weekend Matt and I flew up to Port Douglas in North Queensland. The flight itself wasn't what I would call enjoyable. We sat on the ground for about an hour while Virgin Blue fixed a cargo door that wasn't working right. Matt was convinced they just duck-taped it back on. They offered free in flight entertainment to compensate for leaving late which would have been nice if the screens worked. But the worst thing had to be Judith. There was a family from Canada sitting behind us and the mom, Judith talked SO loudly. After a few minutes I knew every family
members name, what they had packed for lunch, their itinerary and all about cousin Kevin's trip to Israel. To top it all off she smacked her candy for four hours straight. My parents can attest to the fact that I am super sensitive to certain noises...smacking is high on the list. After a few hours I was about to start having a complete blubbering melt down. I would here candy crunch and thought the torture was over only to hear another candy wrapper open. Then something entirely different
almost made me cry. The plane broke through the clouds and I caught my first glimpse of the Coral Sea. I forgot all about Judith and was filled with happiness at what a fortunate girl I was to see this part of the world. Matt and I wasted no time exploring Port Douglas. The plants were beautiful! There were tropical flowers and ferns everywhere. I noticed little ants crawling around whose backsides were green. I had never seen green ants before. We he
aded down to the beach to take a look. I was fascinated by perfect little balls of sand all over the beach. They were obviously made by some creature or another since there was a hole wherever there were sand balls. Then we saw tiny little crabs. I hadn't realized they were all over the place. I picked a few up since they were too small to pinch me and they looked just like the sand. I put my feet in the ocean but did most of my swimming in the creature free la
goons. All the warning signs by the beach can put a person off.Matt and I were both really excited about a dinner we had planned at Flames of the Forest. I happily jumped on the bus out to the Daintree Rainforest and was greeting everyone enthusiastically. And then, well...have you guys seen Finding Nemo? Remember when the fish in the aquarium are waiting for the dentist's niece to come? The JAWS-esque music plays and
all the fish yell in unison "DARLA". The same exact noise went through my head but with a different name...JUDITH! All I could think was that I would have to sit through another three hours of constant smacking. She turned around and yelled four seats back that her daughter recognized us from the flight. I politely confirmed that I recognized her too. Matt was laughing at me. We reached the sight of our dinner in the Daintree and everything looked magical. Candles and fairy lights were flickering all over the forest. I bee-lined for the girl with the champagne tray away from Judith but to no avail. The whole family came over to chat. I must admit they were a very nice family traveling around the world together which is lovely. I did, how
ever make every possible effort not to sit at their table and thankfully was successful. We sat with Peter and Ann who were lovely, another couple from Australia, and three ladies from the states who worked for a tourism company. Dinner was fantastic! Eating it in the middle of a sparkling rainforest was sublime. We could hear the river flowing just a few feet away and bandicoots rustling around the forest floor. After dinner there was a traditional Aboriginal dreamtime story. This is where things got interesting. Before dinner a lady from Bavaria named Claudia had introduced herself to us at the bar. She seemed nice enough at the time. When the musicians took the stage Claudia took it upon herself to start heckling. This was not the kind of performance where heckling was anywhere close to appropriate
e and one of the musicians said as much trying to curtail her. Wine had gotten the best of Claudia. She stopped heckling and took to wandering long enough for the performance to go on. The instrument that was played is the didgeridoo. It is a very tricky instrument in that you have to train yourself to breathe in and blow out at practically the same time to play it correctly. They told the story of a duck who fell in love with a river rat. Their baby became the platypus. Then the generators were turned off and we were all listening to the noises of the forest in candlelight. This was magnificent and luckily Claudia stayed quiet for a little while. After the lights came back on so did Claudia. This time she took a liking to Judith and family. A very close liking...no sense of personal space whatsoever. I would be a horrible liar if I didn't say I thought it was rather amusing to watch the high level of uncomfort going on. Finally Claudia had enough of being shhhhed and brushed away by the Judith clan. She started screaming about rude Canadians and throwing things on the ground. I will say the staff handled her beautifully, calming her down and steering her away to a bus. We had a great laugh with Judith and her family about all the craziness on the bus ride back to the port. Overall, it was a VERY entertaining evening.
all the fish yell in unison "DARLA". The same exact noise went through my head but with a different name...JUDITH! All I could think was that I would have to sit through another three hours of constant smacking. She turned around and yelled four seats back that her daughter recognized us from the flight. I politely confirmed that I recognized her too. Matt was laughing at me. We reached the sight of our dinner in the Daintree and everything looked magical. Candles and fairy lights were flickering all over the forest. I bee-lined for the girl with the champagne tray away from Judith but to no avail. The whole family came over to chat. I must admit they were a very nice family traveling around the world together which is lovely. I did, how
ever make every possible effort not to sit at their table and thankfully was successful. We sat with Peter and Ann who were lovely, another couple from Australia, and three ladies from the states who worked for a tourism company. Dinner was fantastic! Eating it in the middle of a sparkling rainforest was sublime. We could hear the river flowing just a few feet away and bandicoots rustling around the forest floor. After dinner there was a traditional Aboriginal dreamtime story. This is where things got interesting. Before dinner a lady from Bavaria named Claudia had introduced herself to us at the bar. She seemed nice enough at the time. When the musicians took the stage Claudia took it upon herself to start heckling. This was not the kind of performance where heckling was anywhere close to appropriatee and one of the musicians said as much trying to curtail her. Wine had gotten the best of Claudia. She stopped heckling and took to wandering long enough for the performance to go on. The instrument that was played is the didgeridoo. It is a very tricky instrument in that you have to train yourself to breathe in and blow out at practically the same time to play it correctly. They told the story of a duck who fell in love with a river rat. Their baby became the platypus. Then the generators were turned off and we were all listening to the noises of the forest in candlelight. This was magnificent and luckily Claudia stayed quiet for a little while. After the lights came back on so did Claudia. This time she took a liking to Judith and family. A very close liking...no sense of personal space whatsoever. I would be a horrible liar if I didn't say I thought it was rather amusing to watch the high level of uncomfort going on. Finally Claudia had enough of being shhhhed and brushed away by the Judith clan. She started screaming about rude Canadians and throwing things on the ground. I will say the staff handled her beautifully, calming her down and steering her away to a bus. We had a great laugh with Judith and her family about all the craziness on the bus ride back to the port. Overall, it was a VERY entertaining evening.
