The following morning we met Emma and Luke’s three daughters, Georgia, 5, Gabriella, 3, and Lilianna, 8 months, along with their little dog Moses. The girls are adorable and took to me immediately! Since there are numerous diving opportunities and hikes on the island, Emma and Luke are flexible with the work schedule (WWOOFing is an accommodation and food exchange for about four hours of work a day) in order for us to have completely free days to explore the island; therefore, the first day we spent eight hours painting a bunch and doing a bit of weeding. We painted again the following day and then went to part of the national park and did a short walk up to an old fort and look out.
The next morning we took advantage of the work we got done earlier and Emma dropped us off at the beach to go snorkeling. We started off at Florence Bay, spent most of the morning there, hiked over to Radical Bay, Balding Bay, and ended in Horseshoe Bay, the one closest to where the Speare’s live. Total hiking was 5.8km. It was a spectacular day (about 30 degrees Celsius)! Supposedly there was a crocodile spotting in Radical Bay, although rumor on the island is that it was just a foolish tourist. We were in the vicinity of the national park for a bit, but I still haven’t seen any koalas! This island is well known for having a high native koala population… I won’t believe it until I see it! There are only 3,000 people that live here year round so it is funny to hear Emma and Luke talk about tourists (Australia is on a long holiday right now because of Easter and Anzac day).
With the winds low and the weather deteriorating in the coming days, we booked scuba gear for the next day. Our first dive was in the marine reserve in Geoffery Bay at the Moltke shipwreck, a German boat that wreck in 1890 and was used as target practice for the air force during World War II. It was awesome! It wasn’t deep, maximum of 7.6m, and I stayed down there exploring for 90 minutes! Afterwards, we went back to the dive shop (Pleasure Diving), had lunch, and then got a tank refill to go to Alma Bay where we explored some small caves, again, so sweet! It was another long dive, 75minutes, and I am rather proud since I “outlasted” Torrey on both dives, so apparently I use air very conservatively while down there. I want to get my advanced open water certification now. I wonder why I didn’t study Marine Biology! It’d be sweet to have to dive as a job. That evening, we went with Luke to a yoga practice on the island with a bunch of residents. We even saw the owner of the dive shop who let us know that he would be willing to do a night dive with us to check out the wreck the following evening. This island is amazing; I love the small town feel, despite the tourist attractions (Moke and “topless” cars). Torrey went on a night dive that I planned to do, but figured I will be doing two in Cairns so I passed.
Over the next few days we washed the car, helped finish laying a walkway, set up a small garden, and did other small tasks around the house. On Easter Sunday I baked an apple pie, lemon bars, anzac and chocolate chip cookies! We've spent quality time with this family and it has been wonderful (I even taught the girls some gymnastics). It has also made me excited to come home! I'm still waiting to see a koala... I went on a 6km walk by myself, and still no luck! Fortunately they have internet, although my mobile doesn't work, so I was able to book my live-aboard diving trip (three days, two nights, eleven dives), sort a hostel and couchsurfing in Cairns, as well as a way up there! I won't be spending anymore time in Sydney as initially anticipated because the tickets south were really expensive because of the holidays.
No comments:
Post a Comment