Seasick Steve

The flight from Darwin was delayed by about 30mins – surprisingly the first flight delay we have experienced so far & we were greeted by the sunshine on arrival. Our accommodation in Cairns was a cabin on a caravan park on the edge of town - cheap and clean. we arrived & caught the local bus into town to explore. Similar in size to Darwin there are still some lovely original buildings here & along the sea front  it's immaculate, with tree lined footpaths & a fantastic (free) lagoon for swimming & areas for you to have a barbecue.  This is Australia after all. We found the local supermarket (Woolworths) and,  back at the cabin,  we cooked up our own BBQ of sausages & steak.
The following day was super hot so we spent much of it swimming/cooling in the lagoon &  laying in the shade of the  trees. However no visit to Cairns would be complete without a visit to the Great Barrier Reef. So the following day we boarded a huge catamaran ‘ocean spirit’ (a name that inspires confidence) & set sail for Michaelmas Cay on the reef. It got off to a good start – cranberry muffins & a cup of tea accompanied by bright sunshine. 
Then the weather turned, the sun disappeared & conditions got v choppy. I have never been good on boats. Ever since my first trip abroad- a day trip to Calais with the school where we subjected innocent locals to pointless questions such as ‘where is the train station?’ ‘ where is the town hall?’ (why did we need the Town Hall?)– I have always been sick on boats. However on this trip something odd happened- I was fine & Mr L, who hasn't been ill on a boat for 20+yrs,  was seasick. Was I sympathetic & supportive? Of course, but I still insisted we went on the semi submerged trip once we arrived at our destination. I don't know why because as soon as we boarded the vessel, Mr L got worse & I had flash backs of my disastrous diving trip in the Maldives. Plus because of the rain we couldn't see much anyway.  When we got off Mr L ran to the bathroom whilst I held his place in the lunch queue. My mum’s cure for everything was to eat – ‘it will make you feel better’. So we did. And he did. Sort of. 
The weather was still awful but we had come to snorkel & that’s what we were going to do!  We donned our Lycra body suits to protect us from the non existent sun & from stingers (jelly fish not stinging nettles) & got on the shuttle boat out to the island  (basically a giant sandbank). Snorkels & flippers on,  we ‘bum crawled’ our way into the sea, swam out about 100 yds & then we caught our first glimpse of the coral & the fish swimming just below us & it was all worth while. We stayed out there for ages & saw huge clams, a stingray, a turtle & so many different fish & coral - it was wonderful & we were both so pleased we had done it. 

Back on the catamaran, heading back to Cairns, we both shut our eyes & zoned out, until suddenly I heard a pop then another & another.  I sat bolt upright. Someone was opening fizz!!  It was true – they were serving champagne!! I nudged Mr L & he knew what he had to do. He ran to the serving area, nudging people politely out of the way,  to secure 2 glasses (later followed by another) to keep his beloved happy.  It was delicious & it helped with Mr L's seasickness too. Oh how I have missed my fizz!!. A perfect end to the day. 

The following day we picked up our camper van – our home for the next 4 weeks. It was the cheapest we could find & we could see why. It was tiny/compact/bijou. The whole of the inside behind the front seats, folded down to a double bed, which when you laid in it put your head about 3ft from the roof, with a small ‘kitchen’ at the back accessed through the backdoor – with a sink, a plug in cool box (described as a fridge) & a portable camping stove.  The outside was white with purple floral & butterfly motifs painted all around it & the words “Hippee Camper” emblazoned on every side. Great.