We
embarked on our adventure to Queensland in the morning of Saturday the 15th of September. The reason for going first to Cairns was that we had decided to volunteer in two programs, which both took place on the Great Barrier Reef. Before starting the volunteering we had one weekend to adjust to our new surroundings. When we arrived in Cairns we were greeted with warm and sunny weather, which felt so good after
more than four months of Australian winter. Over the first weekend we explored the city centre's markets and shops, sunbathed at the beautiful public swimming pool called "The Lagoon" and did a day trip to the World Heritage Site Kuranda rainforest and village.
The Lagoon
Our day trip to the Kuranda rainforest and the village was lovely. We travelled to the village by the scenic railway and came back with the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway. Although fairly expensive, they were also great and we really enjoyed flying over the rainforest! The Kuranda village had a nice hippie vibe to it. There was also a one hour walk through the rainforest, which we gladly did but to our disappointment didn't spot any cassowaries.
On our way to Kuranda
The train to Kuranda
Barron Falls
Leaving Barron Falls Station
Views from the train
Kuranda Station
In the rainforest
Kuranda rainforest market
Views from the skyrail
Lookout over the Kuranda rainforest
Turtle Rehabilitation Centre
We volunteered at the Turtle Rehabilitation Centre located on Fitzroy Island for five days. We did the work through an organisation called Oceans2Earth which meant that we paid for the volunteering. The idea of paying for volunteering felt a bit strange in the beginning but we concluded that the money is used for a good cause.
Eager volunteers ready for work
There are 10 volunteers working at the centre each day in addition to two regular volunteers. The turtles that are treated in the rehabilitation centre are first taken to the intensive care facility located in Cairns where upon arrival they get a full medical check. When they are doing well enough they get transferred to the island's rehab centre. There were nine turtles in total at the time of our volunteering; two Hawksbill turtles, two Olive Riddley turtles and five Green turtles. Their injuries varied from amputated limbs and missing eyes to floaters syndrome which prevents the turtle from diving and eating thus ultimately leading to starvation. Many of the turtles were severely underweight and are there to gain weight, which is why the rehab centre is sometimes called the fat farm. The youngest of the turtles was only 3 to 4 months old and the oldest over 100 years old.
Frances
Angie
Twiggy
Leila
Lou
100-year old Margaret
Franklin
One-eyed Woodson
Every day we had the chance to spend the afternoon on the island after the work at the rehab centre was done. Unfortunately because of weather and over booking of the evening ferry we only had the opportunity to enjoy the excellent snorkeling and beautiful beaches twice. We used one of those afternoons to hike up the summit and marvel the views over the Pacific ocean and the close-by islands.
Beautiful Fitzroy
The ferry
The water was so clear
Waiting for the ferry
Foxy's, the only bar on the island
A well-earned beer after a hard day of scrubbing
Amazing views from the summit
Two sweaty hikers
A walk in the forrest
The work itself included cleaning the turtles tanks and the filter bags used in their tanks, preparing their food and of course feeding the turtles. They were pretty simple tasks and at times we even felt bored, since there wasn't enough tasks for everyone to do. Though this could probably have been prevented by better organising the volunteers' work.
Our favourite task was definitely feeding the turtles. We got great satisfaction from getting them to eat since the faster they gain weight, the sooner they get released back to the ocean. Thursday was also everyone's favourite day, because then the tanks get a full cleaning and scrub. Some of the turtles are transferred into smaller tanks during the cleaning and their shells get a scrub as well. It was great to get to work hard on at least one day and we also loved getting hands-on with the turtles. We scrubbed seven of the nine tanks, which was probably the record of tanks being cleaned in one day! All the tanks were filthy since one of the pumps had been broken from Sunday evening until Wednesday morning.
Feeding the turtles
Cleaning Woodson's tank
Scrubbing away
Woodson waiting for his tank to be ready
Syphoning Franklin's tank
In conclusion we did enjoy our time at the rehab centre and learned a lot about turtles during our time there. It was a very special opportunity to get so close to the amazing creatures and we felt like we did help them to survive through some of the obstacles they are facing. We wouldn't probably do the volunteering again, at least not right away. This is mainly because the work was very unorganised and we didn't feel like to regular volunteers were very welcoming. There was a lot of confusion about how the work should be done and what the background stories of each turtle were. We were left with a lot of questions that nobody had the time to answer. Anyhow we embraced the experience as something that we only got to do once in our lifetime.
The scrubbing crew
Volunteers for the week
After finishing the turtle rehab program we had a weekend and the beginning of the next week off before starting our next volunteering on the reef. During the weekend we hanged out with people we had met at our hostel and went out to experience Cairns' nightlife, which evolved around two equally horrible nightclubs, Gilligans and the Woolshed. During pre-drinks we were unfortunate to get acquainted with Goon pong, a version of beer pong but with Goon. Goon being a cheap box wine very popular with backpackers.
A barbie with Kieran, George and James
Goon pong is serious business
Pancake surprise
Catch it!
The pool at the Northern Greenhouse
George the sunburnt kid
On Monday Oliver did a refresher dive since it had been over three years since his last dive in Indonesia. On Tuesday we went for a day trip to the reef and did three dives. Our vessel was called Silverswift and we were quite pleased with how the dives were organised. We visited one of the outer reefs called the Flynn reef. The reef was amazing and we were positively surprised in how good condition it was after the mass bleaching events that took place in 2016 and early 2017. On our dives we spotted four very chilled-out turtles and plenty of other marine life which was great!
Out on the reef
The next day we changed the hostel to join our upcoming Marine Conservation volunteer program. After checking in to the hostel, which was unfortunately a lot worse than our previous one, we explored the Cairns Botanical Gardens. The garden was not that big but still really good! We especially loved the rainforest boardwalk.
Amazing tree
Circus tricks in the gardens
Beautiful flowers
Huge bamboo
Rainforest boardwalk
Tree hugger
Eye on the Reef - marine conservation program on the Great Barrier Reef
Our four day Eye on the Reef- marine conservation program started with a Reef Teach lecture, which was probably the best lecture we've ever been to. The lecturer Gareth was also the skipper of the vessel we would be doing our conservation work on. The main message we got from the lecture was that the GBR is not dead or dying yet, but is it under a great deal of stress and needs immediate attention if we want to preserve it for the next generation to come. We gladly adopted this positive attitude and were very eager to start the conservation work itself.
Reef teach
Next morning after the lecture we embarked on the reef for the first time. In total we did eight dives over the four days we spent on the reef. Onboard our vessel, Passion of Paradise, we had our Ecoguide Russel and our diving master Corinda taking care of us. On the first day also Konrad, whose company No Limit Adventures was in charge of the program, came for the dives with us. The whole crew of the Passion of Paradise was very welcoming and after a couple days we felt like part of the crew. We also had a magnificent group of people doing the program and felt like we got along great.
Our awesome group
Listening to the master
While diving we completed three kinds of surveys: Eye on the Reef Rapid Monitoring survey, the Reef Health and Impact survey and the Coral Watch's Coral Health Chart survey. Eye on the Reef is a reef monitoring and assessment program run by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMBA) and it enables anyone who visits the Great Barrier Reef to contribute to its long-term protection by collecting valuable information about reef health, marine animals and incidents. With the Rapid Monitoring survey we recorded the number of key species such as turtles, giant clams, sharks and different kinds of fish. In the Reef Health and Impact survey we surveyed the reef's health on a five meter radius providing a snapshot of the reef's condition. In the Coral Health survey we recorded the bleaching of different kinds of corals. All the information we gathered would be included in the databases maintained by GBRMBA and would provide the Marine Park managers and researchers with up-to-date information on reef health status and trends.
Rapid monitoring survey
Coral watch survey
Fish, fish and fish
Aaand fish and a shark
The lovely feeling of putting on a wetsuit
Ready to jump in
Enjoying the sun and yet another excellent lunch
Reef as far as the eye can see
Skipper Nick
Sails are up
Warming up after a dive
During our dives we visited two different reefs, the Hastings and the Flinders reef. We spotted for example white tip reef sharks, one single turtle, coral trouts, giant morey eels, harlequin sweetlips, blue-spotted sting rays, giant clams, nudibranch, various angelfish, parrotfish and butterflyfish as well as plenty of other reef fish. It was impossible to miss the army of sea cucumbers lounging on the sea bed. We also encountered the pest of the reef, the Crown- of- thorns starfish. We were happy that we didn't spot any garbage in the ocean.
Underwater fun
Looking like pro's
On the last day of the program we returned to Fitzroy island and the turtle rehab centre, since a visit to the centre was also part of the marine conservation program. Luckily it was a beautiful day and we finally got to visit Nudey beach, the most beautiful beach on the island. We spent a fun day working with the turtles, snorkeling and sunbathing. The program finished with an after party with the Passion of Paradise crew and the next morning we also had breakfast with Konrad, who wanted to hear how our program had went.
The best group
Nudey beach
Rosanna absolutely rocking it!
Beach feet
Nudey beach
Back to Cairns
We absolutely loved the marine conservation volunteer program and really felt like our money went to good use. We learned so much about the reef and its inhabitants and got to scuba dive on one of the world's Seven Natural Wonders for several days. What more can one ask for? The people onboard our vessel, the program's leader Konrad and the people participating in the program were also great and we made many new friends.
One more of the team
With the PoP crew! Awesome boat, awesome crew
After saying goodbyes to our fellow volunteers we started our road trip towards the Daintree rainforest, where we would be spending the next couple of nights.
