Day 14 Friday August 2nd 2019:
TV straight on as I wake-Oh no! Steve Smith has scored 144 and the Aussies have recovered to total 284.
Most were down for breakfast by 7am. The general consensus was that it was the worst one we had experienced-the Cairns Colonial Club isn’t coming out as ‘top trumps’.
We board our coaches at 8am and travel to the Reef terminal which is 10 minutes away. After booking in, we walk to the boat that is to transfer us to the reef-the boat trip should take us about 2 hours.
Mr Thomas organises the latest Donkey of the Day vote and unsurprisingly there are a plethora of candidates.
Mr Lewis and Iwan Jones as coach and captain were jointly nominated for their inability to add 15 and 2 and thinking they had beaten the Gold Coast.
Tom Barrington was nominated for purloining photographs at Currumbin and Miss Morgans joined him for receiving stolen goods.
Brianna Richards was nominated for attempting to re-write the laws of Physics thinking that if she packed her case more tightly it would reduce its weight. Worryingly, Casey Williams thought it was a good idea and planned to do the same-she was also nominated.
Jacob Purcell had beaten up room mate Charlie Catto using the Bible that was in their room to ‘provide some solace’ in times of trouble. The problem was that the ‘assault and battery’ made so much noise that their neighbours next door came around to complain. After their neighbours had gone, Jacob and Charlie had to use the bible to ‘provide them with some solace’. They were jointly nominated.
Cieron Williams, Alfie Woodcock and Raffi Richards knocked on the door of a room they thought contained their friends-it didn’t and the Chinese resident was so annoyed at being disturbed that he chased them around the hotel. The White House were straight on the phone-“They are just the sort of people we need to help with the peace keeping process in the Middle East”
Owen Parry was nominated for losing his phone in Brisbane airport and only finding it as the flight was receiving its ‘final call’. At least if he missed the plane he’d got his phone back and could ring mum and dad to come and pick him up.
Following their inability to spot the difference between the hotel lifts that go up to the rooms and those that go down to the lifts the year 10 boys formed a new boy band called ‘6 in the car park lift’. Following their efforts at the Brangwyn we know they can all sing, however, they won’t be able to go on a World tour because they’ll end up with colds and flu from sleeping in the hotel car parks. They were nominated as a group.
Lucy Steadman was nominated for deciding there was no need for a boarding pass and throwing it in the bin-thankfully, Mrs O’Sullivan rescued it for her.
Lewis Grove decided not to take his boarding pass after checking in and Adam Williams lost his-both were nominated.
Finally Raffi Richards’ security measures earned him a nomination. He’d lost the lock for his case-no problem he used a ribbon to tie it securely. Well it looked pretty at least.
We board the boat at 8.45am and are advised to take sea sickness tablets as the wind is expected to be over 20 knots. For most, the tablets don’t work and sickness abounds. There are a lot of pale faces on the deck.
When we arrive at the reef and transfer from the boat to the pontoon things are calm and those who were feeling ill are quickly back to normal and keen to take part in the variety of activities on offer.
A lot go snorkelling, some go on the semi-submersible or the glass bottomed boat that both allow underwater views.
14 students pay the £90 it costs to go scuba diving. There is also a water slide they can use.
After about an hour a buffet lunch is served and tea and coffee are available all day.
At about 3pm things are coming to an end and the students start to move back to the boat-I ask some for their experiences and these are some of the responses;
Molly Madden and Betsan Gates both went scuba diving-it was amazing and definitely worth the additional cost.
Noah Myerscough said that he really enjoyed snorkelling-the freedom when you were in the ocean was a great feeling.
Joe Richards enjoyed the water slide.
Leon Bevan liked swimming with the fish around him.
Iwan Jones said he enjoyed seeing Wally-some of his mates said only one of the two of them was a real ‘wally’
Rhys Flower really enjoyed being able to see the coral.
Josie Eales-Davies and Reid Davies said that the best thing was just being there and able to see it first hand.
We leave the reef at 3.30pm and the journey back to the harbour is a little quicker and less stressful-only a few suffer sea sickness.
We are back on dry land by 5pm. Our coaches transfer us back to the hotel and the students have about an hour to sort themselves out before we agree to meet up in reception at 6.45pm to go to the Brothers rugby league club for dinner.
The meal was the complete opposite to the one we had in the hotel in the previous evening. The staff were courteous and keen to help.
The buffet meal included starter, main course and sweet plus soft drinks. The dishes ranged from all types of fish, meat and pasta. You can refill your plate and glass as often as you wish.
Mrs O’Sullivan settled the bill from the central tour fund-we paid $21 for a buffet that is normally priced at $39. The total cost was just over £1,000 and worked out less than last night. Some of the group said the meal was the best they had had on tour.
A check of the finances by Mrs O’Sullivan confirms that we have enough money to do similar tomorrow and we book in for a 7.15pm serving.
We walk back to the hotel and tell the students that they need to be in their rooms by 10.30pm.
I watch the first two sessions of the test and at tea we are 170 for 2 and in a strong position.
Another big day tomorrow-our 4th set of fixtures and Day 3 of the test!!
