the OK-Barrier Reef

news is: it was too murky to see the fishes and the corals and all the other pretties, so we floated around in our wetsuits and snorkel gear on Magnetic Island, me going "ooh!" at the seaweeds and Jacky picking up coral and shells from the beach because she's old hat at snorkelling now. (She went out to the real reef on the weekend and saw the fish colored like neon, the lucky girl!)

then: I nearly didn't make it to Cairns because of unseasonal road flooding, but the bus went anyway, and at two places (both beside sugar cane fields) we crossed flooded road, but the one was only 200mm and other 150.

so now: I am in Cairns, it is a hot and muggy night and it rains, it rains. I run across intersections and leave the older American tourists waiting under the shelter of shop awnings, because my camera and wallet are safe in a plastic bag inside my cotton/hemp blend bag, and I am a young woman and can dry off later. My coverings are not valuable, nor are they water-soluble. Dirt is though, maybe I won't have to do a laundry....

next up: Melbourne! Home of good restaurants and trams, and 14-degree weather and lots of aimless wandering...