One big point on my list of things to do while I’m in Cairns was diving at the Great Barrier Reef, said to be one of the best diving sites in the world. As I never had dived before the obvious solution was to do a so called intro dive. That’s a day trip to the reef with snorkeling and one scuba dive. Those trips cost (on a decently fast boat) about $180 to $230 for the day.

When I mentioned my plans to Andy he pointed out that due to the weak season (hello economy crisis) several companies cut the prices for their dive courses and there was some nice discounts out there. That way I’d get a four day dive course with two days in the pool and two days (five dives) at the reef for twice the price of a day trip. Plus I’d be a certified diver afterwards and could basically go diving on my own everywhere in the world.

Took me a couple of days before I made the decision to do the course. Unless I’d totally dislike diving it was too good a deal to pass on.

Day 1, Sunday Trying to get into a course with as few students as possible I booked one that starts on Sunday. Worked well, besides me there were just two other guys in the classroom. The morning of this first day was filled with theory and getting a medical examination by a doctor. The doc certified me fit for diving and we went to the swimming pool after lunch to have some practical education.

We started with collecting the gear and for scuba diving that’s a lot you have to collect. Tank, BCD, regulator, weights, fins, mask and wetsuit to be precise. For the next two hours we practised basic skills and got ourselves used to handling the gear.

[caption id=“attachment_269” align=“aligncenter” width=“380” caption=“Dive Equipment on the Boat”][/caption]

Day 2, Monday Today we went straight to the pool and started with swimming. Yes, swimming, everybody who wants to be a diver has to be able to swim 200m and stay on the surface for 10 minutes after that. Not too hard so everybody managed to do it and

There is a beautiful piece of earth called Atherton Tablelands just half a hour south of Cairns. I planned on going there for some time and for Sunday I got a couple of mates together and rented a car. Renting the car was quite cheap, my old boss gave me a discount and thus it was just $30 for the car instead of $55.

We planned on starting at 7:30 but changed our plans on short notice. Warm temperatures, stuffy bedrooms and partying neighbours don’t contribute to a good nights sleep.

We, that is Hiroko from Tokyo, my housemate Chris and Nico from the hostel. Both of them from France.

When we left Cairns at 8:30 the sun was already shining bright and it promised to become a warm day. We made our first stop on the road to Yungaburra and got a first impression of what the tablelands look like.

On our way farther into the tablelands we came across the Cathedral Fig Tree. That thing is about 500 years old and