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East Coast Journal
(Keith)
We decided to drive the 2800 km from Sydney to Cairns, thus giving us ample
opportunity to see many of the small, coastal Australian towns. As usual
one of our highlights was diving; this time on the Great Barrier Reef.
Although the visibility wasn't as good as Thailand or the South Pacific, the
marine life was fabulous. I specifically liked the sea turtles and the
bait fish.
We saw three large turtles - two were sleeping in the coral, so we could hover over top of the them and get a really good look. The other turtle was free swimming near the surface. We were below the turtle so it was backlit from the surface light. The swimming, silhouetted turtle created an image in my mind that won't soon be forgotten.
One of our dives was a drift dive along the outer reef; we were dropped off from the Zodiac and drifted with the current back to the main boat. As soon as we started our descent a large school of tiny silver fish engulfed us; there must have been thousands of them. As we swam through them, the fish (as a group) would suddenly change direction. This would create a glimmer throughout the water as the sun reflected from their silver bodies. We had a videographer in the water with us and he was positioned below the school of fish; from his vantage point the fish looked like a large, amorphous ball.
In addition to those two highlights, we saw three sharks, a rock fish (highly poisonous, but not much of a threat as long as you don't touch it!), and some giant clams (1-2 feet in diameter). Diving on The Great Barrier Reef makes me grateful that Lea and I learned to scuba dive before this trip, as it is truly a remarkable and memorable experience.
(Lea)
Outstanding outdoors and friendly folks epitomize the east coast towns and
villages we visited. Our journey began with a stop in the Hunter Valley
vineyards where we enjoyed walking through the vineyards, listening to jazz at
an outdoor festival, and, you guessed it, imbibing new found wines. Our favorite
vineyard was Reg Drayton, owned and managed by a female vigneron; there we
received personal attention - they served us free samples of their wines and
ports and gave us a lesson on their different tastes. We left Hunter Valley with
a great love of Semillon wines, and our love of Shiraz grew; both are the most
famous Hunter Valley Wines.
We realized we could not spend three weeks drinking wine in the Valley (although tempting) so from there we drove up the coast (we learned to drive on the 'wrong side' of the road). Highlights along the way were walking along the crashing sea in Byron Bay, a seaside town filled with surfers; encountering wallabies as we hiked through the Whitsunday islands; exploring the beautiful botanical gardens that almost every Australian town seems to have; and of course, the amazing diving in the Great Barrier Reef! Now, I actually want to see sharks when I dive!
All told, Australia was a great stop. From mountains, to desert to beach, Australia is full of natural beauty and the Australians know how to both enjoy and preserve their country's natural treasures.
Check out our East Coast Photos.