Great Barrier Reef

We woke up to a lazy morning. Knowing well that we had limited time, I got the folks going and we decided to take a drive down to Port Douglas. Before we made the drive, we needed to secure our mobile and data connections and we stopped by at Coles (similar to a Target). With a quick buy and load, we got one connection going and that was good was good enough for getting Google Maps active. As we drove out onto the highway, we saw a Crocodile night park and thought it would be great to visit this place later today.

I have had a chance to drive California Highway 1 which is nice. However, for the first time I realized how beautiful this is as well. It was simply breathtaking. Scenic national parks on the left; Deep blue waters on the right; Winding road but steady and smooth. Long and with a cloudy afternoon, this was a good drive after the long flight. When we were close to Port Douglas, we decided to stop at a national park. Gauging the mood, we decided to skip this and continue into town. This was a town straight out of a fairy tale. Our first stop was the Sunday market at the local church. Owing to the weather, there were not too many stalls at this market but the women did find a store and managed to get a good deal on some pearl jewelry. We continued to the esplanade.

The esplanade or the main road lined up with stores; Australia-made being the focus; and a lot of stores promoting tourism; similar number displaying desserts. While the women took to their favorite sport – shopping, I found a place serving both – ice creams and tourism.

We had a few options for the next day. It was – to spend the day at the Great Barrier Reef or to split it between Daintree Rainforest tour and Kuranda Rainforest Cableway. We had decided to come to Cairns and Palm Cove to get to the Great Barrier Reef. We stuck to this. Based on the weather which was cloudy and rainy, we asked for recommendations for which tour operator to chose and we zeroed in on Quiksilver which had a pick up and drop right from the Hotel. Plus, we had the advantage of getting an underwater camera free for the day so that we could click photos of the reef because we booked through Wicked Ice Cream Co. The lady at the counter guided us through the process and even offered us a river cruise to see some crocodiles immediately. It was close to 4:15pm and the cruise was scheduled to leave in 15 mins. We signed up and decided to look for the girls who were still shopping. We didn’t find them and missed the cruise. As a consolation, I was reminded it is only crocodiles. We have seen them in Panna, MP and in Bangkok so no big deal. I sighed and

accepted.

This by the way became a standard feature of the entire trip – Women finding places to shop, I finding ice cream, we finding helpful and hospitable people. The markets shut at 5pm and this was a standard feature all over Australia too.

We took a recommendation on a place to eat and this was ‘On the Inlet’, by the sea, on a pier and we were seated with a warning that we will get the sea side seats only if we vacate before 7pm. We obliged. The menu had a ‘Mohan’s special’ probably by an Indian cook who we never managed to meet. The special of the day was a Barramundi and it was served in style. We enjoyed this fish and were ready to drive back well in time.

We made our drive back to Palm Cove. By the time we got back it was relatively dark and we stopped at the Night Safari to check out some crocs. It was closed!! Sunday and will be open only the next day. As a consolation, I was reminded it is only crocodiles. We retired for the night.

The next day, we were ready by 8:15am waiting for the bus to take us to Port Douglas from where we were to take the ferry out to the Lower and outer Isles of the reef, settle in at the Pontoon and do some snorkeling. The entertaining bus driver gave us useful insights

about Palm Cove and Port Douglas. We were at Quiksilver in about an hour and boarded the ferry. This reminded us of Andaman and our trip to Havelock from Portblair. This ferry though was much faster. We made our journey to the pontoon, a structure created practically in the middle of the ocean and in the middle of the reef which can house nearly 400 of us all from the ferry here for snorkeling, diving, feeding fish etc.

After negotiating with our snorkeling guide to give us some exclusive time, we put our schedule together – Snorkeling, semi-submersible boat ride, food and then guided snorkeling. The waters were choppy. The food was average. The semi-submersible ride was boring. But,

the guided snorkeling was awesome. It took us out into the ocean and we managed to see a lot of reef and coral and fish. Very colorful. Very beautiful. We even managed to check out jelly fish and mushroom coral with bare hands. It reminded us of Havelock. This was good as well. Around 3pm, we were back to the ferry. It was a bumpy ride back. All of us were sea-sick. On arrival at the port, it was a quick stop and a drive back to Palm Cove. We decided to dine at the hotel and experience some wine and fish. The evening had us all decked up and enjoying a candle-lit dinner.

The next morning, we took a walk out on to the esplanade at Palm Cove. It was a serene walk by the beach and crossing creeks with signs warning us of crocodiles. We never saw one. As a consolation, I was reminded it is only crocodiles.

It was time to get back to the hotel, enjoy our American breakfast and head out to the airport to take our flight to Brisbane. The driver of our taxi from the hotel to Cairns Airport was a Sardarji all the way from Punjab. We shared out Amritsar experience with him and asked him for some quick tips on driving in Australia. “Stay within Speed limit” was his only advice.

This was our first of the three Virgin Australia flights and as we boarded, I realized that if we have the Virgin Australia Entertainment app, we could watch movies from their selection. I quickly downloaded it and saw Johny Mnemonics with Keanu Reeves. A horrendous movie. We were on 20-A, B, C and D. I being stubborn about Aisle, and Madhu about window, Vimal was in the center row. We were at Brisbane in a short while.