Update #37 Great Barrier Reef

> Yippeeee!! Got on the Reef Experience boat...our 1st choice & also Trip Advisor's 1st choice. They served us a good breakfast & then of to the Great Barrier Reef; Hasting Reef to be exact. Took us a bit over an hour full throttle on a huge catamaran. Spectacular, gigantic, glowing, gorgeous!! Wish they made a box of crayons that could capture the vibrant & varied colors of the coral. And the variety of fish--amazing. Even the black ones looked fantastic with such a beautiful background. I loved watching the tiny fish weave in and out of the waving coral. I could almost touch the huge fish gliding by. Couldn't get enough of seeing the various shapes of coral. So thrilled to see it looking so healthy! The Australian Gov't is trying hard to protect reef by not allowing any boats in most of the GBR. The reef is as long as Calif! I had high expectations...and the GBR surpass them!!!
>
> Here's Rog's take on the GBR:
> Spent the day on the reef. The boat was a big catamaran
> that rode very nicely (no one got seasick!). We go to to go out snorkeling on the reef for as long as we could last. That was over an hour each time. We saw beautiful colors of coral in all shades of pink, violet, blue, green, gold and more. The fish were very plentiful-Jane even spotted Nemo! All kinds of clown fish, angelfish, parrotfish (yes,they have a beak mouth). Just one shark and he was not interested in us...he quickly swam away. The crew reassured us that the on the reef are not considered to be a danger to us! So, why did they all stay on the boat?
>
> Four hours of snorkeling wiped us out...we'll sleep well tonight while visions of coral & fish dance in our heads...

Update #36. Cairns: Green Island

Back on a boat...headed to Green Island which is about a 45 min ride from the mainland. It's a tiny island covered with trees...and tourist. Found a quiet beach area and but on our snorkel gear and a stinger suit to protect us from jellyfish...& sunburn. First site was choppy and we had to swim way out to see anything. Rog made it lots farther so saw some coral & fish. We moved to the other side of the island. Ahh, much better. Besides colorful coral, we spotted a large octopus moving slowly over the coral and two sea turtles as big as a wheel barrow. Took a nap on the beach between snorkel trips. Nice! Loaded up on groceries when we got back to Cairns...since we decided just to stay at Joe's till we leave for PNG. Got new roomies from Taiwan...so learned a bit about Taiwan. Weather looked good for snorkeling trip to the outer reefs tomorrow so we tried to book one...too late...all booking sites were closed for the day. I was really frustrated...we'd been waiting for the best day and maybe waited too long!! Decided we'd wake up early and try our luck in the A.M..

Update #35 Cairns: Tjapukai Center

Addition to Update #34:  According to our roomies from India:  New Delhi population is about the same as the whole of Australia and India's population is growing at a rate of adding the whole of Australia each year!!

Update 35

We're waiting out the cloudy weather...so today we bused to Tjapukai Center.  We find learning about the Aborigines fascinating! The Djabugay was the local tribe near Cairns.  Members of their tribe proudly put on several interesting demonstrations about their food, medicine, weapons, making & playing the  didgeridoo.  Also they performed several dances including the creation story...which included a man killing his brother...sound familiar?  The beat and rhythm of the music was powerful.  Since there was a small crowd, we were able to spend time talking to many of the Djabugay performers.  Some of them just seemed to accept the changes the Westerners caused.  Others were angry.  But one's words will stay with me:  "There isn't a day that goes by that I don't wish to be there...back in the bush."

Here's some of what we learned today about the Djabugay: 

-Today there life expectancy is about 20 yrs less than the rest of the Australians.  200 hundred years ago the average Djabugay lived to be about 100. 

-500 tribes lived mostly peacefully in Australia 

-2000 languages were used...only 275 left.

-There was no word for thank you as sharing was the expected behavior within family and trading happened between groups.

-A man was allowed 10 wives which kept the population up.

-Today Djabugay men prefer to marry white women so they no longer will be expected to share all they have.

Here's what I found on Wiki:

At the time of first European contact, it is estimated that between 315,000 and 750,000 people lived in Australia, with upper estimates being as high as 1.25 million.  A cumulative population of 1.6 billion people has been estimated to have lived in Australia over 70,000 years prior to British colonisation.
The combination of disease, loss of land and direct violence reduced the Aboriginal population by an estimated 90% between 1788 and 1900.