Cairns to Byron Bay

I feel a little behind on the blogging so here it goes....

Troy and I flew from Maui to Cairns last Thursday and met up with Ash the following day. Cairns was HOT and really humid, but without a really awesome beach we knew that we weren't interested in staying there longer than a few nights. We stayed at the Great Northern Hotel- akathe dodgiest hostel/hotel/Asian brothel on the strip. It was really late when we got there and the only place with a room, so while we didn't really have a choice the first night, we definitely didn't have to stay there another 3 nights (which we did.... ??). Anyway, it was cheap and close to everything so I guess it just seemed right.

Once we picked up Ash from the airport we hit up a hostel/bar called Gilligans, but paced ourselves in prep for an early morning boat ride to the Great Barrier Reef. This was by far the most amazing snorkeling experience any of us have had... Our boat left at 8am and drove first to this small island basically entirely inhabited by birds... I am talking thousands of birds. Unfortunately June got majorly sea sick and didn't have quite the same sailing experience as Troy and me, but she was a trooper and after getting pooped on 3 times by those birds decided a snorkel was in order. Troy and I swam from the island back to the boat and saw a ton of crazy fish, including a huge stingray. It was crazy!

The second location was just out in the middle of the reef and was even better than the first... there were hundreds of fish just swimming around- some were gigantic and kind of scary, but they would come right over to you with their little faces and it was just really awesome. We were all totally blown away.
The ride back was beautiful- the sun was beginning to set and they put the sails up so it was a little slower and just the perfect end to our day...

Our journey to Byron Bay was a little less wonderful, but we made it to town yesterday and despite the huge storm that continues to blow through here, I can tell that we are going to love it. We are staying at a hostel right on the main strip and got the lay of the land this morning... Really amazing beaches (the waves right now are terrifying though), a cool yoga studio just up the road, and a trail run which Troy and I are going to go check out this afternoon.

Keeping our fingers crossed for nice weather and a chance to get out in the surf, but we have 3 weeks so it definitely should clear up.