Daydream Island, Airlie Beach and a hospital visit

We drove into Airlie Beach, parked the van at the ferry terminal and caught the boat over to Daydream Island for the day.  Ross, Barb and Daniel would meet us at the caravan park that evening.

Welcome to Daydream Island!

Daydream Island is beautiful and it would be a nice (but expensive) place to stay for a few days.  The hotel is modern but not over the top posh and there is plenty to do.

Our main goal was to snorkel at Lovers Cove, a spot highly recommended by the Big Mango info centre lady in Bowen.  We were bummed when we arrived there to find it closed for a wedding until 2.30pm that afternoon so we walked the length of the island (it is only about a 1km end to end) to check out the lagoons that are throughout the resort.   The walking trail cuts through a rainforest and up over a rise and so has spectacular views of the beautiful blue waters around the island.  

Walking through the rainforest.

Beautiful views.

The lagoons in the resort are filled with Manta Rays, Shovel Nosed Sharks and loads of different reef fish.  One ray was very friendly and came over to wave to us with his wings.  It was like being at the aquarium. 

"Hi Benny!" says the ray.

We had lunch at the bakery and swam in the resort pool before taking their golf buggy shuttle back to Lover’s Cove.   Unfortunately, the afternoon winds had picked up and when we got to the cove it was far too rough to swim.   

We went to another beach called Mermaid Bay though and snorkeled there.  It was calmer and there were still lots of fish and interesting coral to see.  

Mermaid Bay.

After another pool swim we caught the ferry back to Airlie Beach.

We came to Airlie Beach a few years ago when Ben was about 2 and stayed at the Big 4 Caravan Park.  It was awesome and had a pool with 2 water slides that Ben loved.  We wanted to revisit it, especially since the pool was now heated so we booked there on this visit as well.  Ross, Barb and Daniel were camped next to us and we joked about how many times we had said farewell to them, only to meet up again soon after.

Ben has an egg allergy and we are always very careful to check the ingredients of any food we buy.  We are particularly careful with crumbed foods, especially after Ben had a reaction to the chicken kiev we had bought in Broome and eaten at Lombadina, up on the Dampier Peninsula.  Even though the butcher we bought it from had promised there was no egg in it, Ben had an allergic reaction to it, which was very scary in the middle of nowhere.

The butcher in Airlie Beach had some Chicken Kiev and Lou bought some after again grilling the butcher about egg content.  He swore black and blue that there was no egg.  Lou told him what happened last time and he was adamant that it was egg free.  We ate it that night and were playing cards with Ross and Barb in the van when we heard Ben whimpering in his sleep about an hour after he went to bed.  We rushed straight in and found his face swollen and he was really hard to rouse, just like last time.  We gave him antihistamine straight away but were concerned as the reaction was stronger than last time and had happened sooner.  We called an ambulance just to be sure and they took him to Proserpine Hospital.  The doctor examined him and by then the antihistamine had worked so he said that no more treatment was needed.  He kept Ben in hospital overnight though to be sure and Lou stayed in there with him.  All the medical staff were awesome, especially the nurse, Bobbie.  She gave Ben a big teddy bear and an activity pack and was just fantastic.

Poor Benny feeling lousy.

Much better the next morning.  With 'Tim' his new teddy bear.

Ready to go home now...

The next day Lou went back to the butcher, ready to rip someone’s head off but all the butchers on duty assured her that there was no egg in the kiev.  They were actually really helpful and brought out all of the batter and breadcrumb mixes to show the ingredients.  No egg.

So now we have a huge mystery.  It was chicken, butter and garlic, all of which he eats regularly.  It was also breadcrumbs and the batter mix.  Nothing else.  There is no egg in the breadcrumb or batter mix but he must be allergic to something in there, so we are off to the allergist again as soon as we get home, armed with the ingredients lists to see which additive or preservative or odd chicken kiev combo of things is causing this reaction.  It’s totally weird.  Maybe the first one was egg free after all and it’s something to do with the bulk ingredients that butchers would use.  Needless to say, no more crumbed items for Ben unless we’ve made it ourselves from our own breadcrumbs!

We took it easy for a couple of days while Ben recovered.  He ended up with a ripper of a cough and blocked nose but was in good spirits after a bit of downtime.