Day 11: Bundaberg

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Day 11 (7/20/2002): Bundaberg

We got up and had more of a European continental breakfast than our usual big breakfast. Jonno warned us about having too big of a meal because of possible sea sickness on the trip to Lady Musgrave Island. It definitely happened.
The boat we went to the Great Barrier reef on.
The trip out to sea lasted for more that two hours. The majority of our group became seasick. One member even had to go to the ship's sickbay. It was very excruciating. To make matters worse, something happened to the ship's engine within distance of the entrance to the other side of the great barrier reef (The reef starts there and goes up north). 

The delay was probably twenty minutes long.

Once we finally arrived, we went to the island for a tour of the national park. We had a talk about the birds, trees, and turtles that grew there. We went back out on the boat and then had a chance to do many things such as


1.      Eat lunch
2.      Ride a sub with glass walls below to see the reef environment
3.      Snorkel
4.      Take the glass bottom boat to see the reef environment



Beth Simpson preparing to snorkel at the Great Barrier Reef

Luke Simpson and Adam Newell ready to snorkel at the reef.

The Reef

More of the Reef


Even more of the Reef

A travelling tortoise at the Great Barrier Reef



The snorkeling was much better there than in Hawaii. The water's temperature wasn't too bad either. Around 3:30 we started packing up and headed back to the mainland. People prepared and took a Dramamine tablet prior to departure, so the trip back was better to the majority. The ship even showed a film. It was Crocodile Dundee II.
 

The sunset was done as we pulled into the harbor. Peter Roberts, our bus driver, picked us up and we headed back to our hotel. That evening, people prepared food and we had a big potluck that had participation from all three groups. The head chaperones from New Mexico, Tom and Diana Briggs, prepared the meat. Barb Spencer and her group from Missouri also brought a lot of food. We had more food than eaters and so we took it in and decided to try to eat it all for lunch tomorrow. 

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