Last call

The last hour... a final Mojito...

... bye bye...

Day 36

Our hotel offered free cars... well... Smarts... but hey... we are Dutch... it's for free... so the car was ours this day... we headed off to Palm Cove... first... a fancy Italian style brekkie...

... after that it was time to visit the beautiful beach...

... but there was a small challenge...

... but for the Aussies...

... it just makes the water sports a bit more exciting... and... they really like their stingers...

... we still were stoked we accomplished our mission... no fire could stop us from reaching the red brick... and...

... this had to be celebrated with a drink...

Afterparty

At night... back ashore... we had a small after party...

... blondes are more fun...

... and you don't need to be that sharp all the time of course :) ...

More photos from the Great Barrier Reef

Nemo... found it!!!!!!

The third dive of the day... Nemo was announced during the dive briefing. With every briefing, the coordinator had been spot on... but it would turn out that for this dive... the crucial one... he was sadly mistaken... so it took us a little longer to find the little sucker... but we did... and I rented a camera to get the proof!

The briefing...

... is over... so we hurry to prepare our gear, put it on... and jump in...

Bye bye boat... hello Nemo...

... Nemo... Check!

Back at the boat... we have to sign we are feet dry... this procedure was introduced after the infamous movie 'Open water'... the trailer says horror... and indeed... it's a horror to watch 2 people just floating in the ocean... for almost two hours long... you just feel like drowning yourselves after a while... they even made a sequel...

Yah!!!!

Yep... the pressure is of now...

Da Reef

This morning we headed out to the open sea, to the outer reefs of the Great Barrier Reef for a three day / two night liveaboard. The boat, or is it ship, is filled with Irish and ex Chefs. So every dive is like the bommie is yah high, and the fish are yah big and the boat should be easily found with your head under water, because it yah big.

We were only on the hunt for a fish just yah big... it was our mission to... find Nemo!

This first day can be wrapped up pretty quick... four dives... no Nemo. We did drive the dive coordinator close to insanity though : 'Is there a Nemo at this site? ... No? .... When will we see him? ... Are there Nemo here? ... Many? ... Where exactly? .... When? ... Will you warn us? ... Sure? ... We would really like to see a Nemo! ... You know, from the movie!'

Choices... choices... choices

The Tropics

Not everyone we know agrees on whether Cairns is a fun place to stay... it sure looked a great town to me...

It was vibrant...

... showing of some nice architecture...

... and had some excellent civil services...

... and you could visit authentic Aussie market places...

... although I must admit that the view did not always meet the expectations...

... and yes... there were some shabby downtown locations...

More tarmac

This morning an early rise again. We have to leave Uluru behind and drive all the way back to Alice Springs. We are keeping our fingers crossed the highway has not been closed because of bush fires because we have to hand in the car and catch our plane to Cairns in the afternoon. It all turns out well. We have a quick stopover at the wining dingo's place again (he is resting, luckily)... and people who have driven all the way especially for Dinky get a complementary Dinky poster because the wannabe dog is not in... we did visit the camel farm... neighbours of Dinky... and they are just as loco as Dinky... who charges $25 for a Dinky cap...

... charging $6 per meter on a camel might be considered steep pricing as well.

We arrived in time in Alice Springs, still some fires here and there but they did not slow us down, and we flew of to Cairns. We survived the fires, snakes, dingo's, scorpions and the desert sun... no we will face sharks, cone shells, irukandji and crocodiles...

It is heating up

Picking up our take-away dinner... our gas tank was leaking gas so even with our best intentions we just could not risk a gas explosion in the jeeps kitchenette... you never know... it might flip... we saw a local newspaper reporting about a blazing fire at the border of Alice Springs...

... it was the fire we passed and photographed in its infancy near the fire warning sign on our epic trip from Kings Canyon to Uluru the wrong way around!

Uluru

Next morning again a camper brekkie.

Then back to Uluru... for a more thorough investigation of this desert brick...

... we came really close...

... even touched it...

... but did not climb it...

... the aboriginals kept track of all people killed during climbs... and made sure everyone knew... their way of scaring people off and stop the climbs...

... after not climbing the sucker we headed to the Olgas... a mere 20km away from Uluru...

... and frankly... I found them more impressive...

The Irish look just as much out of place on a football pitch...

... as they do in the red centre.

We were even in time to watch the sun set for a second time on our friendly rock... Uluru...