Adventures with Julia

Friday, September 27, 2024

By 10:30 the Aroona crew had left us behind on Lizard Island and taken the tender back to the boat.

I watched until the boat motored out of sight. Been a long time since I had been so sorry to see something end. We had had such a good time with everyone and with the boat itself.

Anyway, we are now on a new adventure. The day is clear and sunny and our room faces across the lawn and to the sandy beach. The water is pleasantly cool, but the sand and air are very hot. We went for a dip to cool off and settled into our Air conditioned room to read. We had a light lunch and relaxed the rest of the afternoon.

I finished my book about Australia, called “Sunburned Country” by Bill Bryson. He travels all over the country and provides a good and humorous read. He did touch on nearly all the places we have or will visit and confirmed our experiences so far. The north is very hot in September and sparsely populated. The locals we have met have all been friendly, welcoming and inquisitive. The Barrier Reef is equally hot at this time. When we started on the boat trip, the air was breezy and the water was choppy. Gradually the wind died down and the water grew calmer, especially our last day on the boat.

When we were not in the water, we played the card game of Uno, ate and told stories. We learned a lot about the adventures of the crew before they signed on to the Aroona. They each had unique and interesting lives. Their ages ranged from 19 for Fletcher to 37 for Lorenzo with experiences to match. Mark and I shared some of our history too. The last night everyone shared an experience no one else in the group knew. Th evening got a little emotional. The next morning, we had breakfast, went for an early walk on the public beach, grabbed ours bags and motored in the tender to the shore in front of the resort.

That night we walked the beach to the Marlin Bar for pizza and beer. The bar is filling up with people who are here to fish for marlin. The Island will be visited by passionate marlin fishermen for the next month. Fortunately, we will leave the Island before the crush.

Saturday, September 28, 2024

At 7am we went for a bird walk with a naturalist named Lauren, originally from Weatherford, Connecticut but we saw only a few birds and got fewer photos. Particularly the Olive-backed Sunbird, which had a lovely sound and was pretty to look at. All I captured was its interesting, but abandoned, nest.

The Pheasant Coucal, which makes a loud whoop whoop sound; the Silver Gull, or Australian seagull;

A Grey Heron with a wounded leg

and a monitor Lizard but we enjoyed the walk. Then we had breakfast and went walking on the beach.

Now we are sitting on the beach at Lizard Island and I am reminiscing about the boat trip rather than being on the beach. We are, however, sitting on the beach and I am hot so about to go swimming. We walked into the water up to our necks, enjoying the coolness and calmness of the water. We had lunch

and then went for a snorkel with a guide named Ella, who provided us with sea darts, which are machines that pull you along in the water as you look at fish and coral. I had a very difficult time getting used to the thing, but eventually got some control of it. It does pull you through the water at a good clip.

Mark got into it right away and was going at full speed. As we made a beach start, the water was a bit murky, the coral was not at its best and there were few fish, compared with our diving and snorkeling off the Aroona. Being away from the shore has its advantages.

That experience did me in for the day. After a hot shower to get rid of the sand and salt, we settled in with our reading, dinner and bed.

The food is good at each meal, although we liked it better at Silky Oaks. There was a short menu at each meal, from which there was always something appealing to choose.

Sunday, September 29, 2024

We got up in time for a walk before the heat of the day set in.

We walked up to a lookout point overlooking Watson and Anchor Bays. Then walked back down the hill and along the airport runway. We made it back to the lodge in time for breakfast at 9am.

We had two planned activities this day. The first was a 1:30 snorkel dive to see turtles and the second was a 5pm walk to see bats.

The snorkel was in Watson Bay. There were three of us and the guide, Ella. It was a bust for turtles, but we saw lots of fish and coral and clams and more. I did not want to quit, but, after 45 minutes we were all getting cold.

Clean and dry, we were ready for the 5 pm bat walk with Lauren. These are Flying Foxes or Fruit Bats. They are the second largest bats in the world, next to bats in the Philippines.

In addition to bats Lauren shared a lot about the history of Lizard Island. The island is approximately 2146 acres in size, was occupied by an aboriginal tribe called Dingaal, who used it three months of the year for male initiation ceremonies and called the island Jiigurru. Women were not allowed on the island. Today the remaining tribe members live on nearby Cape Flattery. In 1879, a Robert Watson arrived on the island with his wife, Mary, and 2 chinese male employees and started a business of harvesting sea slugs for export to China. Sometime in 1881, when he was out fishing with one of the Chinese, a band of Dingaal arrived on the island and were about to kill the woman interloper, Mary Watson, her 5 month old baby and the other Chinese man. They escaped in a large water tub and floated to another island but within a few days all three died of dehydration. The beach is named Watson Bay.

Much later, in 1973, a small resort was opened with 4 rooms. Over time it has grown and been remodeled more than once. Today there are 40 suites and the current leaseholder, Delaware North Corporation, has the lease until 2035. The majority of the island is a national park owned by the Australian government. The resort is in reasonable condition, the menu has interesting choices and the food is good. There are many activities to keep people busy. Although very nice, I think the place is slightly overrated.

September 30th at 10:30 we flew from Lizard Island to Cairns in a Cessna 404.

In Cairns, we switched to a Virgin Airlines flight to Melbourne. This was the end of our Great Barrier Reef Adventure. It was not nearly enough reef time for me and I would love to come again.