After a relaxing evening we decided this morning, to go straight to 1770 to book our boat trip out to the great barrier reef for a spot of snorkeling with the fishes. The main reason for stretching the limits and coming this far north; and travelling over 10,000 miles.
Jumping excitedly in the car we headed north to the place that all the websites said is the best place to get to see the reef. We drove into 1770 and parked up by what we assumed was the ‘marina’. Not many people around, and not many boats either! Where was everyone?
After walking a little way in what turned out to be the wrong direction, I noticed a couple of signs behind the café. Aha, the booking office! We cheerily entered and explained to the lady behind the desk that we’d like to book a boat out to Lady Musgrave Island and explore the reef. Oh, she said. We aren’t operating yet. We are expecting our boat to arrive any day now and should be up and running in about a week. Stunned, we told her we didn’t have a week and about the website/s we had looked at. She said that that company are not operating any more due to an accident they had with their boat
( http://www.gladstoneobserver.com.au/news/breaking-boat-flames-agnes-water/3023789/) and that no one else from 1770 were operating at this time. I asked if there was anyone who would take on a private charter, that we had come all the way from the UK to go to the reef! Sadly, there was no one. She saw how disappointed we were (devastated would be a better description ) and said she would put us on to her competitors. She brought out a brochure and told us about the trip, that we would feed the fish, go for a walk, have about 4 hours swimming on the reef etc. etc……..but it was an hour and a half’s drive back in the direction we had just travelled from! All the way back to Bundaberg. Meaning we have to leave here at 4.30 am to get there by 7am to catch the boat, and not get back here again until around 7.30 at night. A very,very, long day.
We thanked her for her time and trouble and wandered, shellshocked from the office. Oh my, all this way to find we couldn’t do what we had dreamed of for the past 9 months! There was a type of DUCK boat that did trips a bit further north, but didn’t do reef swimming. We went into the office and the lady gave the usual Aussie greeting, ‘Hi, how are you doing today?’ “Gutted.” I replied, and explained our situation. She was just as stricken as we were. But sadly couldn’t help us either. She was so sympathetic that I burst into tears! Lol. She advised that we shouldn’t let the distance or the cost of a possible overnights stay get in our way and we should go do it. We thanked her too, and went back to the car.
We stopped off on the way back to the billabong to pick up some supplies and some beer! A couple of huge steaks for the barbie and some salad. Boy it was a hot one today. When I got back into the car I couldn’t touch the steering wheel as it was burning my fingers. Air con on max we trundled ‘home’. Richard looked up the website from the brochure the lady gave us and found out how much the trip from Bundaberg would be and at $215 per person, what was included. We said, what the Hell, and went for it. We’d never get the chance to do it again. So on Friday we are going to a have a brilliant, if exhausting swim with the fishes! 😃
( http://www.ladymusgraveexperience.com.au/)
Hold tight for that one as we brought the under water camera with us. Should be fantastic.
For the rest of the day we had a wander about the property and a chat with the hosts who were tending their veggie patch, oh and their dog ‘Scuppers’ a lively thing. We spent the afternoon on the porch watching the wildlife then cooked them steaks! We sat eating them whilst catching up with the Archers on the BBC podcast. I think we listened to about 5 episodes!
And so to bed. Tomorrow is another day, full of adventures and memories for the making. Photos to follow tomorrow 😊in the meantime ,turn up your sound and listen to Australia. …