Rainforests, Reefs and Spiders, Oh My! Week Two in Cairns, Far North Queensland

 Week two was easily twice as incredible as week one, and if this upward trend continues, I honestly don't know how I'm going to process it all! Our academic journey took a massive leap forward as a class when we ventured out to Fitzroy Island, a breathtaking tropical paradise famous for its fringing coral reef.

For the uninitiated, a fringing reef is a structure where corals grow right off the shore’s rocky substrate, rather than being separated from the mainland by a deep lagoon like a barrier reef. This was only my second time snorkeling a tropical coral reef, and it absolutely blew my expectations out of the water. With so much media coverage focusing on how coral reefs are universally falling apart, bleached, and going extinct, I was thrilled to find that Fitzroy Island boasted incredibly lively, healthy, and colorful specimens all around the reef.

As someone whose favorite group of organisms is fishes, I like to think I know a decent bit about them. However, this reef was so spectacularly biodiverse that it completely humbled my knowledge base. I was spotting entirely new species nearly every single time I dove down beneath the surface! From neon parrotfish to darting anemonefish, the sheer density of life was hypnotic.

Because of the unique geography of Far North Queensland, we had the mind-blowing privilege of visiting two UNESCO World Heritage Sites butting right up against one another. Within the exact same week, we transitioned from the outer edges of the Great Barrier Reef straight into the heart of the Daintree Rainforest—the oldest continuously surviving tropical rainforest in the world.

The terrestrial wildlife we encountered there was just as bizarre and otherworldly as the marine life. The absolute highlight was partaking in a guided night hike through the jungle. Under the cover of darkness, the rainforest truly comes alive. With our flashlights cutting through the canopy, we spotted sleeping songbirds perched precariously on branches, strange creek fishes adapted to the dark waters, and massive flying foxes (the largest bats in the world) soaring overhead. Of course, it wouldn't be Australia without some creepy-crawlies, and we managed to spot a few huntsman spiders—some of the largest spiders in the world, stalking their prey on the tree trunks.

Standing at the intersection of these two natural wonders really helps you understand the profound connection between land and ocean ecology. You realize very quickly how dependent these two worlds are on one another; what happens in the rivers of the Daintree directly affects the health of the coral just off the coast. Experiencing that interconnectedness firsthand is something I will never forget.