Great Barrier Reef!

Today I went on the Lady Musgrave Great Barrier Reef day cruise. The sky was clear and sunny plus the temperature was around 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The cruise was about 90 minutes and we learned how Captain Cook established the area of the Great Barrier Reef where we were going in 1770. Once we arrived at our platoon location, there were scuba diving, snorkeling and a nearby island tour.  When I took a tour of the island, there were plenty of vegetation and birds, specifically a black bird named “nookie”. The tour guide Simone explained to us how the bird population on the island is controlled every year because the trees on the island produce a sticky seed sap that gets stuck on the Nookies feathers. Eventually, this sap weighs the Nookies down and about half die of exhaustion and starvation every year. 

Tour of an island during a Lady Musgrave Cruise

I went snorkeling along the Great Barrier Reef and it was amazing! The fish swim all around you and yet never touch you. While snorkeling in the platoon, I saw schools of eels, swordfish, angle fish, clown fish, neon blue starfish and many more species of marine life. We went on glass bottom tour boats where the tour guide explained to us that there were many different types of coral; some are meant to protect the weaker coral from strong currents and some grow faster than others.  

Me and Deanna getting ready to snorkle!

Jackie, Jenna Deanna and I can't wait to get in the ocean

Me and Deanna waving from the plantoon

Before I arrived in Australia I heard about all the major flooding in the Northern East coast. I heard the government officials here say that it was a flood of Biblical proportions. However, hotel staff told our trip planners that we were safe from the flooding and all our plans were to remain stable. On the third day of the trip when we were to travel north from Brisbane to Agnes Waters to tour Frasier Island and the Great Barrier Reef, we could not make it that night because the roads were closed because of flooding.  Everyone in the group was heartbroken and very sad that we would not be able to see the Great Barrier Reef. We ended up backtracking back to Brisbane and spending the night in a hotel.  The next morning, we got great news that the road we needed to travel on was open so we headed out that morning to Agnes Waters. I kid you not, as SOON as we crossed the road that was flooded the previous day, road workers put up a road-closed sign blocking everyone else’s entry. Everyone on the bus was cheering ecstatically and high- fiving each other.  Despite our driver’s warnings that we might not be able to get back, all we cared about was being able to see the Great Barrier Reef.
 

A view of the Queensland flooding from our bus

Another picture of the flooding

Now since we have all had the experience of a lifetime in the Great Barrier Reef, we have to deal with the consequences of not being able to make it back to Brisbane by bus to catch a flight to Melbourne.  Dr. Wellman and Ms. Donelly have arranged that we try to take a 24-hour route around the flood in order to make it south.