Hamilton Island and The Great Barrier Reef

A couple of days ago, we left Melbourne and flew up to Hamilton Island, which is situated near the south end of the 1400 mile long Great Barrier Reef. It is a tropical paradise, and we love it! Yesterday, we had an opportunity to spend the day at the reef, and it was absolutely amazing! From Hamilton Island, it was a two-hour boat ride out to Reef World, which is a platform of fun located on the edge of the Hardy Reef. Our tour package included the boat ride, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, entrance into the underwater observatory, as many cruises as we cared to enjoy along the reef on the glass-sided semi-sub, and a full range of snorkeling equipment. I just kept pinching myself, because I couldn't believe we were actually at the Great Barrier Reef. It was truly an unforgettable experience!

The view from our Hamilton Island apartment

The cockatoos are frequent visitors

There are no private cars on the island, so we all cruise around in our buggies.

The boat that took us to the reef

Ready for adventure!

A school of Yellowtail Fusilier fish

We were fascinated by the huge Maori Wrasse.

Getting the side-eye from a lovely Parrotfish 

A nice view from the underwater observatory

Swimming against the grain

Can you spot the little yellow fish hiding among the branch coral?

Beautiful coral from the semi-sub

The snorkel team

Blessed with this gorgeous sight on our way back to the island

Fitzroy Gardens and the Melbourne Museum

We spent most of the day yesterday at Fitzroy Gardens, a lovely large park, just down from our hotel. It also happens to be home to Australia's oldest building, Cook's Cottage, which was actually built in England in 1755 and later imported to Australia. (Unfortunately, I didn't snap a picture.) We had our ball, frisbee, and boomerangs, plus grass, trees, and lots of room to run around. A good time was had by all!

It was rainy this morning, so we decided to visit the Melbourne Museum, where we saw an IMAX movie about dinosaurs and then spent the rest of the day fascinated by the different exhibits--everything from dino bones to rocks and minerals to insects to the human mind and body to the history of Melbourne. The younger guys also spent some time working on their own engineering projects, with Legos and magnetic blocks in the fun children's area. It was quite an enjoyable day, and we didn't leave until we were forced to, at closing time. By then, the weather was all cleared up and we were able to enjoy another nice park, just outside the museum, before heading off in search of a local burger joint for dinner.

I spent several pleasant hours on that bench yesterday!

Fitzroy Gardens is full of impressively large fig trees

I believe both the ball and frisbee were in use at the same time during this game

So many things to throw!

Unique flora

Swinging and climbing and having a ball!

3D Dino movie

Primitive weapons

He's worth his weight in gold!

Bugs, bugs, bugs

A display depicting Australia's coat of arms

Little builder 

Concentration

Frankston Fun

We drove down to Frankston today, taking advantage of the last day of our car rental to check out the beach and an awesome sand sculpting event. We ended up having a little cookout and doing a little shopping while we were there, as well. The weather was perfect, and we had a great time!

Frankston Beach

Working in a game of baseball while waiting on lunch

The gulls were trying to snatch our chicken off the grill.
Thankfully, the chicken patrol stepped in to keep them away. 

The theme of the sand sculpting event was "A Day at the Zoo"

Animals of North America

Animals of Australia, with an artistic twist

Animals of Asia

Animals of South America

Animals of the Arctic

European Animals

The "Out of Africa" display shows the animals escaping in great detail

Things were a little crazy at the No Rules Petting Zoo

Steampunk animals

Fanciful Creatures

In addition to the sand sculptures,
there were several other activities for the kids to enjoy.

One of Clay's main objectives for his upcoming birthday
has been to get his face painted. We don't know if that will be
a possibility on his actual birthday, so we took advantage of the
free face paintings being offered today at the sand sculpting event
 and ended up with a very happy boy, whose wish came true!

Aussie Rules Football and Other Fun

We moved from Ballarat to Melbourne today, and one of the first things we did was to attend an Australian Rules Football game. It was kind of like watching all the sports at once--only much rougher than all of them combined (with perhaps the exception of rugby). I didn't understand most of what I saw, but I detected elements of football, rugby, soccer, basketball, volleyball, and wrestling. We had such a great time cheering on the Collingwood Magpies, even though they came up short at the end against the St. Kilda Saints.

After the game, we spent a couple of lovely hours enjoying the beautiful Fitzroy Gardens, near our hotel. It is fall here, and the weather has been absolutely gorgeous. The kids came up with a baseball-type game (to round out our sporting experience), using sticks and pinecones. Meanwhile, Jeff and I enjoyed the stunning local flora and fauna and the beautiful weather.

One our way to the football game,
we came across this photo-worthy cafe.

Ready for the first bounce

The official Collingwood cheering section
(I really loved those huge pompoms!)

A Collingwood kick

Magpie Mascot

Exchanging words (and punches!)

Not matter the sport, no matter the country,
snacks are one of the most important parts of any game.

A lively game of "Tag!" in the park

The park was full of these beautiful scarlet-chested parrots.

We also saw several sulphur-crested cockatoos.

Hey, batter, batter!

An impressive cathedral, very near our hotel