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Bluelou's Home Away From Home...Down Under...The Cairns Shangri-La at the Marina.
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I don't remember her name but she's the savior to all of these photos. To be an underwater photographer, it's best to have a red lens filter. The one I bought with the camera didn't fit. We tried a second filter...BINGO! I didn't take the lens off until the final dive was over (including this photo). She saved my trip as I bought the camera just for this trip...a bucket list thing. I told her I'd name my first born child after her...if I can only remember her name or the kid is going to be known as "What's his/Her Name." I looked at the sales ticket. Her name is Shian.
PS...I've resized but haven't otherwise edited these photos and, yes, my fingers make many unannounced appearances in these photos.
PS...I've resized but haven't otherwise edited these photos and, yes, my fingers make many unannounced appearances in these photos.
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The Dive Boat For Down Under Dive. It's the largest dive boat I've ever seen. These folks mean business.
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Down Under Dive
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A Bluelou Selfie...with his red lens filter...
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The locals call him "Wally". He's a grouper fish who thinks he's a dog. Wally will swim right up to you expecting that you pet him. That's our dive leader Kelvin with Wally. Don't believe me...believe this cut but otherwise unedited video.
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Shark...shark! Did someone say "shark"?. There's two in this photo. We saw another one a bit later.
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Wally's got an audience...whoop it up! Before you folks email me telling me what we did was wrong...I know! We were taught to leave the sea life alone in our diving classes but...none of this was staged! The locals have Wally trained.
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Your author/reporter...
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...and his shriveled up fingers before one dive was completed...
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That's Kelvin, the dive leader.
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That's Marcus, my dive buddy.
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A few coral shots from the second dive...I have no idea what they are so save your emails. I barely made it out of high school biology. The diva in the front row was more interesting to me and I got nowhere there as well.
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A few coral shots from the second dive...
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A few coral shots from the second dive..
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A few coral shots from the second dive..
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This turtle ain't hanging around for no touristas....
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Ditto for the shark....
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(L-R)Bluelou, Kelvin, and Marcus...End of the dive portion of the tour...except for this cool video of a 10 meter cave (30 feet).
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No rest for the weary...early the next morning, I headed off to the rain forests of Australia. Located in Port Douglas, the Wildlife Habitat is where they kept all kinds of birds, koalas, kangaroos, crocodiles, snakes, and...for us tourists. Here's a few photos.
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The residents weren't shy around cameras or people.
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The obligatory koala shot...
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The obligatory kangaroo shot...with Junior along for the ride...
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Besides the handy carrying case, the Kangaroo2015 also doubles as a feeder...
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The Kangaroo2015 also comes in red...
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I'm playing hard to get...
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Kangaroo2105 also comes in a tree model!
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Blimy...it's a croc!
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Likes the name Sam!
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Next stop on the rain forest tour...after we drive back to the Wildlife Habitat to pick up the German woman we forgot...Mossman Gorge. It was our first true rain forest. Odd to tour the rain forest on a sunny day but Mother Nature was with us.
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This male ptarmigan is making a nest...it's a male/female thing with the ptarmigans.
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A ferry took us to Daintree Island, more rain forest.
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After a lunch of steak or fish and chips, it was off to Cape Tribulation Beach. Here's a panorama.
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An interesting sand pattern.
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High up looking down...gorgeous
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We went croc spotting. Here's a one year old hiding in the trees.
Photo by Andrew
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Here's a tree snake not far from where we spotted the croc.
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Here's another panorama.
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End of the rain forest tour. We'd like to thank Dan, our guide/driver.
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(1/2) A couple of shots from the Cairns Esplanade...
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(2/2) The Cairns Esplanade...
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Off to Sydney. This is the next home for Bluelou, the Marriott Sydney Harbor. Close to just about everything a tourist wants, it's a swank hotel but anything you want will be extra...
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The Sydney Opera House
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These tiles are so slick anything that sticks to them will wash away in a light rain. During the Olympics, the tiles became a popular souvenir so they posted guards to prevent theft. You can buy a tile through the venue as a fund raiser for the Opera.
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Your Rorschach test...the Sydney Opera House Shape (Sail Boats, Waves, or...) is made of precast concrete shapes.
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An arcade on the harbor.
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A staple for your editor, the Sydney Hard Rock Cafe. Skip it. The food sucked and the decor was bland.
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The Darling Harbor Jetty.
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The Maritime Museum
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The Maritime Museum.
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I kept trying to take the perfect photo of the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge. I didn't take it in the literally hundreds of photos I took of the two together. Hope you like this one.
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The Harbor Bridge.
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On to dry land, on the hill overlooking the harbor, is St. Andrew's Cathedral, an Angelican Church with some pretty cool Gothic architecture.
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Right next door to St. Andrew's Cathedral is the city hall with some pretty cool architecture of its' own. It's also the subway stop your author used to find his way to the Hard Rock Cafe.
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Also near Darling Harbor is the Chinese Garden.
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The Chinese Garden.
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The Chinese Garden.
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The Sydney Post Office.
