Frankland Islands (Great Barrier Reef)

On Wednesday, we went to the Great Barrier Reef. We took a riverboat cruise to the Frankland Islands, which is a group of uninhabited islands near the reef. The only visitors to these islands are people who take cruises with the company we went with. The weather was supposed to rainy again, but we got really lucky and had a beautiful day.

Here I am with my dad on the boat.

To get to the Frankland Islands, we took a boat down Mulgrave River which opens to the sea. We continued on until we got the the islands. Below is the Mulgrave River and the mountains of the rainforest in the background.

Here is the boat we took. It holds 100 passengers, but there were only 30 the day we went, so we were able to talk to the crew about the reef and islands.

I had never snorkeled before going to the Great Barrier Reef, but now I love it! It was amazing to see the size and colors of the corals and to reach out and touch them. I got to swim with all kinds of tropical fish, turtles, and octopuses.

My best look EVER.

My parents didn't want to snorkel, so we also went on a glass bottom boat so they could see the corals.

Mom and her noodle.

Dad and his infamous hat.

The mountains are still visible from the Frankland Islands, which creates a beautiful view.

This is one of my favorite pics from our trip. I love how the rocks look.

The island had plenty of sand, but it was also covered in corals like these. (You can see them on the bottom of the picture with the mountains and ocean.)

We saw this crocodile on the riverbank when we were cruising back in to shore.

On our drive back to Clifton Beach, I got this shot of sugar cane in front of the mountains. There were lots of sugar cane fields in this area.

This was definitely one of my favorite days in Australia thus far. More beach pics coming soon!