Day Fourteen

Monday, June 21st, Bondi Beach (Sydney), 12:22 pm, temp 20C
Last time I left off we were up in the Daintree Rainforest. We had to leave Friday morning at 6:40 am and drive south to Fort Douglas to catch our Great Barrier Reef Snorkeling 8:30 am. It was raining, dark, and foggy which made the drive interesting. The road was very narrow and curvy but luckily I had a couple days experience under my belt. Once we got on the other side of the river the skies cleared and it looked like we would have a lovely day. We booked the Poseidon tour which they say takes out the fewest people and does three dive locations. We were the first on, I grabbed a spot in the sun and the other three sat in the shady area. I met two couples who are traveling from slightly north of Melbourne all the way to the northern tip of Australia. Round trip would put them at 10,000 kilometers round trip. They have a Ute with a top pop up style camper, sounds like a fun trip. We chatted the way out to the first dive, took about a little over an hour. We snorkeled around the first reef area for about forty minutes, I had ear plugs which worked perfect for diving below. The coral and fish were amazing, loved every minute of it. Aunt Carole and Judy had their own guide who took them on a board around the reef.

The second stop was a better, more variety of fish which I tried to take photos not sure how well they will turn out using a disposable underwater camera. After the second dive we had a buffet lunch and relaxed in the beautiful sun. while relaxing on board we could see a small shark off the side of the boat, swimming around the boat. Aunt Carole decided to stay on board for this stop, Judy was adventurous and went out with Julie.

the third stop was the best, the guides took out three groups and explained about the reef and fish and tried to show us sharks at the bottom who were sleeping. Again, Aunt Carole & Judy had their own guide who took them out on a board. Next time they go out snorkeling they will claim to be first timers just so they can get the special treatment again. This stop was amazing, I couldn't get enough of diving down to see the different coral and fish. Time went by too fast. I still can't believe we were actually at the Great Barrier Reef and we snorkeled!!! Kinda like the first time you see the Grand Canyon, it doesn't seem real.

We headed back to land, got in around 5 pm, changed and hit the road for our drive back to Cairns. We dropped the car off at the airport and took a taxi to our hotel. Aunt Carole & Judy headed out for dinner & shopping, Julie & I headed to the resturant next door for fresh seafood. We met the owner who has 3 different locations, very nice man. We ordered fresh oysters which were gigantic, the largest I've every seen and Prawn Wantons for appetizers. For dinner I had garlic prawn salad and Julie had Garlic prawn pasta, both were delicious. With dinner I had a kinky Cosmo & Julie had a Chardonnay. For dessert, the bartender let me sample a couple of flavored dark rums made in Australia, very nice. He made me a cinnamon ice cream, coffee, dark rum dessert. It was delicious. Aunt Carole and Judy joined us for a beer. We turned in early as we needed to be up around 4:30 am for a 6:20 am flight to Sydney.

Saturday, June 19th Sydney
We arrived to Sydney at 9am, took the shuttle to our hotel, checked our bags and I booked my "climb Sydney Harbour Bridge" tour for 12:55pm. The other 3 were not interested in climbing the bridge, they headed out to check out the area around Circular Quay (harbour area around our hotel near the Opera House). The four of us walked to "The Rocks" area to find a place for lunch. Ate lunch at a great local place and walked up to where the Bridge Climb started. At the climb, they take you though signing your life away, breath test (alcohol test), and get you in your beautiful grey jumper (jump suit). they we head in to get all the other stuff you need; harness, head gear, hat, etc... The climb is up to the top of the bridge which is 440 feet and amazing views of the Harbour and all the sights around. It was a beautiful sunny day, about 22C and a pretty strong wind. It took us about an hour to do the climb and then we stopped at four different stops to take photos. It was an awesome experience, the guide was informative about the history of the building of the bridge and Sydney. Well worth the money. Afterwards, Julie and the ladies had booked a 5 pm tour of the Sydney Opera House, the architecture of the building is amazing!!! Wish we had time for a concert. There was a big night light show going on while we were in Sydney, the Opera House had a variety of images displayed on the "sails" which changed. Lots of people were there to see it and photograph the different images. Afterwards we took the ferry to Manly Beach and had a fantastic dinner by the beach. Got back to our hotel around 10 pm.

Sunday, June 20th, sunny & 22C
Today we did the Hunter Valley Wine tour. It was another gorgous day, sun was shining and the temperature was fantastic. We did 3 wineries, had a fantastic lunch, stopped for chocolate tasting & cheese tasting. Got back to the hotel around 5:15 pm. Had a nice relaxing dinner of Veal and Pasta.

Monday, June 21st cloudy & raining, temp 15-18C
Today we did a city bus tour, I am sitting in a little shop at Bombi Beach. Quickly wanted to update the blog. Not enough time to fill you in but when we get back I will upload photos. We took Julie out for breakfast at Maxx Brenners Chocolate House and had waffles with chocolate, ice cream, bananas, and strawberries. It was perfect start to the day.

gotta sign off, we fly back tomorrow.
this has been a trip of a lifetime for all four of us. Each of us have our own favorites on this trip. Mine was snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef!!