One of the beauties of living up on the Atherton Tablelands is the proximity to the Great Barrier Reef. A trip to Cairns, jump on a boat and you're on the outer reef in less than an hour.
Dad decided he wanted to do a reef trip. I was up for that - I love the ocean, I love sun and the Reef is amazing. We were thinking a day trip although I was keen to stay overnight.
We settled on an overnight stay at Green Island Resort. A better decision was never made!
Green Island, for those who are interested, is a 12ha 6000 year old coral cay located in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, just 27km offshore from Cairns. It is covered in Rainforest which makes it, I believe, one of only a few islands of its type.
Leading up to the trip, the weather had been terrible. It was coming into the wet season and that was proving ever so true on the coast. We weren't daunted though! It didn't matter if it was raining - we could still snorkel, as we'd be wet anyway and honestly, it was a few days away. We got lucky though, the morning we left the sun showed her face and kept smiling on us for the whole duration.
Embarking from Cairns at 8.30 on Monday December 6th, meant a very early start from Ravenshoe. That's ok, Dad drove - I got to doze.
The trip to Cairns took a bit longer than expected, there was a lot of traffic and roadworks, so we arrived at the terminal, just in time to board the boat.
Then we were on our way. It was about a 50 minute trip, I guess - maybe longer, I was enjoying it so didn't really notice the time. Slowly, but surely, we saw the mainland recede into the distance.
The Australian mainland becomes a hazy memory
I thoroughly enjoyed the trip over. I don't really get sea sick and we got to sit out on the deck. I eagerly awaited the first view of Green Island - and I was rewarded!
First view of Green Island from the boat
Clear water and clear reef line
The biggest question we had to answer was ... WHAT TO DO FIRST! Snorkelling or swimming - both things involved jumping in the water and I was champing at the bit. It took a lot of self control not to just jump of the jetty where we had moored.
OK. Checking in was first needed, which we did. Then a trip to the dive shop to get our suits (it was stinger season after) and dive gear and then to our room to drop our bags and get changed.
Getting into the swim suit was a challenge but I managed and then we 'dropped' into the water only to be rewarded again with lovely warm water and fantastic views. Dad had bought the underwater camera so there's a few shots of the snorkel we did.
We spent a good hour or so just floating in the sea, looking at the fish and coral. Eventually though, the physical exercise meant it was time to get out of the water and do ... something else.
Changing out of our suits, we elected that something would be the swimming pool. I told you, I love the water! And after a couple of very relaxing hours in the pool, a wander about the island and down to fish feeding on the jetty.
I'm not generally a fan of fish feeding, I find it a little ... boring. This time though, it was amusing to watch the fish 'watch' where the food was being thrown and head in that direction before it hit the water. Trevally, we were told, could see something like 3 metres above the water! 3 metres! That's twice my height!
A little reef shark also put in an appearance and it was lovely to see.
Sunset drinks were next, followed by dinner. We'd elected to take one of the resort 'baskets' which we ate on the balcony in the room, overlooking the rainforest.
Panaroma shot of the view
The View
And more of the view
We deliberately booked our return catamaran for the latest we possible could on the second day and I'm so glad we did.
After an early morning swim - and I mean early....
Sun is not quite up
Sun is getting there!
What next, we asked ourselves, after getting breakfast in the restaurant (all included in the package we had chosen). Ah, yes, another snorkel. Of course, the suits were still a bit damp but that deter us, we struggled in and this time, elected to drop into the water off the jetty.
We were told, on good authority, there would be a lot of fish there. And yet again, we weren't disappointed. The snorkel was much longer this time and I had fun swimming with schools of fish, seeing clams and Dad even got to see a turtle! I didn't, but these happens - I was probably chasing some pipe fish at the time.
More photos were taken to remind us of the majesty of the ocean.
After the snorkel it was time for more relaxing in the resort pool, lunch and then unfortunately, time to head home.
I had such a wonderful trip to Green Island and I'm so glad that I did it.
Leaving Green Island behind
Life continued in April 2020, we settled in and Honolulu did a "Lockdown Light" - dining in was cancelled, take out was still possible, parks were closed, masks were mandatory.
The lack of dining-in wasn't really an issue, I was happy doing the cooking for my housemates and we would get take out occassionally. The closing of tourist attractions etc put a crimp in my plans - but being the hermit I am normally, it wasn't a problem. After all, this wasn't going to last that long, was it? I still had till July before I could get home.
It was at the beginning of April that Lea, my housemate, got the news that the Ragdoll kitten she'd been on the wait list for was available and going to be coming to live with us.
Much excitement! By Lea and myself, at any rate.
So one morning, in early April, Lea headed to the Airport to pick up her new precious bundle.
The first photo I got of her, was almost straight off the plane.
I was instantly in love. What wasn't obvious, was how tiny she was. That's a Cat Carrier she's in - and she fits across it!
That became obvious a little later when Lea actually got her home.
Wolf was still young, about 7 months at the time, and introducing a new kitten requires a little care. Lea put Lamb in one part of the apartment, while we kept Wolf with us. Let the newcomer acclimatise to her new surroundings and then introduce her to Wolf.
Wolf was MOST interested in the newcomer and spent a lot of time pawing under the door. He really wanted to meet this kitten to play!
The new kitten was a sassy little thing. Meowing, rather loudly, when we left her alone - staking her place in the household and the fact that she was going to rule the roost.
It didn't take too long for Lamb, yes Lea named her Lamb, to settle in and prove she owned us all.
Unsurprisingly, I have a lot of photo's of the cats. Here's some of my faves from Lambs early days with us.
Click the images to see the large versions
Honolulu in February ... is humid. Not exactly hot, but humid and it only gets more so as the year goes on. Not that I'm complaining - the temperature is fairly constant between 25C and 28C which means no layering!
As I went through Border Control in Honolulu, I was asked if I'd been in China in the last fourteen days. No, no I hadn't. I knew there was a virus coming out of that region but that wasn't going to affect us, was it?
Arriving at my friends apartment, I was introduced the newest member of their household, Wolf. A absolutely adorable 6 month old Maine Coon.
I was in love with the fluff ball instantly, even if he thought feet were fair game for a little bit. I remember sitting there one night, all three of us playing on our computers and each of my housemates yelping and calling out "Wolf". He was nipping their feet. Looking at the time, I figured he was just telling them it was time for bed!
We had plans for my stay in Hawaii. The Might Mo', Iolani Palace, a luau ... the usual things, you know. We were going to see Jake Shimabukuro at the Blue Note, I was really looking forward to that.
We made the Mighty Mo, or the USS Missouri. A wonderful outing to Pearl Harbour and clambouring all over the ship that had been decommissioned and recommissioned more than once. There was lots to be impressed about but the thing that stood out to me was the decking - they had maintained (read replaced) the decking with hardwood. Not steel or alloy as modern warships use, but the original (or as near as possible to original) hard wood decking. It was beautiful.
The USS Missouri in February 2020
That was mid February. We were making plans for Iolani Palace the weekend after - but in that time, things changed. That "little virus" coming out of China turned out be rather infectious and was spreading like wild fire.
By the end of February, beginning of March, countries were advising people to limit their movements and take extra precautions.
I was asked if I was heading back to Australia by a couple of people, but my investigations at that time indicated that it wasn't necessary. In fact it was about that time that the advice from the Australian Government was that those of us who had somewhere to stay should "shelter in place".
Alright then. After speaking with my friends we all agreed that I would stay there and we'd all be fine. After all, it was just March and I wasn't due to leave till May.
Little did we know.
It was probably Mid March, thereabouts, when I got the first notification that Australia was limiting travellers into the country and Hawai'ian Airlines notified me that my May flight was cancelled. The next flight I could get was in July!
That's ok. I had approval to stay till July, even though I had originally booked to go home in May. No worries, things will work themselves out.
So March was spent in a state of quasi 'shut down'. Eating in wasn't popular and we were being careful to take precautions until more known about the virus.
None the less, we took Wolf out for drives to parks and beaches and still managed to get some of the Hawaiian ambience. Here's a photo of the fluffball on my shoulder while we're in the car.
And that is the start of my twenty three months in Hawai'i with .... no way home.
Where to start this story.... that's a good question.
Let's start sometime in late 2019, when the bushfires were raging about Canberra. That seems like a good place. I don't even remember when they started, the bushfires that is, but I do remember being on 'fire watch' - watching for updates about where the fire that had started near Canberra was travelling, whether it was under control etc etc etc.
Nothing new, not really. Well, perhaps it started a bit earlier than usual, like September instead December, and fires just kept burning about the city. Now, when I say 'about the city', they were a couple of hundred of kilometres out and a concern but not a threat.
The memory of 2003 however, when the weather conditions were similar to how they were in September 2019 were there. How we were showered with ash for weeks, the skies dark with smoke and the air thick. It was similar, but not quite the same.
Our fire fighters and emergency service people did a marvelous job at keeping the fires as much under control as they could but December 2019, they got worse. A fire started up to the South of where I live and came so very close to my suburb - at one point, it was about 2.5 km from the house where I was and our street was in the 'zone' where the fire would travel if it spread.
We lived in a state of 'ready to evacuate' for weeks. I recall packing boxes with things that were important and packing some of those in the car, I had a bag with clothes in it that I lived out of, and telling my gaming group over Discord that if I disappeared without notice, I was evacuating.
We'd wake every day with smoke so thick in the air, that it was hard to breath. We couldn't go outside without industrial facemasks and my eyes watered constantly when I was in the house, even though we had doors and windows shut tight.
The photo's I took really don't do justice to what it was like, but these were what most of our days were like. The sun angry and red overhead as it tried penetrate the thick smoke that lay over the Tuggeranong Valley.
It was during one of our gaming sessions that my Hawaiian friends asked me to come over and spend New Years with them. I couldn't because I'd agreed to house and pet sit that week but we made plans and it was agreed that I head over on February 8th, 2020 and spend 5 months there - to celebrate both their birthdays and have some fun.
New Years Eve 2019 was something else. My kids had gone to Nowra to celebrate with their Dad and were planning on spending the week there. I was looking after the house and pets - a bit concerning with all the fires about, but nothing too bad. We had a plan of action if it was needed.
Then I got the call, Nowra was evacuating and they were getting a police escort down the highway to Canberra. The fires that had threatened Nowra jumped and now the town was under threat. For ourselves, the fires to the south crept ever closer - I could see the flames on the hills near us and I was waiting for the call to go.
Fortunately, that call never came. I did however, spend much of New Years Eve waiting to see my kids arrive in the drive. When they did, I was extremely relieved. To say it was a subdued New Years Eve would have been an understatement.
Life moved on though and my bags were already pretty much packed, I spent the weeks between then and February working and cleaning. Tidying the room that I rented in my daughters house and leaving it as a tidy and orderly as could. I was, after all, only going till May but maybe they'd want to let people use it and I was ok with that.
February 8 arrived! I caught a Murrays Coach to the Airport, boarded my flight and headed to Hawaii for five months.
Now, at that point, there were reports of an illness affecting people returning from China. No one thought a lot about that - it was a virus but seemed to be controlled by isolating those affected and only affected some coming in from China and Asia, in general.
"No, sir" I answered, when asked by the guys at the gates in the US whether I'd been in China in the last 14 days.
And that was it. It was a virus. No big concern right? If only we knew...
... And here starts the story of my 5 month holiday that turned into nearly 2 years of not being able to return home ...