Great Barrier Reef and Road Trip to Cairns

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I haven't updated you in a while, as my adventures are more local, and were getting as exciting as going out for dinner on my birthday (which actually did turn out to be quite memorable, as the waitress served us someone elses home-made birthday cake, that we ate without asking any questions, birthday candles, singing and all).

More recently however, I went out to Lady Elliot Island, which is at the Southern-most tip of the Great Barrier reef, 80km East of Bundaberg for all of those familiar with your Australian Geography. My boss flew our staff out to the Island for an all inclusive day on the reef and it was fabulous! I saw whales, a manta and snorkelled with dolphins, sharks, hundreds of fish, sting rays and even held onto a giant sea turtle for a ride. We had a gourmet lunch with Champagne and explored the island a bit, it was a perfect day.

Last week I went on a road trip with Katherine and Jenny, 2 of my friends from work. We drove from Brisbane to Cairns (1800km), in a rental car that we got for $1 per day! Our stops were in Stanage, a small fishing village where we stayed at Jenny's Dad's fishing cabin, Airlie beach, where we partied way too hard and got fried in the sun, Townsville, where we stayed with Jenny's brother, Magnetic Island, where we saw a massive Koala bear extremely close up in the wild, and finally Cairns, where we did day trips of white water rafting and visited Cape Tribulation and the Daintree National Rainforest, which is another 150km north of Cairns, bringing our tally up to about 2000km!

I saw kangaroos, koalas and although I didn't see them, there were crocs and cassawaries (big ostritch-like forest birds) in the area as well. It was a great trip.

I have one more week as a receptionist here at McVeighs, then am looking for another job, as the weather is just too nice to leave here at the moment, and of course my friends too! Speaking of which, Erin is coming to visit me in just over 3 weeks!!!

Keep in touch, and I will try to keep you posted more often.
Hugs and Kisses, Shauna

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Photos

On the way to Cape Tribulation
It was so warm this day, I can't believe its still winter here!

Nice Face!
Coming out of the water after my first snorkel on Lady Elliot. The sharks were scary, but the dolphins made it better!

Group shot
Some of us after our first snorkel and champagne snack!

Lady Elliot Island
A view of the island and the surrounding reef from the air.

Kangaroo Madness
I screamed I was so excited when I saw my first kangaroo, but then I noticed that they aren't that rare, as you would often see groups of about twenty.

Koala Madness
He was so cute, and so stoned! There's got to be something in those Eucalyptus leaves...

The Road Crew
Katherine, Jenny and I on Stanage beach

Nice hats
We played tacky tourists for a while, in our dollar-store-Aussie-corked hats. They got a bit hard to drive with though, or when a good song came on, you would get kind of dizzy car dancing. Nice shades Katherine!

Comments

[anonymous]

hey, we are thinking of doing the same drive... How did you get a rental car for a dollar a day? thanks

[Shauna]

Dollar-a-day rentals
Check out: standbycars.com and appollo rentals. You have to have a flexible schedule, as the postings usually only give a couple of weeks notice. The Brisbane-Cairns route is a fairly common one though, so you shouldn't have a problem. Good Luck!