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Published: October 15th 2008
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Big Mango
You saw the big banana, we think the big mango beats the banana. October 14, Tuesday
On our way to Port Douglas we passed by so many places with tantalizing names: Dingo Beach, Hideaway Bay, Pink Lily Lagoon, Flying Fish Point, Cape Sandwich etc. We should have allowed a month for the drive up the East Coast. We feel we are missing a lot. We got off the Pacific Coast Highway and traveled inland for the afternoon going through what is called the Atherton Tablelands. This area contains fertile farmlands, mountains, small proud towns with meticulous landscaping, and lots of waterfalls. We stopped at a couple. For most of the afternoon we drove through rain varying from a light mist to heavy downpours. We stopped at a pretty coastal town called Mission Beach (a familiar ring) to see if we could find some cassowaries, but no luck. We saw only a dozen signs warning of them crossing the road. Joe has close to 80 new birds in Australia now. Pretty good for 13 days.
We are in a caravan park in Port Douglas. We are definitely in the tropics now, it’s very humid but cool from all the rain. We walked the streets of town and ate dinner out for a change.
I had the lamb and Joe had the prawns. We agreed it was the best meal we’d had since we got here. Prices are much cheaper than in Sydney. Joe is now in the “TV Room” watching the world news, which is really the U.S. news. The Australian market has been tanking, too. People here say there is no good reason for that, but it is simply panic related to the U.S. markets. There is some good in all this for us, the Australian dollar has dropped significantly since we began traveling, making this trip much cheaper than we thought.
October 15, 2008
I’m sure we will look back at today as one of the highlights of the trip. We took the “Aristocat” out to three different snorkeling locations in the Great Barrier Reef, the first was an inner reef and the last two were in the outer reef. Neither words nor photos can come close to describing how one feels looking at this place. Seeing the waves breaking on the reefs and the different colors of blue is one thing. But to then see the world below the surface is nothing but breath-taking. The beautiful corals and
so many tropical fish made me think it couldn’t possibly be real, but it is. We snorkeled for over three hours total today and we never were bored.
On the boat we hung out with an UK couple near our age. They were very entertaining with great stories of their travels. The crew of the boat took very good care of everyone and all the equipment was of good quality. I could go back and do the same thing all over again tomorrow.
Now we are back at Tropic Breeze, our caravan camp and we are finally doing the laundry. Pretty anti-climatic after today, but I’m sitting in the outdoor/TV room writing this and there are young people all around me cleaning and grilling the fish they caught today and it’s fun talking to them. I imagine we will go back to the same restaurant we went to last night as soon as I get the clothes out of the dryer. Joe is back at the Jucy Camper planning tomorrow’s adventure to Cape Tribulation. I will have to find an internet café to send this, as the Tropic Breeze has no wifi.
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Connie
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Wow. I can hardly imagine the incredible beauty of the Great Barrier Reef. I've read about environmental damage to the Reef because of pollution- did you see any? I hope not-