Hey you lot! The trip report continues. Back to the airport with a domestic flight to Cairns. Due to security, we are hauling our own luggage to check in, and wait and wait in line. The seats were spread pretty much across the plane on this leg, and some families were not totally together. All the domestic flights we took on this trip were fully booked planes. The trip was uneventful and we checked into the Sea Temple hotel. Cousin Orville has given an excellent overview of this in his trip report and I think we may have had nearly the same room location. Please see his report! These rooms at the Sea Temple in Palm Cove are bigger than many apartments. Our room had a huge amount of space. We had two large bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, a laundry room with two large dry racks, a full kitchen, a large dining room which was tied to a living room area with sofas and TV, which opened up onto a large open air porch with could be closed up with wooden shutters. As this was the middle of the trip, we immediately made full use of the washer and dryer. Tonight was the Junior Adventurer’s dinner, with the rest of us also eating as a group. The food was excellent. To speed things along, as they often did on this trip, we had pre-selected our choices from the menu, so that within only a few moments of seating, the dishes were served. Really enjoyable dinner. We were seated at a huge long banquet table, so visiting with others was pretty limited to the two beside you and across. I sampled several excellent Australian wines that evening, and took some back to the room to sip on while sitting on a massive porch just enjoying the evening. The DD went exploring. A nice quiet evening to settle in.
Day six
Off to the Great Barrier Reef. We had a full and tasty breakfast buffet – not as extravagant as Shangri La, but good. My DW wrestled with the coffee machine as it did not want to produce more than one flat white coffee. The staff agreed to help, and from here on brought us whatever we wanted instead of having us break their machines. My DD loved the yogurt smoothies.
Onto the bus to reach Cairns and then onto the Catamaran. This was a large, sleek boat that flew across the water. DD found a young man to portray the “Titanic” scene on the boat’s stern.
Both DD said this was truly a wonder, and indescribable as to how beautiful it was.
ABD had a marine biologist who explained to the group a little bit about the reef. The boat was full, and ABD was only a small part of it. During the trip out, you selected what and when you wanted to do things. The day was divided into three parts – two activities and lunch. DD and I started with snorkeling, so we could go ahead and get gear and wetsuits and get them on before arrival, as doing this second or third meant you would spend some of your time on equipment. DW chose to pay the extra fee and try the bell helmet diving as she does not swim. The equipment was easy to use. Unfortunately, I forgot some details from all the snorkeling I did in the Florida keys. I have a very large mustache and had just restarted growing my beard. This does not make a very watertight seal on the snorkel mask. Okay, it makes no seal at all…leaks like the Titanic… Normally a little petroleum jelly solves that, but I did not bring any and ABD and the company said they had none. So large breaths when diving down! My bad, as I knew better. I had taken the family to the public pool a few times to teach them snorkeling, as it is not instinctive or intuitive, especially if you are diving down and have to blow the snorkel. That practice paid off for the family. I recommend this to all coming on this trip if they have no snorkeling experience. You don't want to "learn" during your limited time, and diving down is really the best way to see things.
Snorkling with the biologist was crowded. Most in the group were inexperienced, and everyone kept bumping into each other. She had some great stuff to say, but we ended up departing the group after only a few minutes, as we all had been kicked and bumped. The water was murky, perhaps from so many people each day, so you really had to dive down to get the good colors to shine through. It was great fun; both twins would swim with the fish and follow them. About midway through, DD Anna began itching and exited the water. It turns out she was allergic to the disinfectant they used on the wetsuits. She popped a Benadryl and got lunch for everyone. DW enjoyed the diving helmet, except that it did not go to the bottom, but only deep enough to submerge you. She expected to go all the way down; instead her head was just below water level. Fish swarmed all around them, as the staff dropped food to them. We also watched those who had PADI certification (for an extra fee) take off away from the area to SCUBA dive.
We also took a ride on the submersible submarine. When it returned, as we had taken such a short lunch, we again suited up and went back for more in the water. The temperature was comfortable, and again we ended up swimming and visiting with Aussies rather than the ABD group, as they were more social and just grinning from ear to ear. We were some of the very last out of the water. DW had enough, and DD was still a bit itchy. DD2 and I could have spent the day there – I guess if you’ve done snorkeling, you can do this all day. For what its worth, I recommend the Florida Keys (not from the islands, but from a sailboat way away from the islands) as I found very similar.
It was a quiet trip back – most of our ABD adventurers were quiet/napping/or sitting. We strolled the boat and marveled at the stories the biologist now had time to tell. We tracked her down, as no one was talking to her, and she was delightful.
Back to the hotel for OYO time and dinner. DW and DD1 had enough of the ocean for the day, so we wandered the hotel, and the girls played in the pool while I finished laundry and repack. DW just rested. We walked to Palm Cove for dinner, and found a grocery/fast Made To Order supper. The fish and chips were fresh, huge and delicious. The subs were in a similar manner outstanding. All wrapped in today’s newspaper and tossed to you at the counter. We sat outside and visited briefly with another ABD family who were just finishing up. A nice place to stroll and wander at night.
. Any others come to mind?
He's also newly 10 so not so strong yet! I think it was you who posted about the Byron Bay day in a prior post? It made me so excited for this day, in particular!
