As per original plan, had early swim at the resort... It was lovely morning!
... then walked down to Four Mile beach through the resort's access before coming back to our room.. the wave was a bit rough then, so we asked Justin to give it a miss.
Day 2 was ticking another item in our bucket list...
We were picked up at half past 9 by Quicksilver service bus from the lobby of the hotel to Port Marina where we boarded the Quicksilver cruises heading to the pontoon at Agincourt Reef.
It was raining heavily when we left Port Douglas... We're hoping for a weather change. Anyway, I trusted the lady's word from the info centre in Cairns. She said that weather is generally good at the Great Barrier Reef and she was indeed right!
Mon asked for motion sickness tablets but no good for him. After awhile in the cruise, he started feeling sick and just preferred to sleep :-(. poor guy! he's relieved to the max when we reached the pontoon.
A few hours in the pontoon gave us a fair bit of time to experience the great barrier reef...
11:00-11:30am - Semi Submersible coral viewing... suits those who want to stay dry.
We hopped on the small vessel then walked down to the sub, where expectators seat in pairs. Definitely recommended though if you have a motion sickness, you may not find it as enjoyable as the others... Mon was excited at first, then started to feel sick halfway of our 25 minute ride... the quicksilver sub took us slowly through the colourful coral gardens... it's really a good great barrier reef experience. It was fantastic seeing humongous, mountainous corals of different colours and shapes... there we saw a giant tortoise, but the sharks were hiding:D
12:00-12:40pm Had buffet lunch... salads, prawns, chicken, beef, sausages, etc... but tried not to eat too much as we're headin' to the water afterwards for more snorkelling.
12:40-12:50pm Underwater Observatory. After experiencing the sub, i'd say nothing much to see here at the time when we came aside from seeing those who were trying to do the diving.
12:50-1:50pm - got the lycra suits then off to snorkelling. I'd say it's not really something that Mon would enjoy doing... After a few attempts, he left me & Justin in the water...
I had a bit of leg cramp after a while but Justin insisted, "you have to see this Mum!!!" Told him I had a leg cramp but he's very persistent and led me swim further and promised that he would stay with me.. Well, he's right... there were the giant corals... really cool!!! But the moment we reached there, he forgot that I was having a leg cramp and left me.. grrrrr!!! I realised we went too far and even with the fins, i couldn't swim strong enough to go back to the poontoon 'coz of the strong winds/waves/current... Even worse, one of the fins almost dropped off my feet but l managed to fit it back... I'm not nervous or anything, feelin' safe having the life vests on... just find it tiring to swim against the waves... I was in that state for about 5 mins before I found Justin. He was obviously sorry for leaving me but he made it up by pulling me and helping me swim back to the pontoon... Good to have a very good swimmer in the family! He was trying to pull me up as he swam as if I was drowning:D. LOL! Told him, 'Hey, i'm not drowned, just felt tired, just hold my hand and lets swim together to the pontoon."
By the time we reached there, it was time to go... we quickly get changed and gather all our things...
2:15 - 3:00 pm - We booked for a 10-minute heliflight to see the great barrier reef from above and guess what... we were upgraded for free for more or less half an hour flight around the great barrier reef and flew us back to Port Douglas! It was AWESOME! We reached the hotel quite early... and for Mon, it meant no more sea-sickness. This made our holiday complete -- riding a heli & overlooking the great barrier reef, two ticks in the bucket list...
We rested for an hour in the hotel... then out again by 4pm... We drove north and it was basically just free & easy for us. No itinerary, just killing the time and stopped whenever/ wherever.
There was a sign pointing to Barron Gorge. We drove up and reached the Barron Gorge Hydro Power Station, where we saw the Barron falls from afar and Barron River.
Next : We saw a sign going to Crystal Cascades. Without knowing what's in crystal cascade, we drove towards and began our walk. It's actually a park, where people can do picnic or bbqs. There were access to the 'holes' where people can swim... At the end of park was the Crystal Cascades Falls.
It was already dark when we reached the car and surprisingly, no mossie bites.
We had dinner at Japanese/Korean Resto at Cairns before going back to Port Douglas.
P.S. On our way to PD, a black jeep overtook us on the road then suddenly slowed to 60kph on the highway... thought they may have engine problem or something... The driver waved his hands, telling us to overtake. When our car was already closed on the right side of the jeep, the driver started speeding up.
I asked Mon to backout and slow down... And then the jeep driver was testing our patience... the driver slowed again... and Mon said, "They must be drunk and inviting us to a race". A bit nervous, have asked Mon to slow down and keep a distance... They lose their patience after awhile, sped off and disappeared. Sighhh of relief!
No comments:
Post a Comment