Great Barrier Reef

Today we headed out to the Great Barrier Reef!  With a captain, crew and 70 new friends we headed out to a couple of spots for a day of sun and snorkeling.  We saw a Sea Turtle, Shark, Stingrays, some iridescent blue starfish, Giant Clams (we thought they made those up!), and more stripy colorful fish than you could shake your snorkel at.

PROFESSIONAL UNDERWATER PHOTO

SCOTT'S UNDERWATER PHOTOS

(Tip:  $6 underwater phone holder ordered off Amazon is not the same as a GoPro...Just FYI)

Underwater Selfie

On the way back in.  No one got seasick so we will call the day a success.

Cairns (Tropical North Queensland), Australia

Queensland, the most Northeastern province, comes into view

Cairns, our destination.  It's a small town, a lot like Dothan (if Dothan was in a tropical paradise immediately adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef)

Adventures in Left-hand driving.  One family member watched the speed, another was assigned to make sure Scott always turned into the left hand lane.  Two were acting as spotters at the many multi-lane roundabouts.  No one died.

The Beach, immediately across the street from our apartment rental in a little village about 15 minutes out of town.

We went for groceries at the local mini-mart.  Australians are known for their love of Vegemite--a fermented yeast extract that you spread on toast.  It's gross.  We are unsure how it caught on.

We went to one of the touristy "dinner in the Rainforest / Aboriginal experiences."  It was touristy, reasonably fun and significantly overpriced...but hey, you gotta do it once.

Sugarcane is a big cash crop here. It grows like a weed, in some places it's taken over the ditches.

Today we headed up into the mountains into a local National Park to go "canyoning" in Behana Gorge.

Our goofball guide at left.  Both our guides were exceptional--consummately professional and yet fun to spend the day with.  This turned out to be an exceptional value and was a highly rated day by the whole family (even the one scared of heights).

Snorkeling for crawdads 

We happened upon a Blue Tree Snake (not poisonous, somewhat rare)

Yes, that is Everlie...no Photoshop

Tomorrow:  Off to the Great Barrier Reef!

Melbourne

MELBOURNE

After flying 13 hours from Dubai we made our way to our apartment in Melbourne.  If you ever go, they have an amazing service, SkyBus, that leaves the airport every 10 minutes 24-7 with an express bus directly to downtown, for a pittance.  We scored a great apartment just 2 blocks from the downtown station for less than a hotel and with some amazing views.

CRICKET

We had tickets the next morning for the "Test Match" between England and Australia.  This was the championship (aka "the Ashes") and as it was between these huge rivals it was a big deal locally.  "Test" cricket doesn't involve any grading, rather there are no limits to the pitches.  Imagine baseball but you can keep scoring so long as you can hit the batter.  We were there for two hours and there were two batters, the thing runs 6 hours a day for FIVE DAYS.  80,000 people were in attendance at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and apparently many will be there for all 5 days!

They flashed this up as soon as we sat down....

After Cricket we explored the adjacent complex, home of the Australian Open and the site of the 1954 Melbourne Olympics.

After that we crossed the Yarra River towards the Royal Botanical Gardens (because there is nothing teenage boys want to do more than look at flowers and well designed shrubberies).

2017

2013...the boys have changed a bit haven't they?

MELBOURNE GAOL

Later in the afternoon we visited the old Melbourne Gaol (Jail).  Dec 26 is "Boxing Day" in England and Australia, a common day for shopping and family picnics.  (Think something along the lines of Black Friday).  Many people take off the entire week between Christmas and New Years and many businesses were closed, a couple of the touristy things were closed but we still made a day of it.

Davis models a replica of the home made armor worn by infamous terrorist outlaw of the Victorian Outback--Ned Kelley.  He was executed in the Melbourne Gaol.

The boys spent the night out taking in a local showing of Star Wars, Mom passed and stayed in.

VICTORIAN STATE LIBRARY

The next day we made a quick trip to the Victorian State Library...'cause we're nerdy like that.  It looks a lot like the Library of Congress and had some interesting exhibits including some amazing rare books that were on display.

Ethan with an original Audubon volume

The actual armor worn by Ned Kelley during his showdown with the police (they shot him in the legs...design fail).

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PHILLIPS ISLAND

Wednesday afternoon we took a guided tour to Phillips Island.  It is a couple of hours from Melbourne and has a heritage farm, Koala Center, and a couple of state parks dedicated to a large colony of "Little Penguins" (their actual name).  It's also a popular beach destination, although surprising undeveloped.

Vigorous crowd awaiting pickup outside our apartment.

The Victorian countryside right outside of Melbourne

We weren't the only ones headed to the beach this holiday.

Summer in full swing here.

We arrived during the penguins breeding season.  During the day the parents both go out to fish and leave the young at home.  Most live in dirt burrows, many live in nesting houses provided by the park rangers, a few even live under the boardwalks the tourists walk over. 

Click Here for Video of Penguins Coming Home

OFF TO CAIRNS

The next day we were off to the airport for our next stop...Cairns (pronounced Cans with a Boston Accent).

You can't even find out what gate until about 10 minutes before boarding...they don't do the 3 hours at the airport thing here!

Old School Airplane Loading

The countryside of the Victorian Province fading into the distance.