Australia

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Boom! Was the sound we awoke to, a bat had flown directly into our balcony door. Luckily, he wasn’t hurt and was able to fly away and far from us.

We headed to the dock to get on our boat, destination: The Great Barrier Reef, one of the Natural 7 Wonders of the World. Our first stop was Green Island where we desperately hungry but no places were open yet. Eric went swimming for a bit and Vicky laid out at the beach before their helicopter ride over the Great Barrier Reef began. This was a super cool experience: 1. Neither one of us had ever been in a helicopter and 2. The views of the reef were breathtaking. We made friends with the gentleman that gave us our safety briefing and he invited Eric to take shotgun in the helicopter. The views looked like images in a book and almost looked so unreal because the colors were so vivid and the images so beautiful. It was a quick trip in the air but very impressionable.

We left Green Island by boat and headed to the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Upon arrival, we collected all our snorkeling equipment which included a stinger suit because it was stinger season. Eric headed to the ocean for a bit while Vicky caught some sun. After they both enjoyed a buffet lunch, they jumped into the ocean and snorkeled in the Great Barrier Reef. It was filled with breathtaking views. Fish were everywhere, one fish was even 2 feet long and we able to pet it. Vicky even saw a shark that was about 1.5 feet long. The reef was incredibly large and it was quite the humbling experience snorkeling in this immense world wonder.

The boat blew its horn and it was time to go, Vicky and Eric headed back to the boat. Vicky thought she was heading in the correct direction but after a few minutes of what she calls swimming, she realizes she was going in the complete opposite direction and was now even further away from the boat (which blew its horn an additional 3 times). Finally, Vicky arrived and headed back to the boat. We were both kind of bummed that neither one of us can clear our ears while scuba diving, but the snorkeling experience was amazing. Another definite must if ever in Australia.

Once we arrived back to our hotel we realized that there was a block party across the street from us. After checking it out, we realized it was full of teenagers that wore hats and t-shirts of American sporting teams and who danced the Dougie. We hung out with the locals for a tad bit and attempted to cross through the park but the sounds of the bats in the dark park was enough for us to turn around and take the long way to dinner. We headed to dinner at a Restaurant Bar and had a pizza with prawns, Thai chili sauce, and peanuts for toppings and of course an Australian wine. At dinner we ran into someone who was on our excursion earlier that day and had a quick convo.

Australian Word of the Day: Lovely=awesome, talented

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