Breakfast at Frydays -
Since we had the luxury to sleep in a little more, we could have a leisurely breakfast! We brought forward our Frydays breakfast. Initially, I just wanted to go there for lunch and their acai bowl but their breakfast choices seems appetitizing too.
The place is more like an outdoor chill bar feel than a cafe. In the morning, it does not have much of that night life feel. We were sitting at the sofa seat, and it was a bit dirty with the fried food crumbs. I ordered a salmon omelette (A$17.00) with add on mushrooms (+A$2). There is a choice of mushroom being outside or inside the omelette, and having the shrooms outside is a great choice! I love sauteed white button mushrooms. Our other order was the egg benedict topped with ham (A$17.00). Since I was there for the acai bowl initially, I ordered the acai fresh smoothie (A$9.95) and it is a good serving. Quite expensive after all. The other drink should be iced mocha.
The serving here is also quite huge, just slightly smaller than Lillipad Cafe's. But I will say Lillipad Cafe still wins. They major in breakfast after all! The toast here is all crispy, which results it to be too dry. Omelette wise, it is still quite yummy with melty cheese. Although the salad on the side looks slightly unappetizing, it is good to have a balanced breakfast with some greens.
Cruze coffee for the morning boost -
We were back at Cruze to utilize the discount card that was given to us in our freebies from Raging Thunder. No milk in my coffee this time. Just one good hot and cold long black (A$6 each)! Cruze coffee just has an amazing variety of coffeebean type so do check it out. The staff are really considerate too. My hot coffee was double cupped so that it is not hot to hold. And just look at the customised sticker label on the cup awww.
The morning was so carefree, and we had time to go back for a nap before our bus comes at 1.55pm.
Barron River Rafting with Raging Thunder -
Following the previous day of fun activities, we were in for another excitement! We were going to go rafting for the first time. As we were on the bus, the staff explained on the procedures of what to expect and how to use the paddles. We were divided into groups and our leader is a cool experienced instructor named Marty.
We alighted at a roadside where the paddles, helmets, lifejackets and shoes were laid. One by one, we were given our sizes for the lifejackets. This is when we saw familiar faces - Marcio and Cam. Marcio realised it was us when he assisted with tightening our jackets. It was great to see them again!
Anyway, regarding the free rafting shoes that I have mentioned, it just turned out to be all used. Many of them were broken with holes too. I guess their "free" means complimentary renting. Otherwise, it would have cost us A$5. There were a considerable number of people (5 - 6 raft boats) so I was happy to have found the right size for the shoes. And that is my A$5 neon sports shorts bought at Kmart :).
We started near the Barron Gorge area. The whole adventure starts with introductory from Marty to our team of 6, on how we should sit, tuck our feet in and paddle. As we were sitting at the edge, it is really important to push your feet under the thwart of the raft, one towards the front and one into the back. This would trap your feet and prevent falling. I think it would also be better to move with the flow and get low when going towards the rapid.
It requires a bit of getting used to before you can get the rhythm of paddling. I got scolded for padding forward, when I was supposed to back pedal. It is just a matter of the direction of clockwise and anti-clockwise. I hit the paddle of the girl in front a few times throughout the trip. We started with smaller rapids and then bigger ones with a turn. One of the brothers in our team fell into the water and it was amazing to see how quick his brother managed to pull him out by his lifejacket. The one who got all wet had a look of slight shock 😅.
We listened to Marty's instructions all the time. We stop and move as per his commands. He suits this role very well since his voice is quite deep, giving off that sense of authority. In fact, he is probably the most senior among the other instructors since we got the luxury to cut queue and used a shortcut to get in front. It was the part where we will get our photos taken.
On his command, we got into the middle quickly and smiled for the camera. It was very quick and I could not lock my feet in properly. As a result, the force of the rapids threw me up and I "flew" up a little. As I dropped back down, my cheek slammed hard onto the helmet of the girl in front! Apparently, she felt the impact on her head and asked if I was okay. Hahaha that moment was so painful but yet so funny at the same time. Lucky, the impact was not big enough to leave a bruise.
After the short moment of photo taking, we quickly got back to sitting at the original positions again. At one corner, we waited while the rest of the rafts came along. Our job was to splash water at them with our paddles! However, I was at the back and the weak strength of my splash did not seem to reach anyone at all.
We went down one main rapid and it was super fun! The funny thing was that there was a man from the raft in front who fell into the water. Before he could be saved, our raft was over him and moving with the flow! We were so surprised. When Marty realised that, his reaction was just amusing.
"There's nothing I could do anyway. " He was not sorry at all and he said it in such a funny way. We were just watching that raft that the guy fell off from. None of his team members were attempting to save him! The instructor was the only one who got into action. That made us laughed even more when Marty pointed it out!
Apparently, some of the instructors were on training or taking a test. The group members/clients they get are those who are more difficult to manage. Judgemental in a sense, but these people will look less fit and adaptable. I am probably the "burden" in my team again. The rest are all quite sporting and adventurous feeling.
So back to the same main gushing rapid, each raft was supposed to get into it and the instructors were supposed to steer it out from the "trap". We waited patiently as we observed each raft getting into it. For us, it was an absolute fun with Marty's skill and experience! He knows what he was doing and he could do it quickly. The water was gushing in our rafts as we steer, and we were just enjoying the ride.
We were told to get out of the raft when the water was cool. One thing though, we were supposed to swim only. It is not safe to stand up because the white water river bed may be filled with different shapes of rocks. The feet could easily get caught and you will be stuck there. We swam as we saw our raft getting further and further in front as Marty paddled it away. I was once again the slowest, so swimming became so stressful.
Once we reached the raft, Marty demostrated how we could get up to the raft ourself. Unfortunately, I don't think we both succeeded. The core muscles must be super strong man! So Marty helped my bf up and then he pulled me up later. As I lay down with half my body on the raft and my legs sticking out, it seemed like I was momentarily unable to get up. My bf pulled a little more and I struggled to get up, it felt like my body was too heavy with all the water.
That was another funny scene because my head was in front of my bf's crotch area. Marty was then teasing us that that was not the right place for whatever we were portraying 😆.
The last part was a stretch of river for us to have a relaxed paddle. With our helmets off, we had nice conversations about Marty, what we were doing and crocodiles. The view and atmosphere is just amazing. If only we can do this often like a gathering with friends and family. This is one of the activities I thoroughly enjoyed myself! This is the easier level of the rafting range they provide.
The boys were in charge of carrying the raft on their shoulders while the girls carried the paddles. Marty reminded us to return our shoes, but even if we kept it, it is fine. The shoes only cost like $2 and they charge rental of $5 hahaha. Looking at the broken state, it must have earned many $5. We collected our belongings and got changed.
We gathered at this area for free drinnks and collected our thumbdrive of photos from Marty. Ours was already pre-paid - A$15 in 1 thumdrive. Lucky we were given an option to share our thumbdrive instead of getting 1 each. The photos are the same anyway, just one set since we are in the same team. We almost paid extra A$15 for a 500mb thumbdrive. The rest can still purchase photos on the spot but if I remembered correctly, it is quite expensive. Something along A$20 or A$40. Our canyoning photos was supposed to be additional A$30 but we were given complimentary with our package.
The bus sent us back to our hotel and we were ready for dinner! Do you realised that we never really had a chance for lunch? We are mostly still quite full from breakfast hahaha. One less meal to try out different food!
Dinner at O' Cha Cha Japanese Dining & Tea-
I had high expectations for this one. Tripadvisor reviewers stated that this restaurant is a hidden gem which serves authentic Japanese food! It is located really near our place at the second level. The interior design of O' Cha Cha is indeed very Japanese like. There is an area for people who would like to immerse in the food in the Japanese way of sitting. We were there quite early at 6pm and we were greeted enthusiasticly by their only female service staff outside.
She speaks really fluent Japanese but I suspected she might actually be of another nationality. True enough, she told the other table she is from Philippines. The guests at the table seemed to be Japanese and even they thought that she is from Japan. Her overall mannerism and style also exudes the Japanese culture; very gentle and polite.
We thought that we ordered quite a lot but it was actually a good amount since we were starving! The Eucalyptus green tea came first and it is such a great mix of flavour. Eucalyptus is an Australian speciality so the two flavours together is like a fusion of the two cultures.
The sashimi salad with octopus & wakame salad was the first to be served and it was superb. As the first dish, it whets our appetite with the citrusy sauce. It would have been better if they reduced the sauce as I found it too salty for the amount of wakame seaweed. The octopus taste well marinated, and totally not raw at all. As for the salmon sashimi, it really is better than those I have eaten in Singapore. However, it still loses out to Japan. Remember my favourite sashimi? My new found interest in sashimi started from that trip to Japan! Never used to like raw food.
My next favourite food is the takoyaki! I really really love the piping hot cripsy takoballs from O' Cha Cha. The taste is just so Japan, so delicious! I could also say the same for their panfried gyozas. The outer skin is slighty chewy and the filling is just tasty. Both dishes are definitely more authentic than Tokyo Dumpling's. I strongly recommend to satisfy your gyoza craving here instead.
The mini okonomiyaki is a great size for fun-eating. Although it contained quite little of the vegetable, I like the taste of it, not too mushy. For our mains, we ordered one bbq beef rice which was popular among customers, and a cold soba. The cold soba is fine and good, but it just made me more sure that I prefer the greeny cha soba. We both found the beef rice disappointing. The beef slices are a little tough. When mixed together, the whole taste is oily and not so flavourful.
I choose the sakura rice cake as my dessert, because mochi is love. This pink mochi here, however, has red bean filling which I find too sweet as usual. What is interesting is that the leave sticking to the mochi is salty! I guess it is to counter the sweetness of the red bean paste.
The whole dinner cost A$79.70 and it was well worth it. It was such a pleasurable experience. This is way better than wasting money on the Golden Boat Chinese Restaurant.
Supermarket time -
Right after dinner, we went for some snacks. It was as if we were trying to fill ourselves up for the lack of lunch haha. The smell of the fried chicken and fries in the supermarket has been tempting us for days so we finally decided to try it. Unfortunately, appearance and smell can be deceiving. The food is just cold and horrible tasting. There was this dim sum snack which I thought looked like siew mai. We were told that the filling is of lamb and vegetable. We both could not tolerate the strong pungent smell. I also got a potato salad from the ready-to-eat corner but the sauce is too sour for my liking. Well, at least the two Arizona tea is nice.
Our last and full day with Raging Thunder at Fitzroy Island the next day!
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