This will be the first time we are going to Great Barrier Reef so we are pretty excited. We booked the resort in Fitzroy Island for a night. One thing that we didn’t realise until the day before we reached Cairns was that we need to find a car park for our car.
I tried googling for some information and seems like we would need to pay at least $35. The Pier is charging between $35-$40 based on their website. I called Hilton too and they also said it would cost at least $40. That’s a lot!
Once we arrived in Cairns, we decided to go to a visitor centre to ask for advice on overnight parking. Anyway, we also just found out that the visitor centres in Cairns are not like those in smaller towns. They are more like tour agencies. So, we went to this guy for advice, and he told us a few places where we can park.
One is the parking in the centre median in the CBD. He said most of the backpackers would park there. However, the one with 8P free parking is pretty far from the pier. We are also not comfortable with leaving our car for a day in the busy street. Another one would be the $3 parking per entry at Convention Centre. This one is amazing!
We parked here and walked towards the pier. It was so windy there. My cap flew off once, but I managed to step on it before it went to the water. It took around 45 minutes to get to Fitzroy Island. I think the ride was not bad since I didn’t get seasick.
When we arrived at the resort, we couldn’t check in yet. We decided to put our bags in the locker area and went to rent snorkelling gears. We actually wanted to hike first, but the snorkel hut is on the other side of the start of the hiking trail. We figured it would be better to rent first and we can directly snorkel after the hike. We asked whether they had a bag for us to put the stuff in and they only had a black rubbish bag. It wasn’t bad though since it can fit everything fine.
We then start walking towards the lighthouse. The beginning of the trail was so steep. I then regretted renting the snorkel first. I was carrying that rubbish bag while Jam is carrying a backpack with our water and snacks. Jam then had the idea of hiding the bag in between the bush, and we can pick it up on the way down. Much better!
The hike also has an interesting view. The beginning was green trees, then halfway, there were more orange leaves, and then suddenly we saw burnt areas. We weren’t sure whether there was a bush fire here before. The sea view was beautiful too.
Before we arrived at the lighthouse, we passed the junction to go to summit lookout. I didn’t think I could do more stairs climbing and steep hiking. We then shelved that idea and just continue towards the lighthouse.
It was so windy and cold (for me). We sat beside the wall and had our lunch there.
After resting for a while, we walked back down. I actually missed the spot where we hid the bag of snorkelling gears. Luckily, Jam paid more attention to the surrounding and noticed it quickly when we walked towards it.
I am a poor swimmer and also bad at treading water. At first, Jam and I were swimming along the shore to get me used to snorkelling. I’ve done it before, but previously I always had a life vest on me. I wasn’t sure whether they also rent out one cause I didn’t see it at the shack. While snorkelling, I felt the water keep coming into my snorkel. Then, I couldn’t stand up and adjust my snorkel since we were not supposed to step on the corals. It was just generally bad experience for me. At one point, the seawater went into my nose, and it hurts so bad. I also kept swimming back to the beach to blow out the water properly.
In the end, I asked Jam to go ahead and swim further. While he was away, I tried to swim again along the shore, but the water just kept coming in. When I was practising again, I saw a stingray swimming. I genuinely got scared, quickly swam to the beach, and backed away from the water while sitting, since I still had my fins on.
I kept hearing people mentioning about stinger on Queensland beach and how dangerous they are. At that point, I was thinking, is stingray stinger? Isn’t this bad? Should I tell people around? I thought this is not the season?
I went to sit away from the water, covered myself with my towel and tried to look for Jam. Maybe 20 minutes later, finally he came out of the water. I quickly told him what happened and asked him about stinger. Apparently, stinger is jellyfish! He then said to me that I was lucky to see stingray. He managed to see a turtle, but didn’t see a stingray. Well, at that point in the water, I didn’t feel lucky at all.
We then dried ourselves and went to return the snorkelling gears. As we were leaving the beachside, I saw a group of people with pool noodles. I felt so much regret then. I didn’t notice they had that. I could have had better experience snorkelling.
We then checked in and made a reservation for dinner. The room was pretty nice. However, the floor between the bed and bathroom was creaky. Also, somehow the power socket for on the pantry wasn’t working. I needed to plug the kettle on the bedside to boil water.
After a shower and a quick nap, we walked down to see Nudey Beach. Before we reached there, we saw a short track to Secret Garden. We decided to see this first. It was quite a calming place. You are just walking in the middle of the forest and ending in a seating area surrounded by tall trees.
When we walked out, Jam felt maybe it’s too late to see the Nudey Beach. We then sat down at Foxy’s Bar to look at the sunset while having a drink.
It’s then time for our dinner reservation. When I saw the menu at Zephyr Restaurant, I realised it was good we got the voucher. The food was pretty pricey.
The waiter suggested some dishes and the way he described it made them sound so mouth-watering. The dinner was terrific.
Hiking and snorkelling seemed to be very tiring for us. We ended up fallen asleep before 9 pm.
I woke up around 430 am and considering to see the sunrise. Jam still wanted to sleep longer, so I tried to do some work on my laptop. There is no internet connection in the room, though. I tried to do some work before finally decided to go down to the beach since we realised that’s the only spot where we can get internet connections on both Optus and Telstra.
The sun seems to rise on the other side of the island. The beach is covered by dead corals that would make beautiful sounds when you walk on them. There were some boats left unmanned on the sea. I wondered whether people were sleeping in there or would they be taking another smaller boat to go over.
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Around 730, I went back up to charge my laptop. On the way up, I noticed a sign at the staircase door mentioning path to Summit Lookout. I then checked the map and noticed it is a shorter walk from the hotel compared to yesterday’s walk! I estimated the distance and the time we spent on the Lighthouse track yesterday. It seems like it would only take 20 mins if I take the hotel shortcut towards to lookout. I told Jam this. He thought it would still be pretty steep even though it’s shorter and it may not be that fast too.
After charging for a while, this time Jam went down with me to the beach. While sitting there, I kept on thinking of the lookout. I then decided to go up by myself. It was 830 am, and checkout is at 10 am. I would be able to go up and down and still have time to shower.
As I hiked up, I tried to count the human-made steps and also compared it to the hotel staircase. If I remember correctly, it should be around the same number as a 4-storey staircase for the beginning part. After that, it was more of the wild track kinda thing.
After walking around 15 minutes, I thought I was almost at the top. I took a picture and sent to Jam. I told him to come up and bring apples. He replied, okay. I then continued walking. What I thought was the end, was not the end. I needed to walk another 10 minutes probably. What greeted me was an incredible almost-360 view of the island. I regretted again, not doing this for the sunrise. Well, at least I did it, so I know about it now.
I sat for a while, and Jam didn’t send another message. I now worried that he thought I asked him to come up to the room since he is the one with the key. I left the peak and descent down. After a few minutes, I ran into Jam! Hahaha. I told him I thought he misunderstood me. Then I told him the top is not too far away. I quickly turned back and guided him up. What I thought was not far away, actually was still quite a distance. I didn’t notice how far I have walked down.
We then had fruits while looking at the view. It was quite a nice end to the trip.