12/29/16,
"The Reef"
Green
Island, Queensland, Australia (Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area)
Well, that's
all seven of them. At long last, I have
arrived at the Great Barrier Reef. Last
night, I recounted the journeys that brought me to the other six. This entry will recount the journey that
brought me to the Reef, along with my impressions of all Seven. I am now sitting out on a secluded beach in
Green Island National Park, writing this entry on my phone, since, for some
reason, my laptop didn't charge overnight, and I drained the charge by charging
my phone from it.
This is as good of a
place to experience the Reef from the surface as any, and I will be
experiencing it from the water later in the day. The interesting thing about the Reef is that,
locally, it is not all that impressive.
What is impressive is its scope.
Being the largest coral reef in the world certainly earns it its status,
but to look at it at any one spot is entirely underwhelming.
Victoria Falls is the same. The Falls are most impressive for their
length rather than local impressions.
Mount Everest and the Grand Canyon also earn their status for their
size, but each the size of both of those can be beheld at a glance, unlike the
Falls and the Reef. The Harbor of Rio de
Janeiro and the Paricutin Volcano are Wonders for more cultural reasons than
natural ones, the Harbor, though impressive as a natural feature, is more
impressive because of how it serves as a maritime gateway to South
America. The Volcano is most impressive
due to the fact that it was born in modern times.
The only Wonder that is singularly
impressively for what it is, naturally, both locally and globally, is the Northern
Lights. It spans all around the world,
and it truly is a wonder to behold at any one location. It is not "just another" something
like the other, it is entirely unique.
Each Wonder is special in its own right, and I am glad (and proud) to
have visited all Seven. I will need to
cut this short, as I am draining my precious battery life, and it is starting
to rain.
After I closed last night, I
published everything and went to bed. I
woke up around 6 AM and got ready. I
walked to the terminal, where I got my ticket.
Breakfast was a bit of an adventure, but, to cut a long story short, I
opted for smoked salmon Benedict and a flat white. After breakfast, I went to the boat, and we
were soon on our way, arriving at Green Island before long. Half the island was a National Park, the
other a resort.
I walked through the
rainforest of the National Park, it raining intermittently, before I got to the
end. Once the rain stopped, I walked out
the beach, lit up an H. Upmann, and took my ceremonial picture. That was that, all Seven. I posted my collage and then sat down on the
beach, where I proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close so that I
can start heading back to the boat.
Cairns,
Queensland, Australia
Today should
have been one of the best Days of the trip.
Instead, due to a bunch of bad decisions (at least five that I can
count) and some unfortunate weather, it was completely devoid of enjoyment and
instead purely one of fulfillment.
However, being able to say that I have seen all Seven Natural Wonders of
the World is very fulfilling, and I can take some comfort in the fact that,
even if I could replay the day and not make the bad decisions I did, the rain
and heat would probably have precluded the enjoyment anyway. It started when I got off the boat at Green
Island and walked out into the rain. It
literally dampened my spirits, and everything was downhill from there, never
being able to get my spirits back up.
It
all started with breakfast, actually, and I chose wrong for breakfast, getting
an overpriced smoked salmon Benedict at the hotel on the waterfront, instead of
getting the full buffet, which did not include smoked salmon. I chose this because it was my first Official
meal in Queensland, and I did not feel breakfast food would otherwise be
considered appropriate, as bacon and eggs have nothing to do with Queensland
cuisine, while fish does. If I had gone
with the pork-based options for breakfast, bad decision number five of the day
would not have happened, either, most likely, but I will get to that
later.
Anyway, the rain stopped not long
after I reached the end of the island, and I was ready to go. It was time to take my ceremonial picture and
post my epic collage of all Seven Natural Wonders of the World. However, I messed up the post and had to
delete it and repost it. When you repost
something on social media so soon after your first post, it reduces visibility,
and only a handful of people saw it. I
had worked so hard on that post, not just on visiting the other six Wonders,
but on assembling the pictures, on editing the lighting and shading, and on
making the collage. However, due to some
rookie mistakes in posting, almost no one saw it. That was bad decision number two, and it was
later exasperated by a similar post that I never should have posted, but I will
get to that later.
Okay, two bad
decisions before I wrote my first entry, but I was ready to recover. I sat on the beach to write my entry. This would be a grand celebratory entry, but
it was not to be. I saw the low battery
notification on my laptop and panicked and turned off the laptop to write on my
phone. Well, I would later learn that
the low battery notification was left over from last night and that my laptop,
in fact, had a full charge. I had no
other means to charge my phone, so, not only could I not write my entry in my
usual way, but I also had to cut the entry I wrote on my phone shirt because
battery life. I was severely worried at
this point about not having enough battery life for the rest of the
adventure. If I had just spent a few
seconds looking at the notification on my laptop, I would have seen it had a
full charge, and I would have written my entry on the beach with my laptop, and
the other two bad decisions and adverse weather would have been forgotten. Instead, I made bad decision number three. That was where I closed at the beach.
After I closed, I took my ceremonial picture
to claim the Great Barrier Reef as a World Heritage Site, with the same cigar,
my water bottle, and a printout. I
posted that photo, almost immediately regretting it, as I realized that I would
have gotten a far better picture to post when I went snorkeling. I deleted it, but it further reduced the
visibility of my collage. I am still
counting this as part of bad decision number two. I then headed back towards the pier, stopping
for souvenirs (and getting some good stuff!), but my main goal was to find an
adapter for my phone cord, since, I believed, I had no other way of charging my
phone. I could not find one, but I did
get a case to use my phone underwater.
When
I got towards the pier, I had some extra time, and I tried draining whatever
charge remained on my laptop to my phone.
It kept charging and charging.
That was when I started to realize what was happening, though I would
not confirm my theory until I got back to the hotel. I guessed correctly that the notification was
left over from last night, as there was no way I could have gotten such a
charge onto my phone from 6% battery life on my laptop.
It was now approaching midday, and it was hot
as hell. My reader will recall that we
are not even 17 degrees below the equator.
The heat was all-encompassing and overwhelming. There was no mistake, and I do not do well in
the heat. It completely drains whatever
faculties I may have for enjoyment. It
is no coincidence that all my top trips took place in either cool or temperate
climates. I would say that each of my
Top Ten trips had an average temperature during the trip of no more than 70
degrees, other than, surprisingly, numbers one and two.
Rio 2016 was during their winter, though, so
the temperature was comfortable. Also,
the pictures I posted in last night’s entry attest, I was far better equipped
to handle the heat during my Grand Canyon trip than during this, though, even
as a skinny twig, I always hated the heat.
Dare I even say, “The cold never bothered me, anyway”? Antarctica and Because It’s There were cool
or cold the whole trip, and all my summer trips to Europe were very temperate,
as was Israel in the winter.
I was
practically a zombie by the time we reached the pontoon near Norman Reef. I had secured a wetsuit rental for the snorkeling,
and the guy tried to give me an L. I
knew that would not fit me. He gave me
an XL, and I was still skeptical. I went
to change into my bathing suit and put the wetsuit over, but it would not
close. I swapped it out for an XXL, and
that worked. I left all my stuff on the
boat, other than my phone in its protective case, and went to get my snorkeling
gear.
I seem to have forgotten how to
snorkel of late, and I had the same problem I had at the Belize Barrier
Reef. After about a minute, I would no
longer be able to breathe, become short of breath, and have to come up for air,
the process ruining my mask setup and necessitating a return to the pontoon. This happened three times. At this point, I just cared about getting
some pictures and returning to the pontoon.
I got a great selfie underwater, but I didn’t get any good pictures of
the reef.
This brings me to bad decision
number four. They had these easy scuba
contraptions, where you have this new age suit that looks more like a spacesuit
than anything else, and you can walk on the ocean floor and get right up to the
reef. If I had done that, I could have
gotten great selfies and great pictures of the reef. I knew that that option was available, but,
so drained by the snorkeling experience, I had no interest. If I had just done that first, all the bad
decisions of earlier would have been forgotten, and it would have been a great
memory.
Instead, I retrieved my stuff
from the boat and went up to the smoking deck. Still wearing my wetsuit and snorkeling gear, I lit up a Partagas and
took my ceremonial picture, with my water bottle and printout to properly claim
the Great Barrier Reef WHS this time. I
posted that to Facebook, and, from the reception I got, I realized that this
was certainly much better than the one at the reef, but, getting such a good
reception, which I had wanted to be directed at the collage, only made me more
frustrated.
After my cigar, I went down
for lunch, getting just some fruit and cold cuts. After lunch, I went back up to the smoking
deck to have an Ardor, the last one I had brought for this trip. We were soon departing back for the mainland,
and I was so spent at this point that I just wanted to collapse, but the heat
was unescapable. Around 5:30 PM, we
arrived back at Cairns, and I went to my hotel, stopping for souvenirs on the
way. I figured that I needed to leave
the hotel at 7:30 PM for dinner, so I took a nap.
This is where bad decision number five comes
in to play. I had chosen one of the best
rated restaurants on Tripadvisor, a steakhouse.
Queensland is not known for their steak, though, but I had already had
fish for breakfast. This is why it was
such a bad decision. I should have had
the breakfast buffet with pork-based meats and then gotten fish for dinner
tonight. There were so many great places
to get fish here. Actually, I meant to
write about the Esplanade, which is the most touristy place I have seen all
trip. It has a wide selection of
international restaurants: Chinese, Turkish, Indian, German, Greek, Italian,
and more. These are all countries I have
visited and eaten the local cuisine during those visits. I was here to eat Australian food. That was why I chose the restaurant I
chose.
When I woke up from my nap, it
was dark out, though I had fallen asleep right at sunset. I had no idea what time it was. My watch said it was slightly after 8 PM, so
slightly behind schedule. I headed out
and got to my restaurant. There was a
long wait for a table, and I had a dark and stormy while I waited, which was
somehow disappointing. I love that
drink, but I avoid it due to the sugar.
This was not worth the sugar, not at all.
When they finally did seat me, I knew I would
want red wine and a steak for the main course, but I was unclear on my appetizer
choice. The waiter recommended the
bruschetta, which sounded good as described on the menu. It soon came, and I was disappointed, almost
to the point of being angry. This wasn’t
bruschetta. This was a sea of lettuce with
some other ingredients hidden beneath it.
For the price point, it was outrageous, and it wasn’t even that
good. I deconstructed each of the four
pieces, putting the lettuce to the side, fishing out the cheese from the sea of
lettuce to put back on the toast, and eating the meat, cheese, and mushrooms with
one bite for each piece, leaving half of each piece of bread, along with the
vast majority of the sea of lettuce. The
waiter asked me how it was when I was done, and I told him that it wasn’t what
I expected, that it was almost all lettuce, pointing to the sea that was left
over. He shrugged and walked away with
the plate. Seriously?!? Why the fuck did he ask me, then, if he was
going to ignore my complaint???
I almost
walked out at that point, but I wanted the steak. It soon came, along with chips and, of
course, more lettuce. I figured, if the
steak was good, all would be forgiven.
The chips were soggy, so that was a bad sign, and someone came by to ask
me how the steak was even before my first bite.
I said that I didn’t know yet. No
one ever came back to ask me again. If
it was, I would have told them the truth. It, too, was disappointing, but I blamed
myself for going to a steakhouse in Queensland.
There was nothing special about this steak. The steak in Hobart was far better.
Disappointed, I paid the check and left, stopping
for souvenirs and an ice cream for later on the way home. I got back to the hotel, changed into my
pajamas, and went out to the balcony, where I lit up a Camacho and proceeded to
write this entry, which I will now close so that I can publish and get a little
sleep before my early flight to Sydney.
Tomorrow is the Olympic Stadium, and, assuming that is a success, it
will easily wipe out the disappointments of today.
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