Cheating Death Down Under

Given how long it's been since I last posted, some of you might have thought I had perished. And it's not a bad guess because there are loads of things here in Australia that are trying their damnedest to kill you. Every ditch on the side of the road has a crocodile warning next to it. You have to swim inside a protective net at the beach due to sharks and the box jellyfish, which induces cardiac arrest in 10 seconds. And we saw a death spider (admittedly a name we assigned it) in the rainforest that looked big enough to take down prey perhaps the size of, say, Andrea.

But despite these creatures' best efforts, we are alive and well. We've just wrapped up 10 days in Port Douglas, on the northeast coast. It was just what we needed – a string of days where we really didn't have much of anything to do at all besides throw some local fish on the barby, crack open a beer, and watch the sun set over the Coral Sea. The most cultural activity we participated in was watching the waterfront pub feed a 200 pound grouper (named George) a giant salmon head tied to a big rope in the late afternoon. It was during one of these sessions (we went 3 times) that I reflected on the fact that 4 months ago, I was probably in a meeting in London discussing the charge off patterns of our customers in risk twentile 18. Now, oversized fish feeding down under is the order of the day.

Of course, one of the key reasons we were in Port Douglas is what sits 40 miles offshore – the Great Barrier Reef. We took a trip out once our good friend Dana arrived (she's spending the next month with us), and snorkeled for a couple of hours in a few different spots. It is simply stunning. We've snorkeled in some pretty good places in Hawaii and the Caribbean, but there is just no comparison. You can never put your feet down because there is no place that isn't covered in coral. The formations are amazing, coming in every color, shape and size you can imagine. The fish are much the same -- the quantity and sheer variety of the fish is incredible. And then there are the other creatures – 3 sharks (including one that passed directly under me and Andrea, causing a momentary flutter of the hearts), a blue speckled lagoon ray, and a giant sea turtle. Andrea and I gentlly swam behind the sea turtle for a bit, watching it lazily take a breath, then dive, then do it over again. Absolutely amazing.

It's down to Brisbane now for a couple of days before heading over to New Zealand (and then back to Australia after that). Time is flying! Hope all of you are well.