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.

Uluru and Kata Tjuta

ULURU

Tazzy

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We took off from Melbourne to Tasmania for about 1 week.
We flew in and rented a car because it was cheaper than bringing our
own car into the state. Until we got into a car accident. Then things got really
expensive!

The evening we got there we drove around Hobart and landed in the Cascade Brewery before it closed for the night. We missed the last tour of the day but didn't have much money anyway so we enjoyed a beer and snacks.

Day 1 we walked around Hobart

and went to the Bonorong wildlife park
we got to pet a wombat! and learn about Tasmanian Devils and watched them eat
dead baby chickens from a farm nearby. (That's what I call recycling!)

Tasmanian Devil!

Baby Wombat!

River Fire the start of Brisbane Festivals

Tonight we went to South Bank and watched fire works on the river.

We showed up around 6pm and the fireworks start at 7pm so we were cutting it short.

It was PACKED!

We walked around for 40 minutes and finally decided on a small cemented area.

We sat on the ground and a few minutes later we were offered seat in 2 nice fold out chairs.

Wow, how about that?

We watched the incredible fireworks show in comfort.

Afterwards we headed to the West End by foot. The streets were just filled with people and the train station was lined up with families so far back we didn't even consider trying it.

We had some chinese food in the West End, a drink at Rumpus Room and another drink at Vinyl, The bar connected to the music venue "The Hi-Fi"

Fun night.