GBR...

"Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming."

-Dory

     I was able to spend an amazing 2 days and 1 night on the Great Barrier Reef.  We went to two different reef sights Saxon Reef and Norman Reef.  

How gorgeous is that? 

We had the day trip boat bring us out to the overnight boat which was moored out on the reef.  We checked into our rooms and then quickly jumped in the water for some snorkeling! My first time in the water I saw 3 sharks! Thankfully they were just white tip and black tip reef sharks and are not dangerous to people. 

After lunch we were able to go diving! I went on 6 dives over the two days and it was incredible to see all the different coral and fish! I will admit that none of these photos are my own and I purchased the photos from the photographer who was along on the boat. 

This was our boat, Reef Encounter.  There was the option to arrive by helicopter but I definitely do not have the money for that!

See isn't this white tip reef shark cute?

This guy is the poisonous lionfish.  A lot of people love seeing these guys and we saw 7 of them in one dive. 

I don't think anyone cared about clownfish until Finding Nemo came out.  I love that now there is a sign for clown fish and a sign for Dory in diving sign language.  Its adorable that the sign for Dory is the sign for Nemo's buddy. 

This guy was super friendly and swam with us for a while.  I love this photo as well because it looks like the fish is about to cry. 

 This giant clam is about as big as a suitcase, I was told its about 50 years old.

Luckily I made some friends on board! There was a girl from the US and two sisters from the Netherlands!

This was the coolest thing I saw the entire time! Can you spot the cuttlefish? A cuttlefish is a cousin of the octopus and can also camouflage itself. 

So this was when we were all excited for the night dive and we were being funny doing the sign for shark.  It was all fun and games until I actually jumped into pitch black water and could only see what was in my flashlight.  That is also fun until you shine your flashlight out into the abyss and land on a giant shark! Needless to say I don't think I need to do anymore night dives!

I went with the cheapest option on the boat because I am poor.  So my room was down this super tiny staircase, but at least I got a porthole!

In this photo the photographer told me to take my regulator out of my mouth to smile.  I instead sort of look like I'm grimacing and telling someone to come at me!

My last day in Australia I got to cuddle a koala! 

So after 8 months of living in Australia, it feels very weird to have left.  I'm very glad I decided to go on this adventure.  I have met so many wonderful people and done way more than I ever imagined! Now I have three weeks left and after 4 years I will be coming home to the states!

East Coast time...

"Map our your future - but do it in pencil.  The road ahead is as long as you make it. Make it worth the trip."

-Jon Bon Jovi

So for those of you confused as to where I actually am and have gone, I have mad this handy map.  The green lines are driving and the blue lines are flying.  I started on the top left in Karratha, drove (green line) down to Exmouth.  From Exmouth I flew to Perth, then Adelaide, then Alice Springs.  From Alice Springs in the center I joined a tour and we drove to Uluru and King's Canyon, then down to Adelaide.  After Adelaide I joined a tour that drove along the coast on the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne.  After Melbourne I flew to Sydney and then flew up North to Cairns where I am sitting right now.  This post will be all the adventures between Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney. 

 I've been able to visit a total of 5 of the 8, states and territories of Australia.  Just like in the US they have these handy state border signs that are fun to stop and take pictures with.  This border crossing also came with a 30 minutes time change.

So after staying in Adelaide for a day I joined a 2 day Great Ocean Road tour.  The first day we drove from Adelaide to Grampians National Park.  I love all the silo murals!

We also made a stop at a pink lake! Unfortunately it was a cloudy day so the lake wasn't super vibrant.

At Grampians National Park we did a short hike to the base of these water falls.  It was stunning! We were also told there was a chance of seeing a platypus here but unfortunately we didn't see any.  

 The next day however we did find a koala! Obviously every animal has a natural habitat, but I just feel like animals this cute shouldn't be hanging out in trees next to a persons house.  They belong protected in zoos.

 On our second day we made it to the ocean part of the Great Ocean Road. 

 This is known as the London Bridge.  Apparently there was a second bridge connecting this island to the mainland but it collapsed in 1990 leaving two tourists stranded on the island.

 This is the most famous part of the Great Ocean Road.  These are known as the 12 apostles.

 We then went to the rainforest! Its amazing how many different climates I have traveled through in the last 3 weeks!  This rainforest is apparently what Steven Spielberg modeled his rainforest after for Jurassic Park

 I was very lucky to have Ronja, a German traveler, on both my Alice Springs to Adelaide tour, and my Adelaide to Melbourne tour!

Unfortunately, our afternoon was a bit rainy, but it made for beautiful rainbows!

And then we were on the koala hunt!  We were super lucky to find 4 different koalas!

Once I arrived in Melbourne I was able to meet up with my friend Alex who I met studying abroad in Denmark! I also did a walking tour of the city and then headed to Brighton Beach to see these adorable bathing boxes. 

Ronja and I also made snap decision to buy tickets to an AFL (Australian Football League) game.  Now for those of you who have never seen an AFL game, which is everyone in the world minus Australians, I was told by an Australian that the point is to "kick a goal and hopefully hurt somebody along the way."  They score a goal by kicking the ball between the poles at the end of the oval field.  If the ball goes between the middle two poles its 6 points, and if it goes between the poles on either side its 1 point. 

 This was the most hilarious part of the whole evening.  I was like yeah they are going to run through the sign! Nope, they ran up to the sign and then ducked under.

 After a very short day and a half in Melbourne I flew to Sydney! And I was welcomed by this stunning view! Some places you go don't live up to the photos, but I definitely think the Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge lived up to the hype.

 That is until a giant cruise ship blocked the view at peak sunset time! This should definitely not be allowed!

 I ended up arriving in Sydney on the last night of a lights festival called Vivid.  It was sooo cool! There were light art instillations everywhere and projections on the buildings.

I was able to meet up with these super cool people for Vivid! These three were on my tour from Alice Springs to Adelaide and live in Sydney. 

On my second day in Sydney, I went to the famous Bondi Beach.  You can't really see in the photo but there were a ton of surfers out in the water.  I think this was the first time I actually saw surfing in real life. 

I've seen photos of this pool before with the surf crashing over the sides.  Unfortunately we didn't get that, but still a really cool place. 

This might have been my favorite place in Sydney.  Its a tiny park called Foundation park that is built amongst the foundations of some of the original houses.  Its so cool how they have used the foundations and metal pieces of furniture to show you how the houses would have looked. 

We then had to stroll through this creepy mouth into the amusement park of Luna Park. 

So all of this was done in the span of a week.  I was already exhausted by this point! But I have about a month left before I come home and can relax! As I said in the beginning of the post I am currently sitting in Cairns and just finished diving the Great Barrier Reef! I hope I can get to those photos and write a post tomorrow!