Well after Steve's Paj doing a pulley, south of Coen and some time spent to get him back on the road back to Coen for some professional help, we were told to head off, with Steve & Viv meeting us somewhere down the track.
We headed for Hahn River Road House, arriving about 4.30pm. Pulled in filled up with fuel and got a camp site. The camp sites were the usual, find your own piece of land and stake your claim. The camping area had 12-15 campers and caravans in it at the time.
A quick set up and a well earnt cold beer for Deb & I. A walk down to the Hahn River and a look around was called for, as it had been a long day.
Shortly after, the girls were off for a shower. I walked over to the open air showers to find a hot water system, I hadn’t seen for a very long time. The water was being heated over a fire, but then the cold water was entered the boiler, causing the hot water to be pushed to the shower. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photographs.
Later on we settled down to dinner, followed by a slide show of all the photographs we had taken thus far in the Cape York Trip and there are some crackers.
Next morning saw us heading south towards Laura. We had heard about Split Rock Aboriginal Art, just south of Laura and were keen to have a look. A short walk up into the hills on a well marked track, we found some amazing Aboriginal Art, that it is suspected to have been there for over 13,000 years. Nat and Melissa loved the art and were facinated by it.
Afterwards we headed to Lakeland, where we hit the cross roads, to either heading into Cooktown or down to Port Douglas. A quick phone call to Steve and Viv told us that the part would be in Coen the following day (Thursday) and they should be on the road by Friday. Finally good news for them.
We made a few phone calls to a snorkelling company at Cape Tribulation, but they couldn’t get us in until Saturday, so it was decided to head for Port Douglas. We rolled into town with the sun blazing and found a caravan park not far from centre of town.
We set up camp, and then headed for the showers to wash the dust and grit from our bodies. By the time I had returned from the showers all the camp sites beside us had been taken with Britz campers and tenters all on holidays
We booked our snorkelling trip for the following day on Wave Dancer http://www.quicksilver-cruises.com/wavedancer.htm
We headed out to see the night life of Port Douglas as much as you can with a 9 & 11 year old. We found ourselves at a local bar and bistro, called Rattle & Humm. We had dinner there and it was tops. Totally recommend them for dinner and price.
We headed back to the camper and went to bed. The girls were excited at the proposition of going snorkelling in the morning and what they would see.
For only the second time this trip, I had to set my alarm, as it was an early start to get to the boat. A short 15 minute walk down to the marina, found us early enough for a coffee and a look around.
Deb and I honeymoon here 13 years ago and we both can see how much Port Douglas has grown, but still a very nice spot.
By this stage, Nat was jumping out of her skin, she wanted to board the boat, but it wasn’t time for boarding. She stood at the very front of the line, so she was first on. I hadn’t seen her this excited for sometime.
Finally the time came and the crew ushered us on. The boat was a massive 30 metre luxury sailing catamaran and looked fantastic. We sat at the back of the boat, looking out over the mariner at the other luxury boats, which appeared to be worth lots of money, well outside my budget.
No long and we were motoring out of the marina towards Low Isles, where we were to snorkel from the Island. The sun was shining brightly with a slight wind. It was perfect and everybody was enjoying the time together.
Pano looking towards Cape Trib.
The 30 Metre Catameran as seen from Low Isles
No sooner we started and we could see Low Isles. It is a small Coral Kay, about 15 nautical miles off the coast of Port Douglas. We moored away from the Island and collected out snorkelling gear, before being taken across by little tenders.
The reef is only a matter of 4-5 metres from the edge of the Island. Every kid would love to snorkel hear because the water is warm and it isn’t as deep as the water on the outer reefs. My kids loved it, as well as I did.
We all put our gear on and went straight out snorkelling amongst the reef. There were fish everywhere. Only metres away from the shore we saw a clown fish, as in Nemo, frolicking amongst the coral.
One of the best things Wave Dancer has is its own Marine Biologist on board. He was giving a guided snorkelling tour of the reef. Nat, Melissa and I jumped on the tour, which only included two others, so it was very good. The tour went for 45 minutes, swimming around the reef. The biologist would stop and show different things to us. He picked up a sea cucumber and showed the girls, as they were able to touch and feel it. He pointed out a school of baby Barracuda that use the reef for protection against predators. Then came a green sea turtle, swimming gracefully along the edge of the reef. We were only 20-25 metres from the Island. The girls were ecstatic. We continued on and saw giant sea clams, soft and hard corals as well as schools of fish, just swimming around. It was a great experience for the kids.
We came back in and lunch was being served on board the boat. We took a short 3-4 minutes ride back to the boat and had a smorgasbord lunch, including seafood, cold meats, salad and bread rolls, followed by a fruit platter for desert.
After lunch it was back to the island for a further swim, then a tour of the island with the Biologist again, before climbing onto a glass bottom boat and ridding over other parts of the reef we couldn’t swim to. By this stage, it was time to board the main boat and get ready to return to Port Douglas.
This time we sat up front, in the sun and enjoyed the ride home. A few beers were had, whilst one of the crew strummed his guitar and sang some songs whilst we traversed back to Port Douglas. It was a relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable day and I full recommend the Wave Dancer trip to Low Isles.
After arriving back in Port Douglas, and a short stroll home, we were all buggered. A couple of beers shower and off to get pizza for dinner.
The following morning we hadn’t heard from Steve and Viv and were not sure what was happening with their vehicle, so we headed for Cairns, to book into Coconuts Resort.
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