On to Australia - Port Douglas

We flew back to Bali on Saturday afternoon, had dinner with Chrisie, Yan, and Stephanie - then headed to the airport on Sunday. We flew to Jakarta, waited 6+hours, then on to Sydney. Transferred to a flight to Cairns, and then an hour's coach ride to Port Douglas.

Some shots from the airplane as we arrived in Cairns:









Port Douglas is a great "beach" town with good access to the Great Barrier Reef. It's like a sleepy version of Newport Beach, with a bit of Key West thrown in.




The Port Douglas Marina:







We took a Quicksilver Catamaran Cruise to the Reef - where they hook up to a pontoon platform which is set up for snorkeling, diving, lunch, submarine rides (okay, semi-submersible vessels). Great for families, and a good way to see the reef without doing a multi-day cruise. The first photo is from the Quicksilver Image Gallery - shows the "pontoon" and the large Catamaran hooked up to it - the boat holds about 400 people, and it was almost full, as this is high tourist season:































(and, No - those strange creatures are not us ... we chose to view the snorkeling action from the boat - it was a bit windy and just a little cold for us - plus, would you want people looking at you in one of those suits????)