Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Wedding Cake Ideas
I like the look of the frosting on these two cakes (above and below). It gives it that "tree bark" look.
I like the vines around the cake, but maybe with freesia or jasmine flowers (above).
Just an idea with the brown fern sprouts if I chose to use them in my bouquets. (above)
I like the hydrangeas on this cake, but not the ribbon (above picture).
I like the idea of having edible river rocks on it. That would go with the river rock idea for the table center pieces and table candles (above picture).
This is kind of cute with the birds, but I wouldn't use the birds. :P The twig approach is something different. Again, I like the tree trunk used as a base (above picture).
For this one, I wouldn't use pink flowers, but I like the idea of a branch climbing up the cake with possibly white freesia or jasmine flowers (above picture).
This is just a fun one, but neat. It would fit our wedding theme (above picture).
Incorporates the brown into the wedding cake, but I don't like the border at the base of the cakes. I would chose different flowers too (above picture).
More branch and leave idea. That's neat with the blueberries. Very foresty. Maybe even some brown figs could decorate the base (above picture).
This one shows the figs that I spoke of in the previous picture and again, the tree bark base (above picture).
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Wedding flowers
So, here are a few that I've been looking at. Still trying to figure out the arrangement for them tho.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Bridal Shoes
So I thinking of something like this for shoes for me...possibly with Bride embroidered on the side. But not sure if I want high tops or not.
So, possibly more like these, but I don't like this style of material.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Wedding 2010!!!
Yes! We are engaged and now the planning begins!!
First stop...dress. I arranged an appointment at David's Bridal on the day after Christmas to be fitted for dresses. My sister and mom were up for the holiday, so we cruised over to east bay on a very rainy Saturday. I look about 2 hours looking for the perfect dress, determined to find one here and not at any other store. Finally, I found the perfect two. I tried one on, then the other, then the first, then the second....and finally made my decision. This is the beauty...no, I can't show the dress on here! :P You'll just have to wait for the wedding! :)
But, I can show you the bridesmaid dresses. The sash color is not correct, but close to the color I want it to be.
Neat huh! Also, they will be wearing this shoulder sash.
Okay, that's all for now.
New Zealand Part 1
21 September 2009, Monday
early day to airport. Taxi didn’t show up, called taxi, dropped us off at airport; sat and waited for plane; didn’t have to go through security, boarded prop plane, flew to brisbane, flew to auckland new zealand, went through customs; had to declare david’s kangaroo jerky; went to pick up our luggage; only mine came out; went to baggage services; they said david’s bag would be coming in on a flight at midnight; they said they’d call us. We went out to the curb to be picked up for our transfer to Maui to pick up our campervan. It was about 4p. We were supposed to be picking up our campervan at 4p. The shuttle comes and picks us up and takes us to Maui. They have us watch a video explaining the campervan. We are getting a 2 seater that has a dinette that changes into a queen sized bed, a mini fridge, a microwave, a small stove top with a cooker, a sink and a shower/toilet combo. Just the perfect size for two people, right?
We had to sit in the waiting area for quite awhile. Then, got the camper ready for us, we piled our stuff in it, and they threw us out. It was almost closing time for them, so they were trying to get us all out as quickly as possible. They even forgot to give us a coin to get out of the parking lot so we had to go back in to get that. After we had everything put away in the campervan, we realized that it was a manual. Great. At least David knows how to drive a manual, but driving on the left, navigating around the roundabouts with a stick?! This is going to be interesting.
Our first stop: grocery store. We were supposed to get a little starter pack which included a roll of tp, dish soap, matches, etc. but they forgot. So, we had to buy all that at the store plus food and cooking supplies. David’s jacket is in his suitcase so we weren’t able to stay outside much since it was freezing and being to rain. We ate dinner in the parking lot in the RV. Nothing fancy for the first night. We decided we might as well find an RV park (or holiday park as they call them here) to stay the night at. We only had rudimentary maps to go off of to find the one RV park semi-close to the airport. We finally found it around 8p and they were already fully booked. Okay, back to the supermarket. We decided to rest for awhile in the parking lot of the supermarket until we got a call from the airline. But, they never called us. David tried to call them and their office had closed at 8p. It would have been nice if they’d told us that. We would have started looking for an RV park earlier in the day. We ended up staying in the parking lot that night, in the pouring rain. At least our duvet is really warm. We can’t turn on our heater because it only runs off electricity when the RV is plugged in. At least the fridge works off the batteries. We weren’t even planning on staying in Auckland overnight. We were planning on heading north as soon as we got the RV. Looks like we’ll be starting our drive tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow will prove to be more productive.
22 September 2009, Tuesday
We woke early with the rain pounding on the roof of the RV. Luckily, we weren’t kicked out of the parking lot last night. There was a 4 hour limit there to keep out people like us but lucky for us, we were able to stay there all night. We really didn’t have anywhere else to sleep. We called the airport and they confirmed that David’s bag had arrived last night. We drove to the airport and rescued his bag. Okay, now we can head north. We got on the 1 and drove north. We had to drive through Auckland to head north and ran into rush hour traffic. We were trying to avoid that by leaving last night. Ugh. Oh well. Just north of Auckland, we stopped at a service station and had breakfast. They are similar to ones we encountered in England. They are like a giant truck stop in the states where you can get fuel, food, they have bathrooms and a place to park overnight if needed. The drive was very pretty and scenic. We drove east off the motorway and checked out a beach town: Mangawhai Heads.
click here for gallery
We had lunch there and enjoyed the view. Our next stop and place to sleep is Keri Keri. We decided to stop at a Top 10 Holiday Park to see how they were and how expensive they were. They sounded to us like KOA’s in the states which are way over the top and very expensive. Surprisingly, they are reasonably priced and nice. We drove through the town of Keri Keri first (rather quickly since it was pretty small) and decided we really didn’t need to walk around it. Plus, we were pretty tired from the driving today. We settled into our spot, plugged in and enjoyed a delicious campervan made spaghetti dinner. We took much deserved showers and are heading to be early. Tomorrow, we are heading further north to the upper most point on the Northern Island: Cape Reinga. Goodnight!
23 September 2009, Wednesday
We woke up bright and early this morning in Keri Keri to, you guessed it, more rain! Looks like it is the rainy season for New Zealand. Drove up towards the most northern tip of the north island. Stopped to see 90 mile beach. David got us stuck on the beach. We got unstuck once but got stuck again. People were coming to beach and taking pictures of us. Someone went and got us help. 2 4x4 jeeps (both tourists from Australia) tried to pull us out with a metal cable. The cable snapped. 1 jeep left. The other stayed to help us with his bungee cable. He pulled while we gunned our engine. The tide was coming. It was only a few feet from our back bumper. We called for a tow truck: 45 minutes away. Told them we would be in the ocean before that. David told me to start packing up the RV. We were gonna need to bail soon if we weren’t pulled out. Finally, the 4x4 jeep pulled us out safely away from the tide and back on land. We called off the tow truck (the rental company sounded relieved). We continued our trek up north to Cape Reinga. There was construction on part of the way there: they were resealing the roads. We reached the top just before lunch and walked down to see the lighthouse. Here at the cape, the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean converge. The sun came out momentarily and we snapped some pictures. We had lunch back in the RV and started our way back down south. We drove and drove and drove for hours on end and we stopped for dinner just north of Auckland at a petrol station. So as to miss traffic the next morning, we drove south past Auckland to a service station where they had RV parking spots. It’s basically like a truck stop in the states. We are so tired that I doubt that we’ll have trouble falling asleep tonight. Today we drove a total of ___ km. What a day! And to think we almost got swept out to sea this morning. Fun! K, night!
24 September 2009, Thursday
Today we drove from Auckland down to Waitomo Caves. These are the glowworm caves! We decided on a dry 4 hour tour of the caves where we abseil 100m down into a cave, climb around the cave, see the glowworms and then climb a 30m ladder back out of the cave. Since it had been raining nearly all day, the tour wasn’t going to be dry. Our tour guide Rob drove us and another couple (Annie and Brian) out to our starting site. We put on blue jumpers and wore our rain jackets over that. Then, we geared up with our harness and helmet and headed out into the rain. We had a bit of a walk ahead of us to the lookout hole and then to the actual hole we descended down to. We hooked up our cables to the abseil ropes, our guide took pictures of us and then we abseiled down to the bottom. It was awesome! We dropped slowly and reached the bottom pretty quickly. Then we walked along a path through the cave. At certain parts, we had to hook up our harness up to cables to ensure we couldn’t fall to our deaths if we were to slip. We had a snack and another photo shoot before we finally saw the glowworms. We didn’t see as many as I thought we would, but it was neat to see them glow on the ceiling. We had to take a different route from here due to the water level rising in the cave from all of the rain. We were safe tho. We took turns hooking ourselves up to the safety hook and climbing the 30m ladder. That was hard! The ladder was a straight vertical climb. It would have been slightly easier if it was at an incline. Plus, it was covered in water and mud. About halfway up, my hands were freezing and my arms were giving up. And, since I was still getting over a cold, I was coughing all the way up. But, I reached the top! :) I’m not sure how long it took me. The fastest time is around 30 seconds. The couple with us each made it up to the top in about a minute. They were in good shape. David banged his knee on the way up so that slowed him down a bit. Next, we had a series of easier ladders to climb before we climbed out of the cave. It was still raining outside and walked back to where we started from. That was fun! It was hard work climbing out, but it was fun! We changed out of our jumpers and were shuttled back to the info center. We decided to stay at the Top 10 Holiday Park there in Waitomo for the night. Since we were exhausted, we opted for a local restaurant for dinner. It was wonderful! We were both surprised. We had an olive, cheese and bread platter, I got an asparagus salad and David got a steak. Everything was wonderful. I ordered a chai latte to go and that was great as well. We both took showers and did laundry since we got our clothes muddy from the cave. We’re heading to bed now just before midnight. We’re gonna sleep well tonight! Night!
25 September 2009, Friday
Today we are driving into Wellington. We need to take a ferry from there to Picton to reach the south island. We left out of Waitomo around 10 and drove south all day, reaching our campsite, a few minutes north of Wellington, just after dark. We are staying in Lower Hutt at another Top 10 Holiday Park. It was pretty easy to find and the beach of the harbor is literally a 2 minute walk from our site. David took some pictures of the stars.
26 September 2009, Saturday
Explored the city and museum
Had dinner with Dan and his girlfriend at burrito place and went to a Cuban bar
27 September 2009, Sunday
Checked out Weta Cave, tried to get in to see Weta: denied; had lunch with Dan, drove to ferry terminal. Waited in line to board ferry. Boarded ferry…
early day to airport. Taxi didn’t show up, called taxi, dropped us off at airport; sat and waited for plane; didn’t have to go through security, boarded prop plane, flew to brisbane, flew to auckland new zealand, went through customs; had to declare david’s kangaroo jerky; went to pick up our luggage; only mine came out; went to baggage services; they said david’s bag would be coming in on a flight at midnight; they said they’d call us. We went out to the curb to be picked up for our transfer to Maui to pick up our campervan. It was about 4p. We were supposed to be picking up our campervan at 4p. The shuttle comes and picks us up and takes us to Maui. They have us watch a video explaining the campervan. We are getting a 2 seater that has a dinette that changes into a queen sized bed, a mini fridge, a microwave, a small stove top with a cooker, a sink and a shower/toilet combo. Just the perfect size for two people, right?
We had to sit in the waiting area for quite awhile. Then, got the camper ready for us, we piled our stuff in it, and they threw us out. It was almost closing time for them, so they were trying to get us all out as quickly as possible. They even forgot to give us a coin to get out of the parking lot so we had to go back in to get that. After we had everything put away in the campervan, we realized that it was a manual. Great. At least David knows how to drive a manual, but driving on the left, navigating around the roundabouts with a stick?! This is going to be interesting.
Our first stop: grocery store. We were supposed to get a little starter pack which included a roll of tp, dish soap, matches, etc. but they forgot. So, we had to buy all that at the store plus food and cooking supplies. David’s jacket is in his suitcase so we weren’t able to stay outside much since it was freezing and being to rain. We ate dinner in the parking lot in the RV. Nothing fancy for the first night. We decided we might as well find an RV park (or holiday park as they call them here) to stay the night at. We only had rudimentary maps to go off of to find the one RV park semi-close to the airport. We finally found it around 8p and they were already fully booked. Okay, back to the supermarket. We decided to rest for awhile in the parking lot of the supermarket until we got a call from the airline. But, they never called us. David tried to call them and their office had closed at 8p. It would have been nice if they’d told us that. We would have started looking for an RV park earlier in the day. We ended up staying in the parking lot that night, in the pouring rain. At least our duvet is really warm. We can’t turn on our heater because it only runs off electricity when the RV is plugged in. At least the fridge works off the batteries. We weren’t even planning on staying in Auckland overnight. We were planning on heading north as soon as we got the RV. Looks like we’ll be starting our drive tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow will prove to be more productive.
22 September 2009, Tuesday
We woke early with the rain pounding on the roof of the RV. Luckily, we weren’t kicked out of the parking lot last night. There was a 4 hour limit there to keep out people like us but lucky for us, we were able to stay there all night. We really didn’t have anywhere else to sleep. We called the airport and they confirmed that David’s bag had arrived last night. We drove to the airport and rescued his bag. Okay, now we can head north. We got on the 1 and drove north. We had to drive through Auckland to head north and ran into rush hour traffic. We were trying to avoid that by leaving last night. Ugh. Oh well. Just north of Auckland, we stopped at a service station and had breakfast. They are similar to ones we encountered in England. They are like a giant truck stop in the states where you can get fuel, food, they have bathrooms and a place to park overnight if needed. The drive was very pretty and scenic. We drove east off the motorway and checked out a beach town: Mangawhai Heads.
click here for gallery
We had lunch there and enjoyed the view. Our next stop and place to sleep is Keri Keri. We decided to stop at a Top 10 Holiday Park to see how they were and how expensive they were. They sounded to us like KOA’s in the states which are way over the top and very expensive. Surprisingly, they are reasonably priced and nice. We drove through the town of Keri Keri first (rather quickly since it was pretty small) and decided we really didn’t need to walk around it. Plus, we were pretty tired from the driving today. We settled into our spot, plugged in and enjoyed a delicious campervan made spaghetti dinner. We took much deserved showers and are heading to be early. Tomorrow, we are heading further north to the upper most point on the Northern Island: Cape Reinga. Goodnight!
23 September 2009, Wednesday
We woke up bright and early this morning in Keri Keri to, you guessed it, more rain! Looks like it is the rainy season for New Zealand. Drove up towards the most northern tip of the north island. Stopped to see 90 mile beach. David got us stuck on the beach. We got unstuck once but got stuck again. People were coming to beach and taking pictures of us. Someone went and got us help. 2 4x4 jeeps (both tourists from Australia) tried to pull us out with a metal cable. The cable snapped. 1 jeep left. The other stayed to help us with his bungee cable. He pulled while we gunned our engine. The tide was coming. It was only a few feet from our back bumper. We called for a tow truck: 45 minutes away. Told them we would be in the ocean before that. David told me to start packing up the RV. We were gonna need to bail soon if we weren’t pulled out. Finally, the 4x4 jeep pulled us out safely away from the tide and back on land. We called off the tow truck (the rental company sounded relieved). We continued our trek up north to Cape Reinga. There was construction on part of the way there: they were resealing the roads. We reached the top just before lunch and walked down to see the lighthouse. Here at the cape, the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean converge. The sun came out momentarily and we snapped some pictures. We had lunch back in the RV and started our way back down south. We drove and drove and drove for hours on end and we stopped for dinner just north of Auckland at a petrol station. So as to miss traffic the next morning, we drove south past Auckland to a service station where they had RV parking spots. It’s basically like a truck stop in the states. We are so tired that I doubt that we’ll have trouble falling asleep tonight. Today we drove a total of ___ km. What a day! And to think we almost got swept out to sea this morning. Fun! K, night!
24 September 2009, Thursday
Today we drove from Auckland down to Waitomo Caves. These are the glowworm caves! We decided on a dry 4 hour tour of the caves where we abseil 100m down into a cave, climb around the cave, see the glowworms and then climb a 30m ladder back out of the cave. Since it had been raining nearly all day, the tour wasn’t going to be dry. Our tour guide Rob drove us and another couple (Annie and Brian) out to our starting site. We put on blue jumpers and wore our rain jackets over that. Then, we geared up with our harness and helmet and headed out into the rain. We had a bit of a walk ahead of us to the lookout hole and then to the actual hole we descended down to. We hooked up our cables to the abseil ropes, our guide took pictures of us and then we abseiled down to the bottom. It was awesome! We dropped slowly and reached the bottom pretty quickly. Then we walked along a path through the cave. At certain parts, we had to hook up our harness up to cables to ensure we couldn’t fall to our deaths if we were to slip. We had a snack and another photo shoot before we finally saw the glowworms. We didn’t see as many as I thought we would, but it was neat to see them glow on the ceiling. We had to take a different route from here due to the water level rising in the cave from all of the rain. We were safe tho. We took turns hooking ourselves up to the safety hook and climbing the 30m ladder. That was hard! The ladder was a straight vertical climb. It would have been slightly easier if it was at an incline. Plus, it was covered in water and mud. About halfway up, my hands were freezing and my arms were giving up. And, since I was still getting over a cold, I was coughing all the way up. But, I reached the top! :) I’m not sure how long it took me. The fastest time is around 30 seconds. The couple with us each made it up to the top in about a minute. They were in good shape. David banged his knee on the way up so that slowed him down a bit. Next, we had a series of easier ladders to climb before we climbed out of the cave. It was still raining outside and walked back to where we started from. That was fun! It was hard work climbing out, but it was fun! We changed out of our jumpers and were shuttled back to the info center. We decided to stay at the Top 10 Holiday Park there in Waitomo for the night. Since we were exhausted, we opted for a local restaurant for dinner. It was wonderful! We were both surprised. We had an olive, cheese and bread platter, I got an asparagus salad and David got a steak. Everything was wonderful. I ordered a chai latte to go and that was great as well. We both took showers and did laundry since we got our clothes muddy from the cave. We’re heading to bed now just before midnight. We’re gonna sleep well tonight! Night!
25 September 2009, Friday
Today we are driving into Wellington. We need to take a ferry from there to Picton to reach the south island. We left out of Waitomo around 10 and drove south all day, reaching our campsite, a few minutes north of Wellington, just after dark. We are staying in Lower Hutt at another Top 10 Holiday Park. It was pretty easy to find and the beach of the harbor is literally a 2 minute walk from our site. David took some pictures of the stars.
26 September 2009, Saturday
Explored the city and museum
Had dinner with Dan and his girlfriend at burrito place and went to a Cuban bar
27 September 2009, Sunday
Checked out Weta Cave, tried to get in to see Weta: denied; had lunch with Dan, drove to ferry terminal. Waited in line to board ferry. Boarded ferry…
Sept 19-20: Hervey Bay
19 September 2009, Saturday
Beep…beep…beep. Yep, it’s 3:00a already and time to get up. I’m glad we decided to take showers last night. One less thing to do this morning. David got up and made us some tea while I tried to pull myself out of bed. We got all our stuff together and made it out to the waiting car at 3:50a. It was lightly sprinkling. Hopefully, we’ll have better weather in Hervey Bay. He drove us to the airport in Cairns and we hopped on our first plane at 5:10a this morning. As we climbed up the stairs to the plane, it started to rain again. Luckily, we got inside before it really started to come down. We saw Susan also boarding our flight and tried not to make eye contact. Luckily, she didn’t recognize us. She was probably half asleep as well. Our first plane took us to Brisbane and then we boarded a smaller plane to Hervey Bay after quite a long layover (we boarded at 10:15a).
We flew on another little plane: Quantas Link: it’s a prop plane holding around 50 people. We were served a light breakfast or breaky and shortly landed in Hervey Bay. The airport there is quite small. I still find it odd how people can meet their friends/family at the airport gate on arrival. I wish we could still do that in the states. We took a taxi to our hotel and checked in. Our room wasn’t ready yet since it was only 11:30a, but they held our bags for us. We have a whale watching tour at 1:00p and they guaranteed that our room would be ready by 2p. We left the hotel to look around the marina. It’s pretty small and not too much to do. Also, there are very few restaurants. We wanted a light snack since we would be fed lunch on the boat, so we found a snack shop and I got some garlic chicken balls. They were pretty good!! Imagine a chicken tender shaped in a ball with butter and garlic in the middle. Very tasty!
Shortly, we boarded the boat for the Whale Song whale watching cruise. We found out that it’s international pirate day today and our crew on the tour were all dressed as pirates and talking in pirate: Gar! We opted to sit in the pilot’s deck, away from most of the people. We headed out to sea and were served a cold meat and salad lunch. The boat was so rocky that a crew member carried our plates upstairs to where we were sitting. I was so happy about that; I was certain I would have lost my plate over the side. :) Upon finishing our lunch, we were in whale territory and saw several whales.
click here for gallery
It was so cool to watch them jump out of the water. We even saw some calves! We were out on the boat from 1p to about 5p. Halfway through our tour, we were given cheese and crackers. On the way back, we saw a rare whale that even the tour guides don’t see that often: a southern grey. We even saw a calf and it was jumping out of the water too.
We’re pretty tired from being out on the boat and all the flying we did today. We grabbed dinner nearby and now we’re heading to bed. Tomorrow, we have an all day safari tour on Fraser Island. Not really sure what to expect, but it should be fun. Night!
20 September 2009, Sunday
Fraser Island Safari today! The green tour bus picked us up from our hotel and drove about a minute to the marina. We would have walked if we knew that it was gonna be that close! Oh well. Then, we boarded a ferry over to Fraser Island. The ferry took all of about 30 minutes to cross the way. We sat out on the front of the boat and spotted some sea turtles along the way. They were swimming in the waves. Pretty neat! Upon docking at the pier, we followed our tour guide off the boat and onto our 4x4 green bus. This was gonna be interesting. Our tour guide had a German-Aussie accent which was pretty difficult to understand at times, but I managed and shot some video of him too.
click here for gallery
Our group loaded onto the bus and put our seatbelts on. The guide assured us that we would be “kissing the ceiling” if we didn’t wear our belts. And, boy was he right! The island is mainly made out of sand, hence the need for a 4x4 vehicle. We listened to his jokes as he toured us around the island. The roads on the island were pretty small so when we would happen upon another vehicle, the other vehicle would find a place to pull over so we could pass them. That’s the advantage of having a larger vehicle. We got lost (he missed a turn) and had to back track a bit to find the turn we missed so we saw more of the island than we thought we would. :) Our first stop was ____________ to top up the fuel on the bus. We could see the beach and the ocean.
From here, we drove onto the beach. The speed limit is 100km/hr. It was surprising to see the amount of cars on the beach. It was literally a highway with at least 2 lanes going each way. People were out fishing on the beach or camped up on the rocks above the beach. We continued north on the beach to our first stop the Cathedrals.
Our second stop was an old wreck of a ship left by Captain Cook.
Then we stopped
For the rest of the day, here are notes: Lunch, cathedral, wreck, swim stop, back to the place we ate at for lunch, picked up chef to take off island, drove to lake, drove to virgin rain forest, dropped us off and we walked behind bus, had a tea stop, drove to beach to be picked up by ferry; put bus on ferry, rode ferry back, watched sunset; back at hotel, had a quick dinner and went to bed.
Beep…beep…beep. Yep, it’s 3:00a already and time to get up. I’m glad we decided to take showers last night. One less thing to do this morning. David got up and made us some tea while I tried to pull myself out of bed. We got all our stuff together and made it out to the waiting car at 3:50a. It was lightly sprinkling. Hopefully, we’ll have better weather in Hervey Bay. He drove us to the airport in Cairns and we hopped on our first plane at 5:10a this morning. As we climbed up the stairs to the plane, it started to rain again. Luckily, we got inside before it really started to come down. We saw Susan also boarding our flight and tried not to make eye contact. Luckily, she didn’t recognize us. She was probably half asleep as well. Our first plane took us to Brisbane and then we boarded a smaller plane to Hervey Bay after quite a long layover (we boarded at 10:15a).
We flew on another little plane: Quantas Link: it’s a prop plane holding around 50 people. We were served a light breakfast or breaky and shortly landed in Hervey Bay. The airport there is quite small. I still find it odd how people can meet their friends/family at the airport gate on arrival. I wish we could still do that in the states. We took a taxi to our hotel and checked in. Our room wasn’t ready yet since it was only 11:30a, but they held our bags for us. We have a whale watching tour at 1:00p and they guaranteed that our room would be ready by 2p. We left the hotel to look around the marina. It’s pretty small and not too much to do. Also, there are very few restaurants. We wanted a light snack since we would be fed lunch on the boat, so we found a snack shop and I got some garlic chicken balls. They were pretty good!! Imagine a chicken tender shaped in a ball with butter and garlic in the middle. Very tasty!
Shortly, we boarded the boat for the Whale Song whale watching cruise. We found out that it’s international pirate day today and our crew on the tour were all dressed as pirates and talking in pirate: Gar! We opted to sit in the pilot’s deck, away from most of the people. We headed out to sea and were served a cold meat and salad lunch. The boat was so rocky that a crew member carried our plates upstairs to where we were sitting. I was so happy about that; I was certain I would have lost my plate over the side. :) Upon finishing our lunch, we were in whale territory and saw several whales.
click here for gallery
It was so cool to watch them jump out of the water. We even saw some calves! We were out on the boat from 1p to about 5p. Halfway through our tour, we were given cheese and crackers. On the way back, we saw a rare whale that even the tour guides don’t see that often: a southern grey. We even saw a calf and it was jumping out of the water too.
We’re pretty tired from being out on the boat and all the flying we did today. We grabbed dinner nearby and now we’re heading to bed. Tomorrow, we have an all day safari tour on Fraser Island. Not really sure what to expect, but it should be fun. Night!
20 September 2009, Sunday
Fraser Island Safari today! The green tour bus picked us up from our hotel and drove about a minute to the marina. We would have walked if we knew that it was gonna be that close! Oh well. Then, we boarded a ferry over to Fraser Island. The ferry took all of about 30 minutes to cross the way. We sat out on the front of the boat and spotted some sea turtles along the way. They were swimming in the waves. Pretty neat! Upon docking at the pier, we followed our tour guide off the boat and onto our 4x4 green bus. This was gonna be interesting. Our tour guide had a German-Aussie accent which was pretty difficult to understand at times, but I managed and shot some video of him too.
click here for gallery
Our group loaded onto the bus and put our seatbelts on. The guide assured us that we would be “kissing the ceiling” if we didn’t wear our belts. And, boy was he right! The island is mainly made out of sand, hence the need for a 4x4 vehicle. We listened to his jokes as he toured us around the island. The roads on the island were pretty small so when we would happen upon another vehicle, the other vehicle would find a place to pull over so we could pass them. That’s the advantage of having a larger vehicle. We got lost (he missed a turn) and had to back track a bit to find the turn we missed so we saw more of the island than we thought we would. :) Our first stop was ____________ to top up the fuel on the bus. We could see the beach and the ocean.
From here, we drove onto the beach. The speed limit is 100km/hr. It was surprising to see the amount of cars on the beach. It was literally a highway with at least 2 lanes going each way. People were out fishing on the beach or camped up on the rocks above the beach. We continued north on the beach to our first stop the Cathedrals.
Our second stop was an old wreck of a ship left by Captain Cook.
Then we stopped
For the rest of the day, here are notes: Lunch, cathedral, wreck, swim stop, back to the place we ate at for lunch, picked up chef to take off island, drove to lake, drove to virgin rain forest, dropped us off and we walked behind bus, had a tea stop, drove to beach to be picked up by ferry; put bus on ferry, rode ferry back, watched sunset; back at hotel, had a quick dinner and went to bed.
Sept 17-18: Palm Cove
17 September 2009, Thursday
We got up about 6:30a this morning. Keeran’s “Wakie Wakie” came way too early this morning. I felt horrible. My ears were all clogged, my throat hurt, I had a horrible cough and my nose would not stop running. I’m glad we have a couple days to relax in Palm Cove. I’m going to need both of them. After packing up our bags, we headed to breakfast. Susan strolled in with a red wine stained shirt and looking pretty hung over. Andy let us know later that last night, he had to help her to her room cuz she couldn’t walk there herself. Next, we had a photo shoot on the top deck of the boat, said our goodbyes and then found our transfer car awaiting our arrival. We made a quick stop in Cairns to pick up our luggage we stored at Mike Ball’s main office and then were driven about a half hour to Palm Cove. We arrived around 8a and to our surprise, our room was ready for us.
We’re staying at the Reef Retreat which is sort of like condos. We weren’t expecting anything this nice. We have an outside patio with a table and chairs, a small living room and kitchen with a fridge, a large bedroom separate from the living room and a bathroom. Very nice. I hope we didn’t pay too much for this place.
click image for gallery
They have a laundry room on site so we’ll have a chance to do some washing. There’s also a heated pool and spa practically right outside our door which is surrounded by tropical trees. We’re in a tropical climate so it’s pretty humid and we’ve been getting short rain showers on and off.
I didn’t want to do anything tho but lay down. I was starting to feel worse and only felt like sleeping. Again, I’m glad we don’t have to run around today. We walked around town a bit and picked up some snacks at the local market. We checked out the restaurants and some shops. There really isn’t much to do here but relax. Sounds good to me! We headed back to the condo and David had a swim while I laid around the room. I took a much needed afternoon nap and we headed out for dinner. I was starting to feel a bit better. The nap really did me some good. Dinner was yummy! I had a burrito. :) We’re off to bed now. Hopefully, I’ll feel even better tomorrow.
18 September 2009, Friday
Okay, finally, I’m feeling better today. We picked up some breakfast from the market and ate it back at the condo. We dined on the patio. Not as serine as we had hoped tho. There’s construction going on outside our room and they started at 8a. So much for sleeping in as you could tell. Anyway, we relaxed a bit around the room and enjoyed having the internet. Around lunch, we headed out and explored the restaurants again. We settled on a pub/bar. The food was alright but we were there for 2 hours. Not exactly a quick lunch but at least we didn’t have anywhere to be. But, still, 2 hours for lunch! You can expect that for dinner at some places but never for lunch. And the bill was nearly $100 AUS Dollars. We were realizing that you really couldn’t get good cheaply. Our meals always seemed to be around $50-$85. We didn’t realize we had it so good in Napa and Sonoma Valley. Oh well. It’s vacation.
We headed back to the condo and relaxed some more. Like I said, there really isn’t anything to do in town and I didn’t feel like going on any tours in the area. I just needed to rest. So we laid around the condo in the afternoon and went out for dinner. Dinner was much faster and the service was way better. Nothing special for dinner. I got a vegetable pastry and David had seafood dishes. We headed back to the room and got packed up. We need to head to bed very early tonight. Our flight tomorrow is at 5:30a which means we need to be at the airport at 4:30a and since we are a half hour away from the airport, we need to leave our condo at 4:00a, but to be on the safe side, 3:50a. So, we need to get up at 3:00a to have enough time for me to wake up, get dressed and pack. So, enough typing for tonight. I’m heading to bed. Night! :P
We got up about 6:30a this morning. Keeran’s “Wakie Wakie” came way too early this morning. I felt horrible. My ears were all clogged, my throat hurt, I had a horrible cough and my nose would not stop running. I’m glad we have a couple days to relax in Palm Cove. I’m going to need both of them. After packing up our bags, we headed to breakfast. Susan strolled in with a red wine stained shirt and looking pretty hung over. Andy let us know later that last night, he had to help her to her room cuz she couldn’t walk there herself. Next, we had a photo shoot on the top deck of the boat, said our goodbyes and then found our transfer car awaiting our arrival. We made a quick stop in Cairns to pick up our luggage we stored at Mike Ball’s main office and then were driven about a half hour to Palm Cove. We arrived around 8a and to our surprise, our room was ready for us.
We’re staying at the Reef Retreat which is sort of like condos. We weren’t expecting anything this nice. We have an outside patio with a table and chairs, a small living room and kitchen with a fridge, a large bedroom separate from the living room and a bathroom. Very nice. I hope we didn’t pay too much for this place.
click image for gallery
They have a laundry room on site so we’ll have a chance to do some washing. There’s also a heated pool and spa practically right outside our door which is surrounded by tropical trees. We’re in a tropical climate so it’s pretty humid and we’ve been getting short rain showers on and off.
I didn’t want to do anything tho but lay down. I was starting to feel worse and only felt like sleeping. Again, I’m glad we don’t have to run around today. We walked around town a bit and picked up some snacks at the local market. We checked out the restaurants and some shops. There really isn’t much to do here but relax. Sounds good to me! We headed back to the condo and David had a swim while I laid around the room. I took a much needed afternoon nap and we headed out for dinner. I was starting to feel a bit better. The nap really did me some good. Dinner was yummy! I had a burrito. :) We’re off to bed now. Hopefully, I’ll feel even better tomorrow.
18 September 2009, Friday
Okay, finally, I’m feeling better today. We picked up some breakfast from the market and ate it back at the condo. We dined on the patio. Not as serine as we had hoped tho. There’s construction going on outside our room and they started at 8a. So much for sleeping in as you could tell. Anyway, we relaxed a bit around the room and enjoyed having the internet. Around lunch, we headed out and explored the restaurants again. We settled on a pub/bar. The food was alright but we were there for 2 hours. Not exactly a quick lunch but at least we didn’t have anywhere to be. But, still, 2 hours for lunch! You can expect that for dinner at some places but never for lunch. And the bill was nearly $100 AUS Dollars. We were realizing that you really couldn’t get good cheaply. Our meals always seemed to be around $50-$85. We didn’t realize we had it so good in Napa and Sonoma Valley. Oh well. It’s vacation.
We headed back to the condo and relaxed some more. Like I said, there really isn’t anything to do in town and I didn’t feel like going on any tours in the area. I just needed to rest. So we laid around the condo in the afternoon and went out for dinner. Dinner was much faster and the service was way better. Nothing special for dinner. I got a vegetable pastry and David had seafood dishes. We headed back to the room and got packed up. We need to head to bed very early tonight. Our flight tomorrow is at 5:30a which means we need to be at the airport at 4:30a and since we are a half hour away from the airport, we need to leave our condo at 4:00a, but to be on the safe side, 3:50a. So, we need to get up at 3:00a to have enough time for me to wake up, get dressed and pack. So, enough typing for tonight. I’m heading to bed. Night! :P
Sept 14-16: Mike Ball Live Aboard
14 September 2009, Monday
Alright, we’ve had enough of Cairns: off to the Great Barrier Reef!! We will be staying on a live-aboard boat for 3 nights, diving straight from the boat. I was a bit nervous as I packed this morning, knowing that 3 days of diving was ahead of me. I’m still a very new diver. I learned to dive in Grand Cayman in Dec 08/Jan 09 and had problems clearing my ears then. I hope I don’t have the same problem on this trip. For those of you non-divers, I’ll explain. As you dive, as you drop down to depth, everything on you starts to feel the squeeze of the pressure of the ocean. And because of this, you need to keep your open spaces open and clear. You aren’t supposed to hold your breath at all (1st open space: lungs) and are taught to blow bubbles out your mouth if you ever need to take your respirator (mouth piece) out of your mouth. Also, your mask can start to feel the squeeze too which is why your nose is covered in your mask so you can blow bubbles to release the pressure. Lastly, your ears. You need to keep your ears unplugged cuz if you don’t, the pressure can build up so much that it can seriously damage your ears. So you find ways to clear your ear passages by pinching your nose and carefully blowing, wiggling your jaw, shaking your head side to side, even massaging your neck near your ear. For most people, they don’t have a problem clearing their ears at all: like David. For me, I find it very difficult and I have to slowly drop about a foot at a time, clear my ears, wait a little bit and then drop again. It’s a long slow process, but it’s worth it once you get down. So, that’s why I am a bit nervous about diving (long story short…too late!).
Anyway, so the Mike Ball tour was to pick us up from our hotel in the morning. We got up super early, packed our bags, and dragged them to the front reception area where breakfast was located. On a side note, we realized at the initial start of our trip that one of the pop up handles on our suitcases is no longer popping up so you have drag it by the hand strap which requires you to lean over at an awkward position and thoroughly tires your shoulder. I experienced that again this morning. Ugh. Stupid bag. We need new luggage after this trip. :) Yeah, so we had a quick breakfast and headed back out to the reception area. We met a couple people who were also going on the trip and they reminded us that there was once again a weight restriction on our bags. So, we made the mad rush yet again to reduce the weight on one bag and stuff the other bag to full, maybe overfull, capacity. Our cabin on the boat is not going to be very big and we can’t afford to have a lot of stuff with us. Shortly after we had finished, the company arrived. They took our bags and we went to the restaurant to fill out some paperwork and be briefed on the trip.
We would be taking a prop plane from Cairns airport over to Lizard Island where we would meet up with our boat, the Spoil Sport. We loaded up in a bus and they dropped us off at Cairns airport, in the small plane section. We each had to be weighed: our body on one scale and our carryon items on another scale. Then, our group of about 20 were split between to planes. David and I were put on a 10 person (that includes 2 seats for pilots) Cessna prop plane.
This officially is the smallest plane that I’ve been on. Our larger carryon luggage such as backpacks were stored in a small wing compartment and we were allowed only small items like purses and cameras in the cabin. My laptop got to ride in the wing of the airplane. :) It was a very new experience being on a Cessna. I got to watch the pilot do his preflight checklist and watch him start up the plane. It was quite loud and you could feel the vibrations from the propellers. Too cool! David and I were in the very back of the plane so he was able to get this photo.
The flight took us low, only about 100 ft above the water, over the Great Barrier Reef. It was an awesome experience being able to see it from above.
click image to view gallery
The flight took only about an hour and then we touched down on very small Lizard Island. A member of our crew, Laurence, was awaiting our arrival at the hut which was the terminal. Ahh, island life. We were the first of the two planes to land. We walked down to the beach to await the other plane’s arrival.
The water was so beautiful: white sandy beaches with that light turquoise color to the water. Just amazing.
Once our group had all arrived on the beach, the main boat was radioed and they sent out zodiac boats to pick us up from the beach. Shortly, we were all on the boat and shown to our room. We were assigned a cabin with a set of single bunk beds, but we were given the option to upgrade to a room that had a full size bed along with a single bed so we took it. It sucks having to climb into a bunk bed. Our luggage was brought over from the island and we were ready to pull up anchor. The boat itself has 3 levels (which we are allowed in): the top level is for lounging under a sunshade and also serves as a lookout for a crewmember while we dive; the midlevel has a small outside eating area and a large enclosed lounge area with tables: this is where we have our meals and hang out in the evening; the bottom level holds the cabins and the dive area. We had a welcome meeting where we met the crew and the rest of the passengers with whom we would be diving. We pulled up anchor and sailed to our first dive spot: Challenger Bay. In the meantime, we changed into our swimsuits and got our gear sorted. David and I usually rent our gear, so we needed to get fitted. We went up to the top deck and picked up the gear we needed: BCD (buoyancy control device), wetsuit, fins, mask and snorkel. I decided to buy my own mask because I was really feeling claustrophobic in the typical one they give you. You normally have tunnel vision and I like to be able to see all around me. Also, I bought a neoprene cap to keep my head warmer since you do lose a lot of heat through your head. Once we had all our gear, we took it down to the dive deck where we were assigned our spot for the trip. Your spot consists of a holder for your tank, a bench for you to sit on while you put on your gear, a bin underneath to store your stuff and a towel and water bottle up top.
On the first afternoon, we had 3 possible dives we could do: 2 day dives and 1 night dive. I decided to do the first two dives and skipped out on the night one. My first two dives were at Challenger Bay and Pixie Gardens. I opted to skip the night dive due to my ears needing a rest. But those two dives were great! I was paired up with a buddy (David on both dives) and we dove down with the dive master, Keeran, and another pair. The coral was amazing and there were so many colorful fish swimming all around us. insert fish list
click image to view gallery
We were paired with “Team Taiwan” on both dives. Ugh. Asian tourists. And they even brought a camera with them on the dive. So, imagine when you’re on a vacation and you get to a major attraction. The scene is quiet and serene and you are taking pictures at your leisure and enjoying nature and, suddenly, almost out of no where, these Asian tourists come storming in and knock you out of the way so they can get their picture taken with whatever the attraction is. Okay, so take that and imagine it underwater. Yeah, not so much fun. Especially if they just so happen to knock your respirator out of your mouth or your mask off.
We have great food on the boat. Our chef Tristan takes pride in his cooking and he’s always in the kitchen working on something for us to try out. His assistant and boat host, Andy, helps out as well. For lunch we had pizza, with an afternoon snack of a pastry with strawberry jam on top. For dinner we had Asian cuisine. For dessert, we had a sort of banana pudding with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a pastry puff. The boat was nice and quiet when I stayed behind from the night dive. I was able to sit with my glass of wine and type up my journal. Very relaxing. I was definitely ready to fall asleep when it is time.
15 September 2009, Tuesday
For the next 2 days, instead of typing the days out, I will be giving brief points of the day and if something especially interesting happens, I’ll write about it a bit more. That way, I can relax more and not have to worry about typing a whole lot. :)
Our schedule for today: Light breakfast, dive: Cod Hole, breakfast, dive: Cod Hole, lunch, dive: Pixie Pinnacle, snack, dive: Pixie Pinnacle, dinner, night dive: Challenger Bay, dessert with wine.
David has decided to take the advanced diver training course on this trip, so he will be doing a lot of dives separate from me. Also taking the course is Frank, a Canadian. Divemasters Dave and Sharryn will be teaching their classes.
Dives: Had the choice of doing the first 2 dives twice but opted dive each one once. Diving is tiring! Did 3 dives: Cod Hole, Pixie Pinnacle, and a night dive at Challenger Bay.
Lunch: Mexican flair: ahh, it was so nice to have some Mexican food :)
Dived at Pixie Pinnacle: A large pillar or column coming up from the reef bottom: we swam around in it in a clockwise manner as to not have head-on collisions with other divers. There was a current, not too strong, but enough that you really had to watch yourself so you didn’t drift into the reef. Also makes it hard to stop to look at something cool underwater. I paired up with the Divemaster and team Taiwan…note to self, gotta stop diving with them.
Afternoon snack: a muffin chocolate? It was delicious whatever it was.
Dinner: Restaurant Night: They served us instead having a buffet style dinner: choice of either chicken or fish; dessert was a crème mousse topped with shaved coconut and a slice of strawberry.
Night dive: I was paired up with Taiwanese couple and Divemaster Sharryn. My first night dive. We each have a glow stick attached to our tank with our group color so we can see our group in the dark. The Divemaster put glow sticks on her fins so we could see her. We each were given torches (flashlights) so we could see things underwater. The water was warm but the current was so strong and the visibility low. We followed the docked rope down to the dive site. I cut my hand on something, maybe a barnacle, on the rope on the way down. Once down, we followed Sharryn along through the coral. The current slammed me into the coral a few times and I scraped up my knee. This was a difficult dive, especially for my first one. The Taiwanese couple continued to not notice their surrounds and knocked into me a few times and I’m sure I kicked them in the face a few times too. When I was started to get low on air, we started to head back. We were able to just flow with the current for a little bit and rest and then it hit us again. I checked my air again and I was down to 50 bar (I started at 210 bar). I let Sharryn know and we continued our way to the boat. It’s so difficult to know up from down in the dark and before I knew it I was kicking at the surface. I also start to float to the top when my air tank gets low. I’m still working on my breathing to help keep myself neutrally buoyant underwater. We continued as far as we could back to the boat and then we surfaced. I told Sharryn that I was quite tired and we hailed for the zodiac to pick us up. We treaded water to try to stay in one place but it wasn’t working. When the boat came, the Taiwanese couple rushed to get on the boat and stormed passed me. One even swam under the boat (very dangerous) to get to it. Sharryn continued to shout useless instructions to them but they didn’t understand her. I grabbed onto the side of the boat and waited for them to get sorted out and get on the boat. When it was my turn, Sharryn dove down and helped me get my fins off. When I climbed onto the boat (with grace :) ), I noticed that the Taiwanese girl had gotten sick off the side of the boat. At least she didn’t do it in the boat. Once we were all in, we cruised back to the ship and ended the dive. Boy, what a first night dive! I’m not ready to do another one of those for awhile. But, I can say that I did do it. :)
After dive snack: cheeses with a class of wine. I needed a glass of wine after that dive.
Went on top deck after dark to see stars; very windy; lots of stairs but kind of wet and cold. Hopefully won’t get sick like on cruise.
16 September 2009, Wednesday
I woke up with a bit of a sore throat this morning but have been treating it with hot lemon tea and honey. Hopefully that helps it.
Our schedule for today: Light breakfast, dive: Steve’s Bommie, breakfast, dive: Steve’s Bommie, lunch, dive: Flare Point , snack, dive: Flare Point, then champagne toast, bbq dinner and photo competition and trip video.
I opted out of the first dive to allow my sinuses to clear and to treat my sore throat. David had his morning advanced diver training dive so we’ll be diving together on the 2nd dive to Steve’s Bommie.
Had our usual light breakfast and normal breakfast, let our stomach settle for a bit and then did my first dive of the day with David and Frank. We dived on Steve’s Bommie. It was nice not having Team Taiwan with me for once. I didn’t have to worry so much; I could just relax and enjoy my surroundings. David rented a camera again today and took tons of neat underwater photos. Steve’s Bommie was also a column coming up out of the reef which we swam in a circle around it. About 15 feet from the surface was the best part of the dive: tons and tons of fish and colorful coral.
After the dive, we had lunch: pumpkin ravioli with pine nuts and Greek salad. Our boat moved to the next dive site.
In the afternoon, I dived on Flare Point twice with David and Frank (and Andy joining us on the 2nd dive. This was a relatively shallow dive with lots of sea life. On the second dive, we swam into some current which was pretty difficult to navigate on. By the end, I was exhausted.
When we got back on the boat, we had to put all our gear away and started our night of partying. We took some nice showers and headed up to the middeck for our glass of champagne. We had our toast and mingled among the other divers while Brenndan, the first mate and another Divemaster, cooked our dinner on the “barbie”. For dinner tonight, we were having steak, kangaroo, lamb, corn on the cob and baked potatoes. He first cooked up some prawns for everyone to munch on with their champagne. With dinner we had complementary wine. After which, Laurence announced the photo contest winners and then showed us the group video. It was pretty cool to see everyone underwater and even from way back on the first day aboard the boat. The night continued on and people had more and more to drink. One of our fellow passengers, Susan (the one that David says is “half a tequila bottle away from becoming a bag-lady“), became pretty drunk after drinking a few bottles of red wine. Slowly, people started to head to bed. The sea was a bit rough tonight and the boat was really rocking back and forth. Poor David was becoming pretty seasick. We both took some Dramamine and headed down to the dive deck which was closer to the center of gravity. Frank came down with us cuz he too was starting to feel sick. Me, on the other hand, felt fine. For some reason it was really affecting David tonight and not me. It’s normally the other way around. We stayed up pretty late that night until David was feeling well enough to head to bed. Andy came down and joined us for a bit. I think we finally got to bed around midnight and needed to be up about 6:30a the next day to pack up and head off the boat for the mainland.
I loved living on a live aboard. It’s the best way to dive. You wake up, have breakfast and then jump in. We’ll definitely do it again. We dove with some great people and the crew were all so helpful and fun to hang out with.
Tomorrow, we’ll be back on the mainland again. We have a couple days to rest, recover and relax before we have another couple tours in Australia and then off to New Zealand.
Alright, we’ve had enough of Cairns: off to the Great Barrier Reef!! We will be staying on a live-aboard boat for 3 nights, diving straight from the boat. I was a bit nervous as I packed this morning, knowing that 3 days of diving was ahead of me. I’m still a very new diver. I learned to dive in Grand Cayman in Dec 08/Jan 09 and had problems clearing my ears then. I hope I don’t have the same problem on this trip. For those of you non-divers, I’ll explain. As you dive, as you drop down to depth, everything on you starts to feel the squeeze of the pressure of the ocean. And because of this, you need to keep your open spaces open and clear. You aren’t supposed to hold your breath at all (1st open space: lungs) and are taught to blow bubbles out your mouth if you ever need to take your respirator (mouth piece) out of your mouth. Also, your mask can start to feel the squeeze too which is why your nose is covered in your mask so you can blow bubbles to release the pressure. Lastly, your ears. You need to keep your ears unplugged cuz if you don’t, the pressure can build up so much that it can seriously damage your ears. So you find ways to clear your ear passages by pinching your nose and carefully blowing, wiggling your jaw, shaking your head side to side, even massaging your neck near your ear. For most people, they don’t have a problem clearing their ears at all: like David. For me, I find it very difficult and I have to slowly drop about a foot at a time, clear my ears, wait a little bit and then drop again. It’s a long slow process, but it’s worth it once you get down. So, that’s why I am a bit nervous about diving (long story short…too late!).
Anyway, so the Mike Ball tour was to pick us up from our hotel in the morning. We got up super early, packed our bags, and dragged them to the front reception area where breakfast was located. On a side note, we realized at the initial start of our trip that one of the pop up handles on our suitcases is no longer popping up so you have drag it by the hand strap which requires you to lean over at an awkward position and thoroughly tires your shoulder. I experienced that again this morning. Ugh. Stupid bag. We need new luggage after this trip. :) Yeah, so we had a quick breakfast and headed back out to the reception area. We met a couple people who were also going on the trip and they reminded us that there was once again a weight restriction on our bags. So, we made the mad rush yet again to reduce the weight on one bag and stuff the other bag to full, maybe overfull, capacity. Our cabin on the boat is not going to be very big and we can’t afford to have a lot of stuff with us. Shortly after we had finished, the company arrived. They took our bags and we went to the restaurant to fill out some paperwork and be briefed on the trip.
We would be taking a prop plane from Cairns airport over to Lizard Island where we would meet up with our boat, the Spoil Sport. We loaded up in a bus and they dropped us off at Cairns airport, in the small plane section. We each had to be weighed: our body on one scale and our carryon items on another scale. Then, our group of about 20 were split between to planes. David and I were put on a 10 person (that includes 2 seats for pilots) Cessna prop plane.
This officially is the smallest plane that I’ve been on. Our larger carryon luggage such as backpacks were stored in a small wing compartment and we were allowed only small items like purses and cameras in the cabin. My laptop got to ride in the wing of the airplane. :) It was a very new experience being on a Cessna. I got to watch the pilot do his preflight checklist and watch him start up the plane. It was quite loud and you could feel the vibrations from the propellers. Too cool! David and I were in the very back of the plane so he was able to get this photo.
The flight took us low, only about 100 ft above the water, over the Great Barrier Reef. It was an awesome experience being able to see it from above.
click image to view gallery
The flight took only about an hour and then we touched down on very small Lizard Island. A member of our crew, Laurence, was awaiting our arrival at the hut which was the terminal. Ahh, island life. We were the first of the two planes to land. We walked down to the beach to await the other plane’s arrival.
The water was so beautiful: white sandy beaches with that light turquoise color to the water. Just amazing.
Once our group had all arrived on the beach, the main boat was radioed and they sent out zodiac boats to pick us up from the beach. Shortly, we were all on the boat and shown to our room. We were assigned a cabin with a set of single bunk beds, but we were given the option to upgrade to a room that had a full size bed along with a single bed so we took it. It sucks having to climb into a bunk bed. Our luggage was brought over from the island and we were ready to pull up anchor. The boat itself has 3 levels (which we are allowed in): the top level is for lounging under a sunshade and also serves as a lookout for a crewmember while we dive; the midlevel has a small outside eating area and a large enclosed lounge area with tables: this is where we have our meals and hang out in the evening; the bottom level holds the cabins and the dive area. We had a welcome meeting where we met the crew and the rest of the passengers with whom we would be diving. We pulled up anchor and sailed to our first dive spot: Challenger Bay. In the meantime, we changed into our swimsuits and got our gear sorted. David and I usually rent our gear, so we needed to get fitted. We went up to the top deck and picked up the gear we needed: BCD (buoyancy control device), wetsuit, fins, mask and snorkel. I decided to buy my own mask because I was really feeling claustrophobic in the typical one they give you. You normally have tunnel vision and I like to be able to see all around me. Also, I bought a neoprene cap to keep my head warmer since you do lose a lot of heat through your head. Once we had all our gear, we took it down to the dive deck where we were assigned our spot for the trip. Your spot consists of a holder for your tank, a bench for you to sit on while you put on your gear, a bin underneath to store your stuff and a towel and water bottle up top.
On the first afternoon, we had 3 possible dives we could do: 2 day dives and 1 night dive. I decided to do the first two dives and skipped out on the night one. My first two dives were at Challenger Bay and Pixie Gardens. I opted to skip the night dive due to my ears needing a rest. But those two dives were great! I was paired up with a buddy (David on both dives) and we dove down with the dive master, Keeran, and another pair. The coral was amazing and there were so many colorful fish swimming all around us. insert fish list
click image to view gallery
We were paired with “Team Taiwan” on both dives. Ugh. Asian tourists. And they even brought a camera with them on the dive. So, imagine when you’re on a vacation and you get to a major attraction. The scene is quiet and serene and you are taking pictures at your leisure and enjoying nature and, suddenly, almost out of no where, these Asian tourists come storming in and knock you out of the way so they can get their picture taken with whatever the attraction is. Okay, so take that and imagine it underwater. Yeah, not so much fun. Especially if they just so happen to knock your respirator out of your mouth or your mask off.
We have great food on the boat. Our chef Tristan takes pride in his cooking and he’s always in the kitchen working on something for us to try out. His assistant and boat host, Andy, helps out as well. For lunch we had pizza, with an afternoon snack of a pastry with strawberry jam on top. For dinner we had Asian cuisine. For dessert, we had a sort of banana pudding with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a pastry puff. The boat was nice and quiet when I stayed behind from the night dive. I was able to sit with my glass of wine and type up my journal. Very relaxing. I was definitely ready to fall asleep when it is time.
15 September 2009, Tuesday
For the next 2 days, instead of typing the days out, I will be giving brief points of the day and if something especially interesting happens, I’ll write about it a bit more. That way, I can relax more and not have to worry about typing a whole lot. :)
Our schedule for today: Light breakfast, dive: Cod Hole, breakfast, dive: Cod Hole, lunch, dive: Pixie Pinnacle, snack, dive: Pixie Pinnacle, dinner, night dive: Challenger Bay, dessert with wine.
David has decided to take the advanced diver training course on this trip, so he will be doing a lot of dives separate from me. Also taking the course is Frank, a Canadian. Divemasters Dave and Sharryn will be teaching their classes.
Dives: Had the choice of doing the first 2 dives twice but opted dive each one once. Diving is tiring! Did 3 dives: Cod Hole, Pixie Pinnacle, and a night dive at Challenger Bay.
Lunch: Mexican flair: ahh, it was so nice to have some Mexican food :)
Dived at Pixie Pinnacle: A large pillar or column coming up from the reef bottom: we swam around in it in a clockwise manner as to not have head-on collisions with other divers. There was a current, not too strong, but enough that you really had to watch yourself so you didn’t drift into the reef. Also makes it hard to stop to look at something cool underwater. I paired up with the Divemaster and team Taiwan…note to self, gotta stop diving with them.
Afternoon snack: a muffin chocolate? It was delicious whatever it was.
Dinner: Restaurant Night: They served us instead having a buffet style dinner: choice of either chicken or fish; dessert was a crème mousse topped with shaved coconut and a slice of strawberry.
Night dive: I was paired up with Taiwanese couple and Divemaster Sharryn. My first night dive. We each have a glow stick attached to our tank with our group color so we can see our group in the dark. The Divemaster put glow sticks on her fins so we could see her. We each were given torches (flashlights) so we could see things underwater. The water was warm but the current was so strong and the visibility low. We followed the docked rope down to the dive site. I cut my hand on something, maybe a barnacle, on the rope on the way down. Once down, we followed Sharryn along through the coral. The current slammed me into the coral a few times and I scraped up my knee. This was a difficult dive, especially for my first one. The Taiwanese couple continued to not notice their surrounds and knocked into me a few times and I’m sure I kicked them in the face a few times too. When I was started to get low on air, we started to head back. We were able to just flow with the current for a little bit and rest and then it hit us again. I checked my air again and I was down to 50 bar (I started at 210 bar). I let Sharryn know and we continued our way to the boat. It’s so difficult to know up from down in the dark and before I knew it I was kicking at the surface. I also start to float to the top when my air tank gets low. I’m still working on my breathing to help keep myself neutrally buoyant underwater. We continued as far as we could back to the boat and then we surfaced. I told Sharryn that I was quite tired and we hailed for the zodiac to pick us up. We treaded water to try to stay in one place but it wasn’t working. When the boat came, the Taiwanese couple rushed to get on the boat and stormed passed me. One even swam under the boat (very dangerous) to get to it. Sharryn continued to shout useless instructions to them but they didn’t understand her. I grabbed onto the side of the boat and waited for them to get sorted out and get on the boat. When it was my turn, Sharryn dove down and helped me get my fins off. When I climbed onto the boat (with grace :) ), I noticed that the Taiwanese girl had gotten sick off the side of the boat. At least she didn’t do it in the boat. Once we were all in, we cruised back to the ship and ended the dive. Boy, what a first night dive! I’m not ready to do another one of those for awhile. But, I can say that I did do it. :)
After dive snack: cheeses with a class of wine. I needed a glass of wine after that dive.
Went on top deck after dark to see stars; very windy; lots of stairs but kind of wet and cold. Hopefully won’t get sick like on cruise.
16 September 2009, Wednesday
I woke up with a bit of a sore throat this morning but have been treating it with hot lemon tea and honey. Hopefully that helps it.
Our schedule for today: Light breakfast, dive: Steve’s Bommie, breakfast, dive: Steve’s Bommie, lunch, dive: Flare Point , snack, dive: Flare Point, then champagne toast, bbq dinner and photo competition and trip video.
I opted out of the first dive to allow my sinuses to clear and to treat my sore throat. David had his morning advanced diver training dive so we’ll be diving together on the 2nd dive to Steve’s Bommie.
Had our usual light breakfast and normal breakfast, let our stomach settle for a bit and then did my first dive of the day with David and Frank. We dived on Steve’s Bommie. It was nice not having Team Taiwan with me for once. I didn’t have to worry so much; I could just relax and enjoy my surroundings. David rented a camera again today and took tons of neat underwater photos. Steve’s Bommie was also a column coming up out of the reef which we swam in a circle around it. About 15 feet from the surface was the best part of the dive: tons and tons of fish and colorful coral.
After the dive, we had lunch: pumpkin ravioli with pine nuts and Greek salad. Our boat moved to the next dive site.
In the afternoon, I dived on Flare Point twice with David and Frank (and Andy joining us on the 2nd dive. This was a relatively shallow dive with lots of sea life. On the second dive, we swam into some current which was pretty difficult to navigate on. By the end, I was exhausted.
When we got back on the boat, we had to put all our gear away and started our night of partying. We took some nice showers and headed up to the middeck for our glass of champagne. We had our toast and mingled among the other divers while Brenndan, the first mate and another Divemaster, cooked our dinner on the “barbie”. For dinner tonight, we were having steak, kangaroo, lamb, corn on the cob and baked potatoes. He first cooked up some prawns for everyone to munch on with their champagne. With dinner we had complementary wine. After which, Laurence announced the photo contest winners and then showed us the group video. It was pretty cool to see everyone underwater and even from way back on the first day aboard the boat. The night continued on and people had more and more to drink. One of our fellow passengers, Susan (the one that David says is “half a tequila bottle away from becoming a bag-lady“), became pretty drunk after drinking a few bottles of red wine. Slowly, people started to head to bed. The sea was a bit rough tonight and the boat was really rocking back and forth. Poor David was becoming pretty seasick. We both took some Dramamine and headed down to the dive deck which was closer to the center of gravity. Frank came down with us cuz he too was starting to feel sick. Me, on the other hand, felt fine. For some reason it was really affecting David tonight and not me. It’s normally the other way around. We stayed up pretty late that night until David was feeling well enough to head to bed. Andy came down and joined us for a bit. I think we finally got to bed around midnight and needed to be up about 6:30a the next day to pack up and head off the boat for the mainland.
I loved living on a live aboard. It’s the best way to dive. You wake up, have breakfast and then jump in. We’ll definitely do it again. We dove with some great people and the crew were all so helpful and fun to hang out with.
Tomorrow, we’ll be back on the mainland again. We have a couple days to rest, recover and relax before we have another couple tours in Australia and then off to New Zealand.
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