Big Fish Tails

Diving the Great Barrier Reef is the most specatcular thing I've done since I have been in Australia. I went with TAKA DIVING and had the diving experience of my life. The trip was a 4 day/3 night trip up to the northern tip of the reef. I decided to sign up for an advanced certification course which would allow me to dive at night, deep dive (100 feet) and learn to navigate under water and perfect my bouyancy. Ten dives in three days with lots of studying in between, but I was up for the challenge! (Besides, I needed to cut back on my alcohol consumption a bit and having to get up early to dive in the morning is the best incentive I could come up with!) : ) I have tons of pics to show everyone when I get home, plus a DVD staring yours truly, but for now...here are a few pics of my own, a couple I stole from the TAKA website, and many taken by friends I met on the boat with professional underwater cameras.



The first day 32 passengers and 10 crew set out on the 100 foot dive boat from Cairns, heading north as the sun was setting over the giant land mass of Australia to our west. Sunsets are strange here to me because I am so familiar with sunsets over the ocean dropping into the sea, now I see the sun rise to the east coming up from the depths of the black ocean. Being on the opposite coast line of the sun setting is all new to this girl.


We set up our gear and settled into our floating home.


Sunrise on day two of our trip.


Day two we woke up bright and early to get ready to dive the famous Cod Hole and watch a feeding. The cod were waiting for us as we made our descent and sat in a circle on the ocean floor. Andy, our tour guide, swam down with a large container of cut up fish bits and was almost accosted as the giant fish nuzzled at him for food. The fish were HUGE and came within inches of us, close enough to reach out and pet as they swam by...we just had to be cautious they didn't mistake our fingers for food.
Diving at the Cod Hole






My first night dive.


Dive partner Liz from England


Advanced Course Dive Partner Angelique from Holland


After lunch the captain of the boat heard from another dive company that Minke Whales were near by at a famous dive spot called Lighthouse Bommie.

The Dwarf Minke Whale is the smallest of the baleen whales growing up to 7 metres in length and weighing up to 10 tonnes. Although they are termed "ship seeker" or in other words very friendly and not afraid of human contact, they choose to travel solitary or in pairs/small groups. They feed on krill in the sub-Antarctic waters between the months of December and March of each year. They spend a lot of time passing through the Great Barrier Reef during the months of June, July & August but have never been recorded feeding in the area.

The Dwarf Minke is the only species of whale at present, with which humans are allowed purposeful in the water interaction. You are likely to see these whales approach the vessel and interact with guests on board by jumping, breaching, spy hopping (poking one eye out of the water to look at you) or presenting their belly. These friendly mammals will play and interact with snorkellers for up to 3 hours at a time.

Lucky for all of us, as soon as we had gotten out of the water after our dive, someone spotted the whales. We all suited up and with just our snorkles and fins, dove in the water. We were instructed to hold on to a long rope that was attached to the back of the boat. As we help on the the rope and floated as still as we could, the family of three Minke Whales swam around us for over an hour. They playfully breached in and out of the water around us, and often came within less than five feet of the snorklers, checking us out. At one point, one of the whales was swimming directly at me and I was really concerned for a split second that he was going to ram me. He swam within just a few feet and then dove deep below me, leaving me absolutly stunned.




Day three was another great day of diving. The visibility was some of the best I've ever dove. We hit spots called Steve's Bommie, Temple of Doom and the Beer Garden where we did a night dive with sharks and turtles. On our way to the last dive of the day our boat captain did it again and spotted Humback Whales this time. We didn't have time to swim with them but had an amazing show watching them breach as we all looked like paparazzi on the top of the dive boat. I didn't have my camera and was too busy enjoying the whales to go down under the boat to get it...so these are some pics taken by others on the boat...



I passed my advanced certification course. More importantly on this trip, I did have the time of my life.

Life's a Beach!

Managing a travel blog is not as easy as it looks. Some internet cafe's have the slowest connections and I sometimes spend an hour just trying to upload photos, only to run out of time and then realize half of the photos didn't actually upload. So unfortunately this is all you get this time around. I have been heading north up the east coast of Australia seeing gorgeous beach after beach after beach.

BYRON BAY


SURFER'S PARADISE


FRASER ISLAND



So many beaches, so little time. I could honestly take a year to do this exact same trip and still not get enough. The weather has gotten warmer, it's bikini weather by day and sweatshirt weather by night. My tan is coming back. I am loving it here. My time is running out so I am heading up to Cairns to do some diving on the Great Barrier Reef next. Stay tuned for another post shortly and maybe I can get some more photos on here next time!

G'Day

Leaving Fiji I went from flying on on of the smallest planes ever, to the largest. I arrived in Sydney on July 5th and my first thought was...this city is HUGE! Sydney has a population of over 4 million people! Deciding where to stay was my first task, and with some advice from others I finally chose Bondi Beach, one of the top ten surfing locations in the world. The beach was absolutly gorgeous and if I was a surfer I'd say the surf was amazing. My hostel was right on the beach and my only wish was for the weather to be a little warmer so I could enjoy the beach a little more.


Walking around Sydney is a little surreal when seeing the Opera House and Harbour Bay Bridge up close and personal after growing up with seeing them on TV.



I visited the Toranga Zoo and loved watching the giraffes feed with landscapes of the city skyline behind them.

The City of Sydney is similar to San Francisco in the there are street performers everywhere trying to earn a buck by displaying some talents. I caught a couple of aboriginis in full costume playing some tunes.

One of my favorite parts of the city was my walk through the botanical gardens. They are a large grassy area just next to the opera house full of all types of trees, flowers and wildlife. I was surprised to learn that white cockatoos are wild here, as well as "flying foxes" fruit bats. I'd only been in Australia one day and already was seeing tons of wildlife in the wild....and I'm in the middle of the city!



The next day I noticed another type of bird flying around. Larakeets aparently also fly everywhere in the wild here. Birds this colorful are ones I usually only see in cages.

I took a trip up to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, just about two hours drive inland from Sydney. The Blue Mountains are part of a great dividing range between the coast and the interior of Australia. They are called the Blue Mountains because the over 700 varieties of Eucalyptus trees in the area release their oils into the air and create a haze over the entire area that gives it a bluish glow. My favorite part of the day was seeing a wildlife preserve and hanging out with the koala's. I even got to pet this one...it was so cute and fur was so soft.



Do you know what kind of bird this is? It's almost as big as an emu. If you guessed Cassowary you were right. I think it's the ugliest bird I've ever seen!



Australian is a whole different way of speaking English. How well do you know Australian? See if you can guess what the following phrases mean. These are things I've heard over the past few days that really made me think twice about what was being said to me. No cheating.
"Sit down for some bush tucker."
"Dropped your sunnies."
"You're just havin' a sticky."

MANY BULAS!

cheers in Fiji

Everyone who has been to Fiji will tell you that to really experience Fiji you need to get off of the main island of Viti Levu and go to the outer islands. Now that I've been there, I agree completely. There are so many little islands to choose from, so after a few hours and days of conbut I decided to head to Taveuni, the garden Island of Fiji. Taveuni is known for its beauty and excellent scuba diving. The island lies just north and east of Viti Levu, about 1 hour in a tiny plane that seats 15. After I landed I walked about 15 minutes down the road to a little place called Beverly's Campground. A small campground right on the beach where they set you up with a tent, throw a matress, pillow and sheets inside, all fro $15 Fijian, which is a little over $10 a night US. I felt like I'd found a little slice of heaven and watched the sunset from my front yard.






Fiji has over 300 islands in its archipelago, each fringed with coral reefs and lapped by warm azure waters - the diving and snorkelling are superb. Amid its wealth of natural beauty, Fiji's true magic lies in its people and the fascinating blend of their diverse cultures.

Fiji is an interesting blend of Melanesian, Polynesian, Micronesian, Indian, Chinese and European influences. For nearly 50 years, until the military coup of 1987 and the Indian emigration that followed it, the indigenous people of Fiji represented an ethnic minority in their own land.

A military coup took place in Fiji on Dec 5, 2006 and the army is now in control of the country. The situation is calm and generally safe but it could deteriorate. I talked to locals who expressed their frustration with the political climate, but as a traveler I felt extremly safe. Most Fijians told me they love tourists in their country because they are economically dependent upon tourism.


From the island of Taveuni I went Scuba Diving along the The Rainbow Reef in the Somosomo Straights. This has to be the most beautiful dive I have ever done. The coral life in Fiji is amazing with beautiful colors and a wide variety of coral types. I will definitely come back to Fiji again just to dive.

Fiji is green and lush everywhere you look. All of the islands are covered in coconut palms, mango trees, breadfruit trees and there are beautiful beaches everywhere. The islands are surrounded by the warmest turquoise waters.






From Taveuni I took a three hour boat ride out to an even smaller island called Nanuku. I thought I had found heaven when I arrived on Taveuni until I reached Nanuku. Nanuku is a small island surrounded by the whitest sand beaches all the way around the perimiter. The center of the island is covered in lush green trees which provide a nice respite from the hot, hot sun. The waters surrounding the island are a plethora of blues, greens and turquoises. There are two houses on the island, one for the care taker, a guy named Dom from Colorado, and one for guests. I was only on the island for a short while, but it has earned a place in my heart as one of the most beautiful places I've been to.







I love Fiji!