Comedy of Errors
House on Red Corner · 2008-11-19 · Eckenrode
Yesterday, tuesday for us, we were scheduled to take a tour to the Low Isles on the Great Barrier Reef. We were booked on board the Wavedancr III. We got there early and had dinner on the dock at a nice restaurant. Then we rode out on the boat to the Isles.
The Low Isles is somewhat famous as the place where Steve Irwin had his last dive. It is also the first place that TheBubster tried to snorkel. She didn’t really want to even though she did want to. Basically, she is still afraid of the water deeper than the bathtub. I hav been working with her on this trip and forcing her into deeper water and on this part where she had a lifevest on, I made her float on her back without being able to hold onto me. TheWife went on a snorkel tour by herself, and later she sat on the shore nursing LittleBud while I torturedtaught TheBubster her swimming lessons.
When we were preparing to reach the Low Isles, TheWife checked her wallet into the ship’s safe. When we arrived at the dock in Port Douglas, we left got in the car and headed home. Home is an hour away, at least. We called the tour operators and they said come in in the morning and get it.
So the next morning, today; Wednesday for us; we drove into Port Douglas to get the wallet. Then upon recommendation of our hosts we went to have brekkie at Soul N Pepper where we had a big breakfast beneath a couple of old canvas sails, which was good because it was raining men. I mean it was pouring. Rain. Hard. Really hard.
So after breakfast I asked the question, “What now?”
That is the point where it all started. We decided to drive to a place in the Tablelands called Atherton. It was a really interesting drive, we passed a lake on the way where there were lots of turtles on the road, so of course we stopped took a couple of photos, which I can not show you yet, because my camera/phone/GPS navigation device died of a drained battery not long after that moment.
We made it to Atherton, we went to the McDonald’s there after getting TheBubster a new set of clothes at a second hand store. She played with a bunch of kids on the playground; the first playground we have seen here that had kids on it. Then we set off home again.
We stopped in a neat Coffee Museum and then passed the lake again, but because the satnav was down, we missed the turn off back over the mountain to Port Douglas. oops.
At first, everything was lovely and pleasant and we didn’t notice anything awry, but then after a while of going over cattle grids in the road and seeing signs that warned us about cows knocking over the car, we suspected that we missed the turn. The road was long and straight and a consultation of our rudimentary maps lead us to believe that we were lost. Which made things seems a little concerning, and as the gas tank was at the halfway point, I was growing more and more concerned as the kilometers ticked over (you make the conversion to miles if you must).
Finally, we found a petrol station and relief was felt. The we reached an information point and were able to find the right path. We decided that we would not make it back to our cottage over night, and turned off the road and found Mungumby Lodge. Which was a very pleasant ending to the day.
There was one person working there, a very agreeable chap named Amish, if my hearing was correct, and a couple of Frenchmen who were guests. Our arrival was unexpected but appreciate and we settled in really quickly. Looks like a gem of a retreat to which we already believe we would like to return to at some later date, especially it is so remote and lovely!!!