Monday, September 29 - Cairns to Fitzroy Island
The morning dawns in Cairns, cloudy, rainy in parts we can see and
generally a non-descript grey.
Thankfully, this was not, as the title of this post indicates, a
foretaste of things to come.
Breakfast proved to be a challenge.
The hotel we stayed at does not have a restaurant, so we headed down the
pier to see what we could find. Like a
Sunday afternoon in the main street of a country town everything was closed,
until we reached the main entrance to the jetty. This was crowd central as the café is
strategically positioned adjacent to the booking office/assembly point for all island
and reef tour ferries and given it was the only place open we thought breakfast
here was a good idea.
It was a great spot to crowd watch and I witnessed the most stupid
hairdo I’ve seen in a long time. No
seriously. Picture this (and it was
breakfast, pre-coffee, be strong, be strong) a largish man in his early
thirties, tatts (yes, yes, but I still don’t like them) shaved head –
almost. On the crown of his head was a
little tucked up pony tail - Shintaro style (google it gen Y), but smaller and
draping down from it was a rat tail in peroxide blonde. So very attractive. I am absolutely shattered that I missed them
talking, I really wanted to know what nationality owned this caricature. Surreptitiously I looked around for
cameras. Nothing. Just more tourists waiting for a ferry to
nowhere. Well, somewhere, but I know not
where.
Within 15 minutes we had the place to ourselves as the Sunlover
filled with the crowd and departed for other places. Breakfast was average, at best, Jayne’s eggs
and stuff with toast – sans beurre, annoying.
My raisin toast was fine, but half of my coffee never made it to the
table. Is the whole tourist industry in
North Queensland staffed by itinerant … um … European backpackers?
The light rain could have been annoying, as annoying as the little
girl chasing the Zebra Doves around the outdoor area of the ‘restaurant’. They were just trying to get a decent feed
like us. At least they didn’t pay for
theirs, the doves I mean.
Back to the hotel. Check
out. Down to the pier and the 5-minute
walk to our ferry. Simple instructions:
walk to the end of the pier and turn left, walk to the end again and staff will
be there to greet you.
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| Not quite the weather we had anticipated |
Instead, we were greeted with: This ferry is not in service today,
you’ll need to wait for someone else to arrive to see what’s happening. Professional.
Great start and a portent of things to come.
Not long after a man arrives in a van. This boat is not service he says, so we
believe, we reply. He loads our bags
into the van and says I’ll meet you back down there. Off we amble to the T junction and, good Samaritans
that we are, we ask passing people with luggage if they are headed for Fitzroy
Island and if so walk no further.
On board the ferry, luggage stowed, eventually we departed. The most notable event on the way out, aside
from me wanting to trip some unrestrained children or throw them overboard was
a man lost his cap to the breeze and the ocean.
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| Cairns from the ferry |
Arriving at the island like dutiful cows to milking, we all
meandered to reception and patiently waited our turn. This is when we discovered our accommodation
issue. We had a booking confirmation for
a cabin from the Monday to Friday, but we had a ferry booking that had us
leaving on the Tuesday. Confused? We were and so was the desky; but he didn’t
want to know. I’ll refer this to reservations
and they’ll talk to you at 2pm when you pick up your key. Hmmm, over two hours to worry about what
might be … or otherwise. No answer to
the question, So there will be accommodation on the island till Friday? We
won’t be happy if we have to leave tomorrow.
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| Nudey Beach on the way in to the jetty |
So we went for a reconnaissance wander along the resort ribbon to
get the lie of the land and relate it to the welcome map and What’s On news
leaflet we received on arrival. That
took all of 15 minutes and so… what else was there to do but go to the resort
pub to have a drink and something to eat while we pondered an alternative
week’s itinerary – maybe a tour of the Daintree might be nice?
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| The accommodation |
At the appointed time we went back to reception to find out what
their resolution to the problem was. They
admitted straight away that it was their stuff up but could not do much since
the person who had created the problem was no longer in their employ. They had been trying to get in touch with the
other party who were supposed to have the cabin from the Tuesday but no
luck. So again the questions… Is there
accommodation on the island till Friday? Who will be moving, them or us? These
and other mysteries were to remain unanswered till the next day. We, however, firmly subscribe to the belief
that possession is 9/10ths of the law so to try to move us tomorrow will not be
pretty. The resort is only small and
compact so most people will know fairly quickly if we are not happy.
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