Sailing, Singing, and Saying Farewell

I did it! I survived the continent with the most deadly creatures with the help of my Aussie friends and roommates who threw us (my roommate Jenna and I) a goodbye party before we set off to see more of the country. There were just a few things I wanted to do before I left the country, though . . . . .

I begged my roommate to let me drive her car just once so I could experience driving on the wrong side of the road. I didn't crash, but she felt it was necessary to keep reminding me to "stay on the left side!" (I still like to call it the "wrong side.")

Then Jenna and I flew up the coast to a jumping off town to the Great Barrier Reef. We booked a 4 day sailing trip - it wasn't cheap, but one of the things I've learned to love in my travels is the diversity and beauty of ocean reef life whenever I've gone snorkelling. So I've always wanted to see the largest reef in the world and the only living thing visible from space.

Most of the reef is underwater, obviously, but there are certain parts that poke out of the surface when the tide is down. It's pretty boring above water, but underwater it's awesome!
There are forests and cliffs of coral, hundreds and hundreds of fish, giant turtles, whales, jellyfish that can kill you with one sting, and of course, sharks. We didn't see any jellyfish or sharks, but we did see all the other stuff. (Turtles and whales are very hard to photograph, by the way.)
I was happy my underwater camera decided to work after having so many problems with it this year because there is so much to see underwater. There's coral that looks like a giant brain,

some coral that looked like E.T.'s head,and this little guy who looked a bit lost. Do you think someone is looking for him?

I got to practice my bubble-head charm.

But there was trouble up on the surface . . . . Pirates! Arrggh!

Hoist up the sails mates!Then I decided it would be faster to use the engines . . . .

so we got away safely . . . . . . . and sailed off into the sunset.

It was a great trip and for a day or so after I felt like I was still on a boat. Then it was off to Sydney, where going south actually makes you colder. It was fun to see Sydney's iconic opera house.

There are lots of explainations for the shape of the opera house, one of them being that it's in the shape of a peeled orange. The other explanations aren't very . . . well . . . you get the idea.I wanted to do some singing, but nobody liked my performances . . .

So we found some tickets online to go see an event held inside.
It was just as much fun seeing it from the inside.

The event was an international children's school competition with high school and middle school kids playing band and orchestral music. The schools from China were by far the most musically talented, but the New Zealand schools picked fun songs from popular movies so they were just as entertaining. We couldn't take photos inside, but I had to sneak one before the performance started.After the performance we saw some old barracks that were used to hold some of the first convict settlers in Australia. Later they were used as immigration buildings for women and children escaping the Irish potato famine.Speaking of potato famine, look what happens when you try to eat french fries at the wharf.

. . . mine . . . mine . . . mine . . . mine . . .On Sunday we decided to finish off with a trip to the Sydney Temple. This was the first temple in Australia - dedicated in 1984.

And now I'm off to New Zealand for a few weeks to see a bit of Middle Earth and Narnia. G'bye!