Another Birthday in the Can - Cairns That Is!

Hi!

Well. Here we are, another Sunday evening. Complete with yammering crows (still waiting for those yappy happy lorikeets to return with the warmer, lighter weather….).... But am just in time for the way cool jazz tunes radio show…… the chores are half-done (laundry), got the nice glass of standby white wine – life is good! Sorry I missed last weekend, I was away, but more on that later!

So work. Yep. I actually had one day of real work to do. That was pretty exciting for 7 & ½ hours…….. Shame it can’t always be that busy. I wait and hope. Still pretty quiet, even tho they’ve posted multi-billion dollar profits, I don’t see any of it in my pay check or in an increase in work. Hmmmm. Otherwise, all’s well. Always happy to have gainful employment though!

And then there were the weekends…... Last weekend, as you might remember, I was vacationing up in Cairns for mah Birthday! Stayed with Glen and his fiancée Alison at their most excellent and just really nice house up at “The Peak” (note: if you zoom in on the map, look at it in "satellite" mode, house #31 is Glen and Alison’s place – nice!). Cairns is soooooo pretty – green and hilly, rainforest comes right down to the sea. It’s beautiful up there. My first day was really good, in fact, flying in was reallyreally cool because I happened to sit on the right side of the plane (no, really, on the right side of the plane) as we flew over the Great Barrier Reef – awesome. It’s amazing. Huge, sprawling, fascinating, something I’ll have to add to my “List of Things to Do in Australia” – fly over it in a little plane and land on one of those little islands – it was just so neat.

So Glen picked me up from the airport and we drove the 10 minutes into town and walked all along the Esplanade/Promenade and checked out the Esplanade Lagoon – had a look at all the fancy restaurants, cafes, tour operators, etc. Then we wandered down to the marina to scope out a few of the super-yachts moored there – fanceeee indeed. Stopped for some early lunch at La Pizza (goood pizza, no website - hmmm) and ice cream at Movenpik. I was stuffed. For some reason I felt like I hadn’t eaten real food in months and inhaled a whole pizza at 10.30am – with a glass of wine no less….. must’ve been the tropical air! What a pig! But it was all so good and it’s such a nice spot that Esplanade, lots to do and tons of places to eat along the Pier. Then we went back to their place to dump my bag and have a quick nap (hey, I was up at 4am) while we waited for Alison to come home from work (she’s a Pediatric Doctor. Cooool). Then, after a couple glasses of wine, we went out for dinner at this really good middle-eastern restaurant called Mecca Bah. I felt like I’d been eating all day and by bedtime I was just stuffed. The food was so good up there!

And Friday was reallyreally interesting – I’d taken Glen’s advice and booked myself on the Skyrail to go up to the little artsy crafty village of Kuranda – tucked up in the rainforest in the hills just beyond Cairns. That was so cool. Gondolas and a ride that seemed to go for ages (an hour and a half to be exact – and that was one way!). It stopped twice – once at Red Peak and Barron Falls to have a quick look and walk around a little bit of the rainforest and take some pictures of Barron Gorge and the waterfall there. Then it was back in the gondola for Kuranda, a spot of lunch and a good wander along three of the easy, hour-long walks that included the “Jum Rum Creek”, “Jungle Walk” and “River Walk”, finally ending up, basically, where I’d started from - at the historic and nicely restored Kuranda railway station. Seeing as I was a bit early for the train back to Cairns, I stuck my head into their huge pub, the Kuranda Hotel, for a beer (after those walks I was parched, it was so warm up there) until it was time to get on the train.

Now this wasn’t any ol’ train – this was the historical Kuranda Scenic Railway from 1884-ish. And seeing as it was my Birthday weekend, I had to go Gold Class (niiiiiiice)! The train ride back into town was awesome! There was a little recorded history (and some video) about how the railway was built and what it’s been used for over the last 100+ years (including troop and goods carrier during WWII). It was really interesting. Except I couldn’t hear all of it as there was a rather boisterous group of Chinese tourists having way too good of a time on all the wine they could drink (hooray for Gold Class and the never-ending bottle of wine!)! But the scenery was stunning and it was fascinating how they built all those tunnels next to sheer drops. They were certainly made of stronger stuff back then, that’s for sure. And when I arrived at Freshwater Station Glen and Alison were there to pick me up. Now, Freshwater Station wasn’t your average station either – it was built in the same late 1800’s Victorian style as a tribute to the folks who built the railroad – it was nice and big with a restaurant, a couple shops, a little historical cottage and a little museum – all of which were closed, as I’d come through at the end of the day. But it was pretty neat the level of effort they put in to make it historical. And then that evening Glen and Alison made a lovely pasta meal and we watched “The Adjustment Bureau” (eh, it wasn’t bad, interesting idea…..).

Then Saturday (Birthday!), Glen took me out on a drive up to Port Douglas to have a good look around and have a short wander along 4 Mile Beach there…… Well, all I can say is Port Douglas is beautiful and has all the big, fanceeeee resorts and was just basically really really nice. It kind of reminded me of Hilton Head, North Carolina, but, well, not. It was nice. And there were a few tour operators that go out to the Great Barrier Reef for diving and snorkeling (I’ll go next time – this visit was simply reconnaissance) but the biggest tour outfit was by far Quicksilver – they were massive, they even had a fleet of tour buses that they use to shuttle hundreds of tourists in one go from Cairns. I’ve never seen a tour operator so huge. A fleet of buses!!!!!!!!!!! (Note to self – not to go with that company, that’s way too many tourists). So after having scoped out the beach and the marina, it was time for a glass of champagne and a few breads and dips. Man, it’s a nice spot. Have also added a short stay and some diving from Port Douglas to my “To Do List…”!

Then, back in Cairns with Alison fresh from another day of saving small lives, we went out for a drink at Salt House (at their outdoor “deck bar” – very cool, very hip and groovy) and then we were off to a very nice dinner at Piccolo Cucina. It looked like a rather unassuming place tucked in there along the Pier with the other restaurants, and even tho it was crowded and we didn’t have a reservation, we managed to get in – sweeeeet! Dinner was excellent and they even brought the dessert out with a sparkler in it for mah Birthday! Hooray!

And then, Sunday, Alison had the morning off so we all drove out to the really lovely ‘burb of Palm Cove for a little wander along their pier and a spot of lunch (can’t remember the name of the café to save my life). It was kind of like Port Douglas only a lot smaller, more down-to-earth and not nearly as many tour operators. If I had to pick, I’d live at Palm Cove, it had a nice, friendly, relaxed vibe. Not to mention a stunning outlook across the sea. So by the time we finished it was time to head to the airport and back home. Now I’m kicking myself for having spent 8 days in NZ for my break a couple months ago and not going to Cairns instead. It’s so nice and there’s so much to do and eat! So when you come over, if you have time, we’re going to Cairns!!! So hooray – Adventures were had!

And then there was this weekend. Bland in comparison to this time last weekend, like oatmeal without brown sugar and berries. Tho it started off nicely Friday evening with dinner with Jan at a lovely Lebanese restaurant called Rouj. It was very nice, classy, pretty, the food was amazing, and bonus – it’s in Rosalie, the ‘hood right down the hill from me! Ahhhh it’s always nice to catch up with Jan. We usually go to some pretty nice restaurants – it’s the only way I can try them it seems! And Saturday afternoon was a bit of an unexpected surprise - I met up with a friend I hadn't seen in ages and we went to lunch a really nice place called Eves in the equally nice 'hood of Teneriffe. I haven't been there before and man it was niiiiice. Gorgeous view right there on the river.

And the rest of the weekend was chores and the usual…. I started watching the TV series “Breaking Bad”….. Am a little late on the pick-up (they’re into Season 4 while I’ve only watched the very first 3 episodes…), but man, it’s gooooooooood! If you can handle it, I can recommend it!

Otherwise, Adventures aside, all is well. Same ol stuff – work, home, work, home, Adventure, work, home………… And the weather, tho chilly at night, is beautiful during the day – perfect for a visit to Australia! Tho I’ve been watching on the news that things aren’t going to get any better up there any time soon, so I understand if you won’t be able to head this way in a while. And I won’t be able to head up that way for a long while either – I have ages to go until I have enough vacation time saved up! So for now, drop me a line (and maybe some photos) and let me know how you all are up there!

BYE!

J!