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In April 2005, we invited Barbara to join us at Trinity Beach for a week to enjoy the Northern Queensland weather and see if the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree were as spectacular as we had heard. |
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On
the internet, we booked a 2 brm, 2 bathroom unit at
"On the Beach
Apartments" at Trinity Beach, some 30 minutes north
of Cairns. Guy and I arrived early (4.00am) on the morning of 18 April and were met at the airport by a jovial character named George who drove us out to Trinity Beach. |
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were somewhat taken aback to find that our luxury unit was 3 flights
up ... and no elevator! Hard enough for us with a suitcase each but
totally impossible for Barbara. However, we enjoyed the fantastic view and the magnificent sunrise whilst we waited for reception to open. At around 7.30am, we made ourselves a coffee and then headed down to reception to meet Mary and Clive, the managers. They were absolutely wonderful when we explained our predicament and Mary arranged for us to stay in one of the beachfront apartments at a special price, only a little more expensive than the unit which we had booked. |
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The
beachfront unit was directly on the beach itself with a lovely verandah
overlooking the ocean. Both bedrooms had a sea view and the unit could
be reached by one flight of stairs from the Esplanade or via a lift
in the carpark underneath. Perfect! We climbed back up the stairs and moved our baggage to our new home. |
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As
Barbara was not arriving until the following day, Guy and I spent
some time exploring Trinity Beach and its surrounds before falling
under the spell of the delightful swimming pool and spa in our complex.
That evening we walked along the esplanade to dine at one of the many little restaurants which front Trinity Beach ... in this case an Italian restaurant, where we enjoyed a pizza with a glass of vino. Welcome to Queensland! |
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| We spoke to Clive about booking a dive boat and he suggested we go the next day as the weather was becoming unsettled towards the end of the week. | ||
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Barbara
was due to arrive around 2pm so we decided to book for Tuesday and
meet up with her in the evening. We were collected from our hotel at 7am and driven up the coast to Port Douglas to board "Calypso" for our trip to the Barrier Reef. We had 3 dives in total, at a cost of A$200 each which is certainly very good value and included pick-ups, lunch and hire of equipment. |
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| However, already the weather was unsettled and the visibility was not as good as we had expected, making the dives a little disappointing. We had been hoping to say that the Great Barrier Reef was the best diving in the world but I'm afraid both the Red Sea and Bali are far better. Nonetheless, we did enjoy the warmth of the tropical water, which only necessitated the wearing of a thin lycra suit - more to protect the divers from stingers than the cold. The facilities on board "Calypso" were excellent, with fresh water showers and toilets, delightful food and tea, coffee, fruit and snacks available. | ||
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Not got your Scuba Ticket Yet? "Calypso" offers introductory dives which include brief instruction before you are taken underwater with an experienced instructor . This introductory dive also counts towards your PADI Open Water Dive Certification if you wish to continue, so it's money well spent. |
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All too soon we had returned to Port Douglas and boarded the bus to take us back to Trinity Beach, where we met Barbara already at home in our little unit. After a freshen up, we made our way to a little Thai restaurant on the foreshore for a quiet meal and catching up with all the family news. |
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