We must apologize for taking so long to post. The internet has been essentially nonexistent or ridiculously expensive. Today, in Darwin, we have managed to get some time on line, so here goes the first post of our two week vacation from Cairns to Darwin…
The Saturday flight
to Cairns was remarkably uneventful. Fenton was a dream and the time seemed to
pass quickly. Leaving at wee hours of the morning has its benefits allowing us
to land with the entire day still ahead of us. We were expecting a pick up from
our van rental company – they did not. We took a cab to their address – they
moved. When we finally got to the correct location, our van was so disgusting –
dirty and smelling of cigarettes – that we had to refuse it. Although they
managed to get us an appropriate van, we will never rent from Spaceship again.
We drove to the campground and fumbled our way through getting the van set up,
made it to a grocery store to load up for the 2 weeks, and realized just how
exhausted we were considering none of us had managed to sleep for close to 16
hours.
On Sunday, we
decided to head down to the port to get tickets to see the reef. With a young
toddler, it made sense to limit our sea travel time as much as possible, so
Green Island seemed to be the best place to experience the reef. Green Island
is located a short boat trip away on the “inner reef”. It seemed like this was
the best of both worlds – a chance to see the Great Barrier Reef in all of its
glory without the long journey. We met a wonderful couple on the ferry – Graham
and Judy. While Greg was chatting away with Graham, Judy went outside for fresh
air. The wind was much stronger than anyone had anticipated and the ride became
very rough. It became apparent that many passengers were becoming quite ill.
Heather came back from the deck of the ferry with Fenton and suggested that
Greg hold Fenton for a while. Greg positioned himself so that he was supported
by a bench as the ferry rocked back and forth. As soon as Heather made it to
her seat inside the boat, Greg experienced a warm sensation down the back of
his shirt followed by the familiar scent of regurgitated dairy product. This
was reminiscent of a scene in the movie “Stand by Me” where the character tells
a story of a puke–a–thon started by one person vomiting causing a chain
reaction throughout the crowd.
Once we arrived at
our destination, we wondered how we were going to fair on the submarine tour
and the glass bottomed boat. It seemed like a good idea to get onto land and
allow our little boy to recover.
We were rather
horrified by Green Island. Possibly, our expectations were unrealistic? This
is, after all, the Great Barrier Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage sight and a
wonder of the world. We expected the reef to be managed like a national park.
We thought that it would be treated with the same respect as Macchu Pichu.
Instead, we experienced a nightclub atmosphere with beach volleyball
competitions, Sea Doos racing around, and snorkellers standing on the coral
without any supervision or environmental education. It was truly shocking how
little regard there was for the fragile ecosystems there.
We did give the
submarine a try. Unfortunately for us, the tides had made the water rather
murky and it was difficult to see much colour. It was still very windy and the
water was quite rough. We were able to see a turtle and a fair number of fish
before Fenton threw up yet again. We were the only ones on the submarine, so
they decided to just take us back to shore, ending the tour after only 10
minutes. Our Great Barrier Reef experience was unfortunately not what we had
hoped for but we also recognize that nature can make things less thn optimal
for tourists and traveling with a little one can limit what we are able to see.
Cairns has a
beautiful walk by the ocean, which they call the Esplanade. There are runners,
cyclists, families, hippies, shop owners, and musicians all weaving around the
area.
We were lucky to
see a paramedic helicopter land near the park by the hospital. Fenton, being a
big fan of helicopters, was allowed to board this special ambulance while Greg
and Heather chatted with the pilot, doctors , and paramedics. There is a
massive playground area for families with attached barbeque areas and splash
parks. It was truly amazing. Everything was free of charge and an obvious
benefit for the community.
The next day we
took a trip North to see Karrunda and take a short walk to see some falls and then
visit a Butterfly Sactuary. Fenton especially liked the butterflies and
caterpillars.
Our friends
Randall, Karen, Erica, and Krista Ellis from Kelowna showed up on our last
night in Cairns. We had the fortune of staying with this family when we
attended a trip to Stradbrooke Island sponsored by the Queensland Exchange
Teachers League. We have to say that anyone who does an exchange is simply
crazy not to take advantage of the opportunities to meet other exchange
teachers. Greg had thought that he was alone in finding his assignment so
challenging. It turns out that his experience is fairly common and that most
exchange teachers find their exchange year the most challenging of their
career. It was such a great opportunity to see our friends from Kelowna again.
Fenton has been a rather shy little fellow and the Ellis girls have managed to
get Fenton to come out of his shell and play. It was such a pleasure to see
Fenton having so much fun with the girls and we will miss this family dearly in
the next few months. We sat up chatting late with Randall and Karen while the
kids slept. We really didn’t want to say “goodbye”. It was so great to spend
one final night with them before taking off on the long drive to Darwin.
Next is our drive
across the interior of Australia. This is the real outback. We plan to drive
through the flat, red, hot dusty desert area where it is dangerous to have a
car break down without a good supply of water and food. We look forward to this
with a slight trepidation given that we take with us a toddler.
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