so many businesses have not reopened, and numerous houses still have damage. In fact, mother nature herself appears the most wounded. Many of the trees have had all of their leaves and about half of their branches stripped. Along the beach, palm trees are completely knocked over. I volunteered for one week, which consisted of upkeeping facilities where workers were staying.
I've continued busing down the coast and am now in Airlie Beach, fresh from a sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands. We were at sea for two days and two nights. Obviously I was only able to snorkel, but the reefs and qunatity of fish were spectacular nonetheless. We saw turtles and some of the scuba divers saw a stingray and some juvenile sharks. There was also also a hike across one island to a beach where the sand is so old that it is fine like powdered sugar and almost as white. We had great weather the second day and third morning. The only problem with this trip was that visibility in the water was significantly down, on average about 4 meters.
Next stop is the Town of 1770. I'll be continuing down the east coast, back to Sydney, where I have a two stop flight to Kuala Lumpur on the 20th. Then on to China and the rest of the trip.
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