Travels with The Rayman

It’s cloudy outside. A few minutes ago it was sunny. Weather in Aussie land turns on a dime. The other day we were at our base camp in Oatley and it was warm and beautiful. Suddenly a terrific wind started blowing. The house has a flagpole with a flag. It got so windy my over-active imagination figured the pole might snap and the top end might become a projective crashing through the glass door and flying through the house. Ray was out getting something at the store and he said when he went in it was warm and nice. He came out and it was cold and blowing gale force winds.

Australia is a country the size of the U.S. with the population of Los Angeles. Wrap your head around that one. They have hundreds of mile of beach front that haven’t even been explored, I’m guessing as no roads go near it. Opportunity cries out. When you drive around the countryside you get a sense of how big the place is and how sparsely populated as well.

The Blue Mountains are part of a range that run down the eastern side of the continent, like a big spine. And boy are there eucalyptus trees. Everywhere. That is what gives the Blue Mountains the name Blue Mountains. The trees emit some chemical? and the sun reflecting off the trees look blue from a distance. When we flew to and from Cairns, we got a birds eye view of the range.

The streets and freeways are very clean. No sponsors needed for clean up. There are Hungry Jacks, McDonalds, and KFCs all over the place which is a sad thing to report.

We haven’t seen a skunk so they must not be here. And we haven’t seen a rabbit. Why rabbits? Well, a fellow from the Britain brought some rabbits down here in the 1800s and rabbits being rabbits, they multiplied and multiplied. Rabbits became a big problem eating everything in their way. So the Aussie’s have been busy killing rabbits anyway they can since then. Poison, shooting. Even fencing. Hence the name of the film “Rabbit-Proof Fences”. Check it out of you can thru either Netflix or the video store. Anyway, they actually installed these fences all over the place to beat back the rabbits. So…given all this history, I’m surprised we haven’t seen rabbit on every menu, not even one. And we haven’t seen dead rabbits on the roadway. And no lucky rabbit’s feet.

Sydney has the highest standard of living of any city on the planet according to something Ray read. It is quite lovely for a big city. And very expensive. It’s very easy to get around if you use the train. Cars, not so much. There are many rolling hills in Sydney with water seemingly everywhere. Bays, rivers, estuaries. You name it in the water department and they have it. Even a quay.

This country is young. Lots of babies and baby carriages. Sometimes you get trapped on the trains by the carriages, there are so many. With plenty of room to grow, more people seems to be a priority!!

Australia seems like America in many ways. It is a melting pot of different nationalities. Not many blacks, however. Lots of Asians from all over Asia a few muslims based solely on noticing the head scarves. And the country seems to have figured out how to separate church and state. If they have a “fundamentalist” group, it doesn’t show. And actually, there is not an overabundance of churches that I’ve noticed.

According to one of the young women at the Sydney aquarium, it’s easy to get a one year work Visa. She was the U.S. She applied, came over, and found work immediately. Unemployment is not a big problem. And I’ve not seen any homeless people. Admittedly, we might not be in the areas they would hanging out at…but we haven’t seen any…just saying.

They have fun street signs. ‘Stay left unless overtaking’ means, stay in the slow lane unless you’re passing. People really follow that rule. ‘Giveway’ means, yield. ‘Form one lane’ means the lanes are collapsing from 3 to 2, say. ‘Don’t queue in the intersection’ means don’t block the intersection. Fun differences.

Now, about driving on the wrong side of the road. It is challenging. Besides that problem of signallng a lane change with the windshield wipers, it messes with your mind. I don’t know left from right. If Ray sas, “Turn left”, my natural inclination is to want to cross the intersection…but that’s on my right. EEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKK. And going to right side of the car to get in the drivers seat is a hoot. We keep getting that wrong too. What I LOVE about their roads are the roundabouts. The roundabouts make driving so much easier with very few actual stops required. Saves on stop signs, stops lights. Keeps things moving. Very, very good. I’ll miss them when we return. The roads here are in good shape and when you retreat from the city, they are uncrowded compared to ours. That makes driving pleasurable.

What’s really fun are the names of towns, cities. Lots of words ending in ‘oo’ and ‘gong’. Just fun, descriptive names. Look at a map and you’ll get the flavor of the language.

So, those are some our observations.

So, here we are at Berida Manor in the small town of Bowral. It is located in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. South of Sydney and north of Canberra (pronounced Canbra, with a short a). We are on our way back to Sydney from the capitol of Australia (the country and continent). We went there today to see the National Museum and the National Gallery and the National Portrait gallery. Quite a day. Today was the first day we were on our own on the road. Bernie was gone so we only had ourselves to blame!!

The national Gallery was my idea because of the aboriginal art that it housed. Ray wanted to go to the Museum. And we both agreed to check out the Portrait Gallery because of the picture in the parking garage.
The aboriginal art was fabulous. I did not see any signs that said taking pictures were prohibited…so here’s a few I snapped before I was busted.

Wonderful stuff. I feel a real connection to the people through their art.

We ate in the cafe at the Gallery and it was superb. There was a big event going on in the Gallery, Called The Big Draw, there were models posing for artists that were drawing what they saw. Then there were children all over the Museum drawing things on the paper-covered floor. And they had some musicians that played music that sounded like they were turning their instruments…very strange music. I think one fellow was playing a saw.

Here’s a picture of the aboriginal “tombstones”. Fabulous exhibit.

Canberra is located about 3 hours by car south west of Sydney. So, we booked a place on the way back from Canberra, about 10 miles too far because we ended up arriving at Bowral at dusk. Ray was driving. Our Tom-Tom got lost in Bowral. Let me preface my remarks by saying that Rayman and I split the driving. However, he got the worst of it because he just happened to catch the rain on his watch. It rained like crazy leaving Sydney. A sane person might have turned back…but we pressed ahead and traded driving responsibilities about the time it stopped raining. I completed the trip in mostly sunshine. So, by the time we reached Bowral, Ray was beside himself because as soon as we switched driving on the way back he got to drive in the rain again. While he was driving I was looking out at the fields and saw wild kangaroos in the meadows. OMG. This was very exciting indeed. Ray was not too excited as he was constantly trying to pass a big truck that was making driving conditions worst with the spray from the wheels…expletive deleteds were spewing forth…it wasn’t pretty…but my enthusiasm knew no bounds. Those roos made my day.

But I digress. We made it to Bowral at dusk and the Tom-Tom went daft on us. It dropped us by the train station by announcing that we had “reached our destination”. This was unfortunate because mr. J was not in the mood for being lost. He needed a drink. We made a U turn and ended up on a road with many store fronts. He went in to a pub to ask the way. We followed the instructions and got lost in a residential neighborhood. Things were going from bad to worse. I finally took the wheel. Lostness took it’s toll. We zipped into a Shell station. Ray went in to get more directions. “Take the second roundabout to the left. You can’t miss it”. Spoken by the man behind the counter. Well, we missed it and ended up in another residential neighborhood. OMG. So back to the Shell we drove. This time we both went in and Ray asked the guy to write down the name of the street we would end up on when emerging from the roundabout. It started with a K and had about 15 letters following it. Again, “you can’t miss it”, the attendant announced. I answered, “Well, we see you in a few”, so uncertain was I about our prospects of finding the “Manor”.

Well. We found it. So, we parked, went in to secure our room and OMG, this place reminded me of Faulty Towers. Or the place in Tenby, Wales. The wallpaper was gauche. There was a knights’ armor suit standing by the front door. A 3/4 filled fish tank to its’ left. Plastic flowers. Cherub heads. It was a hoot. We just giggled, it was so funny. Up to our room we flew. It would do…especially since we had prepaid. And Ray was so in need of a drink to relax that he said, “sure we’ll have dinner here”. And so we did.

The dining room was full of gray hairs from the big tour bus parked out in front. Fabulous Aussie Tours was emblazoned on the side of the bus. And it was parked right underneath our bedroom window. I’m quite sure the bus driver will be out there at 7 a.m. warming the thing up thereby waking us up.

But I digress. I needed my camera to snap pictures of this “Manor”. What a hoot. Only, I couldn’t find the camera. So, I went back out to the car. No camera. Up to the room. No camera. Ray went down to the car. No camera. We both went out to the car. Finally a camera was located lurking under the front seat…Why does this sort of thing happen to us? Oh, forget it. We can’t be the only ones…can we?

It was straight to the restaurant. Soup, salad, lamb shanks, a Turkish delight dessert. Everything was delicious, surprisingly. Too much wine, a martini minus the lemon peel and vermouth (just gin and lime peel) for Mr. J and the night started getting better.
Actually it is fun staying in a place like this. No pretense. Full of personality. The bed’s not bad, I can open the windows for fresh air, it’s quiet (all the gray hairs went to sleep already)…and we can’t play with the computer on the internet because they want $$ to use it and we don’t feel like paying…I’ll just post this when we return to Sydney tomorrow.

 

For more info on the indigenous art of Australia, click the link below…besides, their pictures are better than mine!

 

http://http://nga.gov.au/ATSIArt/Default.cfmcom

Well, here I am flying back to Sydney. It all went so fast. A few memories. Ray and the wine shop. The first day we arrive in Cairns, Ray and Bernie went to get a few things for breakfast while I remain behind, blogging. An hour later they came back and Ray announced that he had purchased not one, not two, not three, but four bottles of wine. OMG. We were only going to be in town 3 nights, one included wine with dinner and Bernie doesn’t drink wine (much). WHAT WE HE THINKING? Oh, if you bought 3 bottles you got one free. Oh, well, that explains everything.

So when we packed up this a.m. for our return to Sydney, we left two half-drunk bottles, almost a full bottle and a full bottle. Who had time to drink? We were out doing stuff…however, Ray wanted to at least take the one bottle with us. So we packed it up and off we went. Well…our plan was to eat at the cafe in the resort. We got there at 9:58 and they closed at 10. Nice move. They were willing to feed us but we opted out. They gave us (free!) two muffins with a raspberry topping and chocolate innards and off we went. The lady at the front desk suggested a cafe near by so we decided to do that instead of going directly to the airport. Good move. We ended up in Cairns Botanical Garden at a cute little cafe and had fresh fruit with yogurt and honey. Then we walked back to the resort (20 minute walk) and caught a cab to the airport.

 

 

Took this bottom photo while sitting at our table at the cafe.

This is where the story goes sad for the reader. I must confess, I left my kindle on the airplane we de-planeing in Cairns. So, I’d been bummed about this, called and reporting it missing and reported the loss to Amazon. So, this a.m. I returned to JetStar and inquired as to whether anyone had turned it in. No way, Jose. Drats. But in the process of doing all this, I ran into a group of guys in a uniform which had a cock on the back of their shirt(s). Okay, perhaps it was a rooster, but I asked them about their mascot and they described it as a cock. Anyway, they were on the rugby team for France!! Ooh, la la. They were on their way to their match in the World Cup at Auckland!! Really fun talking with them although my french deserted me. I asked them how to say, good luck. Bon chance. Oui, oui.

I dashed back to Ray, grabbed the camera and snapped this picture for my new french friends from last year’s trip, Rachid and Martine and their family as well as our friends, the Gendrons and as it turns out…all of you.

 

 
Our flight was late because they had to clean up the plane after the last flight. It required special attention. Don’t know what that was about. So…drinks were free to accompany our full meal. Aussies are very lucky. Qantas is fabulous.

We’re about to land and are currently flying over Hunter Valley north of Sydney. It’s very smokey because of bush fires and burn-offs.

And may I add that our weather has been spectacular. The entire trip. What a great time to visit this country. And the people are fabulous. Friendly and funny. I’m sure I’m repeating myself…but it bears repeating.

We arrived and while Ray was claiming our one bag that we checked, I went to the next terminal to see if my kindle had been found. YES IT WAS!!! Boy, am I lucky. We then bought train tickets like the veterans that we are and headed to base camp. Collapsing was in order. Before retiring, Bernie said that he was going to try to fly out tomorrow. So, we get to go the airport again!!

Well, here I am flying back to Sydney. It all went so fast. A few memories. Ray and the wine shop. The first day we arrive in Cairns, Ray and Bernie went to get a few things for breakfast while I remain behind, blogging. An hour later they came back and Ray announced that he had purchased not one, not two, not three, but four bottles of wine. OMG. We were only going to be in town 3 nights, one included wine with dinner and Bernie doesn’t drink wine (much). WHAT WE HE THINKING? Oh, if you bought 3 bottles you got one free. Oh, well, that explains everything.

So when we packed up this a.m. for our return to Sydney, we left two half-drunk bottles, almost a full bottle and a full bottle. Who had time to drink? We were out doing stuff…however, Ray wanted to at least take the one bottle with us. So we packed it up and off we went. Well…our plan was to eat at the cafe in the resort. We got there at 9:58 and they closed at 10. Nice move. They were willing to feed us but we opted out. They gave us (free!) two muffins with a raspberry topping and chocolate innards and off we went. The lady at the front desk suggested a cafe near by so we decided to do that instead of going directly to the airport. Good move. We ended up in Cairns Botanical Garden at a cute little cafe and had fresh fruit with yogurt and honey. Then we walked back to the resort (20 minute walk) and caught a cab to the airport.

 

 

Took this bottom photo while sitting at our table at the cafe.

This is where the story goes sad for the reader. I must confess, I left my kindle on the airplane we de-planeing in Cairns. So, I’d been bummed about this, called and reporting it missing and reported the loss to Amazon. So, this a.m. I returned to JetStar and inquired as to whether anyone had turned it in. No way, Jose. Drats. But in the process of doing all this, I ran into a group of guys in a uniform which had a cock on the back of their shirt(s). Okay, perhaps it was a rooster, but I asked them about their mascot and they described it as a cock. Anyway, they were on the rugby team for France!! Ooh, la la. They were on their way to their match in the World Cup at Auckland!! Really fun talking with them although my french deserted me. I asked them how to say, good luck. Bon chance. Oui, oui.

I dashed back to Ray, grabbed the camera and snapped this picture for my new french friends from last year’s trip, Rachid and Martine and their family as well as our friends, the Gendrons and as it turns out…all of you.

 

 
Our flight was late because they had to clean up the plane after the last flight. It required special attention. Don’t know what that was about. So…drinks were free to accompany our full meal. Aussies are very lucky. Qantas is fabulous.

We’re about to land and are currently flying over Hunter Valley north of Sydney. It’s very smokey because of bush fires and burn-offs.

And may I add that our weather has been spectacular. The entire trip. What a great time to visit this country. And the people are fabulous. Friendly and funny. I’m sure I’m repeating myself…but it bears repeating.

We arrived and while Ray was claiming our one bag that we checked, I went to the next terminal to see if my kindle had been found. YES IT WAS!!! Boy, am I lucky. We then bought train tickets like the veterans that we are and headed to base camp. Collapsing was in order. Before retiring, Bernie said that he was going to try to fly out tomorrow. So, we get to go the airport again!!

So, today it was up and at them for a Skyrail gondola up above the trees, a visit to the little town of Kuranda, and a ride on an old train back down. What mischief could we get into today?

Met the bus at 8:45 and they transported us to the gondola which I announced had me anxiety-ridden. This was a big fib but I thought it would be funny. The gondola is quite high and offered spectacular views of the Coral Sea and the surrounding area of Cairns, Port Douglas etc. As soon as we took off, Bernie pipes up with something like, “Well, we are REALLY, REALLY UP HERE.” When he didn’t get a rise out of me, he said, “If we fell the trees might watch us or break the fall and we might survive.” That Bernie, he’s quite the kidder. But since I was thoroughly enjoying the ride and the sights, I added, “You might just want to die. It might be the better alternative.” With that the conversation moved on and we all got a chuckle. Here’s some pictures from the adventure.

 

Here’s our shadow on the tree tops, as it were. Once we arrived at Kuranda, we had a latte and roamed the tourist shops because the other things to do were a Venom Zoo, a Butterfly exhibit and a few other things like that. Since we are going to a Night Zoo tonight, we just wandered around. I found a fabulous tee shirt and a boomerang!! I love them both. They are made in Australia and they depict Australia’s animals and people. Very cool. The aboriginal art is colorful, lively and tells a story. So my boomerang came with a story.
Ray met another woman. Actually, I was amazed to find Day of the Dead stuff here. Isn’t she beautiful?

 
Guess who? Good thing he wasn’t born on the Emerald Isle!!

 
I’ve been thinking about taking up bicycling…probably could score a deal on this one!

We took the train back and went through many tunnels and over many bridges. Here’s some pictures.

 

We booked the first class cabin on the train and it was lovely…complete with cheese, crackers, wine, beer etc. which we of course partook…no sense being rude!
Barron River is dammed. Not much water falling into the Barron Gorge…yet. Understand during the raining season it looks like Niagara. Not now.

 

 
More train pics. Okay, that’s about enough.

We returned to base camp in Cairns about 4ish and got ready for our Night Zoo adventure. It was a blast. But first, they had to pick us up. We were to meet up at 6 p.m. We proceeded to where the bus stop was. At 6:10 we were panicking because the bus had not arrived. Then it occurred to us that perhaps this was not the place we were to be. Actually, all the tours dropped us off at a back gate to the complex. Ray went in to the office and then called to us, “Oh, you who”. Yeah, right. “Dianna”, he yelled ( accompanied by a franic wave). The tour was looking for us at the back gate. So off we ran to the back gate which was quite a few blocks away. Snipping was involved. Bernie ran ahead, he being he youngest in the group. I was glad that he did not have to witness marital bliss. No bus. OMG. Reciminations abounded. Apologies were issued. The guys seemed resigned to an evening of missed opportunity. I stood out in the middle of the street looking for the van and making myself quite conspicuous. Alas…the van turned the corner and all that was left was to board and apologize to the nice Asian couple and their son for our botched rondevous. It turns out the driver was miffed at the resort because they were completely unhelpful in tracking down the LOST.

We finally arrived at the zoo which did not open until 7 so we were actually early. The the cockatoo arrived to great us all. Then the Doki Doki van arrived with half of the far east in it. So many Asias that an interpreter was provided. And there we were at the night zoo.

Admission included dinner, entertainment in the form of one man who strummed his guitar and sang Aussie songs. Drinks were included. Then we had dinner. OH, I almost forgot. We met a charming 26-yr. old from Georgia (US) and we spent the evening with her. She was here for 3 weeks that included 1 week of scuba diving off a boat. Sounded wonderful. She was quite a gifted traveler. Knew all the ropes. Fun was had by all.

Here are some of the sights.

 
There is Clara the cockatoo!!
Yes, I got to hold a real, live koala. 16 months old, he was quite a charmer. Soft and friendly.
An owl on display.
Koala on the floor…very unusual. They only eat one type of eucalyptus leaf so there is little energy in the leaf they like. Therefore, they sleep about 16-20 hours a day. Nocturnal in nature, it was fun seeing them at night.

We saw the most vemonous snakes on earth. Ugh. Glad they were behind glass. I won’t creep you out with any pictures.
Then there were the crocs. The sound their jaws made while trying to secure their food which was dangling was quite loud, sort of like nothing like we’ve ever heard. Sonic boom? Not quite. High in decibles and very convincing. The guides told us that our jaws have a 30 pounds/sq. inch — psi pressure measurement). Dogs have 160 psi. Large saltwater crocs have 3,000 psi. Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, flapping your lips and beating your gums. If you’re attacked, you’re a goner. And they can live without eating for a few months at a time. Quite a relic. And they had quite a collection of them.

It brought to mind the story of the croc at the Wildlife exhibit in Sydney. They told us that particular croc was brought down from Darwin. Seems that a local cattleman kept losing cattle. Tracing the losses to THAT croc, it was decided to spare his life and take him to the exhibit. Then they tried to breed him but he attacked and killed his three females lovers(tough love?) before they abandoned the idea.

But I digress. After viewing the crocs we got to visit with the kangaroos who are also quite lively at night and they love to eat.
The guides gave us carrots and potatoes etc. and we had the opportunity to feed them!! Too cool.
Got to see mama’s baby in her pouch. It was beyond fun. I now feel complete…like I can leave Australia having achieved most of my objectives. They were:

1. see kangaroos

2. see koalas

3. see the Great Barrier Reef

4. see the Sydney Opera House

6. see some aboriginese

Also, the outback beckoned but it would be another long flight and how much can one do in 3 weeks? We’re beyond grateful that we’ve been able to see and do what we saw and did.

But I digress.

After viewing and holding and feeding the various critters, we got back together at a dance floor…and we did the hokey pokey with the people from the doki doki!!! What a hoot. Doing the hokey pokey with our Asian grandchildren. A dream come true. Actually, the Asians were fun and friendly even though many didn’t speak any english. Everyone was laughing and giggling and having a fun time.

Actually, let me digress. There was one couple that did not have a good time. He was wearing a Texas A&M hat. They were from the great state of Texas. They didn’t laugh, they didn’t clap. They didn’t dance. She refused to see the snakes. Oh, and they were in their 30s. Too bad.
See Bernie? He’s holding the sign with the koala!! That was the grande finale.

Then we returned to the nest. Bernie had things to do and it was about 10:30 when we returned. Flying stand-by doesn’t always work the way you want. So, he found out that flights back to Sydney from Cairns were tightly booked except for the 5:55 a.m. So, he had to pack and leave in the wee hours to catch a flight that had about 25 vacancies. We bid our fond adieus and told him we’d see him in Oatley sometime tomorrow. Our flight was at 1:10 p.m.

Then we all went to bed exhausted, but full of wonderful memories (excepting if you will, the snakes).

Alert, alert. The guy with the sticks just told us that they left snorkeler behind the other day on the Great Barrier Reef. We’re going to have to pay strict attention on our day in the water!!

So…here we are post-reef as it were. What a day. We met the bus at 8:00 a.m. just outside the time share condo place we’re at…we just rented a 2 bedroom apt. and it happened to be at a time share property. Nice. Clean. Fans in every room. A kitchen. But who the heck has time to cook. There are places to go and people and fish to see.

But I digress. The bus ride to Port Douglas where we met the catamaran took about an hour plus 30 minutes. Since we were the first to be fetched, we saw the outside of many resorts as we were on a full-sized bus and it stopped at least 6 times. One time we waited 10 minutes as the passengers had gone missing. We finally pulled away and at the next stop down the street about a block, a woman was almost crushed by the closing bus door as she beseeched the driver to allow her and her brood to board. There were 5 in her tribe. All in their seats, we continued toward to Port Douglas. The driver gave us a bit of history. The lower plains are home to crops of sugar cane. Port Douglas was named after a fellow named Douglas who hiked there and said, “this looks like a place to settle”. Today, it is a cute little berg that is getting bigger. Cairns (pronounced Cans) is bigger and less quaint and it’s beaches are mud flats, really. Because Cairns is on flat land, the international airport is located in Cairns and actually has been here quite a long time. The entire area is supported by tourist and sugar cane. We passed a paddock(fence bit of property?) of wallabies today. Don’t know why they were all together in one place…but there they were (small kangaroos is what they look like).

It rains here from Oct. thru Dec. generally. It gets hot and muggy in a month or so. We came at a very good time. And today in particular was glorious. Very little wind, copious sun…perfect. The water was cold. That surprised me but we were glad because with the warming ocean come the jelly fish and they can kill you here. So…just as well, mate.

Speaking of Australian english, it is a hoot. To go food is called take away, auto body shops are called smash repairs. Need some limb lopping on that tree in the front yard? There was a classified listing in the yellow pages…Slivering snake removal…any snake, any time. The Aussies have a keen sense of humor and we have had a great time visiting with them. As an example, today we sat down facing David and Julie from the Gold Coast (Brisbane). They were taking the trip for their granddaughter, age 11. He was recovering from knee surgery so he couldn’t do anything so he volunteered to watch our stuff while we frolicked in the reef. The trip out took 90 minutes…going fast. It was quite a distance to the outer reef so there was plenty of time to visit with David and Julie. What are the chances we would meet someone that had been in the Oval Office? yes, THAT oval office. He worked for the gov’t down here and was involved in planning head of states visits. Had some great stories but I had a hard time hearing him, understanding his accent when I did hear him…and I couldn’t keep my eyes off his lower teeth. There was one or two that stuck up funny and while I was attempting to lip-read, I kept being distracted by those teeth. Such is the life of a hard-to-hear person. I mean, were his teeth always like that? Did he get kidded at school or work? Does he have a dentist? I say all of this in jest. He was a great guy.

But I digress. Does and arm and a leg have any meaning to you? The outfitter for this adventure charged an arm and a leg. And everything was extra. Just for the transportation (bus and boat), it was almost $300 a head. Then there was the swim with the marine biologist, $47/each. And then the “hire” for the digital underwater camera, $67. VERY expensive. However, we figured this was it. Our one and only trip here so why hold back? In a word it was fabulous. The colors of the coral was much better than the pictures. The fish were pretty but the coral was fabulous. The clams were enormous. The tour with the marine biologist was informative if you could hear him. He kept diving down as seen below.
So I tried to dive down too. The third time I got kicked in the head by one of my compatriots…so after seeing stars finally stop circling…from then on I lagged behind taking pictures. We all looked alike in our lycra body suit and wetsuits. And the wetsuit made it impossible to go down and stay down…you couldn’t drown if you wanted to. So, it went like this. I would head down, kick the air with my glamorous flippers, struggle to get my feet underwater, take on sea water in my snorkel and then resurface after achieving a depth of about 2 feet. No Esther Williams here. So, I asked the guide and he explained the flotation tendencies of the wetsuit and so I gave up. Ray as far as I know never tried. Not sure about Bernie either. There were about 8 or 9 of us on the “tour”. Luckily we went from some deep water to really shallow water that allowed me to snap some of these pictures.

 

 

 
This is a giant clam…about 4 feet long…Below is Ray showing you a piece of dead coral. And below that our guide diving down…he was not wearing a wetsuit. Then Ray in his lycra. My feet.

 

 

 

 

Above this fish is Ray not drowning. There were fish everywhere but they were extremely hart to photograph as they actually SWIM.

 

The catamaran delivered us to the “station”. A big platform in the reef. It had closed screen TVs, a bar, a full buffet. You could take a submarine ride, a helicopter ride, you could don big helmets and walk down an underwater plank to see fish without losing your hair-do or your make-up. There was an underwater observatory. Scuba diving was also offered. Many, many ways to spend a delightful day on the reef, stimulate the Aussie economy and meet people who had been to the Oval Office. Too many people? We understand, no, they only brought one catamaran full of people…high season they bring two. Yikes. An observation. The travel pictures on their http://www.quicksilver-cruises.com/wavepiercer.htm website show about a maximum of 3 people in the water. As you can see from the pictures…that was a big sales pitch. It was a zoo but very fun anyway.

 

In order for us to snorkel away from the platform, we had to fill out out a medical questionnaire. Because of Ray’s heart condition, red flags went up. And they suggested we take the beginners tour rather than the advanced tour. And they outfitted him with a snorkel with a red tip so they could keep a good eye on him. He was miffed. The IDEA. Happy to report there were no problems.

The only disappointment I had was that we didn’t see any manta rays, sharks, or other bigger fish…or turtles. On the flipper side, we didn’t see any jellyfish or great whites either. Soiling your lycra and wetsuit would not have been pleasant!!
The big fish up close and personal.

When we returned to base camp, it was after 6 p.m. So, we had some wine and appetizers and then headed out to Barnacle Bill’s where Ray and I had shrimp and bugs for dinner. The bug was like a lobster/crayfish thingie. Sweet and mild. Good. Fresh. Bernie had tempura and chips (fries). Dinner was picked up by Bernie. Thank you Bernie. And we picked up the cab rides which cost $30 round trip. Everything is expensive in Australia.

Tomorrow it’s the rain forest.