Australia ** dial up warning ***

[Haole Girl]

The below photos are from our recent trip to Australia. The top ones are from The Great Barrier Reef, from the water. We took a snorkel tour (it took over an hour by boat to reach the reef(s)). Even though it is called The Great Barrier Reef, it is actually made up of over 2800 coral reefs.

The last few pics, at the bottom, were taken by helicopter (the reef(s) and the Daintree River). In the bottom most photo, in the beige one, if you'll look closely, you'll see some kind of shark(s) fighting with what was either a stingray or manta. The shark was nipping at it, and the manta or stingray was trying to bury itself in the sand.

By sea:

















By air:

[LadyoftheRabbits]

1. Really beautiful pics!

Thanks for sharing those :hi: :D

[Haole Girl]

2. Thank you

:hi:

[RevolutionaryActs]

3. So gorgeous. Thanks for sharing.

:hi:

[Haole Girl]

4. Thank you

I hope I did it justice with the ones I selected. It was hard to pick just a few...we have over 100 pics, just from the snorkel trip.

[ForrestGump]

5. Great stuff! Thanks!

I hope you thoroughly enjoyed it all. Makes me get the urge to submerge. :D

Thank you! :headbang:

[Haole Girl]

6. Thank you. Yes, we enjoyed it immensely!

In fact, that floating feeling when we took off in the helicopter probably rates as one of my top 10 best experiences in my life!

I would have enjoyed the snorkel trip better if the marine biologist we were with would have slowed down a bit. I was afraid I was going to drown near the end. I kept wondering if I was going to be able to keep up! When we got on the boat, and I asked why he swam so fast at the end, he just told me it's better to stay in the middle of the pack whenever possible. What the ____? Somebody has to be on the tail end. I should have asked him what he meant, but I was too afraid he'd tell me I'd been shark bait...and I love snorkeling too much to develop any phobias!

[WolverineDG]

7. Great pics!

I loved my trip to Oz & had the same problem--too many pics! Did you get a chance to go to the Red Centre? :)

dg

[Haole Girl]

11. Thanks

No, maybe next time! What is Red Centre?

[WolverineDG]

17. Alice Springs & Ayers Rock (Uluru)

Uluru is awesome!

dg

[Haole Girl]

18. Of course...it is top on my list for next time!

I've heard it turns violet at sunset. Did it look that way to you? Did you climb Uluru, even though it is considered sacred grounds in the Aboriginal culture?

[WolverineDG]

21. Yes, it does turn violet

I have a series of pictures taken at sunset. It went from bright yellow-orangish to deep orange-red during the time. I saw it as violet once during the day & when we were a bit away from it, but we didn't stop to get a pic. :(

I didn't climb because it's sacred to the native culture there, but instead I walked around it. I recommend walking around because you really get an idea of just how BIG it is.

dg

[Haole Girl]

22. Why don't you post your pictures?

I'm sure we'd all like to see them.

And, I think I'll also walk around Uluru...because it is considered sacred.
Have you heard that several tourists a year die while hiking it? Mostly, they say, from heart attacks.

[WolverineDG]

23. Yes, it's very strenuous

not to mention steep. They also have restrictions on the times that you can climb it. If the temperature is predicted above a certain temp, then they stop letting people climb up really early in the day, like 9 a.m. People have also died from falls & heat stroke. People who do climb despite the warnings & the knowledge that Uluru is sacred are called "Minga," meaning "ants."

My pics are on a Kodak disk somewhere. :) I'll have to find them but when I do, I'll post them. :hi:

Glad you had a great trip!

dg

[Haole Girl]

24. "Minga," meaning "ants."

Ha-ha! :rofl:

Please send me a PM when you post them,
just in case I'm not around...ok?

Thanks so much! :hi:

[Maestro]

8. Did you take those underwater pictures?

Wow! You must have a nice underwater set-up. How did the reef look? Was it dying in parts, in distress? From what you posted it looks pretty healthy. Good going!

[Haole Girl]

12. Thanks. We bought a waterproof plastic case for our digital

camera. We were fortunate, we saw it about 9 months ago. I've heard there has been recent bleaching and over 50% of the reef(s) have bleached quite a bit. We saw a lot of purple and blue coral. I'm glad we saw it when we did!

[Kajsa]

9. Beautiful pictures, KC2

Someday I hope to travel to Australia.
I especially want to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef.

I'm just so damn sad to hear about Steve Irwin.
He was one of Australia's best. Now he's a legend.

Thanks so much for sharing these.

:hug:

[Haole Girl]

13. Thank you...you're welcome

Nice to see you here!

And, yes, I am sad to hear about Steve Irwin's death, too. He had a kind heart-- and that is what I will remember about him. :hug:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

10. Very cool!

:thumbsup:

[Haole Girl]

14. Thank you very much!

:hi:

[u4ic]

15. Beautiful pics!

:hi:

How long were you there for? And where else did you visit?

[Haole Girl]

16. We were there only 10 days, since traveling takes up 3!

By the way, I would not recommend stopping in Guam on the way back (it made the trip home seem endless).

While there, we went to Mossman Gorge (had a short hike), the Daintree Rainforest (wonderful half day drive through the park), the Barrier Reef which took one whole day, then a helicopter tour the next day, and tried to just relax the last couple of days (shop and see the wildlife habitat in Pt. Douglas) before our journey home. It went by so quickly!

Next time, we want to see more of the outback...and go to Ayers Rock (Uluru). Ten days was not nearly long enough. I would recommend allowing a minimum of 2 weeks (in addition to the days rquired for traveling)!

Thanks! :hi:

[WindRavenX]

19. AWESOME

:yourock:

LOVELY pics.

[Haole Girl]

20. Thank you so much!

:hi: