The Eco Lodge

lunch spot

We had two warm sunny days and two overcast cooler days at the resort. After breakfast, every day except Sunday, the guests were invited to go on a boat outing of some kind. Our first day we were dropped at one spot and picked up a couple of hours later after having hiked a good trail with one other couple. Then we were whisked off to another island for lunch. We were intrigued by their Sealegs craft which was a small amphibious boat with retractable wheels!

Our second day, we were the only guests and had a different boat and John the skipper to ourselves! It was an incredible day. We traveled some 40 miles in all even though the wind was strong and we had 3-4 ft. swells in the larger open water passages. At those times, we felt like we were surfing. John was a masterful skipper and I could only think of how much the boaters in our family--Doug, Mark P., Lane, Adam--would have enjoyed the ride. I was able to enjoy with the help of a little Meclizine!

the spit

John took us to a lovely spit and two different snorkel spots. The first snorkel spot he dropped us on a deserted beach where we could snorkel right off the beach. The coral was not as impressive as it had been on the GBR out from Cairns but the fish were wonderful. We swam through large schools of blue and yellow fusiliers, saw a batfish and lots of parrotfish, and were thrilled to chase a school of cuttlefish (funny looking cousins to the squid and octopus). After 45 minutes or so, we clambered back onto the sunny beach and ravenously ate our packed gourmet lunch.

John circled back to pick us up and take us to the next snorkel spot. As we were going he looked out and drew our attention to an odd looking boat in the distance with almost a submarine-like silhouette. He asked our permission to go take a look. Long story short, a 36-40 ft. sailing catamaran had flipped completely over in the strong winds. We arrived in time to help rescue a man, two women, and a small boy (no life jackets) and take them to a nearby anchored sailboat. We then went back to the cat and waited for a larger, more powerful towboat to arrive.

yellow towboat arrives

Mercy mission accomplished, John buzzed us over to our next snorkel spot which by then was crowded with snorkelers. It was a popular spot being home to several giant Maori wrasse. Mark and I had gotten a bit chilled and so had removed our wetsuits thinking we wouldn‘t snorkel again, however, when we arrived and John started luring the fish over to us with bits of chicken left from our lunches, I couldn’t stand it and slipped back in the water. Albert, the largest Maori wrasse was a yard long and weighed about 60 pounds. He would swim right by me and I could run my hands along his blue wet velvet sides. There were lots of smaller fish and also a good sized trevally (large sport fish). Too fun!

One other day, Mark and I had an abbreviated windy and wavy kayak outing and yet another day was spent on a windy and wet boat outing with five other guests (pic is hanging cloths out to dry at lunchtime). The other guests were interesting and interactive, the staff incredibly helpful, and the food divine. It was the perfect end to our travels.

We left the island at 1:30 PM on Tuesday, June 15 and arrived home in Olympia at 11:30 PM on Tuesday, June 15--only 10 hours later! Huh? Of course, during that time we had one ten minute helicopter ride to Hamilton Island, a 1.5 hour airplane flight to Sydney, a 13 hour flight to Los Angeles, a 2.5 hour flight to Seattle, and an hour’s drive home to Olympia. We were met at the airport by Michael who also produced a container of our homegrown, fresh picked strawberries.  How sweet is that??  This will be my last blog entry……..thanks to any and all who read it along the way……IT IS GOOD TO BE HOME!

The Whitsundays

The Whitsunday Islands are a group of 74 islands of various sizes located off the central coast of Queensland several hundred miles north of Brisbane. They are a popular tourist destination and offer different resort accommodations ranging from deluxe to backpacker as well as camping. One whole island has recently been converted from farming into a golf course! Many people sail or boat through the islands. Good snorkeling and diving can be found closer in to the islands than farther north near Cairns.

We had decided to spend our last four days in Australia at an eco lodge on Long Island, one of the Whitsunday islands. The “eco” part of the lodge means that most of their electricity is solar and their water is collected and stored rainwater. By extension it also means no televisions, no hair dryers, and no heat. The maximum number of guests at this resort is 24 and most everything is included--meals, snacks and drinks, and all outings. During our time, there were never more than nine guests in the beachfront bungalows. A big draw is that every meal is prepared by a gourmet chef.

We were daily entertained by Edwina the wallaby, with her little joey in pouch, who visited for weetbix and banana snacks and also by a family of curlews who paced silently through the main gathering area at all times of day--silent that is unless you approached too closely, then they froze in place and hissed (almost growled) deeply. We had one sighting of a feral pig complete with tusks and had lots of boring bush turkey sightings. Of course, there were also oyster catchers and herons and noisy cockatoos and crows.

The main evening entertainment was eating: appetizers, dinner and dessert, all beautifully prepared. In addition, the guests read and talked. Two evenings all the guests and staff  had rousing men vs women games of pictionary.

men won one night, the women the other

Our days and nights were considerably cooler and breezier than we had anticipated (admittedly we were hoping for hot), but we adjusted quickly to wearing long pants and shirts most of the time. In the evening, since we dined al fresco, I was happy to claim a chair next to one of the large silver gas patio heaters.

Driving to Cape Tribulation

Our final day in Port Douglas, Thursday the 10th, we spent driving north again. We had hoped to hike some in the Mossman Gorge but were disappointed to learn that the hiking area was closed for road and trail renovations. Instead we crossed the Daintree River on the ferry (5 minutes) and headed up the coast to Cape Tribulation. The cape was named by Cook when he was just a lieutenant and his ship the Endeavour struck a nearby reef in 1770...“I named the north point Cape Tribulation because here began all our troubles…”

at the ferry crossing

From the ferry, the road is…you guessed it…narrow and winding. Although only about 25 miles long, we spent the entire day traveling up the road and back down again. Every few miles, there were interesting short walks and overlooks. After the cape, the road north is only accessible to 4WD vehicles.

This rainforest was the real thing--incredible vines, fan palms, strangler figs, trees flowering directly from the trunk, razor sharp sedge, the large golden orb spider. Even on the ocean beaches we walked, there were warnings about crocodiles.

sunlight in the swampy area

There were also enchanting sand ball designs made by little crabs and little sand toothpaste-like coils made, we were told, by worms.

We drove and walked and drove and ate our picnic lunch on the beach and drove………All along the way were also signs warning us to look out for cassowaries but we didn’t see any. However, in two different places, we did run into lace monitors (a large lizard). The first one, over three feet in length, seemed wild, rooting around in the brush and rapidly climbing up and down trees. The second one was more accustomed to humanity since it was scavenging at a picnic table along with a couple of orange-footed scrub fowl. The monitor didn’t scare easily which is just as well since its claws were significant in size.

We went back to our hotel to pack up and go to bed early since we needed to drive an hour back to Cairns, return the car, and be ready to catch our 7:30 AM flight to Hamilton Island down in the Whitsunday Islands.

The Daintree River

Wednesday we had a relaxed morning and after lunch drove north from Pt. Douglas to do some exploration of the Daintree River. The Daintree River runs through the vast Daintree National Park which includes the Mossman Gorge and Cape Tribulation. Our Frommer’s Australia guidebook had recommended Dan Irby, a man doing tours of the Daintree River in his own small boat, as an interesting, less touristy way to see the river. Dan turned out to be a gem. He has lived near the Daintree River for many years and, although born in Oklahoma and a Johns Hopkins medical researcher in his former life, he has a great depth of knowledge about the flora and fauna of the river. He has even written a small book on the subject, Daintree By Night and Day, which we referred to as we explored.

At 2 PM, we met him at a small dock located just downriver from the ferry crossing (the only way to get across the river). His shallow boat had eight 360 degree swivel seats and an outboard motor. Probably in his later 60s, Dan had an easy congenial manner and exuded love of the river and surrounding rainforest and mangrove swamps. For the next two hours we were his only customers as we cruised downriver. He showed us mangroves of all kinds (an amazing 30 or so species found in the Daintree), other trees and flowers, multiple crocodiles sunning on the river banks, the jumping fish called mudskippers, and tiny crabs. He also showed us birds--rainbow bee-eater, collared kingfisher, brahminy kite (similar to our American eagle), long billed gerygone, and azure kingfisher. It was a feast of information and sights.

azure kingfisher

One of our favorite tidbits from Dan concerned the long missile shaped propagules--seeds of one species of mangrove. They fall from the tree already germinated and are complete with little leaves under a protective cap. The seed will land like a spear in the mud or, if it falls into water, will float horizontally until the right specific gravity causes it to turn vertical and root. How amazing is that?

top on........then top off.......voila, leaves

After two hours, Dan returned us to the dock and we drove to a nearby café for a light supper. Returning a little after 5, we found Dan and a young couple from Sydney waiting for us in the boat for another 2 hour river exploration. The tide had come in--yes, in the river--and it was like another world. The water lapped the trees and all the leggy mangrove roots were covered.

Dan buzzed us up the river in time to catch the nightly ritual of the cattle egrets coming back from the fields to the river to roost. The white birds would fly in over the tree tops in large groups, immediately drop to just inches above the river, and like a squad of fighter planes, zoom down river to one particular grove of trees. At that point they would flap and squabble and finally find branches on which to roost. We must have watched dozens of such groups come “home” for the night as we floated in the silent boat in the middle of the river in the deepening dusk. Dan estimated that 3,000 birds roost there after their days spent in the area’s fields.

As dusk faded into night, we cruised the river. We saw a large croc in the middle of the river and a small one hiding amongst the mangrove branches, we saw a fabulous papuan frogmouth (a gray owl-like looking bird with red eyes), and lots of tiny bats. We also did some spectacular star gazing in the black clear night. What a fascinating day!

The Great Barrier Reef

Tuesday, June 8 we went on an all day trip to the Great Barrier Reef--“The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms.”

We chose a smaller but faster boat which got us to the outer reef in 1.5 hours. There were about three dozen passengers on a boat that could carry up to 60. At peak season, some of the boats out of Pt. Douglas will carry up to 300 passengers on one trip. Our boat visited three different Agincourt Reef sites on the outermost edge of the GBR and we had almost four hours of snorkel time. The trip also included a very nice buffet lunch and hot drinks.

The sun was out although it was windy and the water was a little choppy. Both air and water were about 75 degrees. The boat carried a few prescription masks which we were happy to use as well as full body stinger suits and wetsuits. I struggled some with my mask since it was a one-size-fits-all and was really large for my face causing it to leak periodically. However, once our heads were under water, I joined Mark in paddling in ecstatic circles.

waves crashing on the edge of the reef

We were prepared to be charmed by the fish but found ourselves equally as enchanted by the corals. The corals were white and gray and blue and orange and brown and green and purple and pink. There were massive shelf corals and multiple branching corals. There were hard brain-like looking corals and soft pasta-like corals. One looked like white broccoli. The variety seemed endless. At times we paddled carefully so as not to hit the coral with our fins.

The fish were too diverse and numerous to begin to catalogue but, like the coral, the colors and shapes and sizes seemed myriad. Some nestled down amongst the coral, some were swimming in large schools. Some were tiny and others up to a couple of feet long. A flounder or two could be seen just under the sandy bottom in the open spots and we saw one old clam that must have been a couple of feet long. At one point, the snorkel guide brought up a couple of sea cucumbers. We petted the first soft one and watched the second one spew a defensive sticky white spaghetti-like substance out its end. We watched the colorful parrot fish with their fierce grins pecking at the coral (looking for tasty algae) and later excreting pulverized coral in a steady stream. What a wonderland from our Creator.

By the third snorkel time we were a little shivery and a little tired but mostly sick of the taste of salt in our mouths. We happily stripped out of our wetsuits and indulged in the onboard free standing hot shower. Back into dry clothes and with a hot drink, we luxuriated in the sun streaming through the windows on the ride back to the harbor. We don’t have a waterproof camera so our saved images are all mental memories.

Crocodiles!

A bit more about our B and B hosts at the Lillybank. There was another couple, Mark and Helen, from Montreal also staying at the Lillybank, and they agreed with us that the Lillybank and its hosts weren’t quite what they had anticipated. Our room was pleasant but in need of a few repairs. The hosts, Pat and Mike, who were just back from a month in Turkey seemed not to have fully recovered from jet lag and everything they did took eons to accomplish. The four of us got the giggles at one breakfast when Mike delivered my breakfast: hard cold toast and two sunny side up eggs with yolks completely hardened. Montreal Mark looked at my plate and asked incredulously, “Is that what you ordered??” We all almost started snorting. Of course, their breakfasts didn’t come for another 15 minutes! The long awaited banana pancakes were wonderful, however…I know since I begged some of Mark’s.

After breakfast on Sunday, we checked out and started driving north along the coast towards Pt. Douglas, a much smaller resort town on the Coral Sea. About 2/3 of the way there, we stopped in at Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures. It is part tourist attraction and part croc farm. We actually spent much of the day there. We did a boat cruise through their crocodile filled lagoon, took a tour of the croc farm and “petted“ a baby croc, saw crocodile feeding, watched a reptile show (including a blue tongued lizard), and stayed for the famous Crocodile Attack Show. During this show, an experienced keeper got the croc to demonstrate the notorious crocodile death roll--with bait on a rope. The keeper was very careful and even had to retreat to a safe place a couple of times. We were impressed.

the farm

From Hartley’s, we drove the rest of the way to Pt. Douglas to find our place , the Rendezvous Reef, for the next five nights. Felt great to unpack.

On Monday, we chilled!  Yeah~

Kuranda

Saturday, June 5, we made a day of going to the rainforest town of Kuranda. The tour book said to take the Skyrail up and the Scenic Railway down so we did. The skyrail/gondola takes you up and over the top of the rainforest canopy and is nearly 5 miles long. There are two stations along the way where we got off and walked loop trails seeing innumerable plants, trees, ferns, and epiphytes. Our favorite was the golden lawyer cane. Its three stages are snaggy tendrils that allow it to climb up other trees, then incredibly bristly canes, and finally cane which ratan furniture is made from. The skyrail parallels the Barron River most of the way up and gives good views down to the Barron Falls as well.

lawyer cane

We also heard about the large, flightless, southern cassowary which has been called “the most dangerous bird on earth” thanks to its impressive raptor claws. We even thought at one point that we caught sight of one lurking in the undergrowth…ah, no, that would be a homely, scruffy, bush turkey!! The cassowary has the oddest looking small helmet-like growth on the top of its head plus a bright blue neck and orange wattle. We only saw them in the wildlife parks we visited.

The town of Kuranda has been a tourist destination for over 100 years following a brief gold rush. We shopped a bit, found a lunch spot, and then did a two mile walk through the lush forest from town, along the river (we were warned not to stand on the river bank due to the possibility of crocs), and over to the railway station. Here we caught the train for the scenic 1.5 hour trip back to Cairns. We were closely seated on benches four across with another four facing us. The family of four facing us included a very large woman, her husband, and two children one of whom was wailing inconsolably. This was going to be a long trip…however, much to our relief, the rail hostess invited them to move to an empty car and offered us a chance to move also. We hotfooted it off to another empty car with window seats available. Whew!

The ride down was scenic in spots but also included 15 tunnels of various lengths. We were just as happy to get off the train, onto a bus, and finally back to our car. Since our time in Cairns was short, we drove into town and looked around briefly. We ate gelato on the beach, saw some fruit bats, stopped into a visitor information center, and went to see a Catholic church famous for its modern stained glass windows telling the story of Creation. The windows were gorgeous! We loved that the created animals included kangaroos and cassowaries and koalas. Back to Lillybank and a walk down the road to an Indian restaurant for dinner.