We tacked on a trip to the Great Barrier Reef very last minute in our trip planning. We knew it would add quite a bit of cost to our overall trip so we debated whether or not we should go. In the end we decided it would be worth the money for a chance to visit one of the worlds natural wonders. I'm so glad we decided to do this little excursion. We saw so many wonderful things and even though we stayed just one night on the island we spent our stay in the water snorkeling and enjoying the wonderful sights the Great Barrier Reef has to offer.
Getting ready to board our tiny little airplane. There were only 9 passengers and 2 crew members on the plane for the 2 hour flight. It was pretty fun to fly so close to ground. We saw lots of small towns along the way.
Our first glimpse of tiny Lady Elliott Island through the pilots windshield
Ready to snorkel! The island has snorkeling gear and wet suits to borrow which was super handy. Our first trip out on the ocean was in a glass bottom boat. Oma enjoyed that because she didn't want to snorkel but she could still see the coral and some fish through the glass in the boat. We hopped off the boat and immediately saw a dolphin! It was just swimming right with us! It was feeding off a giant, swirling pod of fish. It was so neat to see a wild dolphin so close! Probably my favorite snorkeling experience the whole time we were there...so cool!
During low tide you could sign up to go with a group to walk around the coral reef. The leader would point out all the interesting things to see and you could even touch some of the things, like this sea cucumber. We learned quite a bit about coral and how it is created over time.
You had to have on water shoes to protect your feet from the sharp coral and everyone had a walking stick so you wouldn't fall down in the shallow water
Exploring the coral
Coral, coral everywhere!
Oma holding a cool, blue star fish
The beaches were covered with little bits of broken coral. The sunset from the island was so pretty!
Enjoying our dinner on the island
The twins played a little pool in the game room
Our cute little bungalow on the island. There was electricity in the cabin but absolutely no cell service or wifi on the whole island. It was kind of nice to unplugged for a day:)
The kids had fun using their snorkel gear in the swimming pool!
Waiting for the airplane to take us back to mainland Australia
Goodbye little island. It was such a wonderful trip!
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