Blogs from Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 14

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 ... read more

This was the moment I had been most looking forward to all trip, and it did not disappoint. I doubt I can even explain in words what an amazing experience this was, but I will do my best to try. Our purpose for the day: Snorkling on the Outer Reef. The boat ride was about 70 minutes, and we got to spend 5 hours on the reef, and visit 3 different reefs. As soon as we boarded the boat, there was an announcement that the crew "strongly recommended" taking some of their complimentary seasickness tablets. Vlad followed the recommendations, but Shilo was too tough (and paid the price... but in her defense, there was only 5 min left in the ride and at least a dozen other soldiers fell before she did). Just a quick side ... read more

This is the best for the moment....... read more

One could probably contest the exactness of 0.0054 leagues...but it's really a hard distance to nail down. At one point, a league was defined as the distance that a person, or a horse, can walk in 1 hour of time (usually about 3.5 miles or 5.5 kilometers). It has also been expressed as 3 nautical miles (or about 5.556km). But who's really going to do the conversion anyway? Actually, I can think of a few that will surely do this conversion...you know who you are...and you mostly work for a telecom company based out of Schaumburg. Anyway...I'm currently reading "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson. It's his attempt to summarize scientific knowledge about...well...everything. The universe, our solar system, the earth, geology, weather, physics, etc. At first I thought it a bit odd that ... read more

Apologies in advance for this being such a lengthy entry! We left you in Hervey Bay in the rain and since then we have had some fantastic adventures that we can't wait to tell you about so here goes... Fraser Island was a complete and utter washout! After umming and ahhring for hours over which trip to take (the 3 day drive yourself safari versus the guided coach day trip) we checked the weather forecast and saw the torrential downpours continuing for the week, so opted for the safe (expensive) option of a nice easy guided coach trip. Thank goodness we did. The rain was horrendous and being stuck in a tent with group of party crazy 18 year-olds would not have been fun. Fraser is the largest island in the world that is completely ... read more