Yesterday we spent the day off the coast of Port Douglas – snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. The ride out there, an hour and a half on a wavepiercer, was a bit rough. With winds around a steady 20-30 knots, the sea was bouncing the boat around like it was a toy. I decided to tough it out and not take any medicine, which meant I spent the better part of the trip trying hard not to be sick. Leanne fared much better than I. It didn’t help that I was facing backwards, sitting next to a window, and at the front of the boat.

Our destination was a pontoon platform in the middle of the reef. A fairly crummy lunch was served and then we proceeded to gather our gear for snorkeling. The views were amazing… fish swimming right up to you, crystal clear waters, and reefs as far as you could see. A strong current kept pushing us off to the side, so it was hard to stay in one place and observe… but clinging to a buoy solved that. It also didn’t help that there were tons of other people drifting around, often right into you.

After a couple hours playing in the water with the fish, we showered, got dressed, and headed back onto the boat. We aparently didn’t inquire early enough to get the helicopter ride back to the mainland, so on the boat we stayed. This time, I took the anti-sea-sickness medicine (ginger pills), provided free by the boat crew! I also sat in the middle of the boat, away from the windows, facing forward. That made the ride home so much better!

Another thing we noticed yesterday – Australians love warm face towels. Everywhere we go, it seems they hand out towels for your hands and face. We get them each night at dinner, got them on the boat ride back from snorkeling, on the airplane… they’re all over! It’s also nice to be driven around to our various destinations. We had a private car take us to the rainforest from the airport, another private car took us to Port Douglas for our snorkeling adventure, and then we got a private shuttle back to the hotel afterwards. We could get used to this!!

Today we’re off to have a picnic lunch somewhere in the rainforest (or our treehouse if it rains this afternoon). It should be a nice relaxing day before we head out tomorrow morning at 5am for Hayman Island (part of the Whitsunday Islands). Time to get our laundry out of the dryer… bye!

(It’s 10:30am on Thursday here… 8:30pm on Wednesday back home.)

Here we are… deep in the rainforest of Northeastern Australia. We managed to get here in only 3 planes, 1 train, 1 bus, and 2 car rides. All in all the trip was uneventful. We left the house around 2:45pm on Sunday and checked into our tree house at 2:15pm on Tuesday. Ok, so there is the whole time difference and international date line to deal with, but it’s still wierd not having a Monday this week. So far on our adventure, every flight has been delayed. Something we hope does not continue.

Our first meal here in Australia was at the Brisbane airport on Tuesday at 8am local time (that’s 6pm on Monday in Boston). It was an odd-tasting cheeseburger at the “Refuel” fast-food joint in the terminal. Ketchup was nowhere to be found and aparently they deep fry their french fries in salt. Hopefully our next meal (coming up shortly) will be better – it’s out on a boardwalk overlooking a river in the middle of the rainforest.

These first 3 nights we’re staying in a treehouse of sorts – a nice place with a hammock, jacuzzi tub, and a bed. It’s in the middle of nowhere and there are wild turkeys running around. The odd thing is these turkeys have tail feathers that are inline with their body rather than being perpendicular… odd. Oh – and we saw a whole field of kangaroos on the drive over here!!

Ok, time to wrap up the blogging while in the rainforest. Catch ya all later – maybe I can get some pictures posted if I can figure out how to connect my camera to this computer.

It’s amazing, we spent countless months planning our wedding, and in the blink of an eye it is all over. A little rain in the early morning hours forced the ceremony indoors, but it went off without a hitch. All of our vendors were spectacular. Our hosts at WPI went out of their way to ensure a smooth event from beginning to end.

Thanks for everyone in the wedding party for helping to get everything done and for keeping us calm throughout the day. And thanks to everyone who was there to share our special day. We hope to have pictures to share in the coming weeks (once we’re back from down under!).

Australia, here we come! &%$# Yeah!!

If you are planning to stay at the Crowne Plaza and take advantage of the discounted rate, you must make your reservations by Friday, June 2nd (yes – that’s tomorrow!!). Simply click the link on the right side of this page to book your room while there is still time… and we’ll see you on the 24th!