Welcome to this brand new episode of Wild of the World, and as you can see, we’re in Queensland. This is Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef. Let’s go.
Previously, you saw the start in Darwin. This four-wheel drive, Hilux camper van took us into the wild in the Northern Territory. And now we drive it all the way to the East Coast.
We were on our way to Cairns when we stopped at a town called Babinda. Over here, we got a little campsite that’s free. We found it on WikiCamps.
We’re going to do some grocery shopping, and we’re going to have some shelter from the rain in our tent because I don’t think we have a lot of sun in Babinda today. Look at this, but it’s a romantic right.
We don’t mind a little rain, and we’re already surrounded by the tropical rainforest. Over here, we found one of the most amazing nature campgrounds. Totally free.
The Coast between Townsville and Cairns is also known as the Cassowary Coast, because you can find this prehistoric-looking bird called the Cassowary. We didn’t see him yet, but I saw another one a little bit smaller, which was very strange, too. I’ll show you. This is an Australian brush turkey, also named Bush turkey. It’s known to be a delicacy for the Aboriginals.
We drive on, and I can promise you we’ll find Cassowaries later.
Good morning. Today we’re going on a tour with East Coast tours to the most beautiful reef in the world. Of course, I’m talking about the great Barrier Reef, and we’re going to be snorkeling at two places in the so-called Upolu Reef. One of them in the shallows is called Upolu Cay, and the other one, with the beautiful name, Wonderwall, is more at the edge of the Upolu Reef. They’re both supposed to be among the best places places to go snorkeling around here, so I’m curious as to what we’re going to see today.
We take an Uber through Cairns to the Reef Fleet terminal at the Marlin Marina. On a boat called Ocean Freedom, we sail through the Harbour, straight into the heart of the Great Barrier Reef. We sailed for about an hour. I’ve got my mask on. It’s time for the first snorkeling spot, guys. I’ve only been in the water for one minute when beneath me, a white-tip reef shark swims by. To my surprise, just on the other side, I spot a black-tip reef shark.
There are so many beautiful creatures to see, like this blue tang, nowadays, better known as dory.
I see a giant Moray that’s about two metres long. The vision is not that great, but I saw two sharks. I saw a big moray, and I saw Dory. Found her.
How many turtles did we see? Two. Jens and Seus joined the Glass Bottom boat tour, and they actually see a green sea turtle from there. Swimming back to the boat, I do another little expedition at the Wonderwall.
We had Snorkeling Spot 1. In between, we have the lunch. I have a nice craft bear over here, and we’re going to the second snorkeling place. But what can I say about this day, guys, the sun is shining, and we’re in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef, so I say, cheers.
On this special day in nature paradise, Jens is also going for his first snorkeling experience.
imagine being five years old and telling your friends at school about the Great Barrier Reef. So this is what what snorkeling spot number two looks like, guys. I must say it looks promising, and the water here is sublime. So I hope we have good vision, a nice reef. Let’s see some fish.
In the shallows, the colours come out even better. How awesome. We already found Dory at the previous site, but down here is Nemo as well. They even live in the exact same house as in the movie.
A blue-spotted ribbon tail ray slides by. Do you think he’s picking up Nemo for school? Oh, wow. We’re ticking off all the boxes today because down here, there’s a turtle. I was following him around. Awesome. We see so many beautiful things here. You can go from one piece of coral to another, and there’s so much to see. Really incredible.
The fish here are this size. Yeah. This giant Trevalli weighs about 80 kilos. The other ones are spangled emperors, also known as Northwest snappers. Snap.
We head back to Cairns because it’s time to explore this place above water. It’s Sunday morning and we’re just being a bit lazy on the campsite. Oh, no, we’re not. We’re going into town for a little city safari in Cairns, and there are a lot of churches, so that’s perfect for a Sunday.
The church is in session, and on a Sunday, Cairns is super quiet and relaxed.
This is Cairns, the centre of North Queensland for the tourism, but also with some history.
The town was founded in 1876 and named after the governor of that time. It used to a miners’ town and also an important place for exporting sugar cane. And we already saw that cane train on the way, remember?
We visit the most important old buildings in town, like the St. Joseph’s Convent. But Cairns also has some modern architecture. And a lot of Asian places ever since the Chinese immigrants came over to Australia. We see the influences everywhere. Some nice historic buildings are the City Council, the old Barrier Reef Hotel, the impressive Poland Centre, and the Adelaide Steamship Building.
We end our little city safari in the most popular spot of Cairns, which is the Cairns Esplanade. It’s a nice boulevard with some shops, you can go to restaurants, and this is also the place where the boats depart towards the Great Barrier Reef. And so It was we yesterday, but today we’re here for some other entertainment, which is the Esplanade Lagoon, because right in the middle of the city, you can have a nice refreshing dive in this beautiful lagoon.
Cairns is like sea world in real life, with marine animals everywhere, like these pelicans. But the highlight of the Esplanade is the Esplanade Lagoon, the beating heart of Cairns, where both locals and tourists hang around. And by the way, I think that this is actually the biggest free pool that I’ve ever seen in my life.
It’s all because you cannot swim here in the water because of crocodiles and jellyfish, and that’s also a beach. Wow. Chilling at the beach.
I’ve got one more very important tip for you guys. If you go here right to the city centre of Cairns, you should go on a Sunday because we’re here on a Sunday and the parking was free. I’m still a Dutch guy.
Good morning. We had a wonderful night’s rest after the day in the Great Barrier Reef. I always find that in my dreams, I’m still exploring the coral, looking for fishes, and I also got some sore muscles. But it doesn’t matter because today we’re going on another East Coast Tour. We woke up early, and this time we’ll be exploring above water in the Great Barrier Reef. We’re going to a little tropical island on the reef.
The comfortable big cat will take us to Green Island. And luckily, on board, we can get some more coffee. This island is an absolute must visit to really enjoy the nature around Cairns. Today we visit the most beautiful Coral Island within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
We took a boat. It took us about 45 minutes from Cairns to end up in nature paradise called Green Island. It’s a tiny island, but it has everything. You can walk around in 30 minutes to find tropical rainforest, beautiful white, sandy beaches, and the most beautiful underwater world right in front of you.
The island has many birds, and following this convenient boardwalk, we explore the tropical rainforest.
Green Island is in fact a beautiful green island, as you can see all around me, but it wasn’t named after its colour. It was named after the chief observer on board with the boat that brought Captain James Cook with this island, and his name was Charles Green. But it is very green too, and the jungle is amazing. Come on, Jens.
On the remote side of the island, we check out the beach. Let’s also see what this island looks like with the drone.
The island is only 600 metres long and 300 wide. It has been a protected nature sanctuary since 1934.
It’s time because every day I’m snorkeling. So the coral isn’t on every part of the island. So I’m now walking to the best spot to see some nice colourful coral and maybe some turtles. Nice fish.
And my wish is soon granted because Green Island is like an aquarium. So much life all around. What do you think about this giant Cowtail stingray? Having lunch over there.
There are, of course, some sea turtles joining the party today. But the most particular catch of the day was the poisonous Lionfish, swimming just a little bit too close to Sus and Jens.
That must have been one of the best snorkeling sessions I ever had in my life, with the turtle, with the sting rays, the spotted ones, the big one, and of course, all the super bright-coloured fish. The coral is nice too, and I think we topped yesterday.
It’s time to leave again, but how was the snorkeling here, Suus? Most awesome ever.
It really was. We saw so many beautiful things.
Jens is talking about the Lionfish that we saw with his tentacles that are very poisonous.
It’s pizza time. We hang out at the campsite, and Australia is not really helping us to keep a strict diet, because the campsite actually offers free pancake today.
We say goodbye to Cairns, but Queensland has plenty more in store for us.
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Oh, wait, wait, wait. I almost forgot. My special thanks to the cast of Finding Nemo.