The GBR Awaits

I have been feeling pretty down the last few days here in Cairns. I think my low mood has mostly been caused by a lack of distraction from memories of more familiar times, coupled with my continuing bad luck with people who snore quite loudly. I’m in my third different hostel room now; the second night was so annoying that I decided to book my own room for the rest of my stay here. I had a Chinese guy move in that would make these strange airplane sounds in between snoring bouts, followed by an extended period of what sounded like a absence of breath, which led all of us others in the room to think that he had died from the intensity of the snoring. I know we all felt like dying that night. It didn’t help that the 3 anti-social Irish dudes came in at around 4 in the morning and kept trying to get the Chinese guy to stop by yelling, which had no effect on the snorer and only made matters worse for the rest of us. Being in my own room is lonely, but at least I can now get some well deserved sleep.

I’ve never been good at meeting new people, and it’s difficult not having a wingman on my side to break the ice with the ladies. So as usual I’ve been spending most of my time focusing on the wildlife (yes this must sound pretty lame to some of you). Not only do strange mammals lay eggs on this continent, but fish actually manage to climb out of the water and search for prey on land. There are these fish called Mud Skippers that have forward facing pectoral flippers, similar to the forelimbs of reptiles, which they use to hoist themselves onto the mudflats at low tide. They can also breathe through their skin just like amphibians, and have enlarged gill chambers that enable them to store oxygen for breathing out of the water, so long as their gills stay moist. These adaptations allow access to a whole new niche, for they are no longer restricted to life in the water. This move away from the water has happened many times in earth’s history, and is the reason I am here using my mortified pectoral flippers to type this blog post.

While the Mud Skippers use their extended gill chambers for breathing above water, today I will be using metal canisters of air to breathe below. Today I go diving on the Great Barrier Reef, something I have always dreamt about doing but never thought would happen. I am full of anticipation about the dive, but I am much more looking forward to doing some birding out on the reef, I should be able to pick up a few new species. I’ve spent most of the morning trying to track down ways to prove that I’m NAUI dive certified since I left my card back in the States, but at least I’ll be able to do some shallow dives and snorkel if I can’t find the proper evidence I need. I think my mood may be changing pretty soon.