From Bundaberg to the Great Barrier Reef

We stayed in the Best Western Motor Inn on Bourbong Street which was owned by Tom and Glenda Dunphy. They were very friendly and accommodating hosts and they helped us with whatever needs we had.

We spent three nights and two days in Bundy. (What the locals call the city.) We were unable to get a connection out to the Great Barrier Reef on Tuesday, October 2 so we booked a flight to Lady Elliott Island for Wednesday.  This put us a day behind in our plans and we consequently lost our chance to visit the Australia Zoo. (Steve Irwin’s place near Beerwah) We’re not certain we could have gotten reservations to visit, at any rate, because this week is still spring holiday for school kids. (We just found out yesterday that one of the weeks we’ll be in New Zealand is a school holiday there! I don't know how we ended up hitting the holidays and the Australian Football League championship in Melbourne and the Rugby Championship when we were in Sydney, too!)

Tuesday we worked on laundry and other domestic things and took some time to walk around the downtown area of Bundaberg. Small shops abound mixed with churches, banks, Target, and a band-shell in the center of the street. (Much like Ballarat, although Bundy is 1500 miles north.) Many of the sidewalks and pedestrian crossings were paved with red brick which gave the downtown a quaint, retro look and appeal.

The weather in Bundy was much warmer than in Ballarat ,(being farther north) lows in the 60’s and highs in the 80’s, although it was rather windy during our stay. We experienced a little rain, mostly at night, but it wasn’t enough to put a damper on our activities.

Our host, Tom, arranged a trip for us on Wednesday, Oct. 3, to Lady Elliott Island when we thought we may have to trek further north to find an open time to get out to the Great Barrier Reef. Once again, because of the school holidays, most of the bookings were full. We met the plane at the Bundaberg airport at 8:30 in the morning and boarded the fourteen seat plane. The seats were the most comfortable we’d had up to now but the space between the rows was only about a foot. Very tight quarters in that size plane.

The flight was smooth and uneventful, the people we met on the plane were very friendly, mostly from Australia, but one couple was from the North Island of New Zealand. They recommended we take a  cruise on Doubtful Sound on the South Island but we haven’t taken the time to book it yet. (We will probably end up cruising Milford Sound instead because the connections to the cruise lines are easier from Queenstown where we'll be staying.) The landing was a little bumpy because we landed on a flattened coral runway. (First time I ever landed anywhere except on concrete or asphalt.) The runway reaches from once end of the island to the other and measures 600 meters.

Once we landed, we had a little orientation, got our lunch passes, and then I got my snorkeling gear and had a brief refresher lesson. (It’s been at least 40 years since I last went snorkeling.) At 10:45 we boarded a small, glass-bottom boat and headed out to the reef. (Which was easy since it surrounds the island.) After a short distance, they dropped the gate and the water seats and we donned our gear and dove in.

The experience was amazing! There were several deep chasms in the area we swam, but in some places the coral grew close enough to the surface that I could touch it. The coral at the south of the Reef is not as colorful as further north, being mostly different shades of brown, but it’s just as alive and harbors hundreds of different species of sea creatures. The main types of corals here are: branching, fan, plate, and brain. The fish I recognized were: parrot fish, trigger fish, reef fish, clown fish, grouper, and some of the fish that spend most of their time cleaning the manta rays that are common on this reef. These fish were iridescent blue and seemed to glow when rays of the sun shone on them. They were absolutely stunning! I didn’t get to see any manta rays (they’ve documented over 600 different individuals) but I did get to swim close to a green reef turtle for a minute. It’s not as large as a loggerhead but still measured about two feet long.

After the snorkeling, we  ate a tasty buffet lunch (seafood and lamb) and took some time exploring the island on our own before joining a tour which gave us some information about how the island was formed and some of the bird life that nests there at different times of the year. Normally, there are about 50,000 birds but during nesting season that can swell to 500,000! We couldn’t imagine the amount of noise that would cause. The birds that were there now were loud enough. Actually, our guide informed us that the bird poo, mixed with the eroded coral is what formed the island and is still responsible for helping it to expand in size.

Our adventure ended too soon, it seemed, and as we approached the plane to board for our return trip home, the pilot informed us he needed a new copilot. I volunteered, hesitantly, and climbed over the pilot’s seat to occupy the copilot’s seat. Believe me, I studied the controls intently, just in case the pilot keeled over and I had to assume control. (Thank God nothing like that happened because the pilot didn’t share any information with me.) The most exciting thing that happened on the way home, that I could see from the copilot’s seat, was that the fuel ran out of the left tank and we had to switch to the right. (I could have handled that myself, since I had located the switches in the ceiling between our seats earlier.) We landed safely, bade good-bye to our new friends and arrived back at our rooms after a brief taxi ride.

Next: Coffee, drinks, and food. 

"And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.  Mark 11:25