Yeah Liza arrived this morning, very early 4.15, after leaving the airport we had Macdonald for breakfast, haven't done that for a very long time. In the afternoon after everyone had a rest we went to the fresh food markets in the city, they were amazing the fresh fruit and vegetables were so cheap, fresh and great quality, we stopped at a seafood market on the way home and bought some red emperor for dinner.
Day 2, we went to Port Douglas for the markets there, unfortunatly they are the typical markets that seem to be getting everywhere with lots of Asian junk at ridiculous prices. After the markets we went to the a marina for lunch, a beautiful location to sit with a meal and drink eying off all the fancy boats, the shops there were better than the market, Liza got a bit of her shopping done, I bought another hat. When lunch was done we went to the lookout for the fabulous view of the beach which we went down to for the most fabulous swim, waves big enough for body surfing and the temperature was heaven, we had a ball. After leaving Port Douglas we went up to Mossman Gorge, there has heen a lot of work done here to protect the environment, cars can't drive right in any longer but there is a shuttle bus that runs. We walked the trails, didn't swim in the swim hole but we did wade in the water in one area where there was heaps of jungle perch. The walk through the rainforest was great.
Day 3, Liza and I catch a coach which takes us to the train station for the skyrail journey. The coach was a lovely new one but it was a bit of a milk run picking people up. We had enough time when we got to the station to grab a coffee and biscuits for the trip which was going to take 1 1/2 hours. The trip up passed some amazing scenery, it was hard to get photos as trees were often in the way and as we started to get higher up the range I found myself not particularly liking being close to the edge, I realized that as we were going around the corner I had moved to the other side of the carriage and was leaning the other way to make it stay on the track, stupid huh! When we got to Karunda at the top we went to their markets, most were closed as it was Monday but we both bought a dress then found a great shop down the street where I bought another dress and Liza got some great clothes and jewelry. Down the street was the butterfly exhibition, this is where they breed and a study the most beautiful butterflies, it is breathtaking standing amoung so many large and colorful butterflies. A beer was needed after that then catch the gondola skyrail. Boy this was something else, I wasn't sure how I would go but I loved it, the windows were huge it was easy to see everywhere, it is the most excillerating way to see the rainforest travelling over the tops of the,huge trees, the scenery was far better than the train, no trees in the way, you could see for miles. Merv picked us up at the bottom and took us to Palm Cove for dinner, we wanted to check the water condition for the next day. We had a great dinner at the surf lifesaving club.
Day 4, today we are going to try to give Liza the chance to swim with manta rays. We head up toward the Daintree to go out to Snapper Island, we were going to launch in the Daintree River but we found a good ramp a bit before it which meant we didn't have to navigate approx 10kms in the river. The weather was perfect, we fished for awhile with no luck for anything of any size. Around lunch time we went into a little beach, pulled the boat up and Liza and Merv went for a snorkel, unfortunatly the manta rays didn't come around. After something to eat we headed across towards the ramp and fished in that area, still no luck, oh well we had fish in the fridge we bought.
Day 5, back to Palm Cove today, Liza and I took the canoes and paddled out to Double Islands, the water was like glass we were going to snorkel in the lagoon when we got there but it was so crystal clear we could paddle around the lagoon and see everything, it was like snorkeling without getting wet. As we were paddling around the lagoon a large ramoray must have thought Liza was a shark and stayed up under the front of her canoe, I approached it came to mine then back to Liza's, it was there a long time and great to see. There was also a lot of small reef sharks in the shallows when we landed. Merv launched the boat at Yorkies Knob approx 7 kms away and met us at the island, we pulled the canoes up on the sand and went out in the boat fishing. There were quite a few people fishing nobody seemed to be getting a great deal of anything, there was a young man trolling about with lures he also had a floating bait while he was spinning, suddenly he got the most amazing hook up, a marlin on the floating bait. Everybody was excited for him watching the marlin leap out of water while he was trying to get the other lines in, he was in a tinnie with an electric motor on the front, so while he was on the rod he was chasing the fish, he landed it and Liza got some great footage of it jumping out of the water and some good shots of him holding it, she was going to send some to his email. We picked the canoes up then back to the pool at the park and a beer.
Day 6, Today we are going to South Mission Beach, we booked a villa for the night then went out in the boat for the afternoon. We went out to Dunk Island, pulled the boat up on the beach and went for a little explore. The island is still not really open for business since cyclone Yasi wrecked it, the buildings are almost complete but the gardens will need a fair bit of work, it is a beautiful island and it is easy to see why people coming from all over would want to stay there. We left there and headed around to the green zone hoping to find a good snorkel area for Liza but the water was very cloudy due to the wind that had been happening and most of the coral hasn't recovered yet from the cyclone. After the snorkel we tried for a fish got onto a couple of reasonable ones and I caught a snapper that we are still trying to identify. That night we had dinner at the bar and grill overlooking the beautiful beach, bay and island.
Day 7, we have a gps spot near the island that is good for catching saddle tailed emperor so we head out tdo do some fishing. We tried a few other places first with no luck so we went to our spot. It was next to no time Liza had a fish up, then we were all at it, we had great fun and started hooking some really big fish, unfortunatly a big shark found us at the same time. Each time we hooked a big fish it didn't matter how fast you wound up the shark would take it halfway. It came right up to the boat several times chasing the fish, it was a big buggers, we think a whaler. Merv put a whole fish on the overhead rod that has the heavy line on it, he said that if he hurt it a bit it might bugger off, he hooked up and it was quite funny we don't think the shark even knew it was hooked, it never run everywhere just away from us, it was impossible to stop or turn it, in the end it bit the ends of the hooks off. We did have fish to take home but when we got back to the park we went for a swim then to a movie that was showing and bbq sausage and beer after.
Day 8, there was a courtesy bus that went to the city so Liza and I decided to go in early and browse the shops. When we got there most of the shops didn't open till 10.30 as they close late, bummer. We found a great shop that had top quality bikinis on sale and Liza needed one, we spent a bit of time there then went down to the rattle and hum bar and grill for a drink and to ring Merv to pick us up. When he arrived e had a drink, we walked over the road to the large swimming pool/lagoon that has been made, it is great people can swim in complete safety without worrying about the stingers, and its free. Back to the park to our pool and more refreshments.
Day 9, a sad day, Liza leaves this evening so we had better make it a good day. First we go into the botanical gardens which was the best I have ever seen, flowers ever wherever, we couldn't see all of it as some of it was closed off for extensions, there was a walk way through a rainforest area that would normally have a lot of water running through, but everything was very dry. Next it was along back to tne city to change Liza's bikini as it was too big, she got another great one wore it and we went up to Crystal Cascades, it is a river with great swimming holes, the water was great. Back to camp so Liza can freshen ip before her flight. We took her to the airport for a 6.15 pm flight.
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