Well, I did it! I swam in the Great Barrier Reef! And what a wonderful experience it was. After the hour and fifteen minute cruise to the reef, that is. My daughter and I got quite seasick and had to go out on the back deck. Apparently that is where they send all the "sick" guests. I never looked back but my husband told me there were about 30 people back there barfing. But as soon as my feet hit land, I was fine. We landed at Green Island, which is quite tiny and has great reef around it. We rented special suits on the boat to protect ourselves from the jelly fish (not the deadly ones which do not go out that far, but the smaller ones that are just troublesome when they sting). The suits worked great and covered us from head to toe literally.

The coral was amazing, far more colorful and varied than I have ever seen. We saw many new varieties of fish, my favorite being this huge turquoise one. The visibility was great since there weren't many people there. We even saw a stingray. And lots of jelly fish but no problem there with the suit.

Today we took a train ride into the Kuranda rainforest with a gondola ride back. I particularly enjoyed all the different types of flowers. We also stopped at Kuranda, a small village where a lot of Alboriginal people live. I am including a photo of the largest spider I have ever seen.

But honestly I am tired and can write no more. I am down to the last days now and will see you all soon.

Here are some adorable koala photos.

Currently we are in Cairns which is in Queensland, along the north eastern coast. It is very hot here - 32 degrees centigrade which I think is in the 90's. Sara, our daughter, has joined us now. I'm afraid there are a lot of things here that freak us out - crocodiles, the deadly box jelly fish, snakes, poisonous spiders, more sharks than usual, etc. I don't consider myself timid with this traveling stuff, but even I am a bit freaked. The resort we are at, in the middle of the rain forest, has a huge net set up along the beach so you can swim, but they said that the box jelly fish are so small that they can get through the netting. Definitely out of my comfort zone.

Tomorrow we will cruise to the Great Barrier Reef (it is an hour out into the ocean and not along the coast as one would think) and spend the day snorkeling. Apparently the dangerous jelly fish do not go out there. I'll let you know tomorrow. Later.