Trip to Oz (The West Island)

We arrived in Sydney and stayed a few nights with Rob's aunt and uncle, Ann and Ross. The weather was sunny and perfect on the day after our arrival for a tour of the city.


On our third day, Ann and Ross graciously bought us tickets to see a matinee of The Pirates of Penzance at the Opera House. We really enjoyed it and then spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Sydney.


We left the wonderful hospitality of Ann and Ross for an island adventure on the great barrier reef. Ross sold us on the idea of going to Heron Island by the way he described the beautiful coral, marine life and bird life.


A little historical note about this island, it used to be a turtle canning factory in the 1920's, when a great many Green and Loggerhead Turtles were slaughtered for soup. Thankfully, it was not a commercially popular or lucrative venture and it went out of business in 2 years. After the canning business went bankrupt, it was sold and turned into a resort. This was a slightly better turn for the turtles, in that they were no longer being actively hunted and killed, but the resort staff would wait for them to come ashore at night when they would lay their eggs and then flip them on their backs where they would lay until morning so that guests, like the woman pictured here, could sit on them and "ride" them in contests. That went on for 40 years before anyone thought it might not be a good idea for the turtles.


Ross was right about the abundance of marine life. This is one of a few starfish we saw on our guided reef tour. No, we did not step on the coral.


This is the equipment you need for the reef tour (well at least I did): sun hat, copious amounts of sun block, walking stick for stability, reef shoes and a sea scope. Rob opted out for the walking stick once he found out it was not for poking at the coral or sea cucumbers.


Rob spotted this little yellow Moray eel, who became defensive after a few minutes and he started to come out of his hiding place with his mouth open.


The snorkelling was incredible and the island is surrounded by the reef, so we never had to go far. We would just put on our suits, hop in the water and we would be surrounded by black tipped reef sharks, shark rays, eagle rays, lemon sharks, parrot fish, I could go on and on.