Isolating...

This blog post will be really short, only for those who really care about what we eat while in isolation! Our breakfast was included, so that was easy. We pre-ordered last night and it was delivered at 0730 as requested complete with barista coffee. 

We chose to exercise one of the valid reasons to leave "the house", that is, to buy food! A short stop to get some Korean/Japanese fusion and then Woolworths for supplies to last us the next 2 days until our flight at 1835 tomorrow. 

The resort had kindly dropped supplies including fresh towels, tea, coffee, sugar, milk, garbage bags etc. And they did call to make sure that we had everything we needed. The children were glad to have unlimited screen time...and quietly so were the adults!

By now, (as expected) the news from Sydney was getting worse. All of greater Sydney, along with Wollongong, The Blue Mountains, and the Central Coast, had to go into lockdown starting from 6pm tonight. If you are not familiar with NSW, that is pretty much where the majority for the state population lives!

Counting down now until we can go home. Unless something horrendous happens tomorrow, I will be ending the blog for this trip here. All we would be doing tomorrow is checking out, driving to Cairns, returning the car and hopping on a plane. Wish us luck! Keep your fingers crossed for no flight cancellations!

An excellent lemon myrtle pancakes. I'm somewhat obsessed with lemon myrtle at the moment...

So very grateful to have a large balcony that in nice

A view of the cane train heading to the mill. Everything only seen from the car...sigh

A very delicious meal, although I'm still not sure what was in it

calamari on rice

Curse Of The Corona

Beautiful flora everywhere

The next two days were allocated to the exploration the Daintree National Park north of the Daintree River. Our included walkabout tour was scheduled for tomorrow and so we had today to cover the rest! We had our breakfast right on 0730 so we could be on the Daintree River ferry crossing as early as possible. It was a hefty $31 for a return ticket!

It was a very tasty breakfast

Time for some homework. Studying a map of the National Park

Daintree River crossing

Our main aims today were to visit the Daintree Discovery Centre, Madja and  Dubuji boardwalks, as well as to spot a cassowary. There were signs for "Cassowary crossings" everywhere, how could we miss?! However, first, we had to contend with the rain. This area is green and lush for a reason...good rainfall. We braved the showers and ventured out to the boardwalks of the Daintree Discovery Centre armed with our audioguides and venue-provided smelly umbrellas. Whilst the set up may seem aged at the beginning, it was actually highly informative and the kids enjoyed it. The Daintree Rainforest is the world's oldest tropical rainforest, estimated to be around 165 million years old and dating back from when the dinosaurs were still alive. 

The view from Alexandra lookout, the Daintree River opening out to the Ocean

We love audioguides! Now wrapped in plastic to be covid-safe

Can you spot the bug?

The children LOVED the bug and animal displays

What?! A dinosaur named after Elliot?

Even better...a dinosaur named after an airline?!

Whoever named this dinosaur deserved a prize for awesomeness!

By the time we finished and arrived at the first boardwalk, the rain had cleared. We tried our best to be very quiet so as not to scare the cassowaries away but being quiet wasn't really our strong suit. We needn't have feared. There was a cassowary and baby waiting for us at the carpark and indeed crossing the road! They are very large and so we stayed well clear of them...

The very pretty fan palms

Boardwalks everywhere! Makes for an easy and pleasant walk

Cassowary x 2!

For a sense of scale...

Next on the agenda was food...we had a picnic hamper prepared. We stopped to have a peep at the gorgeous Cape Tribulation Beach and there happened to be picnic tables nearby. Beauty! After lunch comes dessert, we stopped at the Daintree Ice Cream Co for some handcrafted tropical fruit sorbet and gelato. The flavours for the day were coconut, mango, wattleseed and black sapote. The wattleseed had hints of coffee and the black sapote hints of chocolate. The latter probably would have tasted nicer if tasted on its own. By this stage, the humidity was getting to us and we decided to head back to the resort.

We shortly discovered upon reading the news that four local government areas (LGA) in Sydney had been ordered to go into lockdown by NSW health. Queensland had then decreed that anyone who has been in those four LGA since June 11 (!!) had to follow the NSW lockdown rules. Um...my workplace that I go to once a week is in there! Bugger. Many of the rules were confusing and Malcolm and I had a long discussion about how to approach it. In the end, we decided to do the right thing in terms of public health, cut our trip shot and head home. Fortunately, there was nothing that was not refundable. We managed to move our flight forward to the 27th of June at no extra charge. We informed the resort and they were very helpful in delivering our dinner (we had reservations at the resort restaurant) to our room. 

We were glad we did the great barrier reef first! We would have been very disappointed if we did not get a chance to experience it. The last 4 days of our planned time in Queensland was a relaxing stay in Cairns. Whilst it was disappointing to have to cut a holiday short, Cairns could be easily revisited another time. 

Curse you coronavirus!!!!

One side of Cape Tribulation Beach

And the other

Beach is beautiful...but comes with warnings!

Ok we get it. NO getting into the water...

Our very yummy picnic

Daintree Ice Cream Co

If like me, you were wondering what the heck wattleseed was...ta da!

And black sapote. If you don't know mango and coconut there is no help for you

Our dinner in our balcony

Pork belly

Coral trout