Sunday 9th September 2012, 28 degrees, raining, cloudy.

I'm flying to Cairns today to meet with Craig who has already been there for 2 weeks helping Brother (Brett) fix up his car. I'm flying Tiger so have to be at the airport about 2 hours before take off so I got up at about 4.10am 'cause l wanted to do a work out, and needed to be at Craig's Dad's place at 5.50 to be at the airport at 6.20. It's a pretty grey morning however after takeoff & climbing through the clouds it was so sunny, below us the clouds looked like a frozen field of ice and above that was a blue, blue sky....it was awesome. Arrived in Cairns at 12.15pm where l was met by Craig and brother. It was raining however it was not cold...about 27 degrees. We headed off to Helen's place (Brothers best mate) where we'll be staying for the duration of our visit. This is the first time l'll have met Helen but l'm sure we'll get on 'cause she's Dutch too. Brother took us up to a lookout where we could see the layout of Cairns then we went into Cairns proper and had a look at Cairns Esplanade which is made up of reclaimed land. The area is very beautiful. We walked onto the mariner where Brother showed us a multi million dollar yacht which was beautiful. The guy who owns it is blind and has already spent 2 and a half years sailing around the world.....go figure! So then we went to the night market where l wanted to buy a fresh oyster to have it opened and you find a pearl in it but the shop doesn't do that anymore and l was so disappointed, however the promise of going to Hogs Breath for dinner soon cheered me up. Early to bed for me...can't keep my eyes open.

Monday 10th September. 28 degrees, raining, cloudy

Woke at around 7.15 and after breakfast we drove towards Innisfail stopping at Babinda along the way to look at a waterfall called The Boulders, then another stop, just south of Miriwinni to look at Josephine Falls. Our last stop was Paronella Park,North Queensland which is nestled in amongst the great dividing range, and is a gem of a place. The story goes that a Spaniard by the name of Jose Parinella came to Australia in 1913 in search of work, he found it and cut sugar cane for a fair while, and then began buying and selling properties. When he had made his fortune, he returned to Spain to marry a woman named Margarita. On arrival back in Australia, he bought a 13 acre property beside Mena Creek Falls, and began building his dream, a Spanish castle in Australia's tropical north. Officially opened in 1935, and with most of the work completed by the man himself, Jose's slice of paradise offered the public the chance to explore his castle by a beautiful waterfall, enjoy a swim, watch a film or go to the ball in his theatre, play tennis on his courts, walk in the underground tunnel, feed the turtles, or just enjoy the sights on a walk around the paths which has an amazing range of 7000 tropical plants and trees. The guy really did build all of this by hand. It was truly amazing and you could get lost in the grounds for the better part of a day. We however only spent a few hours viewing this wonderful piece of land before we decided to head back to Helen's place where she greeted us at the front door with a choice of staying in for dinner or going out. We chose to stay in and then Helen started offering me Dutch delicacies one of was blood sausage which l'd never tasted and was going to until she described what it was and l just couldn't bring myself to do it and l felt really bad 'cause she said she'd bought it specially for me. Anyway....dinner was pretty good and just as we finished eating Leigh, one of Helen's friends popped around. Helen, Leigh and l ended up playing Rummikub. I'd never played before but l whipped their asses twice hehehe....it was a really fun night and l ended up going to bed around 11pm.

Tuesday 11th September, 28 degrees, raining, cloudy

I thought l'd sleep in this morning but woke at around 6.30am. Craig said he'd been awake for nearly an hour before that. I guess it's the light and we sleep with the windows wide open so can hear the traffic etc.

It's quite grey and cloudy with a bit of rain about but still quite warm. After breakfast we decided to drive firstly to Kuranda where there is a heap of markets. It's very touristy and everything Aussie. We had a cuppa with some macadamia nut biscuits l had bought at one of the market stalls then, after buying a Cairns tea towel we drove onto Mareeba where there is a Coffee shop which manufactures and sells coffee and chocolate. I was really there for the chocolate but tasted a lot of different coffees as well. There is also a shed where we watched the beans being roasted and a museum filled with coffee pots, coffee bean roasters, cuppachino machines teapots and teacups from all over the world. Among the different flavours of chocolate there was a lemon myrtle which was delicious and a pepper one which at first l thought wasn't peppery but it was there in the aftertaste, it was quite nice actually. We had lunch at the cafe and then headed off to Atherton around 2pm. We wanted to go to Atherton to see a shop called the Crystal Caves. Here they sell and display Geode which is a hollow rock filled with lots of beautiful crystal. You can actually buy a rock and break it in half to see what colour crystal is inside. Geodes have survived for many millions of years deep beneath the earth and started as a bubble of gas that was trapped in volcanic lava then later, water which was saturated with minerals from the surrounding earth leaked inside, and those mineral reacted with the chemicals that remain in the Geode. As a result, slowly the crystals started growing. Some of the large Geodes displayed in the store cost many thousands of dollars. If you wanted, you could buy the Geodes which ranged from $40 to $200 each. We did not buy one but had a lot of fun watching people select their Geode, which looks just like any old rock, and then crack it in half to see what it looked like inside. After looking at a few other stores we headed back to Cairns, deviating 16 k's off the road just north of Mareeba to look at Granite Gorge. We thought we found it but it ended up being a caravan park and there really wasn't that much to see except for lots of very large boulders. So after a disappointing exploration we headed back to Cairns arriving at Helen's around 5pm. We are picking Brother up from his place and going to Sizzlers for dinner tonight.....we haven't been to a Sizzlers since it closed down in Bendigo so l'm looking forward to it. Yep....Sizzlers didn't disappoint.

Wednesday 12th September, 28 degrees, raining, cloudy

Woke up early again! Craig was out of bed about half hour before me. We had a lazy day in Cairns today. We went to DFO where l bought a pair of Oroton sunnies and a couple of dresses then just before 12noon we drove to a cafe where we were meeting our old next door neighbours, Grahame and Sandra for lunch. It was wonderful to catch up with them again and listen to everything they've been up to. We parted ways around 3pm and went for a wander around the boardwalk at Cairns rainforest park then we made our way back to Helen's to take clothes off the line and then we went to Stocklands shopping centre to find a toyworld 'cause l wanted to buy Helen the game we played the other night 'cause her dog had chewed one of the tiles. When l get back to Bendigo l'm gonna buy one for myself as l really enjoyed the game. We've bought a roast chook to have for dinner tonight with a bit of salad.

Thursday 13th September, 28 degrees, raining, cloudy.

Today we drove to Townsville (355k) and because we didn't set the alarm to get up early l woke and thought it was about 6.30am and sleepily grabbed my towel and headed to the bathroom when Craig informed me that it was only about 3 in the morning so l went back to bed until it was about 6.30am. We left Cairns at 7.30am and arrived in Townsville around 11.30am where Craig promptly asked me where we were going. Well l didn't have a clue as the place had changed so much but luckily we had a GPS (oh yes, that dreadful thing again) where it directed us to Francis St in West End which is the place l lived in when l first got to Townsville, however after taking us up a goat track l said to Craig that this wasn't the correct street and to head into town so we could have some lunch and re-group. So heading to town it all looked so unfamiliar which was pretty disappointing but l s the place is gonna grow and change in 34 years. We had lunch at a little cafe and started out again. I said we should go up to the lookout at Castle Hill which gave us a really good view of Townsville and l could see how spread out it had become. Heading back down the hill and towards West End we went past the hospital Debbie was born in but it is just an empty shell. We found Francis St and went up and down it a few times but l couldn't find the house l used to live in....heck it could even have been demolished in all this time. From there we went to Armstrong St in Hermit Park where we found the block of flats l used to live in and l took some photos to show Deb and her Dad and from there we made our way over to Hivers St in Vincent which is the last place l lived in. The trees and shrubs had grown so much and it looked like the front veranda had been added to but other than that it was the same just a bit tired looking. From there we went to the army base and then followed the road back into the city centre to find the church l was married in. I'm pretty sure we found it but it just looks so different as there is a new, bigger road that passes by it now. It's called St James Cathedral which is an Anglican church. I have no memory of what it's like inside or even of the service!! I took a photo, maybe Nijaz will remember it. We passed the old hospital again and stopped for a photo shoot and then we were on our way back to Cairns. I guess l was a little disappointed in my nostalgic trip back to Townsville but only because l just didn't remember anything. We arrived back at Helen's around 8.15pm and l was b*****ed!!! Don't know why 'cause l wasn't the one doing the driving. Was in bed by 9pm.

Friday 14th September, 29 degrees, clear and sunny.

It's gonna be a clear sunny day today so we thought it would be a good day to drive to Mossman and Port Douglas which is about 60k further north of Cairns winding along the coast. First we went to Mossman the gorge which was rather pretty but we made the mistake of taking the 2k round trip walking track....well! it was more like 10 k's and by the time we got back to the car park l had a headache from overheating, even though we took drinking water and drank plenty of it. I took a pain killer which eased the headache and by the time we found a nice air conditioned cafe and had lunch the headache was gone. Driving out of Mossman we noticed the information centre which was in a motor workshop of all places!! Took a picture of that 'cause it was so unusual. We arrived in Port Douglas around 1pm and drove straight to the look out where we were able to view the beach. Then we went into the township where we parked the car and took a walk along the wharf area where we saw the sugar wharf, St Mary's church where there was gonna be a wedding that afternoon and then headed up the main street so l could purchase a tea towel and in one of the shops l found the oysters where you could open them yourself and find a pearl. I was so excited seeing l'd missed out on getting one at the night markets. Now l don't know if l should open the shell or just leave it in its package as a memento (see photo). We strolled past a hotel that has frog races and l tossed some coins into a buskers guitar case then drove to along the esplanade, parked the car and took a walk along the beach. I kicked of my shoes and felt the warm sand between my toes then l walked into the cool water which was so soothing on my hot, tired feet. Craig doesn't like the beach so he didn't dip his toes in the water. The beach is beautiful and very wide. I imagine it would be packed in the Summer. So heading back to Cairns we stopped in at Trinity Beach where we had afternoon tea sitting outdoors with a beautiful view of the beach and a nice cool breeze caressing our bodies and keeping us cool. We took a walk along the esplanade and up a flight of stairs to see if we could get a better view of the beach but all l got a view of was a guy in one of the apartments overlooking the beach taking a video with no clothes on!!! What the??? We left Trinity beach which is lovely and it would be magic living around that area (no, not because of the stark naked scary man). We arrived back at Helen's around 4pm. Craig and l had dinner at a Bavarian Beerhouse which is in the main shopping strip in Cairns. It was pretty yummy. We were back at Helen's at around 9pm where we watched a bit of telly before heading off to bed.

Saturday 15th September 28 degrees, cloudy.

We awoke early again and Brother met us a Helen's then drove us to the Shangri-la at the Marina hotel on the Pier where we had an all you could eat buffet breakfast. I had to make sure l got my money's worth so l really ate up but boy was l full afterwards. We headed off to Mt Whitfield to see Copperload Dam also known as Lake Morris which is a freshwater reservoir dam servicing the city of Cairns. We took the walkway onto the lake and then went around the side to see the causeway however there was no water run off it so it wasn't that impressive. After a quick cup of free coffee at the lake's cafeteria we headed back into Cairns to look for a steel outlet that l noticed on the way into breakfast. I thought they would have a nice wall plaque for our outdoor area at home but when we got there we found that it doesn't open on the weekends. Our next impromptu stop was the show grounds as when we drove past it we noticed there seemed to be car racing or something like that going on so we stopped and had a look but the most interesting it got for me is when someone nearly had a crash. Ummm....l just can't remember what we did for the rest of the day, but I'm pretty sure Brother went back to his place and Craig and l just hung about at Helen's until it was time for tea which was pizza at La Porchetta….yummy!

Sunday 16th September, 28 degrees, partly cloudy with sunny periods.

Brother met us at Helen's after brekkie and we drove to Palm Cove which as with the other beaches was gorgeous. There were people soaking up the sun, swimming, canoeing or simply relaxing on the pier with a fishing rod waiting patiently for a nibble. We walked along the pier and saw a young lad catch a blow fish which he gingerly dropped back in, then, we walked along the beach a little way just collecting some shells. Then it was time to get back in the car and head off to Pebble beach which is about 12k south of Port Douglas. This beach is tiny and instead of having sand it had lots and lots of pebbles of all different shapes, size and colour. It was really beautiful and we spent some time looking and collecting pebbles and shells. I could have stayed there for hours but the sun was starting to wear me out and l had neglected to bring a hat with me. Time for lunch! We stopped at the skyrail station at Caravonica originally to look at souvenirs however Brother noticed that the café had cake and coffee on offer so he was sold. I ordered a homemade chicken and leek pie which was really nice then l convinced Craig that we should order a slice of cake as well… actually it was a passionfruit cheesecake which was pretty good. So with full tummies we went to Stocklands shopping centre where l bought a book l could read on the plane journey back to Melbourne tomorrow then headed to Helen's where l finished reading the book l'd brought with me while Craig and Brother did more stuff on the car. Ummm.....dinner tonight was noodles from the local noodle bar.

Monday 17th September 28 degrees and overcast

Well today we catch a flight back to Melbourne so much of the morning was spent packing and weighing our carry on. We said our good bye's to Helen and thanked her for her wonderful hospitality. Brother drove us to the airport....we'll catch up with him and Helen at Christmas time when they come to Bendigo for 3 weeks.

OMG!!!! It's sooo cold...welcome back to Melbourne l guess. Brrrr, that's a cold end to our holiday