Tobons Around the World: Paradise on Land and Water

The cities of Cairns and Port Douglas are nestled between two of natures greatest gifts to the world, the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef. After driving for hundreds of kilometers over the past week in both Southern Australia and Tasmania we were looking forward to spending sometime in the water enjoying some scuba diving in one of the world's best diving locations. However, our expectations were somewhat guarded since the cyclone had hit this part of the country just a few days earlier. Luckily news reports indicated that both Cairns and Port Douglas had been sparred the worst.

We arrived in Cairns early in the morning and we instantly fell in love with the city. The streets were full of shops, restaurants, and cafes and to top it off the weather was perfect! What also made the city so appealing was that the cyclone had scared away many of the tourists that would usually crowd the streets of this little city, which also meant that we could score some deals! As in every city we had been before, we were very anxious to check out our hostel...I booked another shared bathroom type of room :). Courtney has been a great sport throughout the trip and I certainly did not want to scare or disappoint her. The Dreamtime Hostel was rated as one of the top hostels in Australia, so what could go wrong? Fortunately, nothing went wrong and the place was great! Our next task, procuring a diving excursion for the following day. Diving at the Reef was one of the main reasons we got our diving certification a month earlier in Maui. Not only did we want a top of the line diving company, but we wanted to capitalize on any special deals that were going on. The hostel was able to help us with this and we booked a trip with the TUSA T5 diving company. They gave us a great discount and gave us the third dive for free! With business taken care of, we needed to feed our bellies and enjoy a delicious Australian cappuccino.

Dreamtime Hostel

The Lagoon, Cairns

One of our favorite spots in Cairns was the Lagoon. A large public salt water pool. Perfect for travelers who do not have a pool in their hotel/hostel!

Great Barrier Reef

The main reason for the long haul to the north eastern part of Australia was to scuba at the Great Barrier Reef. It spans over 2,600 KM, which makes it the worlds largest reef system. This amazing ecosystem is immense and it supports a wide and diverse set of organisms. Even though it is probably one of the most protected national parks in the world, the Reef's health is in peril. Increasing temperatures around in the oceans and flood runoff from the mainland is bringing in unwanted fresh water and dirt that kills of the coral and its marine life. If I were you I would get my butt here and swim it before it vanishes!

We dont have any underwater pictures since my camera case can only go down to 10 meters (30 feet). We dived three times at two different dive sites. The company we went with was absolutely fantastic. A fast and sharp looking boat took around thirty of us for an all day trip around the reef. We dived at depths between 30 feet and 60 feet. It was truly beautiful and it completely beat our expectations. We swam through canyons of corals and saw all kinds of crazy looking fish with the most phenomenal colors we had ever seen.

My buddy looks good for diving

Chilling in Port Douglas

We really enjoyed Cairns, but Port Douglas was even better. This is one place we will have to come back to some day. There are not as many tourist and everything just seems and looks cleaner and nicer. We got to stay at the very nice Sheraton Mirage Resort. Even though the hotel was built a while ago and it needed a face lift, its multiple salt and fresh water pools more than compensated for it. We got an upgraded room for our stay and we decided to chill and recharge before heading to Brisbane for our final four days in Australia.