Today started a bit late for us. Last night I ended up working quite late on the blog so hit the sack later than normal. Consequently we did not actually wake up until about 9 which is late for us. Today is going to be a lazy type of day since yesterday was an exciting and busy day.
The first thing we wanted to do was head off to the book store to get the book “The Coffeeholic and the Café” by Elizabeth Martin – the author we met yesterday at the lake when we helped the young man who dislocated his knee. The bookstore was not hard to find since it was the shopping mall about 10 minutes from here but the parking there was unbelievable. Someone mentioned that it was getting close to Christmas but doesn’t anyone work on Mondays? Along with the book I discovered we were offered a free coffee as part of the promotion. Now you have to understand that I like regular coffee with some cream but here they do not have that on the list of items. Apparently what I was looking for was a flat white coffee. Just a note – if you travel and like coffee you will need to take a course on all the different names, colors, types and sizes when you order. We have stopped drinking coffee normally over here and stick to tea since we find the coffee not what we are used to from Canada. And a cup of coffee is expensive at $3.50 per cup the size of a teacup. Today’s sample was free so how could I resist? See http://www.ehow.com/how_2287438_interpret-australian-coffee-menu.html
We had been talking about going out the Ellis Beach but while at the mall we were looking at the display of Australia calendars with pictures of Australian sights and places. We were surprised to note that we could tick off many of the places on the calendars as places we had visited. Of course not the outback or northern places but most on the calendar were from the east coast. While checking it out we noted a beach called Trinity Beach and it was within 10 minutes drive from the mall so we cancelled the 30 minute drive to Ellis Beach (which we drove by and saw the other day) to go to this new and closer beach.
We headed to the beach and followed the signs to take us to a lookout of the beach. It really was nothing more than a set of stairs up the bank to a strip of property in front of the residential homes overlooking the beach. While we were there several municipal workers were relaxing and we chatted with them. Remember I mentioned (and added a video with sound) the very high pitched noise yesterday as we were visiting the falls? There was the same sound here so I asked them what it was and apparently it is crickets making that noise.
At any rate, the views were mostly of the ocean since there was so many trees along the beach we could not get a good picture of it. But the clouds caught my attention and I snapped a couple of photos and adjusted the contrast to bring out the details of the clouds. They definitely impressed me.
We headed back down to the beach so we could spend some time enjoying the sun and surf. First thing we learned was that there were no change rooms at the beach but about 200 meters up the road was a public washroom/changing room so we headed up there. We got back to read the signs about the fact that these waters have salt water crocodiles swimming in them (salt water crocs are very aggressive and are to be avoided) and at this time of year to watch out for the adult box jellyfish and blue bottle stingers (if stung by the blue bottle expect to spend time in hospital of an average of 4 days).
To ensure the safety of the public Trinity Beach had a swimming section set up with a net system. To be safe you were expected to swim only in the enclosed netted area and I did not see anyone disobeying that ‘recommendation’. So today we can say we swam in waters with saltwater crocs, jellyfish and stingers – but fortunately on the right side of the net. I have to say it adds a bit of anxiety to the swim wondering if there is any chance the net has been breached in any way.
We hung around there in the water and in the shade of a tree on the beach for a couple of hours before we decided it was time for some lunch. We found a nice beachside restaurant about a block away so enjoyed a relaxing sit down lunch at about 2:30. While we ate we chatted with a local man who was on his day off and hanging out at the beach. I find it very interesting to talk to locals who see things differently because it is not new to them yet it is interesting and new to visitors. No I am not going to recount our conversation just the observation.
After lunch we had thought about going to the Botanical Gardens but they are downtown Cairns and it was after 3 pm so we both decided that it had been a nice day so why ruin it by joining the rush hour traffic to downtown. We headed back to our cabin instead to have a relaxing couple of hours before dinner. The rest of the day has been very relaxing and we both are sitting around reading.
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