Apple muncher's number crunching

apple_muncher

I know!

We're in Port Douglas now, rainforest and reef territory 😎

apple_muncher

I was very grateful for compression socks on yesterday's flight. It was under 3 hours, but they were magic!

The place we're staying has an unprepossessing frontage, but is really fab inside. The only thing it's lacking is a pair of scissors 🤣

This morning I have done a zuzka light 5 min leg workout, a 1.75mile walk there and back along the beach, and 10 lengths of the tiny pool we have. All by 10.30am.

Today is planning day.

f0xh0les

apple_muncher said:

I was very grateful for compression socks on yesterday's flight.

The only thing it's lacking is a pair of scissors 🤣

I hope those two things were unrelated!   

Happy planning day, it sounds very exciting.

apple_muncher

One thing Pip wants to do out here is to go bouldering. So he's done that in Melbourne, Sydney and Cairns now.

We had a wander around Cairns today and it wasn't really a place to spend much time!

Tomorrow we have the local Port Douglas market, and on Monday we're off snorkeling on the reef. Thursday is a trip to Kuranda. So we have Tues, weds and Fri with nowt in them as yet. DH wants to fill every day with 'big' things, so I pointed out that every day is a 'big day' for Pip. Dh has acknowledged that what he wants to do on holiday isn't always what everyone else wants to do. No !!!!!! Sherlock!!! But he's rubbish at communicating what he wants to do!!!!

When he's on holiday, dh turns into the Tasmanian devil and wants to be out and doing things - so very different from the man I know at home. But Pip needs to sleep and rest a lot, and we can't often plan to do much before noon. I'm pretty much caught in the middle. I'm definitely a morning person but I want Pip to enjoy his time here too.

So I suggested to DH that he go for a morning run tomorrow. After all, we're only a five minute trot from 4 mile beach! And once he's back, I can go... maybe...

Gosh, that sounds moany. Apologies 😎

f0xh0les

No it doesn't sound moany at all. 

 I am the morning person in our house. I want to be up and out and doing.  The men want to laze in bed, have a leisurely breakfast, get their stuff together, faff about, wander out of wherever we are staying at 11.00, by which time I've run down to the supermarket, come back and had a coffee, wandered down to look at the sea, found a bakery an bought their lunch, and done 14000 steps.  If I stayed in, waiting for them to get up, I would be a basketcase. 

So take your holiday at your own pace. Luckily Pip is of an age he can be left alone for a while. Even better if you have access to phones to keep in touch. 

Enjoy your holiday, and you can always go back, maybe not every year, but with Pip growing up, you will be in a position to treat yourselves more often .....  any big birthdays coming up?.....  and not being tied to school holidays anymore is going to be blissful (can you tell I still have 2 years left til GCSEs are over in our house?)

apple_muncher

Thanks f0xh0les ♥️.

I went out first for a run this morning, then dh. Pip slept well, having the air con on all night. Result!

We wandered down to the local market - or rather, dh drove us there and parked nearby, cos Pip kinda injured both ankles when he nipped onto the trampolines after bouldering - where only local made stuff is allowed. Loved it! Bought myself a couple of leather bracelets with a shark/croc tooth in them. Also found a gluten free bakers stall. Pip got a bag.

We left Pip behind in the afternoon and went on the cliff walk, which was a good 2.7 miles door-to-door. Loved it!

And we've just booked a dream time session at Mossman gorge and a zipline experience in the Daintree rain forest.

During our walk, I asked dh just how much money we had left, as he keeps saying that we've got plenty. He loaded our card with £10,000, and we still have about £7000 left. It's gonna be hard work getting through it all 🤣🤣🤣

Once we're back in Blighty, I'll try to remember to add it all up: flights, all the accommodation, spends on the card...

Today has been a lovely active day. Plus, it's been quite sunny. Happy apple.

f0xh0les

It is memories apple, remember that.
Sending ❤️❤️ back at you ( being the coolest parent ever must suck )

apple_muncher

Up and at 'em today, to the outer reef for some snorkeling. Unfortunately the wind was up, which made it extra hard work. We'd booked to go on a tour with a marine biologist after lunch, but Pip didn't want to do it, and dh was a shivering wreck after the morning's 15 mins in the water. So off I toddled. There were only 6 in the group and we saw a happy turtle and the electric blue fishes and different types of coral. It was hard work, swimming against the swell, but very enjoyable.

On the way back, the wind had picked up, as had the swell. As a result, many people were unwell, me included. The crew were so attentive to us all poorly people, handing out bags and taking away ones with contents in them (I used four 🤢) and bringing out cold wet strips of fabric to put on necks and heads.

Another memory, eh, f0xh0les???!!!

f0xh0les

Sounds absolutely Fabulouso!

 I'd barf in a bag 4 times to see a happy turtle and electric blue fishes. 

Aren't you glad you did it though?

apple_muncher

Yes, I am glad I did it 😎 I forgot to mention that the coral was amazing, especially where it was growing and the tips of the branch coral had blue tips. We saw a rockcoral that was about 3m high, and since it grows about 1cm per year, then it's 300 years old! 

Originally we'd thought about doing 2 days snorkeling, but the weather's windy, grey and rainy, so we're now keeping Friday as a chill day.

Today we went to the Mossman Gorge for a dreamtime walk with an indigenous guide. It was fascinating, and I got my arm painted with natural paints- and the young lady who did my arm had crocodile and shark as her totem names, from her parents roots, so she depicted them both on my arm. So cool 😎😎😎.

We nipped home (only 20 mins) for lunch, and pip and I went to the one and only Op Shop in town and got 6 items for $20. Bargainaceous!. The most expensive item was 5 dollars and that was for a BNWT top that originally cost 55 dollars!

Then Pip went on a wander round town and dh and I returned to the gorge to do the 2.4km rainforest walk. It was not an easy walk, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. And it was more like 3.7km because we had to get to and from the start/end of the walk. And we only went the wrong way once 🤣