Last Day in Port Douglas

Our last day in Port Douglas dawned and whilst others in our group headed to the Daintree, we headed out the door to go snorkelling - well Alex and Brett were going snorkelling. We'd found the Reef Sprinter tour which sounded like the kids' speed - glass bottomed boat with a fast in and out to the reef (remember Brett had suffered motion sickness on the bus trip so we didn't want to take chances) and the tour duration wasn't too long to tax a child's concentration span. Other tours were day tours and they weren't for us. The time spent in the pool the previous afternoon had been with borrowed snorkelling gear (thanks Streets!) to show Alex what was involved. She was pretty excited about it - and with a back float was able to scoot about the pool quite nicely (no photo as Mummy was upstairs with Sebastien).

Alex wasn't too keen on the idea of going out on a boat with just Daddy. Mummy talked up the whole thing, pointing out different boats on the marina and talking about single hulled and double hulled boats and catamarans. She also made Alex promise to say hello to Ariel and Sebastien the crab if she saw them. Oh, and to take a photo of the fish' garden (coral), if she got the chance, so she could show Mummy.

Sebastien fell asleep on the walk from the bus stop to the marina (we had a somewhat circuitous route) so he missed seeing the two suit up!Then they were off down to the boat. They left their shoes behind on the pontoon and found a seat. Mummy managed to take a photo whilst balancing Sebastien against her shoulder. The size of the group was quite small - which made for a good tour.

Daddy managed to take a photo looking the other way.They headed out to the reef and had a great time - though Alex was nervous and didn't snorkel for long. She did feed the fish - which made Daddy a little nervous as he was in the water at the time - and had another little girl in the tour to make friends with. They were even allowed to "drive" the boat (a fact that didn't come to light until she saw her photos developed in China).
Whilst Alex and Daddy were out on the reef, Mummy and Sebastien enjoyed a chocolate milkshake at a tea shop on the main drag.Afterwards they wandered through the shops and came across the Guide Dog donation box. Sebastien thought this was great and (Mummy thinks) believed it to be a strange "live" dog. He patted it and kept kissing it on the nose - and took some convincing to leave.Mummy and Sebastien took a shuttle bus back to the apartment building. When the driver of the shuttle bus heard that Sebastien loved cars, and in particular their horms, every stop along the way was accompanied with the horn. Sebastien had a great time and the other passengers seemed to enjoy his delight.

That evening we put the kids to bed and then hosted a "Wine snob" evening in our apartment where everyone (or each couple) brought a bottle of wine to be blind tasted. Great fun and amusement was had and we got to sample to widely varying wines (from sparkling through to heavy reds - but interestingly no dessert wines). The evening drew to a close and soon only a hardy few were left solving the world's problems on our couch. At 1.30am Sebastien woke up with severe croup. A quick trip into the steamy bathroom somewhat eased the stridor, but Mummy and Daddy were still concerned enough to call Healthdirect, a special service in Australia that helps to decide whether your symptoms warrant a hospital visit, ambulance or doctor's surgery visit in the morning. When the nurse on the phone heard Sebastien, she told Mummy that she was organising an ambulance to visit - oh boy! Two ambulances were sent as it was treated as a 000/911 call - but when the first paramedic arrived and saw Sebastien, he cancelled the second ambulance. He didn't have any pediatric equipment (blood pressure cuff or mask etc) so felt it best to take Sebastien to the local hospital (located in the next town - Mossman). So Mummy and Sebastien got to take a ride in the back of the ambulance. Because Sebastien's symptoms had been somewhat relieved by the steamy shower, Mummy chatted to the driver about his experiences attending calls and life in the tropical north of Australia.

It was a short trip and the local hospital appeared all closed up except for one nurse on duty. Sebastien had a nebuliser treatment and was all but symptom-free by 3.30am - Daddy came to collect us (and some medication) and by 4.30am Mummy and Sebastien were trying to fall asleep. Sebastien was pretty wired by all the action - Alex had blissfully slept right through all the drama. We woke up exhausted but needing to check out of the apartment and catch the bus back to Cairns airport we gratefully handed Alex off to some of our friends so she could enjoy some last-minute swimming with their children. She also got to eat some of the food that they brought back from the markets - she thought this was great!

Sebastien appeared none-the-worse-for-wear and happily checked out the goldfish ponds at the front of the apartment building while we waited for the bus. Then we said sad farewells (and thank yous) to our friends - whom we likely wouldn't see for another couple of years - and made our way back down to Sydney. We would be spending a couple of nights there catching up with one last group of friends - and Grandie and Poppie were making a special effort to see us before we headed off for China!