Great Barrier Reef

We have arrived at the tropical Cairns.  It is hot and muggy, but torrential downpours abound as it is the tail end of their rainy season.  This is where we will visit the rainforests and snorkel the Great Barrier Reef.  Our hostel is fairly nice and we have had a chance to speak to some interesting people.

We were able to swim in what the locals call the "lagoon" which is a public pool right next to the ocean.  In Cairns, even though it is tropical, there are no beaches here and the water is infested with salt water crocodiles and stingers.  Great place, which begs the question, why would we come here??  It is the launching point to see the Reef, and who would come all this distance and not experience the Great Barrier Reef?  So, we are making the most of our time here rain and all.  The rain has not kept us from walking, swimming and sightseeing...though our clothes will never dry in this climate?!

We snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef today!!  Super exciting!  The 90-minute boat ride with white caps and waves of 6+ feet made it a precarious ride for me.  I have been known not to have a strong stomach on boats, even having lived in Florida and being on boats for years.  So, I am comfortable chumming the waters and Shelley was there to hold my hair out of my face...just kidding, the drugs given (purchased, of course) helped and I made it to the Reef without giving up my breakfast.  We witnessed from the back of the boat all the puck bags making it to the trash can, so Shelley gave me a gold star for not giving it up.  She was sooo proud.

Shelley and I jumped into the unknown and experienced tons of fish, squid and coral.  Since the weather was so crazy (torrential rain and wind--like a hurricane almost), we were not able to hop on some of the smaller boats for additional Reef activites, so we snorkeled for about four hours.  We took a picture with this huge parrot fish (four feet long) that was curious and a school of even bigger bump head fish which Shelley was not afraid of at all especially when they were checking us out.  Water logged and exhausted we took the crazy wavy ride back, no nausea this time around.

On the Great Barrier Reef, ready to jump in

Excited about swimming with the fisheeees 

Do I have to get in??

Going back to the gold star, Shelley allowed me to buy us ice cream bars as a treat (yes-she ate two of the four pack as well).  We ended the night with all you can eat Aussie pizza, what a treat (not quite Chicago pizza--but good nonetheless) and oh so healthy.  No exercise anytime soon.

Manly Our Favorite Place

Our last day in Sydney and there were a few more items on our list to check off.  I have to say the people of Australia are very friendly.  We've met some very nice people of all ages, eager to steer you in the right direction and share their stories with us.  Strolling around the shops of Paddy's Market (the oldest market in Australia), we bought some fruit at the market and some food/sweets from Chinatown for our day ahead at Manly (our favorite place so far).  Taking the ferry over to Manly, we once again window shopped and found our favorite place--Shelly Beach.  We made sure to jump in the salt water pool again as it was a brilliant day.  The day ended with some happy hour beers followed by a visit at our second favorite place, Coles grocery store for some odds and ends for dinner.  Sitting on the boardwalk, we took in our last breath of Manly and wished it farewell.  We will be back some day...

 The VW bus carrying surfer Kelly Slater

"Shelley's" public pool right near our favorite beach

 Not quite ready to get in the cool water

 I can almost reach

We have to keep telling ourselves this after decades of keeping right!?

Named after Shelley, but they forgot the "e"

 So proud, so proud

 We will be back someday!

 One of the many mini sculptures along the beach path in Manly.  Shelley liked these (shrug)

 Getting ready to "run"

 Cutie pie on the ferry to downtown Sydney

Great night shot of the Opera House

Bondi and Bonte Beach--Love the beaches!

With an early rise, we checked out of our hotel (insert tear) and loaded up our backs for our next destination--Eva's Hostel.  What seemed like a short distance on the map, seemed a bit longer with multiple bags strapped to your appendages.  You would have loved our hill workout, does Google maps take into account elevation?  Both of us laughed as we turned a corner and looked up to a mountain of stairs but we did it!  Again, we dropped our bags and sweaty clothes and exchanged them for "swimmers' and walked to the bus station on Oxford Street for Bondi Beach.

We took the scenic beach walk by the public pool in between Bonte and Bondi Beach, passing the Iceberg Bar.  Soaking up the sun and crazy Asian antics of obessive picture taking, we both fell asleep on the beach fulfilling our daily dose of vitamin D.  We wrapped up the day by finding the only happy hour on the beach and ate a quick dinner before catching the bus back.

Shelley standing a tad too close to the edge for my taste

On the cliffs between Bondi and Bonte

Great pic of us with Bondi in the background

Take a look at the shirt in the background...Shelley said she didn't like it, but her face says otherwise!  Oh, and she put her $5 Walmart sunglasses from Florida to rest (tear drop...)

S+E Walking Tour Sydney

The next day we took a walking tour of Sydney--Shelley and Erik style.  Got a chance to walk around the Botanical Gardens, Hyde Park, an awesome aquatic center, Mrs. McQuaries (sp?) chair where her husband built her a park to enjoy the area (must be nice), Luna Park (Sydneys white trash equivalent to the Jersey Shore), a very old and very cool outdoor pool used for the Olympics and ended the day with a ferry back to Circular Quay and having some drinks as we walked back to the hotel.  I would like to add, we chose not to pay the $200 each for the bridge walk and instead walked across for free with both our left and right feet.  Beyond our free sample of frozen yogurt in the food court, we treated ourselves to dinner out at the popular Chat tai.  Another unforgettable night in Sydney.

Great pic of the Opera House and the Bridge

We took a rest on Mrs. McQuaries chair before heading across the bridge

How am I supposed to BASE jump from the bridge with all the fences.  They did have a dedicated bike lane which Shelley loved

Incredible Olympic training pool right next to the bridge, the harbor and Luna Park

They swim here all year long...pretty cool stuff and the pool is kept at 25 degrees Celsius

Where in the world is Shelley?? Check out little Shelley posing under the "typical" Australian looking teeth...

Blue Mountains and Indigenous Animals

We took a great excursion out to the Blue Mountains.  The first picture and video is about the Three Sisters.  Check it out!

The equivalent to the Grand Canyon but full of euclyptus trees.  It was magnificent.  We took a rail car to the basin, had a chance to hike around, then a cable car back up the mountain.  The reason it is called the blue mountains is due to the oils released by the euclyptus trees and water mixing and evaporting in the sun causing a blue fog.  Kind of cool.  We had tea and bread (the Australian equivalent to tea and biscuits) which was really good and about $12 a person--yikes!?

After the hike we had a huge lunch at an eco-lodge followed by a trip to a private zoo.  We got to see many of the native animals of Australia and actually pet many of them.  They wouldn't let us touch the 23-foot long crocodile, I couldn't understand why?!  It was quite an amazing experience to be surrounded by kangaroos and emos out in the open.  Although, we're both convinced the koalas are high on euclyptus leaves or something.  Kiara--we got your kahola ber picture for you!

The three sisters...turned to stone by their father (be careful girls)

Shelley making friends as always!

Old mine, they wouldn't let us in

Erik's favorite tree in the mountains...HUGS

Doesn't give the area justice, but you get the idea

Shelley wanting to BASE jump. "Keep your feet planted on solid ground, woman!!"

To the animals:

Shelley is not too sure at this point...

Hey Erik, it's looking at me!

Check out the "high" koala bear in the background

My face hurts from smiling soooo much...see if you can find the koala (not a bear according to Aussies and Shelley)

Group shot!

Too many animals around me...help me Erik, get me outta here!

Not interested as I had no food to share

Happy Feet!!  Shelley got a pic of her penguins...YAY!

Walking Tour take "One"

Another beautiful day before us, we embarked around Sydney.  We walked to the Rocks area down in the harbor, visited Cadman's Cottage (the oldest remaining cottage), stopped in some art galleries--we're still shaking our heads over Ken Done's artwork, stopped in the gift shops of a few museums (entrance fees exceeded our daily budget), the Royal Botantical Gardens, all the way back into the harbor to the grand Opera House.  We lapped the building, touched it's tiles, climbed the stairs, and polished it off with some refreshing beers along the marina right next to the Opera House.  Quite a day!

By the bridge, and yes we walked across it

Lovely shot of the traveling couple (with the Opera House in the back)

No pose Shelley??  Just enjoying the Opera House

Hugging the tiles that make up the Opera House

In the Royal Botanical gardens singing for traveling money.  People paid for me to stop

AAHHH, a refreshing beer or three outside on the water by the Opera House