Monday we were to do the Tubing in the am and White Water Rafting in the pm. That tourist adventure was number one on my list. The bus picked us up at 7:30 am. The bus had the Rafting logo, Tubing logo, Water Falls logo, all the events this company did; plastered on the side. We asked when they arrived, Tubing and Rafting and the guide said “Yep, that’s what we do”! Unfortunately for “moi”, that was not what they did … that day. On the way out of town he asked about lunch and started taking orders. We were told
lunch was not part of the Tubing Rafting adventure. We said “we don’t get lunch”. Our guide said we did. We said “No we don’t, we have Tubing this am and Rafting this pm” . It was then our guide realized we had been put on the “wrong list”! Yes we had planned to do the waterfalls but that was Friday, with our travel mates. Somehow; on purpose or not, the days for us had been switched.
So we made the best of it. What else could we do? The Babinda Boulders and swimming was pleasant. The falls were gorgeous, the fish and chips at a restaurant in the Table Lands quite good. Plus we swam in a lake formed in the middle of a volcanic crater. After which
and trekked around a Curtain Fig with a root system larger than any I had seen before. The tour guide helped make the trip an enjoyable experience. He actually had my dream job; that of working 7 months a year and traveling 5. Of course, now I’m a wee bit past wanting such but it is nice to know there are some of those around. At lunch he contacted the home office. They adjusted our price and scheduled us for Tubing Friday am and White Water Rafting in the pm. Sweet. In the end it will all be
good. The rest of the day we spent playing in the water and Exiting the table lands traversing the curvyist road in existence. this road had close to 263 “corners” in approx 1 km decent.
After a slalom decent by auto we unpacked and chilled at our abode on the esplanade.That evening we hung out at the hotel and during Happy hour had a short dinner settling in to watch some of the Australian Open. The following day was a city day. W/ and I brought our tennis racquets; Gary and Paula borrowed some over the hill racquets from the hotel and we played a little tennis in the am. For the rest of the day I was interested in a City tour. We just couldn’t get our ducks in a row so we ended up walking around. We checked out an Engel place. The tech was excellent and answered some qsts on our
refrigeration system on the boat. Walking on we found the Botanical Gardens. I nice walkabout in the beauty of flowers eased us towards evening. The hotel gave us some time to refresh our feet before we had an Aquarium tour and dinner scheduled.
I have been surprised at the various Aquariums we’ve seen since the states. The one in New Caledonia was splendid. In Mooloolaba again exhibits took my breath away. And this one; I can’t say topped all of them but I will say was a wonderful surprise. All; for my money, were superior to the National Aquarium in the US. All were superior to the Shields Aquarium in
Chicago, or the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. We had a small tour of 15 people or so and a guide that must have ingested several cups of coffee. Not bad in any way, only very excited about every exhibit; and the kids loved her! I would have loved a more “behind the scenes tour”. The fish / life was wonderful. All exhibits were hospital clean. Not sterile, just clean. The occupants all seemed healthy and happy. The lobsters looked…. perfectly edible! 🙂 You name it, it was there. No; no whales but that was about the only thing missing. Goliath groupers, several kinds of sharks, octipi, etc. What was most fascinating was how they kept everything healthy. All the water is mixed to the correct salinity on site. None pumped in from the ocean. It is continuously turned over; filtered and constantly UV sterilized. All the fish that are fed to the predators are frozen for weeks killing any pathogens that they might have. The operation is all in all… fantastic.
Afterwards the restaurant was…. so so. The company…. excellent. Too often I find my meal choice is not the best. I had steak. Yeah, I know it is a restaurant at the Aquarium on the ocean but….. I ordered steak. And just to be clear, Australia is not like the US restaurant industry. There are not different grades of steaks with restaurants buying the best. To my knowledge meat here is not graded at all. All too often the meat I’ve ordered in a restaurant is nothing like I would have received in the states. One would think by now I would know better. I am… a slow learner. But the presentation was wonderful and they
had the largest Aquarium of any restaurant I have ever eaten at. 🙂 After all, it was “The Aquarium”.
Sail Far
Stay Long