Great Barrier Reef on Pelagos

Another amazing trip to the Great Barrier Reef on Kirsten's dad's boat Pelagos! This time we went from Hervey Bay, to Lady Musgrave Island, to Swain Reefs, back to Lady Musgrave and then to Brisbane.

Lady Musgrave Island is still one of my favourite places in Australia!

In October, there are no Black Noddy Turns nesting in the Pisonia forest or turtles laying eggs on the beach - it's still smelly though.

The lagoon is a safe and beautiful place to get the kayaks out.

Kirsten in the "snorkelling" tender....

..... and the rest of us getting sprayed with salt water on the way to another snorkelling spot.

Sweetlip Reef is at the southern tip of Swain Reefs. We spent almost a week there!

Except for 2 rainy days, we were in the water up to 5 hours every day!

Below one of those magic afternoons at low tide when the ocean is totally flat!

Note the blue starfish in the lower left corner of the photograph!

We caught another two Painted Rock Lobsters. They fed 7 people for dinner and we did't waste a single leg! Delicious! 

Their colours and thorns are amazing!

This seems to be a Peacock nudibranch (on my hand for size). Well spotted Garth! There are approx. 2,300 species of nudibranchs with a huge diversity of extraordinary colours and forms. If you google "nudibranch" and look at the images, you will be amazed!

This is a Giant Baler or Diadem volute. A carnivorous predatory sea snail, which grows up to 0.5 m in length.

When it's less harassed, it looks like this:

Some more underwater impressions:

We encountered many reef sharks. The second one unfortunately has a fishing line hanging out of its snout.

Crown-of-thorns starfish are native to the reef and seem to be in low numbers in this area. Cyclic outbreaks of this venomous invertebrate pose one of the most significant threats to the Great Barrier Reef. 

A Bluespotted stingray. 

Lady Musgrave lagoon has a large coral head called the "salad bowl" where turtles gather for a clean. Below are three turtles and a Parrot fish waiting their turn....

... and Cameron trying to jump the queue.

The turtles are incredibly friendly and seem to enjoy a bit of underwater ballet with visitors.

Another unforgettable trip to one of the world's great natural wonders!

Bike Ride through Switzerland and Northern Italy

Bike Ride Total: 1,146 km and 15,667 m altitude (see red line below). We started in the Jura Mountains, then Lombardy and back through the Swiss Alps.

In Germany you can buy bicycle inner tubes in vending machines - how cool is that!

This is a pile of firewood in the middle of a forest in Switzerland. Note that each log has exactly the same length!

The same perfection applies to the stone fences, which are traditional in the Jura Mountains.

Beautiful riding, all off road!

Creux du Van is a natural rocky amphitheatre approximately 1,400 metres wide and 150 metres deep.

Kirsten on the lake of Bienne where my grandparents used to own a hotel. We had lunch there and the food is still great (even without my grandfather in the kitchen).

The old hill town of Bergamo.

Our daily breakfast while in northern Italy.

Constant fighting over the Lombardy since the 2nd millennium BC left most towns with a castle and high walls surrounding the old towns. The castle of Brescia below.

The famous Lake Garda, the largest lake in Italy.

Home-made gnocchi Gorgonzola and Caprese salad. Lucky we're sharing!

Gelato anybody? It will be addictive!

Our favourite evening picnic in the hotel room: fresh bread rolls with local dried meet and caprese salad again!

To ride off the calories, here's Kirsten on the Stelvio Pass - a total of 49 switchbacks. The top is 2,757 m above sea level, which makes it the second highest paved mountain pass in the European Alps.

Going from right to left is always steeper than going from left to right, providing a nice change.

We made it! But we were not the only ones: the local Porsche Club overtook us and many other bike riders, cars and motorbikes.

The last 22 switchbacks seen from our lunch spot.

Next stop: Verona and a night at the Opera.

The performance of Aida in the  Roman amphitheatre was amazing. We counted 300 people on the "stage" at one time.

Impressions of Verona.

We met our friends from Barcelona for a few days. 

Lucky we only went to Venice for a day. Very expensive and packed with tourists! 

Kirsten wanted to go to Cremona to buy her favourite Torrone (i.e. nougat). We didn't even know that Cremona is where Antonio Stradivari made his famous violins from 1656 to 1737.

Pleasant riding up-river along the Adda leads us back towards Switzerland.

Fabulous scenery riding towards Sondrio and Tirano!

Kirsten decided our bikes were too muddy after a couple of rainy days.

Here they are nice and clean & on the train to Klosters. (It was raining again, so we postponed one of the alpine passes until next trip.)

We had one more week, so we decided to do a few more local rides. 

Below, the valley of Berguen, leading up to the Albula Pass.

What a gorgeous autumn day!

We made it...

... and here is the reward: Vermicelles (meringue, chestnut puree and cream).

We were lucky to be in Klosters on the day of the "Alpabfahrt", which is when all the goats, cows, butter and cheese are brought down from the alpine summer pastures to the village. It was just in time because the next day it started to snow!

All the cows are beautifully decorated with autumn flowers.

The Vereina valley seen from Klosters with the first snow on the peaks.

Riding up the Dischma valley above Davos. It's definitely getting colder! Note the snow is not melting in the higher altitudes!

A lovely family lunch before flying back to Sydney. My nephew is missing - rock climbing camp in Sardinia - the taste for adventure obviously runs in the family!