Notebook of a Nomad

1/8/25

Flew into Cairns, checked into the hotel and headed to the aquarium.

1/9/25

9:54 am 

Spent the day on the Green Island. We took a ferry out there and did some snorkeling before hopping on a glass bottom boat. After the glass bottom boat we did some more snorkeling and I even found a Nemo. No footage unfortunately. I wasn’t confident about my phone’s water resistance after I broke the screen at the Steve Irwin’s Zoo. After our second round of snorkeling, we decided to relax with a few pool beers as we waited for our ferry to take us back. After we got back to Cairns we bar hopped a bit and had a nice dinner at Coopers Bar and Grill. 

1/10/25

5:04 pm

Had a big day. Took a nice train ride through the rainforest and saw a few waterfalls along the way. The train took us up the mountain to a sky rail and we took that over the mountains. Then after that we hopped on a bus and went to another Australian zoo. It certainly wasn’t as big or as polished as Steve Irwin’s zoo but the crocodile show was even better. It was a smaller crowd and the trainer got much closer and did a lot more in a shorter amount of time. It felt less safe than the performance at Steve Irwin’s zoo which made it more exciting of course.

1/11/25

Today was the highlight of the trip so far. Snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef was truly incredible. A boat took us about 2 hours out and it was so much better than the family oriented Green Island. I kept finding myself in beautiful, colorful schools of fish. An experience I never thought I’d get to enjoy.

My life has gone down a far different path than I planned for. I used to get sad about my lost life and all the work I put into it that turned out to be wasted. But I don’t feel that way anymore. I’m swimming with colorful fishies in the Great Barrier Reef. Who gets to do that? Who gets to see every continent in one calendar year? The price of admission was high, but it’s been paid. Now I just get to enjoy it. Now I get to swim with the pretty fishies. And even a few sharks.

I wish I had some pictures to share. I took my go-pro so hopefully I’ll find some time to play with that footage and see what I can cut together.