So, I spent three months in Australia (Feb-May '95) and had a wonderful time. I started in Adelaide and worked my way around the south to Melbourne & Sydney. Then up the east coast to Cairns, with many stops along the way for diving, hiking, primitive outback camping, dingos and of course to cut my hand rather badly on a knife in the Magnetic Island Youth Hostel (I was trying to save some money by working in the kitchen in exchange for free room and board)!
From Cairns (with a spot more diving and a side trip to Cape Tribulation rain forest - bloody mozzies!! ) it was off to Darwin and Kakadoo National Park. Then down to Alice Springs and Ayres Rock. Aryes Rock is not only rather large, but also a very popular tourist attraction. There must have been about 8 bus loads of Japanese tourists there all sipping their complementary champagne whilst watching the sunset.
Being more of the typical student traveller my group had cans of VB and mini Mars Bars! I can guarantee that we had a lot more fun!
Sea Cucumber Turtle
The Sea Cucumber is a weird creature. Mostly they just sit there and look green, sort of like a giant slug. If you are feeling really adventurous (since you are already 10metres under water, why not?) you can pick them up. They still aren't really very exciting but they are one of the very few things that are safe to touch when diving, so you make the most of it! When we saw this turtle we were snorkling. We watched it come up from the depths to breathe at the surface. It took four or five breaths and then 'slowly' sank back down into the darkness. I say 'slowly' because it looked slow, but we tried to keep up with it and couldn't. Quite a majestic animal. I did see many other exciting things during my diving trips, like a pod of dolphins, a few reef sharks and millions of amazingly coloured fish. But alas, there was no camera present at those times, so you will just have to use your imagination.
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