From 27C to 3C

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Yesterday we said goodbye to Cairns and Jason & Kim and flew back to Sydney.  We left 27C weather and departed the plane facing 15C.  We spent the evening with some comfort food – tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches (toasties)!

This morning we piled into the rental car and drove straight west into the Blue Mountains. (3rd Unesco Site we’ve visited on this trip)  “The Blue Mountains is densely populated by oil bearing Eucalyptus trees. The atmosphere is filled with finely dispersed droplets of oil, which, in combination with dust particles and water vapour, scatter short-wave length rays of light which are predominantly blue in colour.” (http://www.bluemts.com.au/info)DSC03285

The sun kept the day warm as we took in the distant view of the Three Sisters rock formation and the vast forests of eucalyptus trees from Echo Point lookout.  We walked part way down the Giant Stairway to come right up close to the large sandstone rock formations. The walk was very steep going down and took some effort coming back up. Before we knew it, the sun was setting and it was only 5 pm!  Definitely miss the long summer solstice of home!

After a yummy dinner at a quaint Italian restaurant, we are now cuddled up close to stay warm in the hotel with no heat – outside temperature is 3C…inside is a bit warmer 🙂

Australia

On The Reef!

What an amazing day!  The day started with an early morning pickup at 6:45 am to head Photo (022)to the catamaran destined for the outer reef.  After several days of cool weather, we were excited to have such a warm day – definitely a sunscreen day! The Great Barrier Reef comprises of 2900 individual reefs and 71 coral cays and its ecosystem supports the greatest concentration of life on the planet. (another World Heritage Unesco site) We boarded the boat and sailed out about 40 km to Hastings reef where we slipped on wet suits and spent the morning snorkeling around the coral reef – taking in the sights of a variety of shells and fish; including some giant clams and many large neon colored parrot fish to name a few.  

After lunch we moved to Breaking Patches reef for more snorkeling adventure.  The sights were too spectacular to describe.  At times we just lay on the water looking deep below us feeling like we were watching a movie going on right before us. Our only regret, forgetting Mykee’s GoPro! Ok, so we already determined we were going to go back one day and the next time it would be with an underwater camera 🙂

Queensland, Australia