Australia: Part V of V

When: 5 January – 12 January

Where: Cairns/Great Barrier Reef/Gold Coast

We got up from Samir’s place and walked the 30ish minutes to the airport. I was really excited to get to Cairns (pronounced “cans”). I mean, scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef...epic.

Once we landed safely in Cairns and got to our hostel, we asked Dustin* at the front desk for his suggestion on a good place to grab some brunch. He recommended the Lilli Pad Café.

*Dustin was the man. He was Nate’s selection for, “Most Helpful Person in Australia.” He put together a solid case. This was just the beginning of Dustin helping us get around Cairns.

Lilli Pad had, quite possibly, the best and most reasonably priced selection of food in Australia. The first morning I ordered the Huevos Rancheros. I got two scrambled eggs, ham, potatoes, a big bowl of refried beans, and some tortilla chips. It was incredible. It was an interest situation, though, because Nate ordered the Breakfast Burrito and it looked redonk. Regardless, my breakfast was amazing and the place had a pretty sweet hippie vibe that reminded me of being in Lawrence*.

*Oh, how I miss Lawrence…

After the amazing meal, we headed back to our hostel to relax for a bit. This coincided with my Choys* playing at Indy in the playoffs.

*Very long story short, the Choys are the Chiefs.

I felt pretty good about this game. I wasn’t “expecting” us to win, but I thought the matchup was good and that the Chiefs D could keep Luck and the Colts at bay if we got a 1^st half lead. Grrrrrrr. It is a good thing that I didn’t get to see this game, because I probably would have cried*.

*I usually take large sports defeats two ways:

1) Quiet heartbreak. Last year after the Michigan loss, I was very quiet. That loss was heartbreaking because it was the exact opposite of what was characteristic of that team. They were a veteran team that held it together and closed out games all year. I also handled the UNI and VCU games this way. I would say about 93% of big sports losses are handled this way.

2) Rage. This doesn’t happen nearly as often. This is random, but I think the angriest I ever was after a KU loss was when we lost at Texas Tech back in 2005 (I believe). I have seen some terrible officiating in my life, but I stand by the traveling call on Aaron Miles at the end of that game as the worst. His entire left eye had ballooned shut during his press conference from the poke in the eye he suffered on that play and they called a travel. Tech then hits a 3 with something like 2.1 seconds left and wins. I was livid. The other one that stands out was losing at Tennessee in 2010. That was the first loss for the Hawks that year and I was in Mexico with family on vacation. The fact that I was drinking (legal in Mexico because I was 19) and had money on the game probably didn’t help.

I feel that Chiefs game would have started a third category. It sounds like the game started amazing and then it was a slow, painful (literally injury-riddled) road to what Kansas City sports fans have become all too familiar with. I probably would have sat and wept just realizing that I should have seen it coming all along.

Anyway, back to happy thoughts. The first day in Cairns was really chill. Our 5-day scuba certification/trip didn’t begin until the next day, so we were free to do whatever we wanted. We thought that we would go check out either American Hustle or Anchorman 2 at the local cinema.

Turns out that a movie in Australia is $17.50. Pass.

We went back to the hostel and watched Elysium on our laptop. It was, eh. I think Nate said it best when he said that it was an intriguing plot, but fairly poor execution.

Every Sunday the hostel, Northern Greenhouse, has free Aussie BBQ. This means free hot dogs. We weren’t complaining.

We had heard from Dustin, at the front desk, about a guy who went scuba diving* recently and had a lung explode.

*Cairns is the hub for diving on the GBR. It was a nice town with a bunch of kids around our age hanging out and learning to dive.

Apparently he decided that he should hold his breath on his way up: the biggest no-no in diving. This kind of freaked me out although it shouldn’t have. Anyway, we get back to our room at night and I am knackered. I crawl into bed at 7:30pm and the New Zealand guy in the bunk above me starts giving me a hard time. Nothing bad, just the typical, “Grow a pair. I thought all Americans liked to go get messed up.” We keep talking for a little bit and it turns out he is the guy whose lung exploded. He said that the doctor said he should be dead. He can’t fly for a month and was more-or-less stranded in Cairns. He seemed like a good dude, it was just kind of funny how all of that went down.

****

The next morning we were picked up by Pro Dive Cairns* to start our dive training.

*First-class organization. Highly recommend them to anyone diving the GBR.

We got to their training center and started off with a bunch of paperwork. We then had to complete 4 different individual quizzes before our final exam to pass the written portion. These quizzes amounted to our instructor, Perry Roos*, putting on a video and going to get a cup of coffee. The videos were roughly 45 minutes apiece and with 5 minutes remaining in the video he would write all the correct answers on the board.

*Perry turned into a folk hero of sorts to Nate and I. I will drop Perry references throughout this blog.

It was pretty basic knowledge. The first two quizzes I tried to answer on my own and then realized that there was no point and I should just wait for Perry to write the answers on the board.

Lisa was Nate and I’s pool instructor. Our group, about 20, was split into two smaller groups. One with Perry and one with Lisa. Lisa was awesome. She is a really cool chick from Scotland that loves to dive.

The first morning was all classwork and the first afternoon was all pool training. This was the first time we learned about/put on all the gear. It was a lot of fun learning about all the equipment that is used. We were in the pool for about 2.5 hours that first day.

After our training was done for the day, we headed to the Esplinade (their beach area) to play some sand volleyball. This is a weekly event in Cairns and it was a lot of fun to play; I hadn’t played beach volleyball in way too long.

Dinner was up next after volleyball. We headed to a place that was highly recommended on TripAdvisor, Little Ricardo’s. We used TripAdvisor for suggestions a lot on this trip and they were almost always right-on. I got the spaghetti marinara with seafood (pictured below). Fantastic meal.

Our “homework” for that night was to learn how to read this diving chart that they give you to tell how much Nitrogen is left in your body after each dive. Apparently Nitrogen is the stuff that forms in your body/bones when deep under water. Too much and you can be in trouble, so there is this chart that tells you how long you can dive at each depth and how long to wait until your next dive.

****

We started the next morning in the pool to try out different masks and fins. The mask is the key. My mask, the generic one, the first day really hurt and was frustrating. The second day they let you try on all the different types of masks that fit different faces. Once we got a mask that felt right, we got to do a couple more training exercises in the pool.

The mask felt great, but I had some water that kept leaking into the bottom of my mask. “I guarantee it is because of your ‘moose-stache,’” Lisa said. They had warned us the day before that facial hair will cause water to seep into your mask when diving.

I was distraught. Everything I had worked for…my entire body of work in Indonesia, gone. Just like that. Ripped from my hands.

For those of you that had February 2014 as the first time there would be a bathroom mirror selfie on mattinindonesia.blogspot.com, cash your tickets.

Lunch that day was at a local bar and grill called Grill’d. I got the lamb burger. It was pretty good.

Our next stop after lunch was to go to their dive shop if anyone wanted to buy any of their own diving gear. I knew I wanted to get a mask because they really do make that big of a difference, and they last forever. The one-piece fins they had for us suited me just fine, so I just got the mask and a snorkel.

We then headed back to the training center to take our final exam. I passed.

That night, we attended a 2-hour presentation from Garreth, from South Africa, called “Reef Teach.” He walks you through all the different wildlife you will see while diving the GBR and tells you what you should be looking for. It was very informative and he knows what he is talking about.

****

We had to be at the dive shop early the next morning to get to the boat and get in the water as early as possible. Once on the boat, they walked us through where everything was and gave us our rooms. The boat had 20-some rooms and our room was just a bunk bed. There really wasn’t any need for anything else, though. We just needed a place to sleep*.

*Nate and I both reflected after on how surprisingly un-claustrophobic the boat was. We spent 3 days and 2 nights on it, but we never really felt the, “Get me off this boat,” feeling.

The ride out to our first diving location was about 3 hours. The ride was pretty bumpy, but I was able to sleep through it for a couple of hours.

(inside main area of boat)

(diving deck)

Throwing on the gear for the first time was really awesome. You are super excited to get into the water, you feel really cool with all the gear, and you thoroughly check your buddy during the “buddy check” to make sure they are ready to go.

Here is the process of getting all of your diving equipment on:

1) Put stinger suit over swimsuit.

2) Pose for camera.

3) Make sure that your air tank is firmly in place on the back of your jacket.

4) Connect your regulator to the air tank.

5) Put on weight belt.

(Nate sucks at taking pics)

6) Pose for camera with weight belt on.

7) Turn air on.

8) Make sure that air is flowing. Your air should start at around 200 bar.

(before air is turned on)

(after air is turned on)

9) Put on mask with snorkel attached.

10) Snorkel in for when at the surface.

(sweet finger, Nate)

11) Regulator in for when under water.

The first dive was a lot more comfortable than I thought it would be. We had done this in the pool, just not at this depth. For me, once I equalized* for the first time and my head didn’t explode, I felt comfortable and ready to explore.

*Equalizing is when you blow through your nose and make your ears pop like on an airplane.

The first dive was mostly just showing Lisa that we could do all the skills that we practiced in the pool. It was a pretty dive, but I was much more concerned with how everything was working/the fact that I was actually scuba diving than admiring the beauty around me.

Lunch was ready for us once we got back onto the boat*.

*They feed you very well while on the boat. They had one chef, Weronika (from Sweden), and she knew what she was doing.

Each dive took about 45 minutes on average. Nate went through his air slightly faster than I did mine on our dives, but it was no problem. If we were going off of my air tank we probably could have averaged another 5-10 minutes a dive.

Our second dive on the first day was gorgeous. There were tons of pretty coral* and we got to see a good-sized sea turtle in action.

*One thing I learned at Reef Teach was that coral has no color. The color is actually the algae that is growing on the coral.

The only time that we had for snorkeling was the late afternoon of the first day. Nate and I snorkeled for about 45 minutes. We were at an ideal spot for snorkeling where you could see tons of coral, cleaner fish, and we even saw our first reef shark. Nate and I both agreed that we were surprisingly cool when seeing the shark for the first time. He just kind of did his own thing.

Dinner was great. Don’t even remember what we had, but I’m sure it was great because all the meals were great.

You will notice that basically all you do on the boat is sleep, eat, and dive. It was a great schedule.

****

You wake up really early in the morning when on the boat, but it is worth it. The morning dives are really pretty and a great way to start the day.

We saw more coral and another turtle during this dive.

Our second dive of the day was our last before being officially certified. We got the Open Water certification which means you can dive up to 18 meters in open water. The next step is the Advanced Open Water certification which allows you to go up to 30 meters.

(Jen, my dive instructor)

(Taryn, my favorite)

(the legendary Perry Roos, yee*)

*Perry didn't say "uhh" as a space-filler. He said, "Yee," a form of "yeah." Example: Our max depth on this dive will be about 17 meters, yee.

Officially certified. Captain Sam then moved the boat to our next location.

Nate and I had our first dive by ourselves in the afternoon. It was really cool being able to go wherever we wanted and not having to follow Lisa around. Being underwater was really peaceful and is something that I can’t really describe. It just needs to be experienced. For the first dive on our own, Nate led and I followed. I moved a little bit quicker than Nate did, so it was a good thing that I had the underwater camera* for that first dive. It kept me occupied while Nate was checking everything out.

*We rented an underwater camera for 3 dives. It was only $70 and we had to have some pictures of our dives on the GBR.

(these guys were awesome; you move your hand to emulate a current and they hide back into the coral)

After we had lasagna for dinner*, Nate and I started “There Will Be Blood” on our laptop. It started off promising.

*My favorite meal in the world is my mom’s lasagna. Any other type of lasagna always disappoints.

About halfway through the movie, duty called and we headed up to get our gear on for our one and only night dive. This was easily the coolest dive of the trip.

At night, a bunch of the reef sharks circle the boat and you are instantly surrounded by them once you get into the water. The only thing was that I didn’t see any as soon as I got in the water. The boat gave off plenty of light, so that wasn’t the problem. I was a little disappointed.

The night dive is surprisingly peaceful. You are given a flashlight and you can see whatever you are pointing at. One of the cooler things that you can do at night is wave your arm back-and-forth rapidly underwater. Some type of plankton or something glows in the dark when you move the water quickly. You can see specs of neon green when you move your arm/hand quickly enough. Trippy.

Lisa and the other dive instructors told us that this location was great for seeing giant turtles. During the night dive, we saw two huge turtles resting in their little cave. The instructor shined his red flashlight so we could see the turtles without disturbing them.

After seeing some other fish, we started our trek back to the surface. There were the sharks. Probably 10 of them circling us/the boat. None of them got too close to me, but Nate had one go between his legs and brush up against him chasing its dinner; thankfully, dinner wasn’t Nate. An absolutely crazy experience that was incredible.

We then watched the end of “There Will Be Blood.” That movie sucked.

****

Another early wakeup led to another great dive. Ever since I was introduced to snorkeling in Cozumel, I have loved it. I feel the same way after learning to dive. Snorkeling is great because you can see such amazing stuff. But when you dive you are actually amongst the stuff. You are where the fish are. It is so tough to described, but I am definitely hooked.

After a quick breakfast break, we were back in the water. Nate had the camera and I was leading on this dive.

The third dive of that day (our final dive on the GBR) had to be done before lunch so that we would get back to Cairns in the late afternoon. This led to some very short periods of time between dives. This was no problem. Once you get in the water, you just want more.

Nate led and I took photos during our last dive. This dive had the best coral/was the most scenic in my opinion.

(Nate doing his best James Sims impersonation)

(there is a ray under the coral)

As we were heading back to the surface, I actually thought to myself that this is probably the last look I will ever have of the GBR. I was sad for about 1.3 seconds before realizing how incredibly blessed I am that I got to experience it at all.

There was an organized get together for everyone on the boat that night back in Cairns, but we didn’t make it out. We got some solid Mexican food and Nate started to feel a little off from the difference in pressure from all the dives.

Nate held up extremely well during the entire trip until the very end when he started feeling a little off.

After dinner we grabbed some gelato and Nate said he started to feel worse. We headed to a 24-hour medical place in Cairns (thanks to Dustin’s help) and the doctor told Nate that he was probably suffering from a little bit of decompression sickness.

We went back to the hostel to get some rest before our long journey back to Jakarta.

****

The next morning we slept in and then headed to Lilli Pad for another round of dope breakfast before catching our flight to Gold Coast. This time, I went with the Breakfast Burrito. It was the best I’ve ever had.

The cheapest way to get to Jakarta from Cairns was to fly Cairns-Gold Coast-Singapore-Jakarta. Our flight got us into Gold Coast in the early evening.

The airport was about a 40-minute walk from the main beach area. We walked down there to get some food before we would head back to the airport to crash for the night before our morning flight.

We found a place called the Burger Lounge that had some pretty great burgers (I had a lamb burger) and sweet potato fries.

We walked up and down the beach for a while to kill some time.

(we built this family on loyalty)

Then we grabbed some gelato before walking back to the airport. We got back to the airport around 9pm. Unfortunately, the Gold Coast airport is not open 24/7. They kicked us out around 10:30pm. They reopened at 4:30am which left us a cool 6 hours to kill in Gold Coast.

Our first move was to walk back to the beach area and we found a bar where we each had a couple Cokes to put some caffeine in our bodies. Once we got kicked out of there at around 1am, we found a nice table in a park to watch a movie. We watched Despicable Me 2.

(I mean, how great are minions?)

After that, we headed back to the airport and only had about 30 minutes to kill before we were let back in.

Nothing terrible, but not ideal.

****

Nate had been able to carry all of his liquids everywhere in Australia because they were all domestic flights. Unfortunately, the international flight was having none of it and we had to get rid of all his liquids. This included a bottle of the honey liquor from the family winery we visited (featured in Post III). Nate was still feeling a little headache and didn’t want to drink any alcohol before the flight. This left me with a bottle of liquor and about 30 minutes before needing to check in through security. I’d like to think I did the best I could.

Surprisingly, the television near the gate was showing the Seahawks-Saints playoff game. I was more focused on reading all the tweets about KU taking care of business in the Sunflower Showdown earlier in the morning.

The 7.5 hour flight to Singapore was boring, but that is a good thing with air travel.

Nate and I parted ways in Singapore to catch our different flights back to Jakarta.

Apparently Nate had some trouble being allowed to get his boarding pass to Jakarta, but it all worked out.

Got back to my apartment around 7pm. I was really lucky because usually the line for a taxi at the airport is crazy long, but I jumped right into an Express taxi and got home very quickly for Jakarta standards.

What a vacation!! I am so blessed to have been able to do this once-in-a-lifetime trip with a great friend. The phrase I kept telling everyone from back home during the trip was “stimulus overload.” We did something epic nearly every day of the trip. It was incredible.

Thank you to everyone following along with the blog. Hopefully all the reading was worth it.

God bless !!