We arose early from our beds to get ready for a fascinating day ahead of us. We had our bags packed, our room cleaned, and our hopes high. We were going snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef with the professional crew of the Rum Runner IX catamaran! The bus came in, right on time at 8:15 am. It was a short and anticipatory bus ride to the beach, and a longer but more exciting boat ride to the Great Barrier Reef. It took about one hour to finally get to the spot w...

Sleeping in to 10:00 am left us lazy and relaxed. After a late breakfast, the kids hit the pool while we waded through entirely too much information. We have pages and pages of advice and too many brochures to count. As the morning passed we firmed up our itinerary and then spent the afternoon enjoying a bottle of wine on the beach. The beach was amazing but, since it was crocodile mating and stinger (jellyfish) season, we weren't allowed to swim in the ocean. Be...

We all had a great sleep and awoke to a busy morning of booking, researching, E-mailing and packing up our new rental car - a black Toyota Aurion. We bought a cheap cooler, filled it with provisions and, by 11:00 am, were on our way to Mossman Gorge. It's one of the most visited spots in the Wet Tropics. Part of the Daintree National Park, the gorge is the traditional home of the Kuku Yalanji Aboriginal people. The Gorge was beautiful. We wandered down the path ...

Another home-cooked breakfast and we were out the door. Our first stop was back at the Twelve Apostles, since Barry thought the light would be better for photos under the somewhat cloudy skies. The rest of us stayed in the car, hiding without success from the flies (the moment Barry opened the door, a bunch came in). The flies are absolutely horrible, swarming and landing on eyes, mouths, and noses. Yuck! They are the worst we've seen in any country on our entire...

After another "home cooked" meal (breakfast), we were ready to get back on the road. First, we spent a while booking excursions, car rentals, etc., many of which have to be done over the phone. However, by 12:30 we were on the road. About 20 km east of Apollo Bay, a car had pulled over ahead of us. With cameras in hand, we stopped as well, and saw two koalas in the trees above the road. By the time we'd seen another four of them, all near Kennet River,...