Great Barrier Reef, Australia - October 27, 2023

After our stop at Brisbane, we had another day at sea. One of the things I liked about the Royal Princess was the water show they had every night on the pool deck. There was an elevated platform between the two pools that had deck chairs on it during the day. At night, there was a water fountain show set to music and video on the big screen. They had several different shows.

Our next stop was Airlie Beach. This was a tender port. We had booked an all day Great Barrier Reef excursion through the ship. A large catamaran came right to the ship and picked us up for the two hour ride to Hardy Reef.

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven wonders of the world. It's the largest living structure on the planet, and is visible from space. It consists of 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 800 miles. It's home to thousands of species of marine life, including fish, whales, dolphins, and six of the world's seven species of marine turtle.

The catamaran took us out to a permanent platform at Hardy Reef. 

On the platform they handed out snorkel gear and wetsuits to keep you safe from jellyfish stings. The suits made us look like Oompa Loompas. For an additional fee, you could do some beginner scuba. There was also a viewing room on the lower level under the water. We did not see much down there.

Kevin is not a fan of snorkeling, but I gave it a try. I've snorkeled a few times before, and am not very good at it. Somehow, I always manage to swallow the salt water which makes me cough a lot. The same thing happened this time. I did manage to stay out for about 30 minutes and saw lots of beautiful colored fish and coral. 

There were buoys above the water to help guide you along the outer ledge of the reef. This was the best place to see the fish and coral.

We had met a couple from Tucson on the boat ride to the reef. The wife was not snorkeling, so the husband offered to be my buddy. He had an underwater camera, and has shared the following pictures with me. Seeing the underwater beauty was something I'll never forget!!

That's me

An eel

I was surprised how much of the coral you could see from the top. When the tide is low, some of the coral is exposed to the sun. This kills that coral, which is the part you can see from the top.

It was such an amazing experience to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef. One of those once in a lifetime experiences! 

The evening ended with a beautiful sunset!

Our next stop will be Cairns where we will be visiting a tropical rainforest.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Brisbane, Australia - October 25, 2023

After leaving Sydney, we had one day at sea before reaching Brisbane at 7 am. We had booked an excursion through the ship to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary Zoo to see native Australian animals. The sanctuary was opened in 1927 by Queenslander, Claude Reid. At the time, wild koalas were being culled for the fur trade. Claude decided something had to be done to protect them. Today they have native Australian mammals, birds and reptiles along with barn animals. We saw lots of school groups learning about the animals.

You can have your picture taken holding a koala. This sells out quickly, and can be booked online in advance. Our tour only allowed us two hours at the zoo, which was just not enough time to do the picture and try to see all of the exhibits. There were also several educational presentations that we were not able to see due to lack of time. Our ship didn't leave the port until 5 pm, so there would have been plenty of time to allow us to stay at the zoo longer. I did find a way to have my picture taken with a koala at the gift shop.

It was so interesting to see the koalas in the eucalyptus trees. I read that the reason they are so lethargic is that the eucalyptus is low in nutrients and takes a great deal of energy to digest. I was lucky to get one photo of two of them both looking at the camera. Most of them were sleepily hanging in the trees.

Koalas are not bears. They are marsupials more closely related to kangaroos and possums than bears. The koala joeys eat their mom's poo to get the bacteria they need to digest the eucalyptus leaves. This is called pap feeding. Glad human babies don't do that!

There was a huge fenced in area with gray and red kangaroos and wallabies. I think most of them were the red kangaroos. I couldn't tell if I actually saw any wallabies. Again, there were many school groups inside feeding and petting the kangaroos. I was surprised how tame they were. 

A few of the female kangaroos actually had a baby Joey in their pouch looking out at us. How cool is that!!!

There was also an emu in with the kangaroos. They are one of the largest birds in the world, are flightless, and can run over 30 mph. 

I was racing around the place trying to see as many of the animals as possible. A tree kangaroo (which I'd never heard of) was hanging up in a tree.

There was a large area for Tasmanian devils, but we never saw one. A zookeeper working in the area told us they hide under the bridges during the day to escape the heat.

There were a lot of birds in large cages. It was hard to get pictures of them through the wires. This is a Cassowary. They are endangered with only about 4,000 left in the wild. They are flightless and about the same size as an emu, but weigh twice as much. Their kick is powerful enough to break bones and kill. 

Gang-gang Cockatoo

Several dingoes were lying around in their houses and pens. They looked so innocent. I overheard an Australian woman saying that the dingoes have been a real problem in the outback, even attacking children.

We saw this large crocodile, but Crocodile Dundee was nowhere to be seen. He must have been out in the wilderness wrestling with the wild crocodiles.

Australian Brush Turkeys were wandering around among the tourists scavaging for food. They were not at all afraid of people; like pigeons, only larger.

This is a perentie lizard, Australia's largest lizard. I wouldn't want to run across him in the wild!!!

I thought the name of the bus company was cute.

On the way back to the ship, we stopped at a lookout for a view of the city of Brisbane. It is the capital of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia.

While we were at sea, we watched two of the chefs carve some fruit sculptures.

The Italian Captain was present at the traditional Princess champagne fountain event. 

I thought it would be fun to see the champagne flowing all the way to the bottom of the glasses. However, once the captain and another officer emptied two bottles over the glasses, they had a long line of passengers who were elite status come up and pour about 2 seconds each. This looked like it was going to take forever, so we moved along.

Next stop Airlie Beach and the Great Barrier Reef!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!