Episode 26 - The Great Barrier Reef
Aside from eating and drinking too much, the other fun thing we did while in Cairns was to go snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef! We booked passage on the "Passions of Paradise" tour boat which had the best rates that we could find at a paltry A$60 per head. The boat was big enough to accommodate about 40 of us and, while not a "fast" boat, it was comfortable, but not opulent. I think that we might have been the oldest couple on board since the rest of the passengers appeared to be in their 20's and 30's. The boat provided all of the snorkeling and safety equipment and the staff was very attentive to the needs of their passengers. They also offered SCUBA diving and an introduction to SCUBA class, at an additional cost, but we decided to pass on that since this was my first time in the ocean and I’d have my hands full just getting used to the snorkeling equipment - that turned out to be a good decision.
After a couple of hours steaming out to the reef, during which the equipment was sized and handed out, we arrived at Paradise Reef! Karen and I jumped in as instructed and my problems began. Fay had warned me that I should take some Vaseline to help seal the mask around my moustache, but I’d forgotten. The mask appeared to seal just fine when I tested it on the boat, but as soon as I put my face into the water it started to leak. As long as I had my head down looking at the bottom I was OK since only the bottom part of the mask and my nose filled up. But when I lifted my head to see where I was, the water in my nose drained back into my throat and lungs and I came up sputtering for air. It was a windy day with up to 1 meter swells, so clearing the mask and snorkel tube while treading water was a bit challenging. I paddled back to the boat where they changed out the mask, found some Vaseline to seal it with, and gave me some tips on how to keep the water out of my nose. When I went back in, things were better and I got to paddle around nicely for some time. Karen had snorkeled before and didn’t have the leaking mask problem, so she was doing just fine and came up with these photos of the reef.
The thing you see dangling from my wrist is a small, disposable, water proof camera that we each bought the day before to take these photos. Mine haven’t been developed yet, so you may see more photos later. We were among the last people back to the boat, and by that time, my mask had started to leak again. They fed us a nice smorgasbord type meal and, even though the boat was rolling quite abit, it went down well. After roll call to make sure everyone was on board, we upped anchor and headed off to a small coral cay nearby.
A coral cay is where the reef has been exposed to the air and wave action has ground it down to sand. This one was very small with no vegetation, but it had lots of beautiful white sand. The 200 meter swim from the boat to the cay was difficult due to the high swells and a strong current, but once there on the lee side, it was great! The water was warm, fairly calm, and shallow so we lazed there for quite a spell just enjoying the small fish (whiting, I think) and the tranquility of the place.
This was one of the snorkeling guides who fancied himself as a Leonardo DeCapreotti look-a-like with the cay in the background.
Because of the swells and current, it was decided to ferry everyone back to the boat using it’s diving launch, and we lolly gagged around till the last trip in order to enjoy the cay a while longer. The two hour trip back to Cairns was delightful since we were running with the wind. That lazy, quiet feeling that comes over you after a hard day of swimming caught up with us, and, reinforced by a good beer, had us dozing on the deck while watching the sun go down for most of the trip. At one point the crew came around and applied face paints to all who would tolerate it and this is the result.
I asked that mine be aboriginal to help me get into the mood for practicing on my didjeridu. I can make the correct noises on it, but the real trick is mastering the circular breathing which is necessary to accomplish continuous play. I’m still working on that!
That evening Fay took us to a wine tasting party at Yorkey’s Knob Boating Club, where we got to sample several excellent Aussie wines and lots of dinner snacks. By the time we got home, we were pooped puppies! I don’t even remember seeing the pillow rushing up to meet me that night, we were out like a light!
After another few days of fiddling around and visiting, it was time to continue our trip south. David and Morris had already left for their trip back home to Victoria, and we said our fond farewells to Fay, Nikki, Peter, and Scott. We will see them again (except for Nikki who will be in Adelaide) around Christmas time in Eumundi. Our goal for the day was Townsville where Heather L.W. had recommended that we see the Great Barrier Reef Aquarium - we made it there easily.
Townsville is a pretty big town and we spent the next two days seeing it’s sights and the outstanding Aquarium, which is now called The Great Barrier Reef HQ. It has a living reef inside and a separate tank for the predatory fish with a glass pedestrian tunnel. There are many other displays of inhabitants of the reef in smaller aquariums as well. This is a must see place and it is recommended that one visit it before going out on the reef itself. We also watched an I-Max presentation of the fateful attempts on Mt Everest this past year. Part of the plan was to take the inexpensive ferry ride out to Magnetic Island, but the weather wasn’t cooperating. It was windy and rainy most of the time, so we had to give it a miss.
From Townsville we continued south through the coastal towns of Bowen and Mackay and ended up in a little place called Sarina Beach that included this statue of cane toad.
I was looking for a spot to get in a little fishing, and some of the literature we had indicated that this place might be a good one.
Well, it would have been except that the bad weather had stirred up the bottom and the fish weren’t biting. I did manage to catch a few bait sized fish on my light tackle rig, but couldn’t find any big predatory fish to take them. We did, however, meet a delightful couple, Brian and Nancy Jones, in the caravan park and I will be eternally grateful to them for the cold beers offered at the end of a hot and fruitless day of fishing! The sand flies (similar to Nevada no-see-ums) were biting quite nicely though, and found Karen to be a tasty target. She still bears evidence of their attack.
The weather closed back in, so we made the long drive through Rockhampton, Gladstone, Maryborough and Gympie to Eumundi in one day. There the Falcos, Primo and Maria, were awaiting our return. As you may recall, they are the parents of Fay, Scott, and our nephew’s wife Kay. We spent some time with them last July on our way north. Maria was scheduled to head off to Las Vegas to be with Kay when her baby is born and we wanted to spend Thanksgiving with them first. So off to the grocery store we went to gather the materials required to put on an authentic Thanksgiving dinner.
As we had discovered before, things are a bit different in Oz! Since Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday, the Ozites don’t celebrate it. We could find frozen turkeys, but 9 lbs is about as big as they get here. We had also invited Primo and Maria’s neighbors, John, Marilyn and Summer to the feast, so, while on the small side, the 9 lb bird would just barely make it - no traditional left overs for a week! Potatoes, broccoli, peas, apple pie filling and yams were no problem, but we couldn’t find any cranberries or pumpkin pie filling! What kind of a Thanksgiving meal would it be without cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie? Maria suggested that her neighbor might be able to find some cranberries in a German grocery that she knew of, but that still left us without a pumpkin pie. That was when Karen suggested the unthinkable - maybe we could make one from scratch. My eyes rolled up in my head and I nearly passed out.
I think I always knew that pumpkin pie filling came from pumpkins, but I could never figure out how it went from that orange stringy stuff inside the Jack-O-Lanterns that I used carve for the girls at Halloween, to that wonderful, creamy, golden sweet stuff that comes out of the can. Karen assured me that we had the technology to make the conversion without the services of a nuclear reactor, although it would take quite a bit of work. I was skeptical. We procured a pumpkin from a local fruit and vegetable stand. It didn’t even look like a pumpkin does back home. It was green and white on the outside, although it was the right overall shape. The gal at the stand indicated that it was the best type for roasting (which is how they eat pumpkin over here, and it’s quite good too!). We then fired up the computer and did a Yahoo search on the internet for a pumpkin pie recipe from scratch. Low and behold the marvels of the internet, there was one! The instructions for making the pie were short and sweet (no pun intended), but the instructions for making the filling were on another page and looked gruesome. Nonetheless, I recorded them, and got started.
First, the meat of the pumpkin had to be filleted from the seeds and rind, cut into chunks and baked at fairly low temperature for several hours until soft. Then the brown parts had to be trimmed off and the remainder put into a food processor and ground into a fine pulp. Here’s where it got labor intensive, because Maria doesn’t have a food processor! I ended up whipping it in a mixer, straining it through a sieve, chopping the remaining stringy stuff with a chef’s knife and finally running that through the sieve too. The result was still a little lumpy, but not bad. Then we added the spices, eggs, and milk and poured them into the pie crusts. The result was a good imitation of a real pumpkin pie! I was pleasantly astounded!! By comparison, the rest of the meal was a chinch to prepare and was well received by all. John reckoned that he could probably move to the US if they ate like that most of the time!
On Friday evening, we attended the bocce club’s Christmas party and had a great time. The next day we took Maria to the airport for her flight to Las Vegas and learned this morning that she has arrived safe and sound. We’re waiting for the weather to clear in hopes of making an excursion to Frazier Island, but may have to put if off till later. There had been enough pumpkin pie filling to make several pies so we’ve been munching on them for days now and the taste is starting to grow on me. I may never make another pie from the can--NOT! More likely, I’ll never again complain about the price of the canned filling!