Australia trip summary (2007/4/16-5/3)

Australia:

Could be a pleasant country to live in. Peaceful, far away from everyone. Mixed cultures. No interesting food. People are humorous and very friendly. The lady at the rental car booth at Melbourne airport called me "love"!

Vast territory: from desert to reef, tropic north to ski in Victoria. Distances are dauntingly large. Had to pay $80 for extra miles once.

Unique fauna and flora. However most exotic places are either hard to reach or armed with harsh climate.

Best country to see the reefs, especially in 20 years, where everywhere else corals are killed off by bad environmental practices.

Too far to visit: 20+ hrs flight from Seattle.

No history, except for the Aboriginals. But they are pretty much in oblivion of the mainstream society.

Lessons learned:

Stuff as much as allowed into carry-on luggage.

Take only half of the clothes you think you need.

A better time to visit may be spring, for the flowers.

Part 4 of 4: 2007.4.28-5.3 southern Great Barrier Reef - highlight of the trip. Warm, high in mid-upper 20C's.

4/28. 10:30, 2hr boat ride from Gladstone marina to Heron Island (1hr ahead of mainland), a natural coral cay. First explored by the turtle soup industry in 1920s, now a resort, plus a marine life research center. Zoned in the national marine park, nothing can be collected, all garbage has to be taken out to mainland. No running water on the island. Reverse osmosis is used to desalinate water. Solar panels on every roof. friendly and knowledgeable staff. No camping allowed on the island. No vehicles. No stores except for one small souvenir boutique. Beach and coral practically right out of your door. Idyllic. All guest rooms are unlocked. Birds walk into your room.

Took a guided bird walk at 3pm. Saw a Lesser Crested Tern with a cute hairdo, a Ruddy Turnstone turning a stone, a female Lesser Frigatebird with threatening beak, lots of Eastern Reef Egrets (both white and gray), many Black Noddy who shit everywhere, a baby Wedge-tailed Shearwater (or a mutton bird) fluffy in the borrow, countless Buff Banded Rail who steal your food.
Afterwards, snorkeled in Shark Bay. Watched the beautiful sunset, saw some Stingrays and Whiprays. On the way home, met a small group of women and kids watching over a turtle hatchling struggling his way over the beach, walking along him to protect from the harm of the gulls. Was sad to see him engulfed by some fish, only a few seconds after he reached the sea.

4/29. Huge breakfast. Snorkeling at Gantry. Got many scratches on the knees because the tide was too low. Dived at 3pm. Put on a shorty wet suit to keep me warm. I was very nervous for the first half. Kept close distance to the dive master. Saw a big head Tasselled Wobbegong shark, a Whitetip Reef Shark, two huge Rays, and countless colorful fish. Ran out of air faster than my peers. Got a bit seasick waiting on the boat, but was exiting.
Snorkeled in the afternoon in Shark Bay. Float with a large school of big Sweetlips, saw a school of yellow Unicorn fish. On the way back, 5-6 rays, and many turtle hatchlings walking towards the ocean, adorable. Alas, most of them snatched by the gulls.

4/30. 9am dive. On the way out, saw a dolphin swim with her calf! On the way back, a group of about 20 rays hanging out at the harbor. Didn't see anything exiting underwater, so I erased my name from the sign-up sheet for the two subsequent dives. Walked around the island. While waiting for sunset at Shark Bay, saw a ray flying for a split of a second, some sharks and a big turtle. No hatchlings tonight.

5/1. Snorkeling in the morning at Shark Bay. Swam after a shark for a bit. Guided Reef Walk at 3pm. Saw lots of aliens. A kind of conch that sticks his two eyes out when you have him shell-side down on your palm. Three and half slimy green Sea Hares. Learned quite a bit about the countless ugly Sea Cucumbers.
Walked to Shark Bay at sunset, saw 2 turtles twice, some White-breasted Sea Eagles, Bar-shouldered Doves.

5/2. Walked to North Beach through Pisonia forest after breakfast. Bird dropping drapes everywhere. Snorkeled at Shark Bay. Saw two sharks and my favorite school of big fish. Felt cold after about an hour in the water. Dried myself under the sun and took a nap. On the way back, rescued a baby turtle.
3pm, while my diving buddy went for the 5th dive, I checked out a book titled "Reef Fish Identification Tropical Pacific". We've seen: a couple species of Butterflyfish, some kinds of Grouper, of Wrasse, of sandperch, many yellow Longfin Bannerfish, black-white Bi-color Angelfish with yellow tail, and Bluespine Unicornfish who looks like having a 3rd eye.
Waiting for sunset at Shark Bay has become my favorite moment.
Dinner has only two options: $45 or $50 (with desert or cheese). Well prepared, beautifully presented, portion is on the small side.

5/3. Check-out. Swam to Shark Bay with snorkel. Proper shower facilities for departing guests. 2pm Boat transfer back to mainland. Gladstone marina is reasonably pretty: big lawn at waterfront. Downtown is a short ride away across a bridge, but is plain and depressingly boring. Half an hour is sufficient to check out every store front. Retired to the room with 2 bottles of beer. A few dozens of green lorikees gathered up on the palm trees outside the hotel after night fell.

5/4. 6:45am flight to Brisbane. Huge airport requires a train ride to the international terminal. Took almost an hour in queue for check-in again. 12hrs later arrived at LA exhausted. Had to go through customs with all the luggage and re-check-in everything for Seattle. Nothing is lost this time.