Jesse's 2nd Birthday

Though Jesse's first birthday was pretty good, I felt due to the dinner we still needed a really great carefree birthday. My present to him was a double dive on the SS Yongala - one of the top 10 wreck dive sites in the world. So we picked up a CSer in Cairns and took her to Townsville, then continued on to Ayr. Slept in the rental car at the beach because no hotels/hostels were open or around.

Jesse was excited to be at a top 10 dive site, and excited that he got to go deeper than open water is allowed to (special one day cert even though not advanced...just another way for dive companies to make a few extra dollars). The dive company wasn't the best but...there's really only 2-3 that go to the Yongala...either a 30min dinghy ride from Ayr on rough seas or a 3 hour boat ride on rough seas from Townsville. Due to sea sicks, I chose the 30min ride instead. Though there was still some getting sea sick during the SIT, when in the water it was all good.

We saw huge groupers and huge schools of fish, clownfish, eagle rays, sea snakes (ARE AWESOME!), and best of all we could hear WHALES singing in the distance! The wreck was so cool, especially the toilets (it was on of the only things I recognized on the wreck). Jesse got to pet the sea snake and semi-hold it, so he was stoked.

It was one of my top 5 favorite dives, and Jesse's #1 favorite.

Then we kept on driving all the way to 1770. We never ended up stopping to sleep, but just took turns driving/sleeping the whole way. 1770 and Agnes Water were pretty cool but the bugs on the beach were annoying.



Then we kept on driving, never stopping to take a break, and soon the 24 hour drive was finished and we were back HOME in the Goldie at our wonderful flat and bed.

We still had the car another day, so we went down to Byron Bay. We saw whales from the lighthouse and watched the hippies play bongos and dance around. It was too cold and choppy for surfing.

And that was the end of our two week journey to Cairns.


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