I Found Nemo!

Crayola must have visited the Great Barrier Reef to come up with all of the colors for the crayons. I never imagined there could be so many shades of green and blue...truly paradise on earth! Spending two nights on the water is a great way to experience the Reef. We saw dolphins and turtles surfacing for air from the boat. The snorkeling was unreal - huge reefs with all kinds and colors of coral and fish. We saw three green turtles, three white tip reef sharks, two sting ray and a ton of sea slugs. I saw squid for the first time...I tried to get close and scare them so they'd squirt ink, but sadly was not successful! I saw a lot of clown fish (Nemo!) cleaning themselves in the sea anemone. The largest fish that I saw was a double humped parrot fish. It was at least 3' wide and 1 1/2' tall. Crazy to see something that big so closely! I was no more than 8' away from one of the sharks...needless to say my adrenaline was pumping, even though it is not dangerous to humans (thankfully!).

In the evenings on the boat, we would have sundowners (what they call happy hour in Australia!) while watching the sun go down! The sunsets were incredible over the Coral Sea...beautiful pinks and oranges reflecting over the bright blue water! I met some awesome people on the boat. It's fascinating to learn about the different paths that travelers take...where they're going, where they're coming from. It just makes me want to keep going! For example, I met a nice woman who works in HR and manages the temporary staffing for Raytheon in Denver. She's just returned from a 6 month contract position in Antarctica. I was fascinated by the work she and others do to support the research center at the National Science Foundation down there. I will not lose her business card!

When I wrote previously about spider bites, I misdiagnosed myself. I actually have picked up a nice amount of bed bug bites. It totally grosses me out to think about when and how I got them, but needless to say, I'm covered with them. Mendy, there are many more now than you saw when you left on Tuesday! I suppose there has to be a downside to a life of leisure in the Sunshine Coast of Australia!

A funny thing happened at the airport this morning on my way to Cairns to Brisbane. I was waiting to board and got up for my standard bathroom stop before getting on a plane. I stuck to the seat...apparently a huge wad of gum was there that I did not notice. I did my best to get rid of it, but it was smack in the middle of my bottom and I had no clothes to change in to! I sat on a postcard size piece of paper once I got on the plane to avoid getting gum on the leather seats (it was a very new plane). I totally forgot about the whole thing until we were all standing to deboard the plane. An old lady two rows back yelled so that everyone around me could hear, "You have a piece of paper stuck to your bottom!" I laughed so hard that I was crying.

In Rainbow Beach tonight, a cozy little beach town just south of Fraser Island. There are no traffic lights, one main road and only about 4 shops/cafes, all of which closed at 5 PM. It's nice to be away from the chaos of big cities for a while...I need to soak this up because Beijing is only 10 days away now!

Cheers from Aussie! Don't let the bed bugs bite...ha ha! ;)