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Cairns, Australia -
The Great Barrier Reef... This
quaint little seaport town is located in the northeastern part of Australia. We took a 1-1/2 hr. boat ride out to a
platform over the Great Barrier Reef (largest in the world). The day was spent snorkeling and then we did a helmet dive,
aka Snuba. Kind of a mixture of snorkeling and scuba diving.
This
was really cool...a weighted belt was put on us and a "toilet seat" on our shoulders...that is what they called it, and it
sure resembled one. Then we went into the water and a 40-pound diver's helmet was lowered and connected to the toilet
seat. We were only in 20 feet of water for about 30 minutes, but this is as close as we will probably
get to scuba diving. It was perfect for us to say we went diving at the Great Barrier Reef...
As we walked along a platform under water, a diver came down and brought fish food...and man, did the
fish come to us! WOW...it was awesome! He put on a show for us. There were so many beautifully colored fish.
And then came "Big Wally"...a Humphead Wrasse - photo right. He came right up to us and we got to pet him
(he's like silk). There was a second diver underwater taking pictures of us and all the fish. It was an AWESOME
experience. We would recommend it to anyone.
We also toured
a cultural village where we got to throw a boomerang...harder than it looks. They even gave us a didgeridoo concert...that
was a little strange. Then we traveled through a rain forest in a cable car. The next day we flew back to
Sydney.
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Sydney, Australia... We spent a couple of days touring this wonderful city down under.
Great tour of the iconic Sydney Opera House and a harbor cruise. There were some who spent the $200 Aus. dollars to
actually walk over the very top of the harbor bridge...uh, we did not do that... Are you crazy, we don't even
like walking on our roof at home!
The
harbor waterfront is an exciting place to be, especially at night. Lots of neat shops and great restaurants. It's
just fun to be on the harbor in Sydney any time. We spent some time at the famous Bondi Beach, but it was really
windy. Also, we saw where Russell Crowe has a condo on the marina. Sydney is a very modern city, but very expensive to live there.
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| Great view of the Sydney Opera House & Harbor Bridge |
12 Day Princess Cruise - on the "Diamond Princess" ship...
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| Diamond Princess Cruise Itinerary |
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| Ahh...the Koala Bears are just adorable, but be careful of the claws! Ronnie up close with a Koala. |
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| Meet Patrick-world's oldest Wombat-28 who has his own FB page and loves to ride in the wheelbarrow. |
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Hobart,
Tasmania, Australia - Small island south of the mainland...originally known as Van Diemen's Land. This is where the original British
penal colony was located at
Port Arthur...
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| Prison at Port Arthur near Hobart, Tasmania, Austrailia, circa 1833 |
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| Milford Sound in southern New Zealand |
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Duneden,
New Zealand - Home of
the world's only mainland breeding colony of Royal Albatross...
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| This center has 29 birds nesting. They have a 6 foot wingspan & can only take off if the wind is up. |
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Akaroa, New Zealand
- Home of the world's
smallest Dolphin, the Hector Dolphin, Miniature
Penguins, Fur Seals and many
other creatures found
only in the southern hemisphere.
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| Beautiful landscape both on land and in the ocean harbors of Akaroa, New Zealand |
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| Little Blue Penguins - only in New Zealand...how cute! |
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| Fur Seals of New Zealand... |
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Auckland, New Zealand - We sailed into a nice big harbor and took a tour of this wonderful city.
Walked
down on the waterfront and had some really good Mexican food.
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| Auckland skyline by night... |
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| Hey, Ronnie found us a great little Mexican Restaurant in Auckland, New Zealand - and good food too. |
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