Lady Elliott Island, Great Barrier Reef

On Friday, after Dave's work was finished in Brisbane, we took a day trip from Brisbane to Lady Elliott Isalnd, which is located at the southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef. We were picked up at the hotel at 6:30am, drove to an airstrip called Redcliff and then boarded a 12-seater, single prop plane to get to the island. The island itself is pretty small, with the runway going all the way across it! Oh, and the runway was not paved, it was all grass. Pretty bumpy on the landing, needless to say! The only thing on the island is a "resort", not very high class, but if all you want to do is snorkel and scuba dive, it's perfect. And I really do mean, if that's all you want to do!!! There is absolutely nothing else going on there. So if you're looking for snorkelling and solitude (including no cell reception), this is the place for you.

Our airplane at the airstrip

Our plane on the "runway"

View from the deck - as you can see we got some rain

Here's the deck off the dining and bar area

The overnight accomodations!

This is the beach right out the door of the guest rooms

On the way back to Brisbane

It was a very fun trip! Again, just meeting the people was fantastic. Our tour guide, Ugee, spoke to us in English and then to the rest of the group in Japanese. He kept saying Dave was a good swimmer, so he took him out snorkelling farther than the rest of the people to see the sea turtles. The people that work out there just love to snorkel and dive. It was great!