Great Barrier Reef/Kuranda, Australia 16th April 2023

On Friday morning we boarded the Reef Magic boat for a 90 minute journey, approximately 45 km, to the outer reef.  We arrived at their pontoon, which appeared as though it were floating in the middle of the ocean, where we would spend the day.  The pontoon itself is large and comprises two decks and an underwater observatory.  We had the option of participating in a range of activities; predictably Paul spent much of his time snorkelling (the visibility was much clearer than on the Whitsundays and Fitzroy), and we also went out both in a glass bottom boat as well as a semi-submersible.  Just about squeezing in time for a delicious buffet lunch.  Although Sue wasn't keen to be photographed in hers, there's a picture of Paul wearing his very fetching stinger-suit.  We got back to Cairns around 6pm.

The next day we were picked up at 9.30 am and dropped at the Skyrail terminal where we took the cable car up to the small village of Kuranda in the tropical rainforest.  We had to change cable car a couple of times where we had the opportunity to view a waterfall and do a short boardwalk.  Once at the top, we chose to visit the Koala Gardens and saw six sleepy koalas and a range of other Australian wildlife.  After lunching in a vegan cafe, we did a couple of the walking trails, one in the rainforest and one by the river.  Our return journey was on the scenic railway which took two hours for the journey back down to Cairns.  We shared the return journey with a friendly Aussie family from Sydney who gave us hints and tips of what we should do there.