Massive day!!!

Well, we had a big one today.  Up at 6:30 for a 7:20 pick up and transfer to the ferry terminal.  After a bit of queuing we were on the ship to take us to our "Great Adventure".    50 minutes later we were at Green Island - a small rain forest island unique for its wildlife and habitat.  We spend the first 45 minutes on the nature walk - scoping out the island and taking in the rain forest and information along the way.  We then came back and grabbed some snorkeling gear and headed out to the beach to see what we could see.

An experience for the boys getting their snorkeled gear on but after a few minutes we were away.  We went around for quite a while and got a good sense of the reef and saw a few interesting fish.  Boys taking off...

So after we dropped the gear back and had a quick snack we jumped back on the vessel to take us to the back of Norman Reef at the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef.  We decided to snorkel immediately so we grabbed our gear and jumped in.  Well, it was sensational.  Amazing coral and fish.  We all loved it but after floating around for nearly an hour we jumped out and had some buffet lunch (Joey's favourite!) and relaxed for a little while.  We then spend some time in the underwater observation deck looking at a heap of fish floating by.  We then went on the "Semi Submersible" which took us for a run around the reef seeing some more amazing things outside of the snorkeling area.  After that Joey and I jumped in for another 20 minutes or so snorkeling before the siren went off and it was time to come in.  A relaxing trip back punctuated by nice views, tea, cheese and bikkies and ice cream!

After getting back to the apartment, Linus and I had a 15 minute hit of volleyball in perfect (if nearly dark!) conditions before showering and going to tea.  But where to go?  Lots of choices!!

We settled on Fratelli, a contemporary Italian place.  A great choice again!  For starters we shared traditional and Garlic Bruscetta.  For mains, Linus had "Rigatoni with spicy Italian sausage", Joey "Veal Tortellini" Jen, Spaghetti Marinara (fist and other sea things) and me, Baked Barramindi with various accoutrement's.    All excellent and every skerrick cleaned up.  But given there was "Death by Chocolate" there was no surprise that the boys were up for more (forced to share, they say!) while we enjoyed "Espresso Semifreddo".  Then a really nice touch when we received a shot of espresso liqueur (digestivo).  See below...

back to the apartment and the boys quickly to bed before we kick back ourselves!


Au reviour till next time...