Well, landing at Cairns on a sunny morning after an awsomely clear flight,, we were whisked off to our little retreat for a few days of winding down, luxury beds and someone else to do the cooking - yippee !
Kewarra Beach is everything we hoped.... a true rainforest retreat, totally laid back, on a beach, lovely natural pools and our own little cabin with luxuriously big beds and a huge shower !
We got organised and booked our GBR reef trip for the next day( yes 3 weeks of camper vanning has produced the ability to be ever so slightly good at planning ahead ) we then headed to swim and relax for the rest of the day.
Lowenna and Will messed about in the pool, Tim and I laid on sun beds and just did nothing...amazing...
The restaurant coped well with Lowenna and her limited menu and the food we had was simply fab....
The Next Day
7am - Oh dear.... not sure if we had moved underwater being that close to the beach or was it a tropical rainstorm of mammoth proportions ?
Anyway, we were going to get wet anyway today, so the grey sky and heaving rain shouldn't be a problem... off we headed to Port Douglas and joined the boat.....
We headed out to sea to a rather growing swell, grey skies and lashing rain, and when they offered sea sick pills around I guessed the dreamlike images of glassy seas, blue skies, vivid colours and sun decked boats was perhaps a little wide of the mark !!
Never mind - this was the Great Barrier Reef - once in a lifetime opportunity and something we had all been looking forward to so all would be fine...
It was a good hour or so before the tannoy announced divers to get ready to enter the water.... snorkellers ( that was us) to get ready in the very tight,not very fetching lycra all in one baby grow type suits which apparantly had to be worn to protect us from killer stings from jellyfish ! great .... don't remember that bit in the brochure..
I was simply dreading the whole thing by now... a fairly reasonable swell on the ocean, no sign of pretty colours anywhere, the sea looked freezing and the suit was clinging to all sorts of places that i won't mention.
So, rubber masks, snorkel tubes, flippers added to the fun and we headed to the edge of the boat.... foot went in first ready to withdraw from the icey swell..... but hey ho.... complete surprise it was like a bath !
It was such a relief....
In we all flopped and head down to see what i expected to be a murky mess but..... wowee.... there it was.... coral, fishes, colours of such brilliance... right there, just underneath us.... all misgivings flooded away in a moment and we were lost to the underworld....
Tim, Lowenna,Will and I had hours of the best snorkelling and a great feeling of togerthness being able to share such an experience.... three different sites in one day... a great lunch, and though a bit of sun to dry off in between would have been a bonus... it was happy , happy memories of the highest order...
So, all too soon it was over... back to base... a hot shower, supper and a night of fabulous dreams !
