Thursday, March 27, 2008

Departing for Palm Cove

It's departing day and I cannot believe that 4 days have passed since we last arrived! Everyday we were packed with things to do and I have never crashed off to dreamland within 30secs before. So one can imagine how the sun and snorkelling can be draining.

I forgot to bring my facial moisture and conditioner which is a mild disaster for me. I had only concentrated on the sunscreen and insect repellant and eyelid cream with spf. I remembered Moo Moo telling me once that her eyelids got burnt when she was watching the aerospace show in singapore and it hurts like hell. Like she said, who on earth would have thought eye lid could get burnt?! Hence I have every intention of ensuring that doesnt happen to me

My face was getting drier and the only saving grace was the daily sunscreen SPF30 with moisturiser that I had to slap on everytime i leave the room and walk into the sun. Still, those stuff are just not good for my skin over prolong period. Despite wearing cap most time on land, my scalp started to flak from overexposure to the sun while in water. I should have guess when i saw the scalp alittle red. I didnt feel anything until i saw the dandraff like flaks. I guess my hair are too fine to offer complete protection. Luckily, my scalp wasnt burnt!

We pop off for another snorkelling session in the morning and we found a mother clown fish guarding her babies. It was funny because when we approach near her hideout, she would actually venture out trying to fend us off. The mother clownfish is often bigger than the rest and it appears that sex change occurs if the largest female clownfish dies off and the next one had to take over. I hope i rem this correctly from the story that Ben the dive master told us.

When it was time to leave, it felt abit sad to leave this tranquility behind. Most of all, I had grown really fond of some of the staff whom I have grown attached to like a friend. I mean service from some are really great here and little jokes here and there made it felt like you were visiting a friend than a remote resort. I am going to miss our little quiet boardwalk back to our room. We will always remember our first night where the housekeeping let a bat into our room while we were having dinner. Ha!

I guess that is the idea for the steep price as some may comment. While we knew it was premium pricing especially when we can get something similar or better accomodation back in Asia, it was no doubt still a great experience for us. Like I told my husband, in Asia, you are not going to get Great Barrier Reef down your backyard to visit at your own time and will. We are still glad we made the choice.

Our flight back to cairns at 3.30pm was smooth and painless! I guess the weather was clear, visbility great and so the pilot could do a gradual descend. My ear for once, didnt even pop once!

We transfered to our serviced apartment Elysium at Palm Cove and we were pleasantly surprised at all large and clean and self contained the unit was! There was an open area kitchen fully equipped with microwave, oven, dishwasher, fridge etc. We had a decent size living room, a walk in wardrobe, and a balcony complete with outdoor table and chair. My husband even squeeked in delight that there is a TV! Yeah, u can tell who is the TV addict between the 2 of us:) All i cared was to turn the aircon on and that the bed was nice and comfy:)
The first thing we wasted no time in, was to unload and turn on the washer that night!! Then we popped off to William Esplanade (the main street) which is only 5 mins walk away to grab all the food essentials from the supermarket just round the corner. Talk about ultra convenient.
Our apartment was on a good spot for us. It was at the end of the road and so there was minimal traffic. We faced the mountain instead of the sea and so our night sleep will not be disturbed by the relentess crashing waves. I had learnt not to get too near to the front with seafront units after my Bali stay at Legian hotel where the waves kept me up most night despite having the balacony door closed.

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