Coral shores & rainforest at Fitzroy Island

'There's nothing like deep breaths after laughing that hard. Nothing in the world like a sore stomach for the right reasons.'

- Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

This month, we took our first flight in over a year. Australia is still locked down pretty tight (though that is expected to change in the coming weeks with just a small travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand - fingers crossed!) and this was the first time that we have gone on a trip in months. At this point, Australia was - and still is - coping with COVID quite well overall and for the most part. Even so, getting on a plane to go somewhere in the same state we live felt strange. The trip was a surprise to see Josh's mum for her 50th birthday! We were so, so excited. So, we masked up, drove to the domestic airport, and made the few hours plane ride up to Cairns. It was Valentine's Day that weekend too, so we spent the Friday night having an incredible dinner and a fantastic night with some drinks and a walk back along the boardwalk to the hotel. We grabbed some snacks and we watched a few movies. We packed our bag (yep, bag...travelling light is much easier for us!) that night so we could get up bright and early without having to rustle around the room trying to double check that we had everything we needed. It was the perfect start to what was going to be such a fun weekend with family. 

Early the next morning, we checked out, grabbed some juices from reception, and walked over. Taking in the beautiful morning sunshine, we were trying so hard to strike the balance between the building exciting of walking over to meet everyone and not wanting Josh's mum to see us before it was time for the big surprise. Texting Josh's sister, we were working out the exact spot that we had to be. After a little bit of confusion on our part (oops!), we finally figured it out. Sneaking up behind her at the front of the ticket centre, we noticed her looking at her phone. So, taking the opportunity, we snuck around and casually joined their circle, waiting for her to look up. It was just a matter of seconds, but even so, I nearly started laughing. We had pulled it off! When she looked up, it was all happy tears and hugs. Seeing her face when we walked up and stood in front of her at the dock was epic - especially her face when she was hugging Josh. That whole weekend was so wonderful, but that is definitely a highlight for me. Josh and his sister put in so much work to get us all there and it had definitely paid off. After the realisation sunk in and the exciting reunion,  we started to walk over with the rest of the people heading over to the island. We were all so excited, checking into the COVID app and getting onboard the boat.

As the boat glided out of the pier side and out into the open ocean, it was not long at all before we were seeing the most amazing giant boulders and coastal tree lines. The contrast of the oceanic blues up against the earthy tones and the colours of the trees was so beautiful. Like so many different landscapes around Australia, it was somehow both wonderfully familiar and stunningly unique. I asked about it and Josh's sister explained to us that it was largely Indigenous land. We all talked about it for a while and then eventually the boat glided around that landscape, taking us further out to the open ocean, where little islands were peppered a little ways out from that coastline that we were pulling further and further away from. It was an incredible view. And knowing that it was just the start of the weekend was exciting. Eventually, the boat steered towards one of the islands. And let me tell you...that water. Wow. I never get tired of how different yet familiar islands seem in comparison to one another. And I had never seen an island quite like this one. It had similar lush forest and crystal clear water to other places we had been. The same sun shone down over the glittering surface of the water and the island. However, there was one key difference.

And it was all in the shoreline. We had been to beaches where the sand was made up more of crushed coral than the sand that frequents Australian beaches (miss you, Nusa Tenggara!). But here, it was big chunks of broken coral. The boat docked at the pier and we started to gather our bags so that we could get onto this island and start exploring as quickly as possible. And up close, even from the windows of the boat, we were all marvelling at the stunning shoreline. We were told that the rooms would be ready a little later on and that we could put our bags in the drop off location in the meantime. So, we did just that, got some beach towels from the reception and put them with our belongings, and decided to walk around the island a little bit. The resort is amazing. The pool is just a stone's throw away from the island's shoreline, the resort rooms sweep behind it to the left, and there is a cafe and bar to the right of the main part of the resort. By this point, we were all feeling a little peckish, so we headed over to the cafe and bar. We ordered, got some drinks, and started to talk excitedly about what we were going to do first on the island. After a delicious lunch, we grabbed our towels, changed into our swimmers, and went to hire some gear for the weekend so we could get into the water.Gear hire was super smooth. We grabbed snorkelling gear and stinger suits (this part of the coast is unfortunately also Home to multiple species of jellyfish that have painful stings. Obviously, the stinger suits offer a layer of protection and they also give you some additional protection against UV rays. Have you ever seen the television show 'Teletubbies'? When you put these stinger suits on and slip the hood over your head, you look like a Teletubbies character come to life. It was hilarious pulling them on over our swimmers and seeing Josh tug the hood over his head, zipping it up under his chin. Armed with our snorkel gear and protected head to toe, we grabbed our bags and towels and headed over to the water's edge to set up our stuff and jump on in. Slipping our fins, masks, and snorkels on once we hopped down over the broken coral to the water's edge, we all backed into the water (have you ever tried to walk forward with fins on? Yeah, no thanks...going backwards is so much easier and quicker!). The water was a little cold, but not enough to put anyone off. We got in, carefully swimming above the corals that fringed the shallows. There were so many fish, and all in these beautiful colours and fantastic different shapes. Josh and I angled out into deeper waters with everyone and then we got the most exciting welcome!

I saw something out of the corner of my eye but there was so much going on all around me that I kind of took a quick look and kept on my merry way. But then one of the others made this excited sound under the water and I look around and just ahead, a little underneath me, was a turtle! It was our first snorkel, just a few minutes in, and we were already seeing our first turtle of the trip! My favourite thing about turtles is the patterns on their shells...all kind of similar in a sense but always somewhat wildly unique. This little dude had the most vibrant pattern on its shell. It was mesmerising. Being careful to keep a respectful distance, the few of us that were close enough to see our new turtle friend followed along. I eventually fell into sync with it and cruised along, following its journey along the top of the coral beds and towards the pier that we had stepped onto the island from just a few hours earlier. These giant rainbow-hued fish were swimming alongside it as well. And then the little one gracefully arced up in the water, coming up to take a breath. I slowed down a little, giving it a little more space and watched it come up, take a breath (another one of my favourite things about turtles!) and watched it pop its little head back below the surface and take a huge stride forward, off into the distance ahead. Circling back, we all came up for a quick break and excitedly exclaimed about the special experience.

It was such a wonderful day. We hung out in the water for a while, swimming around with the fish and another turtle until we eventually decided to head in for a break. All contentment and excitement, we dried off and sat down to watch the ocean rush in to meet the shore with the other island framing the background. And the sound...I have heard the rippling ocean rushing in to meet coral shores before, however I had never been on a beach where the coral was literal chunks. And the sound was magical. So there we were, talking and watching the soft blue sky intertwine with the whites and dove greys of clouds and the sound of coral gently tinkling into the shore as the ocean rushed in to meet the edges of Fitzroy Island. That is one of my favourite memories and that sound is one of my new favourite sounds. I could literally sit and read to that sound forever. Dry and content, we walked over to see if our room was ready. It was! So we took our bags up to the room (actually two different rooms that were connected via the one entrance door, with each room spanning out from one side of the little entrance room). The rooms were beautiful. Josh and I took the pull out couch (which was pretty comfortable!), we put all of our bags away, and we headed back down to the pool. Setting our towels up in this little pool cabana in the centre of the pool area, we jumped into the water and floated over to the pool bar to order some drinks.

We spent a few hours in the pool drinking and hanging out. It was great family time. A few jugs of alcohol later and we started to taper off, Josh's mum and her partner to go for a hike, Josh and I to go for another snorkel, and Josh's sister and her partner to come with us and then hang out in the room. After grabbing our snorkel gear again from the room, we suited up and jumped in the water. We spent a while swimming around with the wildlife under the water (no turtles this time) and then I came in to sit by the water. I watched Josh snorkel around, listening to the tinkling sounds of the ocean around us, and looking out at the picturesque view that surrounded Josh in front of me. I eventually headed back to the room to shower before meeting up with everyone to watch the sunset. And when Josh had come back and we had all met back up after the hikes, naps, etc, we walked down together to watch the sunset from the shore in front of our rooms. Josh took the drone up and we all watched as the colours from the sunset began to softly light up the sky behind the cloud cover that had come in. It was not a vibrant light show, however it was still a lovely way to see the end of the day. In front of us, fish jumped in and out of the water and we sat there in chairs, watching until the light began to fade into the early evening. Back at our room not long after, Josh's sister made us pasta for dinner and we played Boggle for a while before we all went to sleep, agreeing to get up early for a sunrise snorkel.

I am a weird mix of a morning and night person. It takes me a bit to wake up properly but I do love being awake nice and early and making the most of my the day. So, I nearly chose to sleep through the wake up alarm we had set for the morning snorkel. I did pull myself out of bed and it was so worth it...we got in the water and the wildlife was just in full bloom. There we were, starting our day as the species that frequent the island were also starting their days. We did not see any turtles this time around, but trust me when I tell you it was by no means a dull morning in the water. Countless fish surrounded us, swimming around us and with us as we floated across the corals. A few octopi were clinging to the coral, camouflaging themselves as they became aware of the coming day and the reef coming to life around them. And then the best surprise, the highlight of that sunrise snorkel...Josh made an excited sound into his snorkel and I turned to see what he was looking at. At first, it looked like a few big clumps of seaweed (thanks, early morning eyesight). But it was two Angel fish! Just floating there, a relatively safe distance away, we knew better than to approach them, so we just watched them, looking at each other excitedly. It was so wildly wonderful! 

That early morning wake up was entirely worth it. It was the best way to say goodbye to the ocean. We dried off, took our gear and stinger suits to the drop off basket by gear hire, went up to quickly shower and pack, and headed back to the pier. As the boat pulled away from the pier, we were all content and happy. It had been a short overnight trip, however nonetheless it was such an awesome way to celebrate Josh's mum's 50th birthday. She wanted to go to Fitzroy for a while and all being able to go together to celebrate such a special time was lovely. The boat took us back to Cairns' mainland, gliding past the same stunning coastal landscapes that we had passed on the way to the island the day before. By the time we reached the Cairns esplanade, the sun was well and truly high in the sky, all beautiful blue skies and happy faces. It was a lovely weekend all around, to say the least. Josh's sister had booked us in for a lovely breakfast/lunch at a great little spot for their mum's actual birthday. We enjoyed another great meal to celebrate again on her actual birthday. We still had a few hours before Josh's and my flight, so after lunch we said goodbye to his sister and her partner, and we went to explore Crystal Cascades for a little bit before heading home. 

Crystal Cascades is pretty magical. So beautiful it looks like a scene out of a fairytale, this place is all lush green forests and sweeping waterfalls cascading into crystal clear pools of water that barrel down into each other all the way down the mountain. We walked all the way to the top, seeing the waterfalls from the highest possible point, and then we headed back down to one of the cool pools. The water was so clear that we could see the fish swimming around our feet, fighting the sweeping currents caused by the water that was rushing through from the falls above. The sun was in the perfect spot, sending golden light rays showering down through the trees and the water. Josh jumped in with the fishes (literally), enjoying the water while we sat and chatted for a while about how great the trip had been. We had all been together just 24 hours but it was really great quality time that we all appreciated. As time crept closer and closer to our flight, Josh dried off, we walked back to the car, and we drove to the airport. After a bittersweet goodbye at the airport (and a few tears, if I am being honest), Josh and I headed over to get our masks out of our bags.

Josh's mask was somehow missing (we did find it once we got home, weirdly enough, considering we turned that bag inside out) and a kind stranger offered Josh one of his spares (how good are kind people!?) and we went through the check ins, grabbed a snack, and waited to board the flight that would take us back Home. As the plane soared into the sky, higher and higher, I felt the content feeling that I always get looking out the plane window. Fitzroy Island is such a special place. I definitely feel like we will be back at some point. And getting to experience it for the first time with family was such a great way for us to see this place for the first time. Wildlife, paradise, quality family time...does it get any better? If you ever find yourself exploring the area around Cairns, make sure that you add a little day trip (or even better, a stay) at Fitzroy Island!