CAIRNS AND GOLD COAST APRIL 16 – 23, 2017

Ever since my good friends, Bob and Judy Pegg, came to visit me in October, 2013, I had wanted to revisit the wonderful time that we shared together in Cairns. Our day trip to Green Island, in particular, was a memory that will remain with me forever. It was the greatest snorkeling experience of my life.

So Barry and I took off to Cairns. We enjoyed the Botanic Gardens enormously and the rainforest walk directly opposite was extraordinary. I am a very keen gardener and a great lover of the glories of nature. My experiences here were so completely amazing that they defy superlatives. Let the photographs speak for themselves.

We savoured many world class meals in Cairns and looked forward to the experience that this was all about – our boat ride out to Green Island for a day of snorkeling.

Barry had felt unwell after our bumpy return ride in the sea plane from the Hawkesbury River to Sydney, but the rough choppy conditions on our 45 minute boat ride from Cairns to Green Island, was his complete undoing. Within the first ten minutes Barry had gone to the back of the boat for fresh air and then continued to throw up for the duration of the trip. He was feeling so poorly by the time we disembarked that all he wanted to do was to find a place to lie down.

The only option for him was to lie on a towel at the waters edge. Despite my disappointment at not being able to share the thrill with him, I nonetheless enjoyed my snorkeling experience and was fortunate enough to spot many colourful fish, starfish, anemones, sponges and sea urchins.

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Poor Barry suffered greatly all day. He started to feel marginally better as the day wore on. Unfortunately, he then had to revisit his horrible ordeal on our return trip back to Cairns!

GOLD COAST

By an extraordinary coincidence, one of Barry’s very few living relatives, his cousin, Ron, lived in the building right next door to my brother’s building in Como Street, Broadbeach. Barry and I stayed at the Palazzo Versace Hotel which was an incredible experience. We shared a lovely meal with Ron, Zarah, Harold and Elaine. The next day we had the obligatory family photograph from Harold’s patio.