THE GREAT BARRIER REEF

Well folks, check it off the list!!! I have seen and been to, not the average, not the good, the GREAT Barrier Reef. Clearly, I went to reef teach and fell for some of their corny lines. However, the reef really is amazing. It is the world's largest living organism and the only living organism you can see from outer space. And I went scuba diving on it. The coral is absolutely breath taking and the fish are some of the brightest colors you have ever seen. I got to see Nemo and Dori and a sea turtle, he really was like 'dude' and sharks!! Swam with sharks. I also hugged a giant Napoleon maori wrasse. Good times up on the reef.

Kata Tjuta

Kata Tjuta, or the place I like to call, the place that starts with K, is also part of the red center. For the record, it gets very cold in the dessert in the winter. For those of you that made fun of me for over packing, continue to make fun of me. For those of you who made fun of me for packing warm, what some might consider winter gear, eat your hearts out. I used all of it. All necessary. I have never been so glad to have polar fleece with me. Also, note the headband to keep my ears warm. If I have that on, just imagine how cold it really is. We did another hike here and took in the scenery and learned how the ocean formed these structures all those years ago. Even saw a few fossils.

Uluru at Sunrise

For those of you that have never woken up at sunrise, the sun wakes up very early and if you want to see it wake up, you have to be up even earlier. The feature picture here is Angel, aka, Jess and I doing the sunrise dance.

Uluru at Sunset

The giant ayers rock definitely changes colour depending on where you are looking at it from or the time of day. Very cool. Just some quick sunset photos for you.

Uluru

So, after what I thought was a very warm sleep in my swag, the other would argue that I was nuts. Those of you that have travelled with me know how warm I am, especially if we skied Whitefish together. It was off to Uluru, but not before traveling past Foolurur, turns out there is more than one really big rock in the middle of the desert or outback. We did the 10km hike around the bottom of the rock. For those f you that have not been, it is a HUGE freaking rock.

Sleeping in Swags

The adventure continues

Taking the train down to Alice Springs can only mean one thing. It is time for an Uluru adventure. So Mark, Heather and I left for another adventure. First stop, was a hike in Kings Canyon. Magnificent views. Yes, the dirt in the outback really is that red and no, there is nothing out there. These magnificent natural structures just seem to pop up. The best part of this trip, sleeping in swags!!!! A picture of the house meister and Remi for Mark and Heather