“That was cool”
At 740 am we stood outside to catch our “Cruise Whitsunday” transport bus. We succeeding in picking an “as good as it is going to get” day to visit the Great Barrier Reef—sunny with low to moderate wind conditions. A family from Victoria (Australia) joined us on the bus after driving 12 hours from Brisbane. People come from all over to see the Great Barrier Reef.
Sierra and Savannah were particularly brave—Sierra for doing a second snorkel while shaking, chattering and wondering if she was near hypothermia and Savannah for doing her first scuba dive from a darker and mostly enclosed lower platform. Hersh gets accolades too -- he dove twice, the first times in 20 years!
The boat ride through the beautiful and famous Whitsunday Islands takes 2 to 2.5 hours. By tea time they pulled out the classic adored treats—lamingtons (kind of like a really bad twinkie with chocolate and coconut covering it), Devonshire scones with jam and whipped cream (Sierra’s new favorite) and vegemite on crackers (what can I say). Note: Sierra just walked by and told me that she actually likes the lamingtons so I stand corrected. Hersh also came by and said “goooood twinkie…not bad twinkie.” You’d have to try it yourself, but sorry, it’s not first on my list for recipes to bring back home. I do have a scone recipe made with lemonade that has me curious.
The boat ride to The Great Barrier Reef (Knuckle Reef) was smooth and included a few humpback whale sightings (including one breaching). In many ways these islands remind us of the inside passage at home, albeit in warmer turquoise waters and with more pronounced volcanic slopes and curves. Geography is geography around the world…
We arrived at the reef 2.5 hours later—it is a long way out—and into a rush of people whipping on thin wetsuits. The water was warmer than the wind but not warm enough to stay in for more than 30-45 minutes (15 minutes for Sierra). Hersh took off for his first dive.
Savannah, Sierra, and I went out snorkeling. Within a minute Sierra looked down and saw a white tipped reef shark below. Then along came the huge Humpback Maori Wrasse, colorful fish like butterfly fish, clown fish, nemos, barracuda… and an amazing underworld of exotic hard and soft corals, filters, anemones, giant clams, urchins, tube worms, and squid. Sierra’s snorkel kept filling with water though so she headed back for lunch and the glass bottom boat tour. We could see everything from the boat that was visible snorkeling.
Leaving Airlie
We’re discovering that in a journey of this length, each stop along the way has some places that are memorable, some people that stand out, some moments in time… At Airlie we particularly enjoyed the stories of our home exchange/motel host: He slid in gossip about our home exchange partners, other guests, and all things scary but amusing….Stories of cane toads that filled his pool so he scooped them into the garbage can and sprinkled in a killing chemical. It didn’t work. People approached him the next day, saying “do you know that your garbage can is moving!?!” He would shrug his shoulders in innocence. That backfired when the garbage collector went to dump the full can of cane toads into his truck, only to have the whole lot of them spring up and out and go off running down the street! Our host chased a few, stomping on them but “you flatten them and they pop back up into their normal body shape!”). Cane toads are the equivalent of our introduced and overtaking bullfrogs, only nastier, bigger and numbing to the touch. Needless to say, the garbage collector was displeased. Our host claimed he didn’t know you could fill those cans with toads… Or the python that crept onto one of the neighbours balconies, and took off with her cat. She saw the whole thing. Two weeks later? The cat shows up!
These were the stories we were treated with daily. We are wondering what he will say about us when we are gone. J Those damn Canadians, you try and joke with them about being vegetarians—you know the ones that really are just eating cow manure—and you can’t get a laugh out of them no how! They come all the way to the land of the GBR and then debate whether to go. Instead they go down the street for Devonshire tea. Canadians are crazy and backwards, I say! Why travel all this way just to have tea!! No matter, my wife made them scones that were even better than the ones they paid for the other day by that other woman… Then they gave us a gift-Canadian Maple Tea but they had taken our only tea pot so we can’t even try it!!! Backwards, they are… and late! Always running late, those Canadians! I had to start lying and saying they should arrive 10 minute early. They deserved a damn medal on the last day. 20 minute early! I’d trained them well by then.
We are leaving Airlie now…leaving its outdoor swimming lagoon, tropical waters, unpredictable cool weather, grass trees, waddle seed trees, curlews, cockatoos, chameleons, billion dollar tourism industry around the 74 islands and the reef (which they have managed to protect fairly well), but with little tourism infrastructure on land—I predict that will dramatically change in 10 years time with more development. I am happy with our experiences here and ready to go.
Brizzy Stopover on the way to Fiji and Home
We are back in Brisbane for a night before heading to Fiji. We have an apartment overlooking the lit up river and Kangaroo Point Cliffs. Savannah is in the background reading the Australia headline about the 5th foot turning up on the beach in BC—the only BC news we have read locally for 2 months. We are musing that we could live here—it’s a great city—but we are loyal and have our personal top 10 highlights for Victoria, attesting that they compete well – in a world class sort of way:
Willows Beach, at the end of our street
The Garry Oak Tree in our backyard, lit by evening sun
The Galloping Goose Trail and regional park system
The accessibility and beauty of the gulf islands ( From Airlie it will cost you 132.00 per person for a round trip boat ticket to Daydream Island which is 15 minutes away)
Our own exceptional restaurants, including Pags for lunch and brunch
Some great bakeries/cafes
Dallas Road
World class family, friends, and colleagues!
Vancouver for a big city day
Pleasant size and “ bike-ability.
I have been thinking of what my highlights are from the whole trip, about what I have learned about myself, about travel, about differing cultures, but there is still Fiji to come and go.
In 2 weeks, Savannah and I are home and in one week Hersh and Sierra are in LA then Toronto/the cottage (which is also Sierra’s home, she reminds me). It feels like the final stretch with a big finale in Fiji. We are all looking forward to Victoria in August and reconnecting with friends, favorite things to do, and work. Not that we are ready to leave… but more that one starts to naturally turn towards what is next.
Beyond our usual life rhythms, Hersh is plotting a trip with Ambrose for sometime next year, after his graduation from Princeton (Alaska or the Caymans??. He’s also really looking forward to seeing that tree in the backyard! I plan to go to Calgary with Sierra to visit My Dad, post surgery, and Brother Dean and Sister Phuong and new baby), and Savannah is off to Colorado August 18th for 2 initial weeks of outdoor adventure and international group time, prior to starting university at Colorado College.
August has travelers coming to us. My brother Chris and girlfriend Sasha are visiting Victoria from T.O. this summer. Later in August, we are looking forward to Mariana joining us from San Paulo for 6 months. We really love our Brazilian student friends, and have already experienced via email that Mari is warm, talented, loving and worldly.
Next, Kava Kava, Fiji Time, and a further indoctrination in the art of smiling and relaxing without concerns… (and swimming, kayaking, snorkeling, and exploring the local hills and villages)!
Ciao,
Catherine
Fiji
We excitedly anticipated some parts of our trip that in the end were enjoyable but not spectacular and then other parts that surprised and delighted us. Fiji is both of those. At our stop over location (First Landing Resort) we were treated to an evening of South Pacific fire dancing and Fijian dance. We all joined in and did the crazy moves they like travelers to make to embarrass themselves.
We arrived at Starfish Blue, our villa after a journey that took three times the estimated travel time, but hey, we were prepared for “Fiji Time.” We were thrilled to travel through our friend Sharon’s home town of Ba, find a vegetarian restaurant and fresh fruit, vegetable and spicemarket in Lautoka, and put-put behind slow-moving sugar cane trucks alongside the endless cane fields, past waving school children, and view beautiful volcanic ranges.
Our villa is lovely, overlooking myriad shades of green and blue waters, set on a cliff with palm trees and hibiscus. Not everything is as advertised, but it is pretty close so we are content here. Outside the villa, the southeast tradewinds blow up to 30-40 knots per hour. I knew there were winds here at times, but this reminds me of wind speeds in a bad winter storm at home. So much for my image of lying flat in the water, snorkeling in clear, glass like waters. That white chop out there is relentless.
So we adapt. I have learned on this trip that the first day in our new location is often one of orientation and adjustment…we figure out exactly where in the world we have really landed and what it will take to make the most of our time here. So here in Northern Fiji, land of amazing snorkeling, beaches and charm, my fantasy snorkeling trip has become a tennis trip. Luckily they have one somewhat protected court at the nearby resort. We are also getting used to braving water, whatever the conditions, so we did get in the water today and snorkeled in a more protected bay. Batfish, blue starfish, sea snakes, and lots of small iridescent fish…Tomorrow we are boating over to Nanu –a- ra Island tomorrow for more protected snorkeling and exploring.
The Fijian locals have been marvelous—Women and men seem somewhat interchangeable to me in manner, everyone laughs and being in the moment is their way of being. “Too much Kava” replaces too much coffee. I ask each day about the weather and no one seems to know what is coming or care. Today I persisted with my question and was shown the formal notice on weather at the local resort—Weather tomorrow: “FINE.” Fine? What does that mean? …They laugh at my need for detail. “No rain,” one offers. “Probably wind.” Like today (which rained, blew, was hot, gusty, and appears to be building to a storm… hmmm... To see a place and culture is to experience whatever comes.
Tomorrow, we move over to the local resort before one more transition night. Hersh and Sierra are off to Santa Monica and Toronto and Savannah and I are off to the famed Octopus Resort. I am crossing my fingers for good weather.
So here’s our quick list of top experiences…
Octopus Resort (I’ll be optimistic)
A great visit with Shannon and Ashe in Coffs Harbour
Hersh’s visit with his old friend Barry in Singapore
Darwin beach, rocks, walks
Litchfield National Park, Darwin
Brisbane Riverpath alongside Kangaroo Cliffs
Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, Singapore
Waves crashing and spraying the rocks on headlands in Coffs Harbour
Playing bridge in our travelling foursome
Great Barrier Reef (editing out the cold wind and water)
Bali offerings at the beach,
Bali flowers, fragrance and gentle harmonious people
Swimming at sunset in Tejakula
Visiting A Balinese school for Saraswati
Authentic Italian dinner overlooking the cliffs, Jimbaran Bali
Kayaking with Dolphins, Bribie Island
Taking the time to watch and nurture Sierra growing up
Precious time with Savannah as an adult before she launches into university
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