Green Island - Great Barrier Reef

[twoutes]

You all know how much l love Cairns, well l just managed another short trip up there to attend my mate Dan's wedding which was to be held at Mareeba.
Rita hadn't been to Cairns for a while, and it was a great opportunity for her to meet some of my very good friends. First stop was to catch up with Ashley, and show Rita his new boat, a 54 foot Maritimo, but also to quench our thirst with a few ales. It was really hot and a bit humid compared to our fantastic Melbourne weather (NOT)

We then made our way to catch up with Talina and Suzie, whom which we spent a couple of days with. I knew we were going to do something special, and with a good weather forecast for the next day, Talina made the call to take 'Runamuc' out to Green Island to give Rita a taste of what North Queensland has to offer. And she didn't disappoint.

Hand feeding G.T's and viewing turtles and dolphins was great, and we all had a fantastic time.

Check out this short clip of the trip to Green Island, and some underwater footage of the G.T's

We headed off to Mareeba for a couple of days via the Kennedy Highway, but had to stop for Rita to spend some time at the Kuranda Markets, and a look at the Barron Falls at the Barron Gorge National Park

We caught up with Dan for his wedding at Mareeba, and lots of other friends l made along the way were there as well. The next morning we stopped at Skybury Coffee Plantation, which is Australia's oldest plantation, and largest coffee exporter. The coffee was great....and so were the sweets.

We were coming close to the end of our short holiday, as we headed back to Cairns via Tinaroo. As we drove down the Gillies Highway, and the Gordanvale – Atherton Road, we approached Little Mulgrave where a 'Catch a Barra' sign caught my attention. All be it a pond full of barra, it was a great opportunity to give Rita a chance to catch one, and that she did. The little barra put on a little show for her with some blistering runs and even some tail walking as it approached the landing net. A quick couple of photos and a release saw us heading back to Cairns airport for our flight back home.

.................Geez l love North Queensland


In less than seven weeks time Rita and l are doing a four week trip to America, and will be spending time in Los Angles, Vegas, Fort Lauderdale to do a cruise through the Carribeans, and also Orlando Florida. I've organised some fishing over there as well, and hope to come back with a Giant Tarpon Capture, and Release, from there, as well as many other fond memories.