Snorkeling the wrecks and bobbing with the Aussies

Wow what a cool thing we did today, 10/28! We went drift snorkeling through a reef of fifteen scuttled ships, called the Tangalooma Wrecks. This was the first time that Cindy or I have ever snorkeled over wrecks. The ships were sunk on purpose to create a safe harbor at Moreton Island. They were sunk in the early 1960's and they now have all kinds of coral growing on them and they are teeming with fish and other sea life.

Part of the Tangalooma Wrecks off Moreton Island

We snorkeled with the current. You leave the boat at the top end of the current and drift along snorkeling through the wrecks. When you reach the end of the wrecks the boat is there to pick you up. So if Verne does this, if he misses the boat he will end up in New Guinea! I know you are wondering two things; well the answers are yes and no. Yes we had morning tea on board and learned a new Aussie word "bicky". We had tea, cakes and bicky (biscuits/cookies). No we did not see Nemo. We dove down to the bottom of the wrecks looking through the coral for the clown fish but no luck. I think Disney just made up those fish! We did see plenty of green sea turtles. These were just like the ones in the Nemo movie. We also saw an eagle ray, starfish and a dugong, which looks a lot like and is in the same family as the manatee.

a dugong (Google photo)

Moreton Island is about 14 miles off the Gold Coast. We caught a catamaran at the town of Redcliffe. The seas were choppy on the way to and from the island but out at the island the seas leveled off nicely. We snorkeled for a few hours then had lunch on the boat. After lunch they did a strange thing. They put a net off the back of the boat and several people got into the net and they drug them through the water bouncing up and down. They call it boomnetting. I guess this is an Aussie thing. Cindy wanted to do it until she watched the first group go and she quickly changed her mind. After that fun was done the boat pulled on to the beach and we all piled off and went beach combing, sand dune climbing and swimming. The whole island is made of sand washed north from the sandstone that is being washed out of the rivers further south. One dune is over 300 meters high and covered with trees.

This is the catamaran from today's trip. If you were on the Na Pali coast catamaran trip the week of Heather & Taki's wedding, you'll recognize this boat. The only difference was the way the inside was configured. The ride was pretty much the same. Good thing Cindy had her sea bands!

Almost forgot to mention that Cindy and I were the only ones on the boat from the USA and the Aussies had a good time with that. They had special life jackets just for us (water wings), vegemite sandwiches for our lunch (instead of the buffet), and if the ship sunk everyone was supposed to form a tight circle in the water to avoid the sharks and we were assigned the perimeter. Oh it feels so good to be loved!! One good thing when we got back on the boat they always made sure the two Americans were onboard.

No worries, we have our own tour guides

This morning Michael & Sue picked us up for a drive down the coast. Their personal knowledge of the area (they've lived here for 40+ years) is appreciated by Bill & I. They showed us the Life Savers' (lifeguards) Club that Michael was a member of in his youth and explained that the volunteer life savers clubs are very competitive with each other and pride themselves in their training and readiness. They are very well respected.

Bill, Sue, & Michael

We stopped in several spots to take pictures and admire the views of the lush coastline. Being a Saturday with beautiful weather, the beaches were crowded with people of all ages. (Every child I'd see, I'd say to myself "She's about Maile's age." or "That one's running around just like Mason." or "Niko must be about that size by now.")

One of the many beautiful Gold Coast beaches

Cindy standing in Queensland, Bill in New South Wales

We crossed over the state line from Queensland to New South Wales, then continued down to Byron Bay, the eastern most point of Australia. At the Byron Lighthouse, we were thrilled to see a mother humpback whale with her baby swimming by on their migration from New Guinea to Antarctica, plus a group of about 8 dolphins frolicking in the waves. One dolphin in particular seemed to 'surf' a wave before jumping high in the air over it. He did this a few times, almost as if he was showing off for us. We certainly enjoyed the show!

Byron Bay, the eastern most point of Australia

I guess you are wondering about the flat people since we didn't mention them in the above adventures here on the Gold Coast. Well the photo below tells the whole story. . .

We found a great restaurant here in Surfers Paradise called Baritalia. It is run by a gentleman named Francis who is from Italy but he is part French and part

Croatian and I might add a great chef.

Flat John & Flat Mary Ann seem ready to go when wine is on the agenda (go figure)

Brisbane & the Gold Coast

Well, you can probably tell by the unimaginative title that this is Cindy writing again! Bill wore himself out posting so he's taking a little break out on the balcony, discussing sightseeing plans with the flat ones.

We flew from Cairns to Brisbane on the 24th, and for the first time this whole trip, rented a car to drive ourselves to our hotel in Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast. Bill didn't have any problems switching to right-hand drive, other than putting on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal the first couple of times. He stayed on the correct side of the road, and that's the main thing!




Driving into Surfers Paradise

We are looking forward to getting together with Sue and Michael, a couple we met while we were on the Regal Princess, who live here. They have graciously volunteered to show us around the area, and we'll be hooking up with them this afternoon.

Taking a morning walk on the Surfers Paradise beach

Looking for the Crocs or have you seen the flat people

October 23rd already! Where has the time gone but we were off again to the Daintree Wilderness and Cape Tribulation. Our first stop on the adventure took us to the Rainforest Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary to have morning tea with the birds, crocs, roos, koalas, frogs, snakes and bats. Man can those roos drink the tea! We got some great photos of the animals and I'm not talking about the ones on the bus.

mom with joey hanging out of her pouch, heading back from tea

After our refreshment stop we moved on to Mossmann Gorge where we hiked through the rainforest and our guide told us how all the plants and trees fight to get to the sunshine. He also told us how some vines use the large trees as hosts until they get started and eventually choke out the host tree. We saw examples of that in the forest. The process takes several hundreds of years to complete.

We continued on to the Daintree River and crossed it on the bus using a cable-driven ferry. We noticed all the warning signs about crocodiles (I think this is where we may have lost the flat ones.) We scoured the banks of the river hoping to spot the salt water crocs but none were sighted. We were told the day before they saw a croc that was over six meters long near the ferry crossing. If you want to know what that is in feet here is the conversion formula 6X300-457+631/72= really big croc or almost 20 feet. After we crossed the Daintree river we headed up to Cape Tribulation where we stopped for lunch and a walk on the beach. The beaches were really nice but we didn't have enough time to go swimming with the crocs and marine stingers (jelly fish). Several people took advantage of the beach and the swim. The bus was less crowded on the way home. No just kidding!

Soaking up the rays on the beach

News flash: croc dies from choking on paper

On our way back we stopped at the Daintree river and took a river cruise. We were looking for crocs, snakes, frogs and birds. You could always tell the birds that were slow on the takeoff from the river. They were the ones with one leg. The guide did tell us to keep our hands, arms, feet and heads inside the boat. He said the crocs can leap out of the water to snag a meal out of the air such as birds, snakes and frogs on limbs, flat people etc. We did see snakes, birds, frogs and just the head of one croc. After the cruise we were welcomed back on dry land with afternoon tea and back on our bus for the treck home. We had fantastic sights, met great people and that's no croc!

Can you see the croc? He's looking at you!

He paid us a visit on our boat on the river

Hey guys we can come out now, I think the boat is gone!

Clam what Clam

We boarded the catamaran Ocean Spirit I for our cruise to Michaelmas Cay

Approaching Michaelmas Cay

Onward and outward, out to sea and the Great Barrier Reef that is. The bus picked Cindy & I up at our hotel at 7:30AM on 10/22 and dropped us at the dock in Cairns, so we could board our catamaran and head out the 27 miles to Michaelmas Cay on the reef. Another disappointing day for the flat ones, they forgot their swimmers (bathing suits) and they didn't go. We got onboard and yes, first thing before even the lifeboat drill, morning tea! After tea we were given a safety briefing and a rundown on the day's activities at the reef. Whilst on our two hour journey to the reef we were shown a video of what we would see on the reef. It was narrated by Marine Biologist onboard. He pointed out the diffrent types of coral, fish, sea creatures and clams and I mean clams. After the video we all were outfitted with snorkel gear or SCUBA gear. We arrived at the Cay and were ferried onto the Cay by a smaller boat so we could snorkel from the beach. It was low tide; we had to be really careful of the coral. In some areas the water was too low to snorkel over the reef. Once Cindy and I got away from the masses and found a deserted section of reef, we saw some of the most colorful & varied types of coral we have ever seen in our lives. I was surprised that there weren't as many kinds of fish as you see in Hawaii. The best part were the giant clams. I dove down to one and it was as big as my outstretched arms. I bet it was close to six feet wide. I tried to talk Cindy into putting her hand into the clam to see if it would close up but she wouldn't cooperate. Some people just don't know how to have fun. We next went looking for Nemo but were told that he was back in Disney World. So no Nemo on this trip, bummer. We were in the water for a couple of hours and got out just in time to catch the tail end of the lunch provided by the tour operator. I couldn't believe how much they fed us. After lunch we decided not to snorkel, instead we sat on the boat taking in the beauty of the reef from above water level.

I caught Cindy having a snack between lunch and Afternoon tea!

Next on the agenda was Afternoon tea. Next a viewing of the photos the photographer took of everyone snorkeling, eating, drinking and sun bathing. We then headed back to Cairns and celebrated the successful cruise with a champagne toast. The reef is so big and there is so much to see. I guess we will have to come back and spend more time at the reef.

Taming the Tully

Hanging on for dear life (we are the two at top of photo)

Maybe we should point out the rock to the guide

Wild ride - is the raft still inflated?

Early Sunday morning (6:35) on 10/21 Cindy and I were picked up in front of our hotel for a 150k (90 mile) bus ride to the Tully river for a day of white water rafting. There were 30 or so people on the bus with us heading for the white water challenge. I looked around and realized we were the oldest on the bus including the bus driver by some 20 years! Well we got the last laugh. The head guide asked who had experience rafting. Cindy and I were the only ones who raised our hands. Now we're not only the oldest but here we are surrounded by white water rafting virgins. On our bus ride down to the Tully you guessed it we stopped for morning tea (love this country). After tea we picked up eight more rafters and headed up to the put in spot on the Tully. The guide told us, in rafter speak, that the Tully was a dam controlled water release river and at this time of the year we would hit level three and four rapids and it was a very technical river. Now to say that in terms we all can understand here is what he meant. Rapids are rated from one to six. One being barely a ripple in the water and six being a waterfall that can not be rafted. The very technical part means the water is low and we will be hitting and seeing lots of rocks and boulders in the river. Now you know a little rafter lingo. We got on to the river about 9:50AM and the guides told us we had to be ready to go by 10AM. I asked why we had to be ready at 10 and we were told that is when the dam would open the spillway and release water to bring the level of the river up so we could raft it. They leave it open for four hours and then close it off. This is only done on the weekends and the rafting companies have to pay for the release. During the week the dam is used to generate electricity and the dam is open all day to meet the elecricity demand during the work week. I guess you are wondering about the flat people and how well they did in water. Well they both slept in back at the hotel. They were exhausted from the rainforest tour the day before. Back to my story we got on the river and the water poured out and we went charging down the river. We both managed to stay in the raft through all the rapids. Other rafts had a few swimmers (not by choice) through some of the rapids. We spent about five and a half hours on the river. We had a great time and met some great people. We had two students from Korea and a girl from Canada in our raft with us. All three had been working in either Japan or Australia for about 10 months and were taking two months off to travel before they went home. After we completed the raft ride you guessed it, it was time for afternoon tea but this time we all celebrated with beer and chips! We got back to our hotel about 7PM. The flat ones were still in bed but some of our wine was missing and they both had smiles on their faces.

We surived to tell the story! Speaking of surviving, this area near the Tully river was where Survivor Australia was filmed (so we were told).

Off to Cairns

About 24 hours after arriving at Ayers Rock, we were back at the airport for our 1,112 mile flight to Cairns in the Sunshine State of Queensland. As soon as we landed, we kept saying, "This reminds us of Hawaii!" and it did in lots of ways. It is tropical and laid back. We got settled in our hotel, then walked into town to visit the Night Markets and grab something to eat.

The 4 of us aboard the Kuranda Scenic Railway

The next day, Saturday the 20th, we had a tour to the village of Kuranda. We boarded the Kuranda Scenic Railway for a trip through the rainforest and a deep river gorge on our way to the village. We had some time to stroll through the quaint streets, then we got onto the Skyrail cablecar to travel over the rainforest. We had the opportunity to get off at an intermediate station and take advantage of scenic walkways through the rainforest.

It was an amazing sight! We were oohing and aahing the entire hour. At the end of the cablecar ride, we walked to the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park for a full afternoon of demonstrations, dances, and music of the local tribes. We each tried our hand at throwing boomerangs, and Bill tried spear throwing as well. It was a very entertaining and informative afternoon.

Trying to find a didgeridoo for Verne