Dear Loyal Readers:
Do not be confused. New Zealand has a town called Queenstown, while Australia has an area (like a state) called Queensland.
Up till now we’ve had a lovely fun time but it’s been a little placid. At last we have a bit of excitement. When I left you last, we were about to leave Auckland, New Zealand to return to Australia. We flew into Cairns in the evening. We landed at 10 PM at night which was 1 AM in our bodies as we lost 3 hours between the 2 countries. It is our only night flight on this trip and we are glad of it. When we arrived at Cairns, it was pouring. The woman at the Budget rental car (yes, we switched from Avis to Budget-got a better price) told us it was the end of the rainy (monsoon) season and it had been raining for days! We were not happy. We got into our car and promptly got lost. (Anne: I think you gave me a “kinnehora” –curse for those of you who don’t understand–when you asked me if we ever get lost and I said “of course not, I’m the navigator!”) Anyway, eventually we found the right road; they called it a highway; NOT. It was pitch black and windy; it followed the coast line north; not that we could see anything. It was the most nerve wracking ride I’ve ever taken. Eventually we got to Port Douglas (where we are staying) and at first couldn’t find the hotel even though it’s the biggest thing around. It poured through the night and we had visions of spending 3 days in our hotel room.
The following morning the skies cleared and we have had 3 incredibly hot and beautiful days here. We are staying at a lovely resort called the Sheraton Mirage. There’s a lagoon that circumnavigates the entire resort. There’s a large pool but alas no floats. Since it’s the end of the rainy season here, the hotel is relatively empty. We spent our first day here just getting some R ‘ R at the pool.
The locals here refer to Port Douglas as Port. How silly! Don’t they know they should be referring to it as Doug! In a cafe today we even found a Douglas pizza which was described as “any filling you want”.
For dinner the first night we went to a restaurant in town called Nautilus; seemed to be “the best” in town. They don’t allow children under the age of 8. Seating was outdoors in a raintree forest setting and the food was excellent. Had Australian sardines as an appetizer (known as an entree here) and barramundi (a fish) as my main course.
Now comes the real excitement. On the next day we took a ship to the Great Barrier Reef. It takes an hour and a half to get there. Then the ship hooks up with a pontoon station. At the station you can go snorkeling, scuba diving, watch fish being fed, go on a semi-submerged sub to see the fish, etc. The plan was that Marty would go snorkeling and I would do those activities that didn’t require me to go into the water. Most of you must know that I “don’t do water”; I don’t swim well and the thought of putting my face in the water is anathema. Well, none of you will believe what I’m going to tell you next. On the ship they offered another option. It was called an ocean walk or helmet diving. I walked in the ocean 12 feet deep! You experienced the feeling of diving but you wore a helmet (like a space helmet) and you breathed normally through your nose or mouth. You wore a bathing suit, then a lycra body suit and then a wet suit with a weight attached. The helmet had a hose attached with air. A group of 6 went together with 3 instructors. There was no swimming involved. You walked down steps to a platform 12 feet under. Your hair stays dry. It was an amazing experience. I don’t think when I read the description that I fully understood what I was getting myself into which is probably a good thing or I wouldn’t have done it. When you are under the water you get to hold various sea organisms, including a sea cucumber and a star fish. The fish swim right up to you. The instructors fed the fish so that swarms of them came by all at once. We were videotaped and they took still photos. We bought everything! (I can’t attach those so if you want to see the video, we’ll have a showing; it’s not very long.) Neither one of us quite believes that I did this so we have the proof. It was an outrageous amount of money (the cruise, the helmet diving, the DVD, the photos) but definitely a once in a lifetime experience.
And yes, we also went on the sub to see more fish (I’ve attached a photo of Marty and me in the sub as well as the coral reef and some fish) and an underwater observatory. They fed us lunch at the pontoon, coffee and cookies before we left and crackers and cheese right before we returned. It was a full incredible day. We were so exhausted when we returned that we napped and had room service.
Today we continued with our sightseeing. We went to Mossman Gorge; I’ve attached a photo. I thought it was pretty but not as impressive as Huka Falls (do you remember that far back?!) in New Zealand. There were lots of steps to climb and Marty wanted an escalator! We drove through sugar cane fields (like in Hawaii) along the Pacific Ocean; (like Route 101 in California but you are closer to the ocean). We took a car ferry to the Daintree Rain Forest. On the way back ours was the only car on the ferry. At the Alexandra Lookout we could see the area where Steve Irwin lost his life. We went to a Discovery Center where we walked on an aerial walkway across the bush and climbed a 75 foot canopy tower over the rain forest.
All in all we have had a terrific time here. Tomorrow we go Ayers Rock which should be amazing as well.
Keep those comments coming. I truly appreciate them.
Much love,
Your Intrepid Reporter,
Irene
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