So Eduardo and I took a trip up north to escape the winter chill of Melbourne. My brother Tony is currently posted in Cairns with the Bureau of Meterology who are lovely enough to put him up in a four and a half star resort for the duration of his tour of duty. See included photo of bathroom with TWO basins!
The resort has four swiming pools although we only swam in one plus the 'so big it is almost a pool' heated spa. On arriving at midnight I didn't expect to enjoy the warmer weather straight away but surprisingly it felt quite balmy even at that hour of night. We spent many an evening sitting out on the balcony knocking back a few beers. (Note slightly drunken squinty looks on faces)
Cairns is a very small town - feels like the size of Frankston.....possibly less bogans, although every bogan in town turned up for the Monster Truck Rally!!!! Having never been to such a high brow cultural event before I was quite excited to be in the presence of such magnificent machines. Here is a pic of one of the trucks done up to look like our favourite cartoon character Scooby Doo! The driver of this particular vehicle was the rip old age of 15! Not old enough to have a normal driver's licence but allowed to drive a monster truck. That's Queensland for you!
The whole monster truck rally was an interesting experience. We all had to stand up to sing the national anthem before the fun could begin. I haven't had to sing it since high school! There was also a medley of Australian songs during the massive fireworks display at the end of the evening including 'True Blue', "I Still Call Australia Home' and our all time favourite Johnny Farnham singing 'Your the Voice'. I tell you what it's enough to make you want to rush out and join the national armed forces. Of course Monster Trucks themselves aren't much of a show(!) so they brought out the Jet Vans. Just your average everyday courier van with a great whopping jet plane engine plonked in the back. You would have to be pretty stupid to want to drive one of those things around but it certainly made for family fun-filled entertainment.
To balance out all that high octane excitement we spent some time strolling through the botanical gardens which were conveniently located just behind the resort where we were staying. Everything is green and lush up there. It was lovely to see. There was an awesome boardwalk that ran for half a kilometre where you could appreciate all the massive trees and spiders(!) Here is a lovely shot that Ed took of some vines hanging down from the canopy.
Ed and I also managed to get out on the Reef for a day of snorkelling (getting coral cuts and trying not to throw up on the boat!). Snorkelling was great. The reef was amazing. All the colours that you see on the nature documentaries, much better than the bleached coral just off Tioman Island in Malaysia. We saw a turtle and I even got to feed it some tasty turtle food. It bit my thumb as I wasn't quick enough letting go. Luckily they don't have a vicious bite. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos because all the ones of me only had half a turtle in it plus I could barely tell that it was me behind all the snorkelling gear so no one else would even know if I put a photo of someone else in instead. Needless to say it was an awesome experience and I highly recommend it. Unfortunately Ed didn't realize when he was over the reef and managed to get some coral cuts on his thighs. Luckily they didn't get infected but they did look nasty for a few days.
One afternoon we headed north past Palm Cove and spent some time at the beach. Ed was mad keen to get some fishing in after lugging his fishing gear up from Melbourne. He caught two fish, both Tailerfish, one which he threw back because it was too small, the other which we cooked up for lunch and was delicious! Here is the happy boy after his triumphant catch.
On our last full day in Cairns we headed out of Cairns down to the Tully River about two hours drive south to do something I hadn't done since Year 10 of high school which was about 14 years ago! White water rafting. It was wicked fun. I was provided with a piece of string to tie my perscription sunglasses to my head so that they would not be lost to the rapids. It worked surprisingly well. In all of the photos of our rafting Ed has his eyes closed which is totally understandable as he is right at the front of the raft and thus receiving the full brunt of the white water. I meanwhile (because of the glasses I'm sure of it. You can't see the fear in my eyes!) look like Jackie Onassis going on a cruise. I couldn't get over how composed I look. I certainly didn't feel it!
Throughout our week or so hanging with my brother in Cairns we managed to drink our way through two slabs of Coronas not to mention the Jagerbombs (a shot of Jagermeister in a glass of Redbull energy drink) we were drinking out at the clubs. I was in need of some serious detox on arrival back in Melbourne!
So our trip to Cairns was great fun and a much need break from Iceland (as Melbourne is now dubbed).
