Today I got up and the whole harbour was socked in with fog/clouds. It was not even worth taking a picture as it was white and you could not see anything! Good day for relaxing and recharging!
We went down to breakfast after a bit of a lie in and had yet again a wonderful breakfast buffet experience. Today they were offering smoothies and as there was another guest with Celiac they offered to make a smoothie for me at the same time. I guess they thought Andrew wanted one too as I ended up with 2 small GF smoothies!
The breakfast buffet comprises of a pastry section (not pictured), a hot section, a cereal and guacamole section (make your own) and then a salad and bread section. In between the cereal and salad section was a gluten free section with bread and a toaster, along with blueberry muffins and banana bread. Oh the banana bread was delicious! Some of it actually made it into my paper napkin and up to our room as it was SO GOOD! This buffet was $38 each however as we stay at Marriott Hotels a lot, part of my benefits are free breakfasts, so we tend to eat a big breakfast to set us up right for the rest of the day!
We were then up in our room relaxing with the balcony doors open as the air conditioning was still broken in the hotel, when a knock happened on the door and we received a delivery from the hotel! They had “forgotten” to replace the gift they sent me yesterday (a Lemington cake which I could not eat and Andrew did not want to eat as it is covered in coconut) and here was a platter of the gluten free items that I just had at breakfast! Nice thought! We watched a lot of harbour traffic throughout the afternoon and also got our laundry done at a nearby location which we scoped out the night we arrived and all in all it was a great relaxing day! I did some trip planning – including what we were going to do tomorrow along with up in Cairns and the Gold Coast at this time too. We also found out there is another cruise ship terminal on the side of the bridge that we are on – so opposite to where we landed. It seems that Carnival Cruise lines, which has a ship in the area, docks primarily there.
When we went for dinner on Wednesday night when we arrived, I noticed on their weekly specials that Friday night they had fish and chips – so I asked the waitress at that time if they could make them gluten free and she said yes. So as it is Friday, we returned to the restaurant for gluten free fish and chips! Andrew, as he normally does when we are out, ordered beef for dinner and when my fish and chips arrived I was quite surprised! It was NOT what I was expecting! It was a piece of Dory fish, skin on, and chips! The waitress then said to me (as obviously my face did not look right) “did you expect deep fried fish and chips” which I said yes! She then said this is what fish and chips means here! Not a problem! I like Dory fish – just peeled the skin back and it was delicious! The chips were good too!
Well, I hope tomorrow is a nicer day! It was a great day to spend some down time of a trip that in the last 2 weeks has been pretty well on the go all the time – especially with the Indian Pacific – way more busy than relaxing than I expected it to be!
Lastly, Happy Birthday to my mother, whose birthday it is in Canada today, November 20th!