I'm feeling slightly ambivalent today. Rather reflective, midly morose, convincingly content. I've been home all day today, just because I felt like it, and also because I was just so darn lazy and refused to get out of bed.
So my Henry has been at work, doing his rounds, saving the world of journalism, while I've been vegetating in front of the television. For most of the time, E! was on, but I wasn't really paying attention to what was going on on the tv. I just kept looking outside at my beautiful garden, at the calm blue water and the green, green grass, and thought about how in three weeks time, all this will just be a distant memory. I will be starting a new life in Singapore - with a new room, new apartment, new area, and this will be like a prepossessing dream.
In a sentence, I will be making my way back to Singapore very shortly. Away from this comfort bubble back to where I came from. It's almost like I'm taking a step back, which is what is slightly disappointing about it. Here I am, exposed to a life of my own, a life that I've taken precedence over and one that I am accountable for. I've learnt to appreciate myself and those around me, as well as ensure that I take nothing for granted - manners, service, cleanliness, the goodness of nature...
(Hmmm, the doorbell just rang, and since I'm at home alone and since I've been spooking myself out with all that crimelibrary.com and crime investigation nonsense, I didn't answer it. Five minutes later Henry called and I said someone rang the doorbell and I didn't answer it because I was 'scared'. He said I should open the door and check if anything was there because it could be the postman. I opened the door (with Henry still on the phone 'just in case') and there was a bouquet of the sweetest smelling flowers! The card attached to it read 'Happy Friday Afternoon, I love you, Henry'. Awwww. :) See it's the thoughtful and charming things like these that really remind me why anyone wants to fall in love. A misconception that people have is that romance just... 'happens'. It doesn't. A relationship requires quite a lot of effort, and even more honesty. Henry and I celebrate our 'anniversary' every month just because I think with our very hectic lives, it's necessary for us to appreciate each other at least once a month, and do something extra special. It could be anything from a simple dinner, or in most cases, some flowers and treats. But I digress. These flowers are such an appealing distraction.)
So as I said in a previous entry, Henry and I try to make the best of our time here. Every weekend we try and see something that Australia has to offer. Last weekend, we went to Cairns! So here we are, on one of our many fulfilling and *romantic* adventures. :)
Day One began with boxed lunch (pasta and beef salad), three krispy kreme donuts, and a three hour flight to Cairns.
We landed at the airport and the first thing that I noticed was the weather. It was so invigorating - I'd almost forgotten what 'tropical' felt like! Just being able to wear shorts was almost liberating. The resort we stayed at had a van come and pick us up from the airport.
The ride there was mostly 'documented' by my videos. I took videos of almost everything in this trip. Very amateur videos, but... I now understand why videos tell a lot more than pictures. The entire area constituted of green vastness to the left and right with hilly mountains in the background. The place was just a whole carpet of grass and farmland - it was covered in a blanket of peace.
By the time we settled down, the sun had set, and dinner was calling. Not sure where to go, we ended up at this respectable looking restaurant with very dingy looking food. The menu and decor diidn't look so drab, but when we were served it was quite shocking. But the desperation of the situation turned to humour, and we chose to cherish the moment where we would pay $20 for a plate of slice bread. ... Hmm. Totally different world. On the table is a brochure for the Poseidon - a tour to the great barrier reef. After dinner, we booked a tour for the day after to do some snorkelling.
Day two started out after a buffet breakfast. We drove up to Port Douglas where the sun was shining, and did a bit of water appreciation. After doing some surf skiing (yes, you read right, SURF SKIING), we rented this huge tube and basically pranced around the water like 10 year old children. I'm not complaining, because I absolutely loved it. I don't think I've laughed so much for a long time, or let myself go so far. It was the relaxation that I deserved. Yes, I deserved it. But most of all, it was a very special moment for Henry and myself because we were allowed to... just... forget everything and concentrate on each other, and most importantly ourselves.
Tired but content, we then returned to the car and drove out to the village to get some fish, calamari and chips for late lunch. But that was after I made sure we got a picture of the car (and me. heh).
Physically exhausted, we then went back to our hotel room where we had a little rest before heading back out to a thai restaurant for a very relaxed dinner. We had an early night in preperation, because the next day was Reef Day.
We were up at 6am for a day of exploration pleasure. We had our hearty buffet breakfast (as usual), and the Poseidon van came and picked us up from our hotel. We were taken to Port Douglas where the boat was, and then this picture was taken by their cameraman. Even though it's not entirely flattering, it is the perfect tourist picture. Just imagine the words 'Welcome to the Great Barrier Reef' on top.
We waited on board for awhile before heading off to the reef. Now. As a typical... tourist, I have never been to the great barrier reef, nor do I know much about it apart from what I've seen in the pictures. If you notice, the pictures usually tend to show an island nearby, or something. So I figured... well, we'll get on the boat and then we'll travel for about 10 minutes and reach this island where the great barrier reef is. Wrong. This wonder of the world is located right smack in the middle of the ocean. No, seriously, it is.
The Great Barrier Reef is this big plot of area, and there are multiple sites where people can dive and snorkel around to marvel at sea creatures in the crystal clear (and blue) water. In total, we went to three different reef sites to snorkel, and they were all amazing.
Our first encounter with snorkelling was at Shelly beach about two weekends ago, which is just outside the city. That experience taught us a little about snorkelling, so this time we donned our wetsuits, flippers and masks, and that was it. We were in the ocean. I started to panic very quickly because this is so different from a beach - you are literally surrounded by gallons and gallons of water. Even though the water is so clear, you can only see so far, and once I looked underwater, I could feel my shortened breaths and my tensed muscles. It didn't really help that I'd never used flippers in my life, so it took a very long time to just calm down and move my legs right. Of course, science will tell you that if you panic under water then you automatically sink - and I was really sinking. But! Some time after, I gained some composure and confidence, and went about my swim.
Henry and I had a underwater camera but haven't developed the pictures yet, so this is just one shot of us holding a sea cucumber that was on the sea bed. I can't believe we eat these things.
I took a video of Henry as he attempted to dive without equipment. He mentioned the pressure was too high (who would've thought, huh?) and after two attempts was pleased with whatever progress he made, and came back onto the boat. Hmmm. You can see he's got his diving shoes on, because he was wearing a much more hardcore flipper.
Three dives, a seafood buffet-type lunch and an overly tight mask later, we were marked. If you look at our faces you can see the snorkel mask's mark on us. That eventually did fade away, thank goodness. I was so tired, and fell asleep on the journey back to shore.
On the way back, Henry and I had a little ice cream, and once we reached our hotel room, took a very nice warm shower and Henry fell asleep. Shortly after, he woke up and we had a little self-pampering session.
Face masks! Can't go for a holiday and then not treat yourself with face masks, right? Besides, we were going to go on a 'nice' dinner (that's not to say the other dinners aren't nice, this one was supposed to be extra nice) that evening, so this was just like a prelude to what our evening had in store for us.
Wearing matching colours (I know, isn't it one of those extremely annoying thing that couples do...), we went to this amazing restaurant for dinner. Unlike the first night, this place had realllly good food. It did cost twice as much, but it was such a special way to end our day. We had homemade cheesecake for desert, and I don't think I've ever tasted anything as good. I was a bit apprehensive about finding a decent place at first, but I'm happy to say that this restaurant didn't let me down. A long island ice tea and two beers later, we were satisfied and that night I had such a good night's rest. The motion of the waves earlier that day did help.
The next morning, breakfast called. Here Henry is with round two of his mega breakfast, while I'm finishing up with my honey and pomegranate. It was like this for all our breakfasts - buffet breakfasts are a good incentive to get up early in the morning, even while on holiday.
After breakfast called, the wallabies did. Well, we went wallaby-spotting. Apparently there were some wallabies near where we were, so we took a little walk to try and find them. First a picture outside our resort room. Our room was on the second level, so in this picture it's actually just above my head.
This is a picture of the view just outside our room! First the view from our balcony, and then of me while we were there on the way to the wallabies. We stopped by to take a video of some tiny frogs - they were the size of my fingernail!
Finally, after climbing rocks and leaping over streams, we spotted a wild wallaby. A real one! The only other kangeroo we saw was... dead, as a result of roadkill (not by us of course) when we drove to kangeroo valley. If you look at this picture closely you'll see it in between the two tree trunks.
Happy that we'd seen a real life wallaby, we got ready to head to the beach. We brought along our bat and ball and had a few rounds of competition. I won, obviously (haha) but unfortunately don't have any pictures of us playing because I only took videos for that. We had some yoghurt and chips on the beach, and the walked back to our resort barefooted. The road was burning under my feet but it was fun - hopping from one shaded spot to the other. :)
It goes without saying that you can't pay money and stay at a resort without utilizing its facilities. Henry and I went to the pool at the last hour, and had lots of child-like fun doing somersaults and attempting to stand on each other. I know, we amuse ourselves very easily.
Like I said, it was the last hour. And so after that, we had to go back to the hotel and pack our bags to head to the airport. Here's a picture of our room (look mum, two beds!) and luggage and... stuff.
We took a long van ride back to the airport, and as tired as we were, were very glad that we got this chance to come to Cairns. It's a beautiful tropical part of the country and I'm so grateful that Henry and I managed to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and truly spend some quality time alone, and just remind ourselves why we love each other.
So that was it. Cairns, Queensland. A breathtaking weekend and a treasured memory. We snorkelled in the Great Barrier Reef, played ball, surf-skiied, had good dinners, not so good dinners, and most substantial breakfasts. Most of all, we fell in love with nature, and each other, all over again.
x
Noise: My Fair Lady on TV