Spring into Summer

Our November weekends took on a predictable schedule with experiencing our last bit of Perth time with a reorientation to Canadiana.

Fridays have been beach barbeques and bodysurfing in some rather extreme conditions with the other exchange families.  The beaches have public “ques” for people to cook up snags or kabobs and onions. The surf has been rather forceful and yet myself and the kids are still getting “stuck in” and throwing ourselves into the waves.

 

Saturdays are track meets with Little Athletics for Meaghan and the Cockburn Ice rink for Liam to get his Skating legs going.

The great thing about Track and Field here is the sheer number of kids involved, the parental support and how every athlete is encouraged to try all the events.

Megs can run, jump and throw each meet.  The ice skating has been interesting here, with rental that resemble ski boots, people in shorts and singlets and a weekly limbo contest.  Last week Liam had three friends for his birthday at the rink to give it a go.  No injuries, just a couple of bruises and ice cream cake.

 

On Sundays we have been driving out to Trigg beach for swimming or surfing.  A couple of 30 plus days definitely feel better in the Indian Ocean.  The local surf lifesaving club has lessons in the morning and it looks like yet another pastime that would have been nice to tryout.  After a quick stop in Freo for coffee on the way home we have been trying for shrimp or lamb on the Barbie to keep our tastes of Aussie going.

Granpa's Visit Continued

After our trip down south we had only a few days at home before the kids and I jetted off with Grandpa for far-north Queensland.  Our destinations - the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef.  These are both World Heritage Sites and people refer to this area as 'where the reef meets the rainforest'.
 

Where the reef meets the rainforest.






Jumping on the bouncy pillows at the resort.



 

We arrived in the evening and enjoyed an outdoor dinner at our resort.  The resort had a great kids' area, including jumping pillows, mini-golf and a couple of pools.  It was extremely hot and humid on arrival and for our first day which was spent between the resort and Hartley's Crocodile Park.  At Hartley's, we took a boat cruise and the crocs were plentiful, coming up to the boat, jumping and snapping their powerful jaws for food.  We saw some shows featuring snakes (including the taipan which is the world's most venomous snake), monitors (lizard-like creatures), and crocs and the kids were able to feed the wallabies and cassowaries.


Meaghan cruised to victory in the breaststroke race.




Swimming in the rain.







   

Mini-golf at the resort - I won!!!

 



The cassowary - an endangered species only found in this area.














Unfortunately, Cairns and the surrounding area received record-breaking rainfall (for October) over the next few days, with 214 mm falling in a 24 hr period.  This affected our travels a bit although the kids and Grandpa still went for a swim and a competitive breaststroke race ensued in the pool.  Meaghan was tops and Liam and Grandpa fought it out for silver.  Mom won mini-golf which we managed to fit in before the next deluge.  We travelled to a village called Kuranda which we had hoped to get to via the Skyrail (gondala) but the visibility was near zero so we drove there instead.  It is a 'hippy-influenced' place with many market stalls.  We also went to a butterfly sanctuary there but there weren't as many butterflies as usual flying around as they don't like the cold (I think it was only 24*C that day!).
That night we planned on going to dinner and an illusionist show but when we arrived in Cairns to pick up our tickets they told us the show had been cancelled due to technical difficulties.  We still went out for a great dinner at 'Dundees' on the Esplanade and Grandpa had the best dessert ever . . . sticky date pudding with ice cream and lots of caramel sauce.  Meaghan (despite having already eaten her own small dessert) dug right in and now has a new favourite dessert.  She is researching online recipes and will try to re-create it. 

We then went further north to a resort town called Port Douglas.  We booked our 'jungle surfing' which is ziplining through the rainforest.  It was in Cape Tribulation which is the furthest north you can go in Queensland without a 4WD.  When we arrived they gave each of us a helmet with a different character on it.  Liam was Dennis the Menace, Meaghan was Supergirl and I was Catwoman - all very appropriate for us!  Grandpa decided to sit this one out and went birdwatching instead.  He didn't see any wild cassowaries (a disappointment) but had a nice walk nonetheless.  After a full day we took the ferry back across the Daintree River and met up with Dan who was our guide for an evening boatride.  We saw some new species of birds and were treated to a site where there were thousands of egrets.  We also saw many large fruit bats hanging around in trees - they were quite eerie looking!

Our time was coming to an end and we still hadn't taken our reef trip.  Our hosts said the weather was 'fining up' and that Saturday was looking good.  We booked with Quiksilver and it was raining when we got on board but quickly cleared up on the 90 minute cruise to the reef.  The boat moored at a big pontoon and we had several hours to snorkel and explore the reef.  Meg, Liam, and I wore stinger suits to help protect against the jellyfish (even though they weren't quite in season) but brave Grandpa took his chances.  The reef was amazing.  There were many types of coral and the fish were brilliant in colour and plentiful.  Liam only took a few minutes for lunch and then was right back in for more.  We explored the furthest reef that we were permitted to snorkel to and it was basically just us among the marine life.  Meaghan came out with us for a while but was a bit apprehensive due to the many media reports of recent shark attacks.  She preferred to stay closer to the pontoon with more people in the water.  The kids were thrilled that Grandpa got in the water but Grandpa was not so thrilled with the seawater entering his snorkel.  He reckons he inhaled a substantial amount and didn't last long.  After his snorkelling attempt he took a semi-submersible submarine ride to view the glory of the reef.

Our last day was spent at the Sunday market in Port Douglas and then in Cairns prior to our flight leaving.  They have an amazing lagoon pool which goes right to the edge of the Esplanade, overlooking the ocean.  The kids spent hours playing/swimming here and enjoying the sunshine while Grandpa did some final birding on the boardwalk.

The trip was a very memorable one and it was great to spend so much time with Grandpa!



Bravely holding the black python Liam caught with his bare hands.



                                   



                               
                               
 

                                    



 

Taken at Dundees before Meaghan 'steals' Grandpa's sticky date pudding.

                                                          
                    

Outback Jack, hamming it up per usual.

Grandpa and Meaghan on the suspension bridge in the Mossman Gorge.

                                                 

                                

At the beginning of one of our rainforest hikes.

                                                


Dennis, Super Girl and Catwoman midway through our ziplining experience.

                                                


Just hanging around.



Liam with Dan, our tourguide on the Daintree River.

                                                                


There are thousands of birds in these trees - quite the sight!

                                              
                                 
 

Approaching the pontoon where we would do our snorkelling from.



The Quiksilver boat that took us to the reef.

                             

Taken a few hours before our flight home.

                                                

The lagoon pool in Cairns.

                                                           

So many fish in so many different colours - breathtaking.

The pictures don't do it justice - it was amazing!

                                     

Lookin' good!!!

                                        

In our stinger suits . . . just in case.

                                                                     

Snorkelling together - all with different coloured fins.

                                                   

Enjoying the boatride home after a great day on the reef.

                                         
                                    

A very hungry croc . . .

                                                 
                                                                 


Be careful, Liam!

At                                                     


The kids had front row seats to the snake show - this is a taipan







 













The trip was a very memorable one and it was great to spend so much time with Grandpa!



The Southern Seas

The Southern coast of Western Aussie, has ancient Tingle tree forests and stunning beaches (the latter part can be said of the entire coastline).  There is a long treetop walk through the forest 40m in the skies between trees.  The giant tingle tree is 23m around and all of us fit in the trunk.

We made a point of getting to Green Pools beach and it was amazing.  You can watch the surf pounding away out from shore, but a series of giant granite boulders protect the pools from the tide.  So the kids and (adults) can swim and snorkel in calm waters.  Throw in some crabbing and lizards sunning themselves on the rocks and any kid are more than covered.

 

 

We celebrated Thanksgiving down here with a meal of turkey steaks (best I could do), garlic squash and hazelnut toffee.  No pumpkin pie or stuffing L.

The next day was our foray over to Albany to see Whale World and a couple of spooky coastal features- he Gap and the natural bridge.  Both of these chasms look down into a raging sea at even the calmest times.

The kids , Diana and Grampa Boatman then get a couple of days respite before they head off to Queensland for “second Vacation”.

Tall Trees

Once one turns inland, they are surrounded by the tall Karri forests and farm country.

The feature of the local area is three mammoth trees that were set up as firewatch stations.  When we went to the local information centre, the kids got to watch baby kangaroo feeding time.

Visitors can climb them if they wish and this is comprised of scaling a ladder made of metal bars hammered into the trees and circling up for 60 m.  I volunteered to take pictures while Meggie set some sort of record scaling the height ahead of Diana.  Liam put in 100 feet of climbing and I did not even make it that far.

We also uncovered an art walk through the forest where various sculptures have been arranged.  My favourite was one that I renamed “Timmie’s in the sky”.  We also spotted the elusive “firetail” a local rarer bird.