Queensland and the Southern Great Barrier Reef
The week before the girls' summer break ended, we took what Shannon calls our best vacation ever to Queensland. The point of the trip was to go to the Great Barrier Reef. We settled on the Southern end of the Great Barrier Reef, because Shannon and Caitlyn are not fans of boats. The idea of having to take a one to two hour boat ride out to the reef and then another one to two hours back was just a little too much. After a lot of research we found Lady Elliot Island, the southernmost coral cay just 85 km north east of Bundaberg (which is just a bit north of Brisbane). A coral cay is an island formed from sediments derived from the reef and swept up by waves. Sea birds landed on the bare coral cay and pooped on it enough to provide the elements necessary to establish vegitation on the island. All things Shannon didn't know where possible to form liveable land.
This was an attractive option as it allows you to fly to the island and snorkel from the beach. No trip to the Great Barrier Reef is free, so deciding on where and how to visit the reef is difficult. There are SO many factors to consider, including time of year, water temperature, jellyfish season, etc. Go far enough north and there may even be saltwater crocodiles to consider.
Shannon also liked the idea of Lady Elliot Island as it was far enough south that you don't have to worry about any of the dangerous jellyfish that can be a problem at the northern Great Barrier Reef depending on the time of year. The less things in the water that can harm you, the better!
We lucked out because the girls' school started their school year a week later than the public schools in many Australian states, which meant that we traveled just after the school holidays. It was key in being able to book the trip, as we decided on this a little bit late. But more on Lady Elliot Island after we talk about Brisbane and the Australia Zoo....
Brisbane
Our trip started in Brisbane, Queensland's capital and most populous city. We had a few very hot and humid days to explore brisbane on foot. We had a fun time walking around, with city highlights for us being The Wheel of Brisbane and the Queensland Museum, which had an absolutely fantastic lego exhibit. There were lots of other things we could have done while we were there (it is a big city), but we simply didn't have the time.
View from The Wheel of Bribane
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| cool street art |
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| It was interactive so you could build a little square according to their directions and it all became part of a larger picture. |
Australia Zoo
After a couple of days in Brisbane proper, we rented a car and took a trip to the Austrlia Zoo, which is located about an hour north of Brisbane in Beerwah. The zoo is owned by Steve Irwin's (The Crocodile Hunter) widow. There are many reasons why we HAD to visit this zoo:
- We had heard it was nicely done.
- We had yet to really see crocodiles.
- When we got married in 2003, we received a call from the best man on the wedding night. We thought something must be wrong. Our best man called because "DUDE! The Crocodile Hunter died!"
This place was quite well done! We really enjoyed our visit. The tickets to the zoo aren't exactly cheap, but they do include all the shows you want to see while you are there. The facitilies are quite nice as well. We were impressed the whole time. We went to a show in the crocoseum where Steve's son Robert taught us about crocodiles. All in all a good time was had by all Sanders.
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| Robert Irwin showing us dumb things you shouldn't do with crocodiles |
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| cute touches all around the zoo |
Our trip to Lady Elliot Island is one of the coolest things our family has done. The island is situation in a protected "Green Zone" and the coral cay is a santuary for over 1200 species of martine life. It is an "eco resort" and is now 100% run on renewable energy. There was NO cell service and basically no internet. We were cut off from the world. Initially that made Shannon a little bit nervous, but actually turned out to be such a blessing. Shannon kept thinking "this is how our parents vacationed." You can really get away from all the things. Mike was fine to disconnect.
Just getting to the island was part of the adventure. We had to take a small plane to get there, which is always a little intimidating for Shannon and the girls (Mike loved it!). Shannon was a little worried because a cyclone crossed into Northern Queensland RIGHT before we left on vacation. We didn't know how much impact that would have on our time in the area. Luckily it mostly stayed to the north. The bulk of the impact was the very hot and humid first couple of days we had in Brisbane. We totally lucked out for our time on Lady Elliot. The day we left for the Island however, there were some strong winds. Mike and Shannon didn't know how the plane ride would be, but despite the high winds it turned to out to basically smooth sailing all the way, even landing on a grass runway with winds at 20 knots.
The plane held 12 or 13 passengers. It was FAR newer than the plane we took to Rottenest Island when we visited Western Australia. It seemed to have all the bells and whistles you would want a plane to have in this century. Even Shannon thought the plane ride was fun!
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| our ride to the island |
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| view from our seats |
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| Lauren watching the island come into view |
Here are a couple of videos of the flight. First as we approached the island:
And then as we landed:
Part of how we chose February to visit Lady Elliot was simply that we had a final week of summer, and the resort still had a room left (literally the last room left). The other reason we chose this time of year is that the water was still warm, but the weather was not as hot. The girls tend to think that water Mike and Shannon feel is perfect is too cold for them. We didn't want to get to the reef and have the girls hop out of the water as soon as they got in. Both the water and the air were around 80 F while we were there, which turned out to be just perfect for everyone.
February is also turtle nesting AND turtle hatching season. As well as bird nesting season. Lady Elliot island has 3 species of sea turtles that visit the Island - Hawksbill, Green, and Loggerhead. We sadly did not actually see any turtles on the beach (and we looked), but we did see evidence that a turtle had come ashore to nest the previous night one early morning. And we were lucky enough to swim with many turtles we went snorkling. Super cool!
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| Turtle tracks up and down the beach |
What we didn't quite anticipate was the summer is also bird nesting season on the island. We had read it gets noisy and sometimes a bit smelly, but those reviews did not fully prepare us for the sheer number of birds that were on the island. They were everywhere. And there were indeed noisy. Very noisy at night. That being said, we woudn't let it stop us from returning to Lady Elliot this time of year. A great time was definitely had by all!
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| Sometimes it felt like we were in a horror movie... |
All the bird noise did make it a little difficult for us to sleep at night. Here is just some soundtrack from about 4am one morning...
Shannon and Mike were a little bit worried that no one would sleep due to the bird noise and the fact that we were in the most basic accomodation (an "eco cabin" with no AC and no bathroom, just a bed and bunk bed, a fan, and open windows). But it didn't matter. We were there to snorkel, and we spent a lot of time in the water, and we were all so tired, we all eventually passed out each night.
The eco-resort was quite wonderful and had a lot of things for guests to do:
Snorkeling
Lady Elliot Island is known for the excellent snorkelling around the reef that surrounds the island. We were able to snorkel straight from the beach in the very calm and protected waters of "The Lagoon" on the south-eastern side of the island. We left straight from the beach. We also took a more than one snorkel tours off the western side of the island which were INCREDIBLE.
Our first full day on the island, we took a glass bottom boat tour, which was included in the price of our trip. Caitlyn and Shannon were really nervous, but they really shouldn't have been. For one, the weather was PERFECT. And two, the boats for the glass bottom boat tour do not go very far off the island. We really only went about five minutes from shore. We stopped at what they call the "lighthouse bommies." These masses of coral provide habitat for eels, fish, and turtles. They are also what the eco resort calls "cleaning stations" that are said to be part of the reason that many manta rays visit the island. We went there to try and spot a manta ray. Unfortunately, February isn't really manta ray season (they are more pleantiful in the Australian winter - May to August), so we were not able to spot any. Much to Lauren's disappointment. We spent maybe 10 minutes looking through the glass bottom for interesting sea life, then it was off to one of the snorkeling zones. We stopped at what they call Coral Gardens. Before we even got off the boat, we could see turtles in the water. The water temperature was perfect, and we saw SO many fish and a lot of amazing coral. We were able to swim with a turtle, which was 100% Shannon's goal. Mike and Lauren really wanted to see black tip reef sharks, rays, and other things that Shannon thinks are scary, but we weren't quite deep enough for that.
It was an absolutely amazing time in the water, and everyone immediately wanted to do it again. However, we were starving, so it was off to the only place on the island to get food. The food offered by the resort wasn't half bad. Two meals (a breakfast and dinner buffet) are included in the cost of the accomodation each day. Guests have to pay for lunch separately, probably because Lady Elliot Island gets a fair amount of day guests, and it is probably easier to make everyone pay at lunch then to try to figure out who has to pay and who doesn't.
After lunch we went to the dive shop to arrange tours for the next day. Mike wanted to go out deeper and arranged to do a snorkel safari in deeper water. Shannon and the girls signed up for the next morning's glass bottom boat tour. At this point, we should mention just how fantastic the staff at the resort were! They have marine biologists on staff and just general lovers of water, sea creatures, and wildlife. We must have asked a thousand questions trying to decide if Lauren should join Mike on the snorkel safari. Sandy, who was behind the counter, was so great with everyone as we peppered him with countless questions. Our very own budding marine biologist Lauren dropped (questionably accurate) facts about the fish. Lauren told him that besides manta rays, one of the things she really wanted to see was an octopus. Sandy got such a kick out of Lauren's enthusiam that he arranged for one of their marine biologists to quickly run over to the Lagoon with us to see if we could find any octopuses, which was quite nice because she, Georgia, only had 20 minutes until she had to be somewhere. Georgia took us to the lagoon, as we donned our snorkel gear she told us all sorts of interesting facts about octupuses, like:
- They have 9 brains- one in each arm and one donut shaped main brain
- Their stomach is above their donut shaped brain, and the food passes through it
- They have a beak
- They have three hearts
The following day, Mike decided to do the snorkel safari by himself while Shannon took the girls on another glass bottom snorkel. Mike loved the snorkel safari! They actually made it out to the Severance wreck, which went down in 1999. It's at about 70 feet deep, but the water was so clear that day that you could actually see the wreck while snorkeling. Mike saw sharks and what looked like several spotted eagle rays!
Shannon and the girls did a second glass bottom boat tour. The staff on both tours were just so fun and professional. Lauren was a little scared each time when we first got in the water. She hung out with the marine biologist who accompanied the tour. They were so patient with her. Each time she floated on their banana float until she saw a turtle, then she was off like lightening, all fear forgotten. Our second tour stopped at a different (and frankly far superior) part of the reef. The coral was so varied and we had never seen so many different types of fish. We have no pictures, because Mike had the GoPro with him. Words really can't describe how cool this was. None of us wanted to get out of the water.
After our tours we went to have lunch. After lunch we walked over to the western side of the island and snorkelled from the shore. This was a bit harder of work than the snorkelling in the lagoon, but the reef on the western side was, in our opinion, far cooler than that of the lagoon. Shannon and Lauren tuckered out a little early, but Caitlyn and Mike went along a lot of the reef and saw the BIGGEST turtle ever! At first we only spotted a light colored turtle, but then the larger male came into view. We were both shocked and got a bit worried as he swam up to us!
Mike and Caitlyn went one to see countless other turtles and fish. Here's another beautful turtle that we came across.
Mike then took both girls back in the water too see if they could find the 'big boy' again, but to no avail. They did make more memories though. Mike and Caitlyn probably should have reapplied their sunscreen, because both came out with a little bit too much sun after this final time in the water.
Other Activities
The resort also had other activities, like talks on marine/bird life, walks around the island, drinks by the lighthouse, etc. We went out a couple times to try to find nesting/hatching turtles but no such luck. The scenery on the island was so beautiful and relaxing. And at night the stars were so bright! Shannon thinks this was the best view of the night sky we've ever had, which is saying something because we've gotten some decent views in Fiji, New Zealand, and a couple of the other places in Australia. It helped that the weather was perfect, the skies were clear, and the resport asks that everyone turns off their lights as soon as it gets dark as to not confuse/distract/diorient the turtle hatchlings. The milky way was visible to the naked eye. Shannon could have spent all night looking at the stars but was frankly a bit afraid to spend much time looking up with all the birds flying and pooping everywhere!
Here are some of our favorite pictures from walks around the island and of the night sky.
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| our eco-cabin (see ALL the poop) |
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| weird tree |
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| Lauren by the airstrip |
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| looking for turtles |
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| quiet sunrise |
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| the lagoon |
a beautiful sunset
A moment of zen at the lagoon just after sunrise on our last day:
This was just the BEST vacation. We are so glad we did it. Would highly recommend to anyone visiting Australia, but in particular to those people who hate boats. What a great way to make the Great Barrier Reef accessible to scaredy-cats.
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