Australia - Port Douglas and Great Barrier Reef

Sunday, January 3
After thoroughly enjoying our time in Sydney, we rose bright and early Sunday morning to head to the airport. After a 3-hour flight, we arrived in Cairns, Queensland, in the far northeastern corner of Australia. Most people travel to that region for one reason -- the Great Barrier Reef. We rented a minivan and drove almost an hour north to the small town of Port Douglas for the "Fun in the Sun" portion of our trip.

The drive offered amazing views of the coast and we stopped a few times just to take pictures. The landscape reminded me of California in some spots and Hawaii in others. It was beautiful. We booked a 3-bedroom villa at the Sheraton Mirage Resort in Port Douglas and it was really nice. I would highly recommend it for families and on a personal note, I was thankful the villa had a washer and dryer because 6 people create a large pile of laundry on a 10-day trip! Besides, my mom was likely experiencing laundry withdrawal by that point anyway :) Our villa backed up to the golf course and I would have been happy to stay there much longer than 4 nights. I'm pretty sure it was larger than our Singapore condo -- the living areas and kitchen certainly were. We didn't do much our first day in Port Douglas except acquaint ourselves with the resort, swim in the pool and grocery shop. We went to bed looking forward to a day of play.

Monday, January 4

Wow - the sun rises early in Queensland in the summer! 5:50am to be exact. We spent the day playing at the resort and it felt great relax after our busy Sydney itinerary. The weather was noticeably different in this region. The sun was stronger and the temperatures climbed into the high 80s or low 90s. Summer is the rainy reason but thankfully it stayed dry and hot while were were there - perfect beach weather. Our resort had 4 or 5 different pools and I especially liked the couple that were styled like beaches. The girls loved playing in the sand and splashing in the water while I didn't need to fear deadly marine life or currents. The downside of visiting Queensland in summer is that it's stinger season. Stingers are jellyfish that are so venomous that their sting can kill children and sometimes adults as well. Obviously you don't want to mess with those guys. So, if you go to the beach, you have to choose the sections where the beach has been combed for stingers and have stinger nets in the water. It's just easier to hang out at the fake beach at the resort instead where they provide drinks with little umbrellas! For dinner, we drove 5 minutes into the cute town of Port Douglas for seafood. We walked down the main street and found an ice cream shop to finish the day on the right note :)

Tuesday, January 5
Mom booked a half-day snorkel trip for herself so Brian and I packed up the girls and drove up to Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation. The drive took about an hour. In my reading I learned that the plants in Daintree date back 110 million years so that's pretty impressive! We passed fields of sugar cane along the way and took a 5-minute car ferry across the river that really got the girls' attention. While waiting for the ferry, Emily kept repeating, "Daddy, no drive in water, okay?" Megan asked about 20 questions about riding on a ferry and then said matter-of-factly, "This is my first time to do this." As if we couldn't tell...

The rainforest was lush, dense and sometimes dark and spooky. We took a nature walk out to the beach at the end of the drive and it was creepy. I think I expected a crocodile to snap at our feet on the path. It could be I was a bit paranoid because by this point, I had read all about Australia's deadly land and sea critters. After our rainforest trek, we ate lunch in Port Douglas and spent the afternoon at 4-Mile Beach. The water was the warmest I have ever felt - there was no chill to it at all which is surprising when you consider it's part of the Pacific Ocean (technically it's called the Coral Sea until you reach the Great Barrier Reef) It's easy to see why those pesky jellyfish enjoy hanging out there! 4-Mile Beach is a nice, wide beach with gentle surf and the girls had a great time playing in the small waves (inside the stinger net, of course) and building elaborate sand castles.

Wednesday, January 6
Our final day of vacation was a high point because Brian, Megan and I went snorkeling. Port Douglas is a popular home base for visiting the Great Barrier Reef and we booked an operator called Wavelength who does all-day tours to the reef with no more than 30 people. The advantage of the all-day tour is that you reach the outer edge of the reef where the coral is in better condition and you see a larger variety of fish. Stingers aren't prevalent in the cooler water near the reefs but they provided bodysuits as a precaution. The Great Barrier Reef is comprised of 2,900 different reefs, making it the largest reef system in the world. After a 90-minute boat ride, we snorkeled at three different sites at Opal Reef and each one offered something different for us to see.

We had barely put our masks in the water at the first site when we saw a small sea turtle swimming near us. It was Megan's first time to snorkel and I'm so glad we brought her along because she had a great day. Megan was perfectly calm and pointed to fish and spoke in snorkel tube lingo that we mostly understood :) Our first stop may have been my favorite because the shallow water and sunshine revealed the magnificent colors of the coral. The sheer size of the reef and abundance and variety of coral and marine life was awesome. The Maldives was amazing and I think this was better. Throughout the day, we had two guides, including a marine biologist, showing us all kinds of marine life and taking underwater pictures along the way so we recognized more than we would have on our own. We saw giant clams, turtles, clownfish, enormous rainbow parrotfish, mackerel, sting rays and a small reef shark. Everywhere we swam we viewed a multitude of different fish making their way around their world. It felt like the entire cast of Nemo was down there with us!

Megan snorkeled for at least 30 minutes at each spot before heading back to the boat for a snack while Brian and I went out for a little bit longer. Of course, I know that we have completely spoiled Megan on snorkeling now because how will we ever beat the Great Barrier Reef? I'm delighted that we could share that beautiful underwater world with her.

We arrived back in Port Douglas at dinner time and had a quiet evening in the villa before heading out early Thursday morning for our flight back to Singapore. I will have wonderful memories of our first trip to Australia. For the first time in a long time, I was sad to have to return home and that reflects how much fun our family had on the trip. We enjoyed our time in Sydney because it was so easy for us to get around and the city offered amazing views all around us whether we were strolling on the streets or riding the ferries. Now that we have seen the sights in Sydney, I can't imagine returning because there are so many other places in that country that I would like to explore as well. On the other hand, I wouldn't mind visiting the Reef again in the future. I'm thankful the entire family stayed healthy and enjoyed our travels and that we could share it with my mom as well. It was a great way to start 2010!