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Life in Oz!
Happy Birthday Dad and cousin Brent! We made it to the marina in plenty of time, we ended up standing around for a while because the boat only left about 8:20 and we were supposed to have departed at 8am. The Fitzroy Reef Jet is the only boat that can access the lagoon, which keeps the area pristine. It is a World Heritage listed site and only 40 people are allowed on the trip per excursion. The boat was mostly Uni students studying to learn English at a Uni in Brisbane. After the boat was out into the ocean one of the crewmembers invited us to sit up on top of the boat. We thought it would be chilly but it was really nice and gave us a great view. We were lucky enough to see some dolphins jump along the way too. We arrived just before 10 and had morning tea after we had anchored. The ocean was pretty choppy but inside the lagoon surrounded by coral it was practically still. The water was a beautiful bluish green colour and very clear. I didn't waste anytime getting a snorkel and fins so I could get into the water. I have never snorkelled before so it was weird getting used being able to breath underwater. It tried 3 different pairs of goggles trying to find some that didn't leak. I thought the last pair was going to work but they only did for a while and they started to leak too. Once I got used to breathing I ventured out towards the reef. It was awesome. You saw the most when you floated above the water and just watched what was going on beneath you. I saw lots of fish, especially Zebra fish. Others were very colourful and some had two different designs on them. One I saw had a yellow head and the other half of its body was brown striped. I think I even saw a Nemo (if you have never seen Finding Nemo you better get on it ASAP!)! I took a picture so I'll have to see how it turns out. The reef was all different shapes and sizes. The outer edge was like a giant wall coming up from the ocean floor. It wasn't very colourful, the reef near the surface of the water had the most colour. It was fun to swim over the shallow reef but almost scary as well. We were told not to touch the reef so we didn't get scratched and get infected with any weird reef diseases and loose a limb (maybe not that bad). It looked like I would be able to touch the reef but most of it wasn't that close. Some of it was and I almost became trapped in the reef trying to find somewhere deep enough to get back out. The shallow reef was very colourful. I saw everything, green, yellow, blue, purple, pink and brown. After snorkelling for a good hour one of the crewmen came around with the boat and told us to head in for lunch. I didn't want to get out but I was getting chilly so I decided to eat and warm up a bit. After lunch we had the option of taking a glass bottom boat tour or staying on our boat and snorkelling again. I definitely took the snorkelling option. Mom, Dad and Gene went on the tour. Dave, Cyrilla, Sue and I stayed on the other boat and warmed up for a bit. Sue and I got back in the water just before 2, not long after Dave and Cyrilla followed. I had an underwater camera with me that Gene had bought before we left on Thursday. I didn't take many pictures at first because Sue and I stayed along the outside edge of the reef. We got yelled at for going to far out and were told we had to stay closer. I saw we were getting fairly far away but didn't realize how far we were until we went back in a ways. I found some shallow reef to take pictures of just before we were told we had to get back on the boat because we were leaving soon. I was the last one on the boat again, just like for lunch. We left the reef just after 3pm and arrived back at the marina at about 5:30. the waves were a little bit bigger on the way back so the ride was pretty bumpy. We saw Cuddles again. Gene tried to get her to come up by waving the underwater camera around and tried to take her picture. I asked some of the locals (different ones from last night) standing there if they were going to feed her but they said I would have to go buy a fish in the bait shop if it was still open. They have been feeding her for 5 or 6 years and she comes around during high tide. Since we couldn't stay at the same hotel as last night they called around to find something for us. They saved us some rooms at Edge on Beaches. We got a 2 bedroom apartment so I got my own bed again and even room! The seemed nice but the water came out really brown and nasty when I tried to take a shower because they use treated rainwater. I realized I burnt the lower part of my back because I never put sunscreen on it, I thought my swimmers would cover it but I guess they didn't. We ate at the Saltwater Café, it was really good. We talked to a German couple for a while that had been travelling Australia for 2 months on holiday. We tried to convince them that they need to see MN when they have a holiday in the States; hopefully it worked. We were all tired after the day of snorkelling so we headed back to our apartments and went to bed after we got back from the café.
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