Fitzroy Island

Safe arrival in Cairns on Wednesday 5^th May; we parked outside of Kat and Duncan’s home and were warmly greeted by our hosts. The ute was later unloaded, everything removed to be either washed, aired out or required for our stay. Kat took us for a look around, driving us up to Holloways Beach where we walked Poppy the dog.  We didn’t have much time before Kat was to fly out to Broome, where she will be cook on a small cruise boat.  The following day, the four of us were up early, dressed with bathers on beneath our clothes and took an uber to the ferry terminal where we loaded our overnight bags and snorkelling gear onto the ferry, heading to Fitzroy Island.

It was a 45min trip across calm seas, and as we were approaching, I noticed a turtle not far from the jetty. Our bags were taken up to the resort where we were to stay, and stored while the rooms were being prepared.  In the meantime we had a quick look around, stopping to buy coffees before heading up the beach with our snorkelling gear, which Duncan had provided.  Before going in the water, we needed to cover up with stinger-suits just in case there were any deadly Irukandji jellyfish. I wasn’t very impressed with the goggles as they kept clouding up, making it necessary to clean them every few minutes.  I had to stand on the sea bottom to do this, trying to avoid the coral so as not to cause any harm to the reef as well as trying to washing out the goggles at the same time. Because we didn’t all have a set of flippers (called fins in QLD) Jen and I had one each, which worked reasonably well. Much of the reef was damaged and visibility was cloudy but there were patches of beautiful coral, fish and clams. I even saw a couple of small stingrays closer to shore. The girls were further out swimming with turtles, but by then I had given up and returned to the beach.  I tried one other time but really couldn’t be bothered with all the effort and while the others swam, I relaxed on the beach.

We returned to the resort area, then walked a little further to the Foxy Bar where lunch was ordered.  The first time I ordered my iced coffee, explaining what I wanted, the woman, who happened to be the manager, said yes she could make that and charged me $8 – it was only one shot with milk and ice, not even any ice cream!  The second time I ordered, I was pleasantly surprised when I started to describe how I wanted my coffee, when the girl asked if it was a frappe I wanted. It turned out she was from Sydney.  Although it was made exactly the same way as the first one, I was only charged $6, which is the usual price. Interestingly, the following day when I ordered a hot ¾ full flat white (which is now my preferred hot order) it was only $4.00.  I’m not sure why the difference in prices.  I later found that most places automatically give you a double shot charging the same price if you ask for one shot. After hearing Kat order a ¾ full flat white I thought that was a simpler order to me trying to explain to people what a Piccolo with a bit of extra milk was. Many places don’t know what a Piccolo is. One shot with about the same amount of frothed milk – not bubbly milk – there is a difference as most baristas will know.  Yes, I know, I’m a coffee snob but I think what’s what working as a barista does to you.

We wandered down to the beach near the turtle rehab centre where we had a 1:45pm tour booked. It was very interesting to hear the story of the turtle in the tank which had been rescued from a particular place where it and another turtle were found stranded full of plastic. Plastics are the major hazard to marine creatures these days because as it is ingested, it fills their stomach, making them feel full and they starve to death.

By 2:30pm our rooms were ready. Collecting the keys and our luggage, we headed down to set up camp.  Kat and Duncan had the larger of the two rooms, which also had a lounge and small kitchenette. Jen and I had a smaller room, as we’d all planned to get together for breakfast in the larger one.  Our smaller room, unlike the other, didn’t have ocean views; in fact it only had one wall of shutters which faced the closed-in walkway.  It was very dark and dingy, which was probably why it smelt so musty.  Neither of us were happy with it; Jen went up to complain while I stayed. We had also asked for a twin share. but the bed hadn’t been separated  I shouldn’t have stayed in the room, because by the time Jen had returned, I felt quite tight-chested;  the mould was making my asthma flare up.  We insisted on another room and were offered an upgrade for $75, which we weren’t happy about, as we would have preferred another smaller room but weren’t offered one. The following day, when we were checking out, Kat spoke to the manager concerning her disappointment with the poor service; as a local who brought people over regularly, she had expected better treatment.  She was then told there were smaller rooms available but as we had not asked for one, we were given the larger room. Kat said that was unacceptable; because we had booked a smaller room, we should have been offered another smaller room.  In fact, the larger room we had been given only had a double bed and I had to request a mattress for the floor as I didn’t want to sleep with Jen and I didn’t want to use the sofa bed as they are usually very uncomfortable.  Then just before retiring for the night, I had to order a blanket, as one was not provided for my bed!  On one of my walks to reception, I had seen a small rug in a storeroom so helped myself.  I’m glad I did as the one that was delivered came AFTER both Jen and I had gone to bed! By this time, we had turned off the air conditioning and opened windows.

Before sunset that evening, we returned to Foxy Bar for dinner, positioning ourselves where we could enjoy the sunset, with a couple of cocktails and a collection of seafood dishes between us. The sunset was stunning, setting behind the mountains on the mainland and reflecting across the waters, where boats moored in the bay.

In the morning I didn’t go for a jog as I didn’t bring my running shoes, but it was nice to just lie-in for a change. Jen and I then went for a walk, before joining the others in their room, where Duncan and Kat prepared our bacon, eggs, toast and croissants for breakfast. We had brought an eski with food to help our expenses and then blew it on the accommodation!

Once packed up, we notified reception, stored our belongings and once again headed for the beach, this time without our snorkelling and swimming gear.  This time we headed south to Nuddy Beach, which was quite a challenging walk up and over all the rocks and boulders along the path.  All the paths on the island consisted of many steps up and down the terrain, made from rocks found along the way. Once again, I sat in the shade while the others went for a swim. There were lots of people in the water here without stinger-suits on which surprised me.  We wandered back around lunchtime for my frape and lunch for the others, then by 4:30pm we were waiting to board the ferry back to Cairns. It had been a very busy two days.

Photos:  1. Fitzroy Island   2. Fitzroy Ferry   3. Jen, Kat and Duncan at the beach   4. Dinner at sunset   5. Sunset   6. Turtle rehab

Prayer & Praise Points:
Praise the Lord for our lovely visit to Fitzroy Island and all the amazing things we have done together while Kat has still been in town.

Praise the Lord for our time on Magnetic Island and the wonderful weather we have experienced throughout our trip.

Please continue to pray for my stay in Cairns, for His leading on what to do here and how long I’ll stay.

Please pray for Jen and Kat who are yet to come to know Christ’s love for them. Pray for Kat who is working on a cruise out of Broome and for Jen, who is waiting for Dave to join her in Cairns, before continuing her journey north to Darwin, and eventually Broome, where she used to work.