The first visited location was the Second Life Coast Guard Station at Byron Bay. We were welcomed by almost the whole crew who gave us a very enjoyable and educational tour around their station. While roleplaying is one part of the whole experience, actual help to keep the grid safe and fun for everyone is their biggest aim within the virtual world.
But it wouldn't be SL if there wasn't a serious connection to RL: raising awareness about boating safety is high on their agenda. Reason why you can even pass an exam to become a certificated SL sailor, and learn from this virtual experience for your safety in RL.
One of the most important measures of precaution to be safe on and around water is to wear an inflatable life jacket, usually called PFD (short for "Personal Flotation Device"). To put theory into practice, we all got our own free PFD copy to try it out right away.
For good reasons; because after one hour of mind-blowing demonstrations, spiced up with informative explanations, we were invited to be ferried across the water on the SLCG boats to our next stop: the Rainforest Reserve.
After a safe boat trip with the SLCG crew, we continued our tour at the Rainforest Reserve where we had a great outlook over the whole area from the tower, and slid down the rope to stop by the House of Butterflies. Just a few footsteps away, the next adventure awaited us: the kayak tour.
The kayaks were a little challenge at first but thanks to our new PFDs, no one drowned despite a few unvoluntary Greenland rolls. We continued our way along the shores of Sailor's Cove South, passing by the Rainforest Airfield and then heading straight ahead to Mount Cooper and Lake Eacham.
Long trails around the mountain lead to the lake on top, or to the various entrances to Mount Cooper's hidden cave system. After about two hours of exploring, our tour ended at the Tiki Bar inside the caves.
