Adventures in Reefdom
Ok so as we leave cape tribulation, Daintree national park, behind us and start traveling south I can help but wonder what the hell all this tall grass being farmed by the side of the road is. There is a lot of it and it goes on for days of driving. Oh we see other stuff too like pinapples and banana farms but this grass is really pervasive. Actually after a day we figured out it was sugarcane, main component in Australias national drink, Rum. Yes that's right after all the places I have gone and the people i talk to I can only conclude that Rum is drunk equaly as much as beer here, more on that later.
Our destination was Arlie beach, a little tourist community situated right in the Whytsunday Islands. It took us two days of travel stopping at a nice bed and breakfast in Townsvill along the way. The Coral inn I think it was called, well it had coral in the name anyway. Good place, found it in the Lonley Planet guide book we bought for the trip, also an encelent purchace. We had booked a vacation package for arlie beach back home through a brocure we got at travel cuts. Awesome Oz Adventures, they where called and it turned out to be a truly awesome experiance.
Day 1 was an all day sailing adventure on a huge Catamaran called the Camira. It was a really fun experiance, well worth what we paid and more. We borded in the harborm took off our shoes and set sail, well actualy there was no wind so we set moter but really that was the only disapointing part. The Crew were really friendly and took care of our every need. We had morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea with as much food as we could eat combined with unlimited beverages both alchoholic and non-alchoholic. Activites included the cruise around the island chain as well as snorkeling on a coral reef and an hour at a truly massive pure white beach. Super day but it was notheing compared to the next day.
Day 2 back at the dock but this time we are getting on a different boat one takeing us on the 2 hour trip to the great barrier reef. The company has a giant floating platform out at knuckle reef. From there you can snorkle, swim, take sub and glass bottem boat rides and more importantly for me, Scuba Dive. I went on two dives that day while Geneva took some boat rides and snorkled around the reef. The platform has a moon pool you dive from and the first time I was standing on the edge looking down at the sea floor 12 m below I was so awestruck I forgot everyting I was supposed to be doing. First off I have never been in water where you could see 12 m down to the sea floor then being able to see the bassive berms of coral sorrounding me, to awesome for words. Then drifing slowly to the ocean floor, being pulled along the reef by the current, seing hard coral up close for the first time. Oh and the Anenome fish. I tood 30 pictures my first dive and only 10 my second because mycamara card was full from all the other stuff I had done. luckaly that was all I needed it for and Gen has hers for the rest of the trip. I can't really describe to a non diver how amazing the experiance was, Ill just have to put up the picutres and you can see for yourslef.
Time running out again. We have been really busy and we took the 3rd day at Arlie beach to just laze around finaly, probably lazed around too much bucause I forgot to send out the poastcard I got from the cape. Got some more poastcards from arlie beach and forgot to send them out too. Infact we are leaving tomorow for a 2 day 4X4 tour of Fraser Island and I still Have forgotten to send them, when I do remember I can never find a poast office or news agency to buy staps at, or they are closed. I have decided to jsut get all my cards and send them out in one shot instead of trickeling them back home like I had origionaly planned. Hopefully they will get to you before I actually arrive home, but maby not.
Ah my life for a spell checker.
Our destination was Arlie beach, a little tourist community situated right in the Whytsunday Islands. It took us two days of travel stopping at a nice bed and breakfast in Townsvill along the way. The Coral inn I think it was called, well it had coral in the name anyway. Good place, found it in the Lonley Planet guide book we bought for the trip, also an encelent purchace. We had booked a vacation package for arlie beach back home through a brocure we got at travel cuts. Awesome Oz Adventures, they where called and it turned out to be a truly awesome experiance.
Day 1 was an all day sailing adventure on a huge Catamaran called the Camira. It was a really fun experiance, well worth what we paid and more. We borded in the harborm took off our shoes and set sail, well actualy there was no wind so we set moter but really that was the only disapointing part. The Crew were really friendly and took care of our every need. We had morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea with as much food as we could eat combined with unlimited beverages both alchoholic and non-alchoholic. Activites included the cruise around the island chain as well as snorkeling on a coral reef and an hour at a truly massive pure white beach. Super day but it was notheing compared to the next day.
Day 2 back at the dock but this time we are getting on a different boat one takeing us on the 2 hour trip to the great barrier reef. The company has a giant floating platform out at knuckle reef. From there you can snorkle, swim, take sub and glass bottem boat rides and more importantly for me, Scuba Dive. I went on two dives that day while Geneva took some boat rides and snorkled around the reef. The platform has a moon pool you dive from and the first time I was standing on the edge looking down at the sea floor 12 m below I was so awestruck I forgot everyting I was supposed to be doing. First off I have never been in water where you could see 12 m down to the sea floor then being able to see the bassive berms of coral sorrounding me, to awesome for words. Then drifing slowly to the ocean floor, being pulled along the reef by the current, seing hard coral up close for the first time. Oh and the Anenome fish. I tood 30 pictures my first dive and only 10 my second because mycamara card was full from all the other stuff I had done. luckaly that was all I needed it for and Gen has hers for the rest of the trip. I can't really describe to a non diver how amazing the experiance was, Ill just have to put up the picutres and you can see for yourslef.
Time running out again. We have been really busy and we took the 3rd day at Arlie beach to just laze around finaly, probably lazed around too much bucause I forgot to send out the poastcard I got from the cape. Got some more poastcards from arlie beach and forgot to send them out too. Infact we are leaving tomorow for a 2 day 4X4 tour of Fraser Island and I still Have forgotten to send them, when I do remember I can never find a poast office or news agency to buy staps at, or they are closed. I have decided to jsut get all my cards and send them out in one shot instead of trickeling them back home like I had origionaly planned. Hopefully they will get to you before I actually arrive home, but maby not.
Ah my life for a spell checker.
posted by Shawn Penson at
3:47 a.m.
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