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Published: August 25th 2008
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We settled ourselves into the Pandanus camp site, and used it as a base to sort ourselves out for our remaining time in Australia. The weather had taken a turn for the worse, which was typical as we had wanted to take a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef, but with 30knot winds the visibility would be rubbish and chop would make it unpleasant and the risk of vomiting great. So we decided to wait a while and take a trip up to Cape Tribulation instead. Cape Tribulation is one of Queensland most visited tourist destinations as the landscape provides one of the only places in the world where the rainforest meets the sea. So with that geographical fact to hand we skipped up the highway (hand in hand of course). To reach our destination of a eco campsite right on the beach we had to venture across swamp and over rivers. Well to be honest, we had to cross a stream on a ferry, all very good fun though. Arriving with the windscreen wipers going at mach two would give you the idea of the weather. It was wet and windy, good for the trees but not great for
permed hair.
We had a great camp set up and ventured onto the beach quick smart, avoiding fallen coconuts and stepping over fallen tree trunks. As it is in the middle of the tropics, the area is used to its fair share of rain. However they were experiencing quite a bad patch, so me and Em had the fantastic idea of booking a kayak trip for the next day, what other plan would you come up with? We resumed our nightly activities of playing a bit of cards and soon it was time to hit the grass.
The van was rocking in the morning because of the strong winds but we decided that we would still venture out onto the high seas. The kayaking that we had in mind would have been paddling through tranquil turquoise water, spotting the turtles along the way. The reality was that we had a strong onshore wind that was making waves of around 3ft along the reef. The double Kayak was selected, the life jackets were securely fastened and we had received a safety briefing of “you don’t want to capsize out on the reef as you will not get back in”
-Thanks. We had a group of six, four Aussie guys had joined us, all of them feeling the effects of a large session the night before. So it was no surprise when within 15 minutes we lost one of them, he actually turned green, I had never thought that happened but was just a phrase. Moving on with the remainder of the group was cool as we had about a two hour paddle up and down the coast with some time frolicking on the surf, Em and I were the only ones who did not fall out. Personally I thought that it was down to the instructions coming from the back of the boat but Em was more of the idea that I sounded like a ‘competitive Dad’ rather than a motivator. Picture angry Em face saying ‘I am not having fun with you shouting at me’ - lots of silence.
Back on the dry stuff and we headed back down south off the cape via some tourist lookout spots and back into the campsite at Port Douglas. It was time to decide on the boat that would take us out to the reef. They all seemed much of
a muchness but we opted for one called ‘Poseidon’, a massive, doubled hulled cat that power out to the reef everyday with more than 200 people on board. The main reason that we had chosen this vessel and company was that they had a license to spot ‘Minki’ whales. So we booked for the next day and went back to the van to perform the largest clean up operation ever performed, even bigger than the Sea Empress. We were dropping the van back in a couple of days and as we had been residing in it for 10 weeks there was a slight layer of dust on the work surfaces. Actually it was a bogging place to be, mainly because during the time in the van both Lisa and Em had moulted what seemed to be the whole of their heads, leaving the debris in various places, mostly in my food.
We had an early rise for our trip out to the reef, yes ladies and gentlemen, The Great Barrier reef. It is one of the natural wonders that can be viewed from space, which also include Darren Phillip’s nose and Frank’s third nipple. After boarding our mighty vessel
we powered out of the port and got into our stride early on. The skipper informed us that it would be a bumpy tour of the reef so Em was glad that she had downed some anti sickness tablets. It was an informative crossing also as we had a few introductory talks about the equipment used in snorkelling. If you ever get the chance to sit and listen to a dim witted Aussie tell you how to put a mask on then just throw yourself overboard at that point. The boat was crowded with lots of divers aboard and all of them at varying levels. This made it quite interesting when we came to unloading those, lots of resurfacing for the not so good ones. We were taken to three different spots along the outer reef; they call it the ‘Blue Ribbon’ as the drop off is into deep water. The currents were strong, but the raisins were just deadly. The visibility was good at about 15 - 20m but not the best. The sea life was cool however, lots of fish (wrasse, parrot fish, anemone clown fish or Nemo etc), squid and sea cucumbers. The divers got to see
sharks and a ray but we were not lucky enough. For all of the water activity we both had our wetsuits on and were glad of them, the water was warm but the wind made it chilly on the surface. The highlight of the day was on leaving the last reef we had a brief spotting of a ‘Minki’ whale, it came to the surface like a periscope.
As the boat had to get through three dives/snorkels, lunch in about 3hrs it all felt quite rushed. The weather did not play its part and perhaps it would have vastly different if it was clear blue skies and sunny, but otherwise it felt like a barrier reef experience with someone pushing you through it and not letting you take time to savour the moments. Overall it will be something to look back on positively and tick off the list of things to do before you die, which just leaves playing cricket for England at Lords and winning an Oscar for best actor. Well one out of three isn’t bad.
We arrived at our last evening in Australia and as it is now our ritual we thought that we would
go out with a bang. So I strapped Emma to the largest firework I could find, you should have seen all those pretty colours. No, that is not what we did, how silly of me to write that, I will re-evaluate. We opted for a steak dinner, how romantic is that, a trip to the RSL with a view of the wharf. Frank suggested that we go there, so thank you for tip Oswald. That’s his middle name, funny eh? So we ended up having few beers downtown and sleeping in the van on the wharf.
So we drove the next day down to Cairns and booked into a campsite for the evening as we were flying the next day early doors. In the morning we woke up, gave the van back and then got to the airport. As we took off we waved Australia goodbye and then we landed in Brisbane - Damn it! We had a connecting flight to Vanuatu so we had to have a little stop off, but we were soon back skyward and in the direction of island paradise.
If you have not been to Australia - why? It is a great place
with something for everyone and lots of pies, what more can you want in life? Dunc enjoyed the pies.
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