Tuesday, March 6 Cairns and Port Douglas
To Port Douglas
Thala Beach Lodge (pronounced Tahla) is amazing. We are soooo happy.
Bungalows perched on stilts in the canopy of the rainforest. Some have views of the Coral sea but not ours - we are in the low rent district : ) The pools look like lagoons in the forest. We unpacked, put on swim suits and headed for the pool. We read, sqam, relaxed and napped. Thios evening we had a beautiful dinner in the restaurant here. Went with another couple to sit down near the beach and star gaze. The hotel has a woman who comes with a laser pointer and points out all the constellations and tells you all about them. There is no light pollution here – except for the moon. Beautiful !! The beach is gorgeous but no swimming allowed this time of year –the box jelly fish is here and dangerous. Don asked if we could just wade along the edge – NO NO NO !! The jelly fish shed their tentacles and if you step on one, you could still be stung. The sting is not fatal but very very painful. There are beaches (not at the resort) where they have nets up to keep out the jelly fish – but sometimes the shed tentacles still get through.
There are times of the year when you can swim but the weather isn’t as nice then, Sooo…. I think I got it.. If you want to swim, you can’t; if you don’t want to, you can.
Ya………me for the pool : )
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Port Douglas
This morning we had breakfast at the hotel ($48. – eek !!) and then headed for Port Douglas – just 20 minutes north. Don is doing all the driving (on the left side of the road) He is doing just great and is very confident but I can’t help but be nervous.
Port Douglas is a small village – cute , clean, easy to walk about and get to know. There is asmall harbour here where many of the tour boatws put out because this is the closest shore point t the Great Barreir Reef. We shopped a little, had an ice cream for lunch – not even an attempt at control any more – and headed back to the hotel, where I had booked through the hotel, a private lesson with a travel photographer named Paul Dymond.
What an amazing three hours. We went for a walk to the beach and then around some of the hotel grounds. Paul is a young man – but has many awards and credits to his name. Check him and his photos out at http://www.dymond.com.au/
He spent three hours, helping to get more comfortable with the decision making process using the digital camera. He helped me to undersand some things that I have struggled with for years. I fell like I made significant progress in my knowledge. BUT , Now I sort of feel paralyzed every time I start ot shoot – so much more to think about !!
Years ago I had a Garfield cartoon on my desk. In the first fram, Garfield was walking along. In the second, John say to him, “ Garfield, when you walk on four feet, do you put your left front foot forward and hten your right rear or….. In the third fram Garfield is just staring out at us. In the fourth, he says, “I’ll never walk again” : ) That’s how I feel now.
During our walk we saw an enormous Lacey Monitor Lizard. (not sure of the spelling). He was up a tree and moving so I didn’t get much of a shot at him but I have posted it here. He is a out three feet long.
While I tramped and learned, Don spent some time at he pool and read. Then we showered and dined at the hotel restaurant. After dinner Paul did a slide presentation of some of his photos of the area, and discussed some travel photo tips and tricks. (That was why he was at the hotel and available for the tutoring session)
By the time the slide presentation was over, I was nodding off (I had the same problem in Art 101 at UCONN : )
To Port Douglas
Thala Beach Lodge (pronounced Tahla) is amazing. We are soooo happy.
Bungalows perched on stilts in the canopy of the rainforest. Some have views of the Coral sea but not ours - we are in the low rent district : ) The pools look like lagoons in the forest. We unpacked, put on swim suits and headed for the pool. We read, sqam, relaxed and napped. Thios evening we had a beautiful dinner in the restaurant here. Went with another couple to sit down near the beach and star gaze. The hotel has a woman who comes with a laser pointer and points out all the constellations and tells you all about them. There is no light pollution here – except for the moon. Beautiful !! The beach is gorgeous but no swimming allowed this time of year –the box jelly fish is here and dangerous. Don asked if we could just wade along the edge – NO NO NO !! The jelly fish shed their tentacles and if you step on one, you could still be stung. The sting is not fatal but very very painful. There are beaches (not at the resort) where they have nets up to keep out the jelly fish – but sometimes the shed tentacles still get through.
There are times of the year when you can swim but the weather isn’t as nice then, Sooo…. I think I got it.. If you want to swim, you can’t; if you don’t want to, you can.
Ya………me for the pool : )
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Port Douglas
This morning we had breakfast at the hotel ($48. – eek !!) and then headed for Port Douglas – just 20 minutes north. Don is doing all the driving (on the left side of the road) He is doing just great and is very confident but I can’t help but be nervous.
Port Douglas is a small village – cute , clean, easy to walk about and get to know. There is asmall harbour here where many of the tour boatws put out because this is the closest shore point t the Great Barreir Reef. We shopped a little, had an ice cream for lunch – not even an attempt at control any more – and headed back to the hotel, where I had booked through the hotel, a private lesson with a travel photographer named Paul Dymond.
What an amazing three hours. We went for a walk to the beach and then around some of the hotel grounds. Paul is a young man – but has many awards and credits to his name. Check him and his photos out at http://www.dymond.com.au/
He spent three hours, helping to get more comfortable with the decision making process using the digital camera. He helped me to undersand some things that I have struggled with for years. I fell like I made significant progress in my knowledge. BUT , Now I sort of feel paralyzed every time I start ot shoot – so much more to think about !!
Years ago I had a Garfield cartoon on my desk. In the first fram, Garfield was walking along. In the second, John say to him, “ Garfield, when you walk on four feet, do you put your left front foot forward and hten your right rear or….. In the third fram Garfield is just staring out at us. In the fourth, he says, “I’ll never walk again” : ) That’s how I feel now.
During our walk we saw an enormous Lacey Monitor Lizard. (not sure of the spelling). He was up a tree and moving so I didn’t get much of a shot at him but I have posted it here. He is a out three feet long.
While I tramped and learned, Don spent some time at he pool and read. Then we showered and dined at the hotel restaurant. After dinner Paul did a slide presentation of some of his photos of the area, and discussed some travel photo tips and tricks. (That was why he was at the hotel and available for the tutoring session)
By the time the slide presentation was over, I was nodding off (I had the same problem in Art 101 at UCONN : )
No comments:
Post a Comment