#179 Nomad Diary. 23-29 March 2024. Cairns, Australia. Holloway Beach Stay. Church Surprise. Skyrail Over Rainforest. Barron Falls. Aquarium. Great Barrier Reef Tour. My First Dragonfruit. Flight to Sydney.
 |
| Very Nice Pool at Our Holloway Beach Stay Near Cairns |
 |
| Cockatiel at Holloway Beach Cairns Saturday. 23. We packed up to leave Gary and Tricia’s house after being here for a week in Gold Coast, Australia. Gary and Tricia packed us up and drove us a little more than an hour to the Brisbane airport. We easily got through security and had a snack before boarding our 2 ½ hour flight to Cairns (pronounced: cans). Going north to a large tourist destination for the Great Barrier Reef. At the airport Darrell was able to book a rental car to pick up on our arrival. Tricia gave us a lot of ideas about what we may like to see. We arrived to a sweaty hot and humid environment! Lol! It feels like south Florida to me! Air conditioning is used here to keep dry and cool inside of houses, stores and cars. We checked into our one bedroom apartment in Holloway Beach. We are right across the street from the Coral Sea with our view of trees lining the short steep and currently closed beach. We can see some of the clouds and water beyond the trees from our corner balcony and our windows. To get a really good view, we go out, cross the street and go to the beach. This past December they had a typhoon that washed a road out that’s a block away and washed away much of their beach. They have rebuilt the washed out road to one lane and are working on the beach renewal still. There is a sign to not swim here as there could be crocs in the ocean. We walked a mile round trip to the local grocery to get some breakfast items. |
 |
| Talking With Grandson Quinn |
 |
| Les and Loopie from Canada Happen to be Related to LaDean and Luc who we met last June in Manitoba, Canada |
 |
| Self-explained Sunday. 24. Today we drove about 30 minutes to the church of Christ meeting at an elementary school. There were between 20-30 people there and other visitors along with us. The preacher and his wife were visiting from Saskatchewan, Canada and knew all of these people. As many of them were transplanted from Papua New Guinea and he had been there with some of them for more than 25 years. Turns out he is the cousin of a couple we met in Manitoba last summer during our Canadian road trip! That was fun to get our picture together and to know his cousin in Canada. |
 |
| Spider We Saw Near Barron Falls Walk |
 |
| Coming Back on The Skyrail |
 |
| Red Dragon Fruit Monday. 25. We spent the morning researching what we might do for the day and this week.We booked a reef tour for Thursday. We decided to go to the skyrail over the rainforest. We are about 10 minutes from the start. Turned out amazing! There weren’t that many people there today. We arrived after eating lunch at our apartment. The ride took us up a mountain with 3 stops, one about every 10-15 minutes. The first stop was a short walk through the rainforest with some storyboards for information about the place. The second stop was the impressive Barron Falls. The third stop was a small town that was a nice touristy place with shops and cafes. We had an ice cream and I bought a sarong. The weather was cooler up in the mountains and the day was a great pleasure! |
 |
| Black Parrots in Cairns |
 |
| Fish at Cairns Aquarium Tuesday. 26. Today we drove down to Cairns, walked along the beach boardwalk. We found the dock for our Thursday tour and where we will park on that day. We went to the restaurant at the Aquarium and had a delicious lunch. We then went into the aquarium and spent a couple of hours learning about the reef and seeing the animals and fish there. At around 7pm as it’s getting dark out, the rain began. It rained heavy all night.
Wednesday. 27. Today we stayed in until late morning. The rain had cleared, and the day was blue skies and sunny. We walked a block to a local cafe for mid morning coffee. I ate my meal there. Darrell had lunch later. We went to the fruit and veg market and purchased some more food for our time here. We put together a delicious meal for dinner. We had salad, italian sausage and stir fry veggies. |
 |
| I'm in the Water on the Right Hanging onto the Orange Circle Floatie |
Thursday. 28. We got up at 5:30 to exercise, have breakfast and leave the apartment by 6:30 am. Our Great Barrier Reef snorkel tour has check in at 7:15am. We arrived and got our boarding ticket and loaded onto the ship with about 50 others. Some are going to do beginner scuba diving. The rest of us are snorkelers with varying abilities. I’ve only been snorkeling one other time in Belize. There was very little instruction, but I remember enjoying it and being kept very close to the back of the boat then. For this tour, we were given really clear instructions about techniques and boundaries. It was fabulous! They also gave us sting safe diving suits to wear. These were quite comfortable. The water was warm to get straight into. I went with the beginner group in hopes we would stay closer to the ship. The four of us in the group went with our guide to the edges of our large boundary. He pointed out corals and fish along the way. It was fabulous! It felt great to be out swimming and looking from the surface at the fairly shallow reef. I saw a turtle, clownfish, a Maori Wrasse male which we had learned about at the aquarium on Tuesday. It was huge! During our two reef stops there was also a glass bottom boat that took a few people out each time to look. We had plenty of time for both or only one option. I went on the glass bottom boat first, then went snorkeling on our first stop. On our second stop I just went snorkeling. I intended to go with a partner, a woman, Veronica, I met on our first beginner swim and with a float ring. But the crew wanted us to go again with a guide which we did. It was much easier to hang onto the floating ring and have a tour guide direct us around. We were both very happy to be out in the ocean as our husbands stayed onboard during this second stop.
We returned to Cairns by 4:30. There were plenty of meals, drinks, snacks and beautiful views along the way. It rained some after 3pm and most of us were staying sheltered on the ship. Darrell and I drove back to our apartment, about 30 minutes with end of day traffic. We showered and walked a block to the local pizza place. The pizza was very delicious!!
Friday. 29. It rained all night again and the rain is still coming heavy as I write this at 9:30 am. We called and talked to Mom today. She is managing with the help of her daughter Cyndy. She and Dad are 90. She says Dad has good and bad days. His short term memory is a difficult challenge and has been for several years. Her own painful knees and slow walking with help as well as very limited eyesight has restricted her abilities in her age. She wants to still go and travel. This amazes me. Cyndy is planning to get them to Illinois to visit her closest sister Carolyn in a few weeks now that Elan, her older sister has passed on. Meanwhile, Mom really wants to take a road trip to Utah and visit her son, Darrell’s brother Steve, and his family. Tomorrow is our flight from Cairns to Sydney. I’m organizing my packing today. We are staying in with the heavy rain for now. We have food in our fridge to cook and a couple of cafes close if needed! Lol. We are looking at going to Brazil in June and Texas in late July. We haven’t bought tickets yet and we are flexible until we do. Our son in Brazil is ok with our earlier visit and Darrell’s brother Steve is ok with a later summer visit.
Nomad Notes. This week Darrell’s aunt Elan passed away. She was 94 and almost exactly 30 years older than Darrell. She was one of his mom’s sisters. I have good memories of knowing Elan through the years. She and her husband lived on a large farm in southern Illinois. We have stopped there often with our children through the years, and then again by ourselves. We have always been welcomed warmly and given a place in their home. Another sister of Mom also lives close to Elan, and she always welcomed us too. They have known and loved Darrell his whole life. They are an all around wonderful family to be a part of. Darrell’s mom is one of 10 siblings. She is now 90, being the 5th child. She has one older brother, two younger sisters, and one younger brother still living. I have been so blessed to meet and visit them at reunions and many of their kids who are Darrell’s cousins too.
Comments
Post a Comment