We've just come back from a really nice trip to Cairns... it's the biggest city in northern Australia, and being closer to the equator, it's warm year-round. Actually, in the summer months (Nov-March) it's REALLY humid up there, so we thought we'd be timing it right by going in the cooler "dry season" (which is now). Our plan backfired on us a bit as we happened to have the ONE wet/windy/cooler week of the
entire dry season, but we tried to make the best of it anyways.
Here are loads of pictures to show what we did (in random order)... I'll explain underneath each one.
We rented a car and drove up to Port Douglas one day (about 75 minutes north of Cairns)... it's a small town that kinda has a West Van feel to it... very nice. Here we are overlooking "4 Mile Beach." There are crocodile signs everywhere though, so we didn't swim here (plus the weather was cool and windy.) The next day we took the car up to a small mountain town called Kuranda, which is a little hippie place. They have a few little markets and restaurants, but it was pouring rain, so we didn't stay for long.
The reception area of our "resort."
The night markets in Cairns. Mom, remember the Pearl Market and the Fabric Market in Shanghai? This was kinda like it, but much smaller, cleaner, more civilized, and no bargaining! We got a nice Chinese massage here for $15.
This was a random guy we saw out in the street blowing his didgeridoo. He had all his worldly possessions tied to the roof of his filthy van, and seemed to not own a pair of shoes, but didn't care at all! Very amusing!
This is the esplanade that goes along the waterfront in Cairns... a nice place for a walk/run/rollerblade, etc. When the tide is out it looks like a giant mud flat for about a mile out, due to all the dredging they've done to keep the shipping lines open. Kind of a yucky view. But when the tide comes in, it looks like a normal ocean... you'd never know the water is only about 2 feet deep.
Along the water they have all these free exercise stations... kind of like a mini gym. So you can walk/run along the ocean path, and then stop at all these little stations for some extra exercise. A lot of kids use it for a playground though... guess it's still fun!
As you know, Andrew is guitar-crazy, which means we always seek out all guitar stores in whichever town we visit. This time it worked out perfectly since the weather was so shabby... I packed along a book so I wouldn't get bored. He had a great time and ended up buying a new pedal for his electric guitar (which is something you plug the guitar into to give it more "crunch.")
Here is our hotel room... we spent as little time here as possible since it didn't smell too good. I think it used to be a smoking room since that's what it smelled like. The smoking area was also directly outside our room, so we had some nice whiffs coming through. Luckily it had a TV, so we watched Wimbledon quite a bit at night.
Our hotel was quite a ways away from down town, so we usually rode the city bus ("Sunbus") into town... it was a great way to see more of the town and meet lots of interesting people to have conversations with. The only bad thing about it was that it took 30 minutes each way, when driving directly took about 8 minutes. We decided to skip the bus one day and walk into town, but that took 1.5 hours and took us down a busy highway, thru the industrial area, and also near the dump, so it stank. We stuck to Sunbus after that!
The skate-park along Esplanade... you can go skateboarding with an ocean-view! You can see the hospital right behind the skate-park, which I think is a very logical location. Also, there was this tree (on the left) that was full of old skate shoes and bike tires... kind of nice... new decorating idea!
All over town they were selling these didgeridoos (an Aboriginal instrument that you blow into and it makes this deep, interesting "woofing" sound)... I was gonna try it, but then thought that heaps of other tourists would have already done the same thing before me, so decided to keep my mouth off it and just pretend!
Lots of gelato in Cairns... yum, my fav!! I had it quite a few times since they don't have it in Rocky and I don't know when I'm gonna have it next!
Hands-down the BEST meal we had was at the Bavarian Beerhouse... authentic German food served by waiters in Lederhosen, and the whole place smelled like Oma's house before Sunday lunch! The German Lowenbrau beer was even served in nice Steins and tasted great with the food.
Another view of the Esplanade and mud flats at low tide. The big white building in the distance is the Shangri-La hotel, which is the place we used to relax (in the lobby) when we were tired of walking around in the rain, but didn't want to hop on Sunbus back to our place yet.
We checked out the big marina, full of nice boats. We didn't go on the boats out to the Great Barrier Reef though since the weather wasn't great.
In one of the music stores we met a salesgirl called Tiffany, who we started chatting with, and she ended up inviting us to her church called Freshwater Church. It took some figuring out how to get there on Sunbus (since it was a little ways out of town), but was really good. It reminded us of Hillsongs church in Sydney, but on a smaller scale.
One day we rented these yellow scooters (motorbikes) and toured ourselves around all the rain-forest attractions. One of the places was called "Crystal Cascades," which was a series of little waterfalls and swimming holes (minus the crocs!). If it had been warmer, it would have been a fabulous place for a dip! We settled for a walk along the the path beside the falls.
Here's us on the scooters. Behind us you can see the waterfall at the Barron Gorge. The scooters were SO much fun... I would definitely recommend them if you ever go to Cairns.
All in all it was a great trip. I know the weather wasn't awesome, but it was just so nice to get away together, to be out of Rocky for a bit and see something new. We didn't talk about work at ALL, and ate so much great food (Japanese, Chinese, Turkish, Mexican, Indian, German, Italian, and Thai).
It was also nice that Andrew finished his first masters course just in time for us to go away. While we were up in Cairns, he got an email from his prof saying he got an A on his course, so that was encouraging since he'd put SO much work into it.
Anyways, that's it for now! Hope you enjoyed!
Well, Tony and Gill's big visit to Oz has come and gone, so I thought it was time for a quick re-cap for the rest of you who didn't stow-away in their suitcases :) 
The first night we had a little present-opening session... some very generous gifts from Tony and Gill, as well as from my parents. Andrew got a new work shirt, a Whistler magazine, etc, and I got a couple Lululemon tops, lotion, and Clinique stuff. So happy!
Tony enjoyed reading his book on the couch every day. It was funny b/c at first whenever I'd look over from the kitchen I thought for a split second that Andre Agassi was lying on our couch... and then I'd realize it's just Tony! 
We climbed Mt. Coolum one day... you can see where we live on the coast in the background. This is the same hike we did with Emily a couple of years ago. 
After the hike we headed to the Hyatt Coolum Resort which is open to the public for swimming and hanging out... we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Tony and Andrew could model for Sears, don't you think? ;)
As soon as we picked them up from the airport we had a swim in our pool, then a long beach walk... trying to keep them awake till Aussie bed-time. (Sorry these pics are out of order... blogger is weird these day... let me know if you know how to fix it.)
Another day we rented kayaks and cruised around the canals near our place. There are heaps of multi-million dollar homes in this area, so it was interesting to see their backyards and "how they live" from the canal. (You can see one in the background here, behind the grey pillar.)
A couple days later we rented bikes from the same place and rode up and down the coast... most of us used Cruiser bikes (like the yellow one you see above), which were quite fun. You can see the water/beach in the background; the water is the most beautiful colour of blue-green at this point of the coast. 
Our last 3 days we headed up to Noosa where Tony and Gill generously took us for 3 nights at an apartment-hotel. The weather wasn't as good as the previous 2 weeks had been, but we still got to do some hiking and body-boarding. Look how brown Gill is... she beat me in the tanning department, hands-down, after being here for less than 2 weeks! (Steve and Austin, I think your Michelle Obama line in your birthday song for Gill is dead-on!)
And all good things come to an end... here they are waving good-bye before leaving for the airport. 
Another out-of-order pic... playing pool-side ping pong at the Hyatt... every time you hit the ball too hard you'd have to fetch it out of the pool! 
