GBR - The Great Barrier Reef

Well, we've been waiting for this moment and the time has come. We can now explore the Great Barrier Reef. Thank goodness we have money for this part of our trip because this is what Australia is about. Rare Species and World Heritage Listed Sites.

To refresh your memory about what this is.... The Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven wonders of the world, and from above, viewing it from a distance, you will understand why it's declared one of the seven world natural wonders. Some facts: It is larger than the Great Wall of China and the GBR is the only living thing on earth that is visible from space. How's that?

We arrived to Cairns and couchsurfed at Stefan's house in Kewarra beach ... about 20 minutes north of the Cairns city centre. We met other couchsurfers there and booked a tour with Betty and Karin from Austria.

We had the option of taking an into dive. I said yes but was denied because of my arthritis medication. Need a doctor's note. Kevin took the intro dive and told me all the more amazing things you can see when you're just hanging out down in the depths of the amazing Reef.

Camping at the Boulders

Casuaries!

We went to a camp spot called the Boulders after Townsville on our way to Cairns

and we saw casuaries! Oh my goodness, these creatures are huge and scary. They look innocent and they're very curious but if you even dare to get out of your car, believe it or not they can KILL you with a swipe from their TOENAIL!!
serious.

Uluru and Kata Tjuta

ULURU

Adelaide back

Road Trip!

On the Way:

If you tell an Australian you went to Adelaide, it's pretty guaranteed they will say "WHY?!?!"
Our response is "We have friends there."

When in Indonesia we traveled with Eoghan an Irish lad who immigrated to Adelaide.
He is a manager of a bar and we had the best time with them. After a few nights eating pizza
at this happening place "Casablabla" a hip multicultural tapas bar, we explored. We spent a day with Eoghan and his housemate and went to some wineries. My favorite part about these wineries is there is no tasting fee. All the tastings of 15 different wines = free.
Imagine that. We sampled yummy wines and took photos of the beautiful grapevines.

THEN - We took a road trip to the Yorke Peninsula also know as the Yorkes, i think.

On the way there we stopped at a scenic rocky beach with a nice pier.
We camped at the Innes National Park and let me tell you what we saw.
As we set up tents we saw wild roaming Emus and Kangaroos!
The next day we drove around to 3 or 5 viewpoints. We immediately saw dolphins hanging out in pod! WOW!
Then we randomly saw a herd of sheep hiding on a hill and more Emus!
On our drive I have to mention the simply beautiful views of the rocky cliffs meeting the ocean and the beaches on the other side where people actually surf. Another wow.
campsite, what?! :

Some of the animals that greeted us during our camp trip!

oh the sun sets:

Laksa, how I enjoy thee! High class camping if you ask me:

learn about laksa

Home:

Too bad after leaving this heaven we were greeted with more car sorrows. BOO! Alternator went KAPUT and we must give a shout out to God for our luck in joining RAA roadside assistance two days prior! OR we can take some credit for learning the great old Tasmanian Lesson of Car Accident 101.

disasters continue: