Blogs from Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 3

There was one day during this week in which we had 4 Spanish speaking people on the boat; a couple from Argentina (Esteban and Inés) who were on their honeymoon and a couple from Chile (José Morán and Rosario Méndez) who are living in Sydney. Turned out that the José and Rosario are part of a group of Chileans that are all living in Sydney, between Bondi and Cogee. My connection with them is José María Pinto who was a classmate of mine in the Chilean Naval School. I've met several people of that group now, because they've all been to the Great Barrier Reef on the boat I Work on (Calypso). The first two people who went on the boat recommended it to the next who came here and so on. By coincidence, the days ... read more

Up before the sun had risen this morning as the excitement built with us heading off on a tour of the Great Barrier Reef. We made it into Cairns without fuss and were checked in for our cruise with Reef Magic with plenty of time to spare.Boarding our cruising vessel we took a seat outside in the morning sun and enjoyed a few cups of complimentary coffee waiting to depart. The sun was out and the breeze was reasonably light so all indicators were good for a calm ride. Our destination was about 90 minutes out to sea to visit a section of the outer reef. I had not even entertained the thought of taking sea sickness tablets and this oversight came back to bite me with a vengeance. Let’s just say it was a good ... read more

My most favorite place in the world is the great barrier reef. You would think that it's because I am an avid snorkler but the truth of the matter is that I cannot swim. However, it did not stop me from attaching a life jacket, donning on a pair of flippers and slapping on a pair of goggles to welcome this 1st time adventure in Dec 2009. When I was a little girl, I had wanted to become a marine biologist just because ocean creatures fascinated me. Now that I'm grown, the ocean still fascinates me and intrigues me. I must admit I do a lot more ocean eating than ocean studying nowadays. I have been to Fiji and Malaysia after my trip to the GBR to sample what they offer. Yet, for me, the GBR ... read more

Been a while since I posted.....lots of planes and traveling in between blog posts...... I headed out of Canberra on Tuesday Feb 21st and flew into Brisbane...about an hour and a half flight.....short layover and then from Brisbane to Proserpine, another hour and a half......the heat was incredible.....weather from Canberra to the north of Australia is so different.....from our summer weather to intense heat and humidity.......good practice for Bali! Short bus trip from Proserpine into Airlie Beach. Typical summery type beach town......luv it so far.....my hotel is situated right across from the beach and the view is spectacular (score 1). Who wouldn't want to live here?????? Walked around town trying to decide amongst the dozens of tour places who/where to book the Great Barrier Reef Dive Trip.....I wanna get it just right.....as luck would have it ... read more

Checking in at Singapore airport gave us a little surprise that we weren’t prepared for ….TWO FLIGHTS! We did a changeover from Darwin to Cairns but it wasn’t too bad as we are ‘Frequent Flyers’ to Jetstar now so a blanket and some socks kept us cozy. We arrived in Cairns at 10am exhausted from the lack of sleep on the flights but we were soon on a comfy bed in a place called Dreamtime! A great place to stay if you are ever in Cairns, 10 minute walk to the lagoon and the supermarket is just across the road. The vibe in Dreamtime was really good, everyone was friendly and we met a lot of people in our time here. Due to a lack of sleep we were in bed by 9pm that night and ... read more