Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Down Under, and Way Down Under

3 weeks in Australia is not nearly enough time for this beautiful and amazing country. But we did our best, and had a great time doing it!

We started out in Sydney, and spent a couple of days exploring the city. We walked through some of the streets, briefly experienced King's Cross, saw the Botanical Gardens, had a beach day at Manly beach, and of course visited the Opera House.


The Opera House, Sydney's number 1 icon was beautiful. Set upon the backdrop of the Sydney Harbor and the Harbor Bridge, it has become a major cultural destination for tourists and locals alike. The square is filled with hundreds of people, taking pictures, walking around, and just admiring the beautiful views. It was a fantastic place to get a beer at one of the cafes and relax.

After Lindsay arrived, the Australia team was complete. We flew from Sydney north to the eastcoast city of Townsville. Here we disembarqued for a 4 day 3 night scuba diving excursion to The Great Barrier Reef and the SS Yongala http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Yongala, considered to be one of the world's greatest wreck dives.


Our vessel for this trip, the Sea-Esta, was anything but a relaxing afternoon nap...a little rough around the edges, but that's what gives it character. And the crew and the dives definitely made up for it. It was 2 full days of diving, starting out in the early morning and ending with a night dive in the evening. With each dive we saw crazier and crazier marine life, tons of different fish species, white tipped shark, eel, rays (one at least 1 1/2 meters in diameter that almost razzed William... when marine photography goes horribly wrong...), sea snakes, sea turtles, dolphin, and yes even a nudibranc and a wobbegong (go ahead, just ask me what they are...)


The final day of diving was 2 dives on the Yongala. For some reason everything here is bigger, the sea turtles were massive, sea snakes twice as long as we had seen before, and yes, we even got to see V-dubs.... the groper that got its name because....well, he's the size of a VW bug! The Yongala dives were amazing and a great finale for the diving trip. After getting back to land, taking some time to get our land legs back, we caught up with the crew got some drinks and said our good-byes.

From Townsville, we drove south to Airlie Beach, the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands; 74 of the most beautiful islands I've ever seen. But before we got too far we made a quick stop at the Billabong Wildlife sanctuary. What could be any better than getting to hand feed some open range kangaroos, hold a koala, see some sleeping wombats, and view a crocodile feeding!?

We got some good beach time at the Whitsundays, all of us getting burned at some point or another, with some inconclusive results on the "tan-off" competition. We toured the islands by yacht one day, exploring Whitehaven Beach, the jewel of the Whitsundays, with the some of the purest sand in the world, 98% silica. We also had teh opportunity to travel some of the islands by kayak. There's nothing like rowing through beautiful blue green water to a deserted beach and exploring a desolate island! The Whitsundays http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitsundayswere absolutely amazing!

Next stop was Melbourne. This little gem of a city surprised us all and for us ranked just as good if not better than Sydney. Here we explored the little alleys, met up with old friends, walked along the waterfront, and saw footy game! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_rules_football Its back to Sydney for a couple days, to do some planning...some laundry, and figure out our POA... plan of action...

Here we are at the end of our Australia leg. Sad to go but excited for what lies ahead... in 24 hours William and I will be on a plane to Singapore!

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