Australia Sept 2009

We are back from our holiday to Australia - an amazing 10 days.  We arrived Friday 18th late morning and headed off to our motel  where we stayed till Monday night. Tues we headed off to Ellis Beach Bungalows till Saturday.

The first weekend was about the Old Crocs rugby tournament,  We had a contingent of 6 players - Warren, Bundy (my DH Peter), Roger, Clemo (Steve), Mike, and Fish (Mark) who gather a few hangers on to make up a team.  The main supporters - myself, Sheryl and Pru watched the first game, did some vital retail therapy and got back to watch the third and last game... Note we all wore our green beads - plus we had black pom-pom shakers as well.  The boys didn't do too bad.  Won one game, drew one game and lost one game.  Not bad for a pack of oldies playing in a heat of 34 degrees. 

Sunday was spend recovering.  There was a brunch held at the local yacht club where Fish won the prize for the best back... ( think it was because he was the youngest of our guys so the fitest)
Pru and Roger headed off early that day to travel by campervan for a few days before heading back to NZ via Vanuatu.   Sheryl and Warren had already had 4 weeks over in Aussie so they headed off home on Monday.

For Peter and I, Monday was an amazing day.  We headed off on a cruise and snorkelling trip to The Great Barrier Reef,  We went on the Reef  Magic cruise.  Pop over to their site and see the amazing video clip... it really is that good.  I had been worried as I am inclined to get a bit seasick but some Kwells tablets cured that.  I also was a bit concerned as I haven't done much snorkelling but it was so warm and the views amazing, I just did it.  We did the outer reef safari - with a marine biologist telling us about all the fish and corals etc.  To Peter's dismay we did not see a shark. I was disappointed as we didn't see any turtles either, but saw some amazing coloured fish including the Nemo fish - the Clown fish.  They are so colourful.

The next few days were spent at Ellis Beach just laying on the beach sunbathing, reading, going for a swim when we got a bit hot.  We found a lovely secluded bay about 3 mins drive away, that had the most amazing trees so you could have sun or shade. It was just so nice to do nothing all day.  Very tiring though!!!! Must have been all that fresh air and sun.
Visibility got a bit hazy on Wednesday and Thursday as a huge dust storm hit the east coast of Australia.  Cairns did not get it as bad as Sydney or Brisbane which were covered in red dust.   Saturday we travelled north up into the Daintree Rainforest to Cape Tribulation.  Stopped there to paddle our feet.  The water was so warm I would have loved to have a swim but the area is full of aquine  crocodiles and it is not safe to swim.
So that was our holiday.  A fabulous, much needed, relaxing time after a bit of a disastrous year.  
Thanks for stopping by.