Sunday March 12 The Outer Reef

Sunday March 11, 2007

Great Barrier Reef
A picture perfect day has ended our sojourn. We left at 8:00 this morning and boarded the Wave Length for an hour and a half journey to Opal Reef on the Outer Barrier Reef. There were only 14 of us on the boat so it was comfortable and relaxed. The day was clear and sunny and the wind and sea was calm. The ship made three stops – Ray Ban, Turtle Bay, and a third I have forgotten the name of already : (

The snorkeling was amazing. The reef is famous for being home ot 1500 species of fish and 400 of coral. There was a marine biologist on board who briefed us at weach site on what to look for. I rented an underwater digital camera for the day. However, the monitor was about the size of my thumb so I pretty much was shooting blind – the true meaning of “point and shoot: They will download the photos and copy them to a disk and mail it to me so I have NO idea what I got – except for one shot – the money shot. NEMO !!!! Cute little guy just sat there and let me shoot and shoot. When I got into the boat, I had a look and there he was !! That’s it – I can go home now – I have seen Nemo and a kangaroo in the wild. Worth the price of admission. !!

On the boat, they served morning tea – fruit and cookies;
lunch – buffet of meats, cheeses, veggies- raw and cooked, boiled shrimp, deviled eggs, hard rolls, huumus – plus a completely redundant “vegetarian platter”: for me that included feta cheese, olives, grilled zucchini, a spinach- cheese filled thingy, and a piece of veggie cheese frittata
afternoon snack – fruit, cheese and crackers

I will be on the treadmill for the rest of the year !!

We are back at Thala and packing for our return to Sydney tomorrow. We will spend one more night and eat one more meal with the DeFrans and then we are off for Denver on Tuesday. We leave Sydney on Tuesday afternoon at three and arrive in Denver - about 24 hours later – and on the other side of the dateline - on Tuesday afternoon at four !
It has been a fabulous month. We have had a ball. I am ready to get back home now –sleep in my own bed, watch a little CSI : ) and find out how Merideth is doing on Gray’s Anatomy !

This will probably be the last post til I get home. Hope you have enjoyed the journey.