Nearly over.

Friday 29^th August 2014.

So, so sad…………. Check out day today. We have to be out of our room by 10 or 10.30 and the ferry doesn’t arrive for us until 4.15pm so we’re homeless for the day! So it’s to the luggage room for the bags and an extra leisurely breakfast for us  and then on to a comfy lounge in the shade with a nice view to pass the time relaxing. There’s a turtle rehabilitation centre on the island and for a small charge, you can do a 45 minute tour and learn about the work of the centre. The charge goes towards feeding the hungry little (big) guys. There are 2 turtles sufficiently recovered from their problems to be released. The centre is just waiting for the water temp to rise a little more and also for trackers to be fitted to the turtles.  

We’re ready for lunch about 2pm, luckily Foxy’s serves lunch till 3pm and we hang out there until the ferry is due. The clouds are gathering and maybe a change is coming. Really, the island is sad that we’re leaving and it’s trying hard not to cry……..

Before we know it, our ferry comes into view and we take our bags down to the dock. Eddie is there to greet us and help with our bags, but Ollie and Tonia are on days off so we don’t get to see them again. We’re back in Cairns by 5.30 and walk back down the waterfront to our hotel for the night. Tomorrow we’re off to the airport early to fly home. 

P.S. The summit climb caught up with us both today – our legs are absolutely killing!!
Apparently we went up the 'best' way. Up the path behind the resort, over the top and back down via the lighthouse path. It was still pretty damned hard. At the start, the steps were formed and "OH&S compliant", but further up they're the bushcraft kind - natural rock, all higgeldy piggeldy, low rise, high rise,  not quite level, and just hard work! Coming down the same kind of steps was no easier either. In hindsight, we were quite mad to attempt it, but once we'd started, there was no going back!

 

Come back in a few days and I might have added some photos.

Nudey Beach

Thursday 28^th August 2014.

2^nd day at complete leisure. So what do we do? After another very leisurely breakfast, (when we sadly farewelled Aline who is going ‘off island’ for a few days and won’t be back till after we leave) we trek around to Nudey Beach, Nudey in name only – it’s not a nude beach! By no means as bad as hiking to the summit yesterday but our legs did not appreciate being made to work even the slightest bit. Again, worth the effort, it’s the only sand beach on the island, but you still have to pick your way through the broken coral piled up on the high tide mark, so reef shoes came in handy again. It got deep rather quickly, so even on a lower tide it would be a good place to swim and/or snorkel. The coral is not spectacular but there are many and varied fish of all sizes. It’s more exposed to wind and tide so we were worried that we’d freeze when we got out but it was ok. We used the current to our advantage too, we went into the water fairly close to the point headed straight out to the reef then just drifted on the current and back into shore. Much less effort. The underwater video camera got a workout again, had a quick check after lunch, I think we got some worthwhile footage. The water temperature was a bit cool but fine once you were in.

Lunch at Foxy’s was the plan and as it was getting on for midday and we had a 20min trek back to ‘civilisation’ we dried off and packed up. A pre lunch drink (of course) and then we ordered a small serve of salt and pepper calamari, a dish by which I judge an establishment. This dish did not disappoint, it was extremely tender and if we were here longer, we’d have it again. Half a kilo of prawns finished us off and that was lunch.

The only other spot to snorkel that we hadn’t tried was out the front of Foxy’s, so that was our après-lunch activity. Let me say right here and now – there is no need to trek over to Nudey! Unless you want to lay on the sand in the sun. No thanks! This will be our one and only snorkel spot on Fitzroy. It drops away quickly like Nudey so it will be good in any tide, possibly even slightly better on a lower tide. At one point I was swimming along in the middle of a school of zebra fish! So cool! Eventually it started to get cold, another reason to work on getting into a wetsuit, so we had to call it a day and head for home.

I think we actually had a half hour of doing nothing! After we downloaded the latest photos and video. Then before you know it, it’s Happy Hour time at Foxy’s! Which, by the way, is THE place to watch the sun set.

Dinner at Zephyr’s was another seafood buffet and tonight prawns were added to the bugs and oysters. So, not wanting to offend our hosts, we got stuck in! The oysters were different to the ones we had the other night and I thought they were nicer, so I had a few. Trevor thought he’d died and gone to heaven – there were ribs too!

Now might be a good time to pay compliment to the waitstaff at Zephyr’s who have made a big contribution to how much we enjoyed this holiday. I got the impression that Illy was the leader and she certainly led the way with her welcoming Samoan warmth. We talked mostly with Aline, who is from France, and Jade an Aussie. They were both so much fun, Aline is planning a trip back to France and Jade and her boyfriend are toying with the idea of chucking in their jobs and backpacking in Asia, so we were able to give her the name of a good guide in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Taylah is a petite little flower child, but don’t let appearances fool you, she’s got a quick wit and knows how to use it! Brittany, another Aussie completed the team. They were all so friendly and happy and worked really hard to make sure all the guests had everything they needed.

It's a long way to the Top!

Wed 27^th August, 2014.

First full day at complete leisure on the island. No alarm set and as long as we get to breakfast before 10.30 we’ll get fed! We take a bit of time reviewing the underwater video from yesterday, and it pays to know your camera inside out before you have to use it. Unfortunately, Trevor was still figuring out how to use it, but he did manage to get some good footage, and like he says, it’s better than if he didn’t have one!

The plan is to tackle the summit today so we’ll go over to the store and get some lunch to take with us. It’s a 2.5 hour return walk and the views are said to be very good. Eddie told us that on a clear day we’ll be able to see the Sunlover pontoon.

Whatever expletives you know – insert them here!!! Many and often!! Fluffy Duck! What a mammoth effort to get to the summit! But the views were amazing and nearly made it worthwhile. I don’t think my legs will thank me tomorrow either. AND there was no easy way down. On the upside though, if we ever come back, and I’m fairly sure we will, we don’t have to do it again!! We think we saw the pontoon and took some photos on full zoom, we’ll have to look at them on a computer screen to know if we were right.

A quick swim in the pool when we got back down and had sufficiently recovered, showered and ready for dinner, via Foxy’s Happy Hour. 

So much for a day of complete leisure! 

P.S. For entrée we shared a dish the chef had named “Portabello Compression”, a layered stack of portabellos and goat’s curd with a red pepper fondue. It was probably the most amazing thing I have ever eaten! I even asked Aline to tell the chef how impressed I was with it, and I don’t usually go to those measures!

Snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef

Tuesday 26^th August 2014

Going on a boat to Moore Reef today and we have to be on the dock around 10am, so no need to get up too early. Just as well. I had a bad night last night, I don’t think the local water agrees with me. Nuff said. We sit in the Reception area and we can see the boat as soon as it rounds the headland from Cairns. It takes about 20 minutes to arrive and dock. A crew member, Eddie, is there to meet us, he helped us with our luggage yesterday and is full of very useful information. All the crew on this Sunlover tour are terrific and really couldn’t be more helpful. We’re booked to do a guided snorkel tour and Ollie will be our guide. We meet early and fine tune our plans. There’s around 80 people on the boat today and it’s the smaller of the company’s 2 boats, but not noticeably so. There doesn’t seem to be as many sick people either, although it is a bit calmer out on the water today compared to yesterday.

We arrive at the Sunlover pontoon and it’s not as big as I’d expected, certainly not as big as the Quiksilver one we took the kids on from Port Douglas all those years ago. 140 people would have been quite a crowd yesterday. Ollie has inspected our masks and snorkels and rates our snorkels, but our masks are crap, they fog up too easily. He tells us we should use the ones on board. Apparently our masks still have a silicone layer on the inside which is there to prevent scratching but impedes vision. Pro divers burn it off with a cigarette lighter but Ollie doesn’t have one so he can’t fix them for us. Talking about it later to Eddie and he says he burns his masks but would never burn anyone else's. He tells us that a good rubbing with some Jif will do a similar job and when we’re leaving, he gives us a squirt in a paper cup. We can’t wait to get out and snorkel on the reef, and while there’s plenty of fish, the coral is looking a bit well-loved. We probably swam around for about half an hour before lunch was ready, we needed to eat reasonably early because our booking was for 1.10pm. Lunch was decent, I had read complaints during my research, but really, anyone who complained has never been hungry or visited a developing country.

The snorkel tour was well worth the extra $40pp, Ollie took us outside the general snorkel area to parts of the reef that were much more colourful and more what we had hoped for. Wetsuits were included in the price which helped keep us warm and added buoyancy. The time passed so quickly. He towed us around on a life-ring, we had to paddle as well, but I’m sure he put in more effort than we did! He took us over a shallower part which was amazing too, we were so close to the coral. The fish were interesting too, so many in some parts, they were brushing all over our arms and legs. He stopped every now and then to show us something or tell us something interesting. There are metal stakes driven in to the sea floor to measure coral growth against and UNESCO is considering giving the entire Great Barrier Reef an endangered listing. Pretty sad state of affairs when our own Governments (State and Federal) aren’t really playing their part to protect it.

I’ve never been vain enough to say I want to look good in a bikini, but now, hmmm, I wouldn’t mind losing a bit of weight so I don’t look like a convoluted black sausage in a wetsuit!! There is no photo. Trust me - that's a good thing!

Trevor helped rescue a lady (I’m sorry, I have to say it – she was an Asian lady) who somehow got caught up on one of the resting pontoons while she was attempting to get out of the water. I’m not quite sure what happened or how it happened, but one of the lifeguards came rushing in to help and gave Trevor a pat on the back when the crisis had been averted.

I stayed in a bit longer and saw some fish I’d never seen before. Talking to Ollie later he said one sounded like a juvenile Many Spotted Sweet Lips, sounded like he said Mini spotted, but that was just his Kiwi accent, LOL!! And the other fish was a camouflage grouper. The fish were quite amazing, the coral was a bit ordinary close to the pontoon, I think it must be the effect of sunblock lotions and the like because it’s too deep to have been walked on and damaged. The snorkelling area was quite large and the further away from the pontoon you went, the more colourful the coral was. All in all, it was a great day out and something we’ll do again when we’re back this way. Of course if you could book on a ‘quiet’ day it would be even better. I can’t imagine how it would be with twice as many people on the pontoon. And we made it back to Fitzroy with 10 minutes to spare before Happy Hour at Foxy’s!

Dinner at Zephyr’s tonight was buffet style with seafood - oysters and Moreton Bay bugs. It was hilarious watching people attempting to get the meat out of a bug with cutlery. For goodness sakes people!! If it was a prawn you’d use your hands wouldn’t you?! We didn’t hold back, or should I say, Trevor didn’t hold back, shelling bug meat like there was no tomorrow! Yummo! We probably had about 6-8 between us. I wasn’t as keen on the oysters, but Trevor enjoyed them. The rest of the buffet was pretty tasty too. The pace of life is great, there’s no rush to do anything or get anywhere, so meals are especially leisurely.