Australia adventure begins

When I was about 13, my parents took us on a trip to the Bahamas.  While there, my Dad and I did the one day resort course to learn how to scuba dive, and then we went on about 3 dives.  I loved it, and someone said to me that if I liked that, I ought to see the Great Barrier Reef!  So ever since I was 13, Australia and the Great Barrier Reef have been in the top 3 of my must-visit list.  Over the years I always felt like I never had enough time or enough money to make the trip, and I certainly wasn’t looking forward to the super long flight, so I never went.  Now, more than 20 years later, I finally decided there’s no better time than now (the time is never “right”), and went for it.  Hubby had no interest in visit a place where “everything tries to kill you,” and is definitely not a fan of heat or long flights, so I decided to go alone.  When I told my Mom this, she suggested we make it a Mother-Daughter trip, so now here I am, on day 2 of happily traveling around Australia with my Mom!

The flight was awful.  Not as bad as I expected, and somehow also worse than I expected.  I am not looking forward to the return trip, but luckily I have plenty to distract me in the meantime.  From the time I left the house to the time I landed in Australia was 30 hours.  Granted, a good chunk of that was waiting around in airports, but I’ve still been in the same clothes, dragging baggage, breathing recycled air for 30 freaking hours straight.  I managed to get about 4 hours of sleep, but that’s all I could manage.  I feel surprisingly good, considering the sleep thing, but I think I am just too excited to care. 

Luck was with me from the start, breezed right through border control, and my bag was dropped onto the belt right as I walked up to the baggage carousel.  But next was customs and I was worried.  I’ve been watching that Border Control show, where they tape the guys here busting people trying to sneak stuff in.  It did teach me a few things to avoid, but also made me very paranoid.  Turns out, it was super easy!  Not only did it go really fast, but they didn’t even make me open my bags and they let me keep all my food!  Score. 

Right outside baggage claim was a man with my name on his board.  I should have taken a picture, I don’t think I’ve ever had that before, and I didn’t even have to share the car with another passenger (unlike Mom, for some reason, who had to share with another couple in a van, even though I thought we had booked the same thing).  When we stepped outside the airport I was already in love.  The air just feels different here, and I don’t mean the massive humidity, it felt magical.  I asked him if I could sit up front so I could enjoy the view, and I am so glad I did.  I was amazed the entire 1 hour drive.  Ireland is green, but this is like GREEN!!!  And gorgeous mountains.  Reminds me a lot of Kauai.  We drove down a road that had tons of trees on both sides, then along beaches for a while, and this one quick corner had the most amazing view of the peninsula.  I also got to see a large herd of wallabies grazing in a field off the other side of the road.  

Only one of the great views along the drive.

As we got closer, the driver told me that it was Market day in Port Douglas, so when I found out my room wasn’t ready (it was only 8am), I left my bags and went shopping!  Very kind of hippy/beachy vibe here, but not pretentious, everyone was super friendly.  And very safe, apparently, and no bums, which I know my brother would love.

I was already badly in need of a shower before I went to market, but I was super ripe after market.  It may have only been 9am, but at about 86°F it was already 30°F hotter than Dublin, and massive humidity.  Summers in Georgia and Virginia should have well prepared me for this, unfortunately the time in Dublin has got me pretty well acclimated to milder temperatures.  I was melting and my face was all red and blotchy.  But I wanted warm, and I got what I asked for.  Might not be ideal for walking around town, dressed for a chilly airplane, but will be great for when we are in the water.  Still, I was happy to get into my room and clean up a bit.  I debated jumping in the pool while I waited for Mom, who’s flight was about 4 hours behind mine, but I decided to just enjoy the AC for a while instead, and waited to take a dip with her.

It was as nice as it looks, and our room overlooks the pool.  The other side of the hotel just looks at the road, so we scored in the view department.

When Mom arrived she was starving and wanted to check out the pop-up market that was about to close, so we dropped her bags and headed straight out.  We picked up some good produce at the market, had a quick lunch, and then were back at the hotel to book a trip for the next day (all other trips had been pre-arranged).  Once all that was sorted, it was finally time to relax.  We hit the pool, and although it is empty almost every time I check it, this was apparently prime pool time.  We ended up talking to a couple from Melbourne, and the conversation eventually degraded into discussing Donald Trump, as it so often does these days, unfortunately.  We wrapped it up shortly after and, since we already had our suits on and towels in hand, went to check out the nearby beach.  I liked it, it had nice soft sand, it was pretty quiet, not too crowded, and was just beach and palm trees as far as the eye could see.  It’s actually called 4 Mile beach, and it’s easy to see why. 

Some irregular weather has kept the jellyfish (marine stingers) in the area longer than usual, so they had a small area netted off that was safe to swim in.  We dared not swim outside of that, as these jellyfish can actually kill a human!  It was a little awkward all trying to swim in the same, very shallow, area, but it was nice to finally go into some warm water! So few beaches I visit have water warm enough to want to swim in.  After that, we’d had about enough fun for one day, and headed back to rest a bit before dinner.  

This sign worked on us, we were too scared to go outside the netted area.

I had planned to take Mom out for a Mother’s Day dinner, since we had such a quickie lunch, but unfortunately neither of us made it that far.  Considering the last time I slept in a bed was about 48 hour prior, and only managed to sleep about 4 hours on the plane, I was pretty happy that I made it until 6:30pm.  I probably could have gone later if we hadn’t sat down in our room, I didn’t have a chance one my butt hit my bed.

Even though we didn’t do anything special to celebrate, and we were both travel weary, I think kicking off a Mother-Daughter trip to an exotic place we’ve both been wanting to see for ages is a pretty good way to spend Mother’s Day.