One man and his snorkel
Since I got the Whitsundays I seem to have spent a huge amount of time on the water. I booked myself on a 2-night trip aboard a sailing boat, although due to the total lack of wind we had no choice but to motor our way around the islands. I didn't get any hands-on sailing experience while on board although I had a good chat with the skipper and saw a bit of what was going on. However the highlight was the snorkelling around various coral reefs. I'd never done it before, never really considered it, but it turned out to be relatively simple once you get the hang of it and a fabulous way of seeing what lies beneath. Since snorkelling is by its nature in shallow water the astounding colours of everything really show off. The fish are nothing short of iridescent while the coral seem to specialise in being every colour you never think existed outside of artificial food colourings.
The best of the snorkelling thus far was a couple of days ago off Townsville, which is located vaguely between Airlie Beach (from where the Whitsunday island trips originate) and Cairns (the main barrier reef hub). It was a lengthy 2 1/2 hour trip out to the reef on a speedy motor diving boat, but the reef was superb. Aside from a small island of sand lying precariously above the water, everything around was submerged, albeit only just. The reef came in every form from coral islands to vast plateux of just submerged reef. There seemed to be everything, a lot of it, and often in super-sized proportions. Blue starfish and black prickly-looking sea cucumbers adorned much of the shallow lying reef while masses of fish in every size inhabited the space between the reef and the surface. Some, bearing mouths of rather buck-teeth could clearly be heard chomping on edges of coral and although many times their size I could drift not many centimetres above them without causing alarm. The highlight was spotting a white-tip shark lying at the bottom of a hole in the reef. Shortly after being spotted it decided to swim off, much to the delight of the onlooking snorkellers. Hopefully none of my masked companions was daft enough to be worried about the prospect of it taking their leg off or similiar, it was after all something of a tiddler by shark standards although quite big enough to be perfectly impressive for us.
As for Australia as a whole, I've heard a number of fellow travellers describe the country as something of a retro experience. I suspect this might be due to the streets being lined still with family owned stores, rather than the identikit high-streets we enjoy at home all offering the same couple of dozen chain stores, while some of business names long since lost from the UK such as Tandy and Radio Rentals are still going here. There's a certain character and charm to be noted as well, as old buildings from the late 19th and early 20th century have remained and are still in use, although almost always in a guise quite at odds with what the engraved business name on the building frontage states. It's good to see though, not least as they're in what I can best liken to a Wild West style of architecture and due to having spent several months in Asian countries where seemingly no regard is given to hanging on to anything historical and woe betide with something of character. There are elements of North America here, perhaps not unsurprisingly as both are countries of the colonial Western European New World, built upwards from scratch, although the Americas had a few hundred years head start. Everything is spacious with low housing density, good weather to encourage sizeable properties and plenty of land to go around of course.
I'd definitely say that the elements we prize in our surroundings at home have been adopted here, albeit in an adapted form to suit to the rather different surrounds. Streets and pavements are well finished and entirely lacking the Russian or Chinese style holes or protuding concrete or metalwork that might potentially cause injury. Similarly gardens are well manicured despite water restrictions and houses freshly painted and looked after. Attention to detail and personalised touches abound in residental areas, unrestricted by the more conservative finishes and regulations that constrain the appearances of British homes generally.
The general atmosphere is relaxed, and aside from a punch-up between two cafe owners at a coach stop yesterday no-one seems to get too bothered or hot under the collar, despite a climate that might urge otherwise. It's a fine place with good, friendly people and a good standard of living from what I can see, although I've yet to be inside any Aussie houses to see just how they're kitted out. Yet to be in a country that drives on the left, where you can drink the tap water and flush toilet paper down the loo, it strikes me that Australia has got a lot of the important points of daily life just right.
The best of the snorkelling thus far was a couple of days ago off Townsville, which is located vaguely between Airlie Beach (from where the Whitsunday island trips originate) and Cairns (the main barrier reef hub). It was a lengthy 2 1/2 hour trip out to the reef on a speedy motor diving boat, but the reef was superb. Aside from a small island of sand lying precariously above the water, everything around was submerged, albeit only just. The reef came in every form from coral islands to vast plateux of just submerged reef. There seemed to be everything, a lot of it, and often in super-sized proportions. Blue starfish and black prickly-looking sea cucumbers adorned much of the shallow lying reef while masses of fish in every size inhabited the space between the reef and the surface. Some, bearing mouths of rather buck-teeth could clearly be heard chomping on edges of coral and although many times their size I could drift not many centimetres above them without causing alarm. The highlight was spotting a white-tip shark lying at the bottom of a hole in the reef. Shortly after being spotted it decided to swim off, much to the delight of the onlooking snorkellers. Hopefully none of my masked companions was daft enough to be worried about the prospect of it taking their leg off or similiar, it was after all something of a tiddler by shark standards although quite big enough to be perfectly impressive for us.
As for Australia as a whole, I've heard a number of fellow travellers describe the country as something of a retro experience. I suspect this might be due to the streets being lined still with family owned stores, rather than the identikit high-streets we enjoy at home all offering the same couple of dozen chain stores, while some of business names long since lost from the UK such as Tandy and Radio Rentals are still going here. There's a certain character and charm to be noted as well, as old buildings from the late 19th and early 20th century have remained and are still in use, although almost always in a guise quite at odds with what the engraved business name on the building frontage states. It's good to see though, not least as they're in what I can best liken to a Wild West style of architecture and due to having spent several months in Asian countries where seemingly no regard is given to hanging on to anything historical and woe betide with something of character. There are elements of North America here, perhaps not unsurprisingly as both are countries of the colonial Western European New World, built upwards from scratch, although the Americas had a few hundred years head start. Everything is spacious with low housing density, good weather to encourage sizeable properties and plenty of land to go around of course.
I'd definitely say that the elements we prize in our surroundings at home have been adopted here, albeit in an adapted form to suit to the rather different surrounds. Streets and pavements are well finished and entirely lacking the Russian or Chinese style holes or protuding concrete or metalwork that might potentially cause injury. Similarly gardens are well manicured despite water restrictions and houses freshly painted and looked after. Attention to detail and personalised touches abound in residental areas, unrestricted by the more conservative finishes and regulations that constrain the appearances of British homes generally.
The general atmosphere is relaxed, and aside from a punch-up between two cafe owners at a coach stop yesterday no-one seems to get too bothered or hot under the collar, despite a climate that might urge otherwise. It's a fine place with good, friendly people and a good standard of living from what I can see, although I've yet to be inside any Aussie houses to see just how they're kitted out. Yet to be in a country that drives on the left, where you can drink the tap water and flush toilet paper down the loo, it strikes me that Australia has got a lot of the important points of daily life just right.
posted by Daniel at 10:51 pm
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