Australian Hospitality

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October 19, 2008

Headed into town (Kuranda) for morning coffee and found ourselves next to the table that the local men sit at for their daily coffee and chat. Joe, once again, found himself in a serious discussion of the world economy. No escaping that topic, that’s for sure. Then as we were walking down the street we ran into Fiona and Stuart and sat with them while they ate breakfast.

From Kuranda, it was a 30 minute drive to Cairns, which is the main tourist city for the Great Barrier Reef. We purposely made Port Douglas our headquarters instead of Cairns because we like smaller places. Cairns is a nice place, but we are glad we chose Port Dougie (as they call it) for our home base. We walked along the Esplanade and went in a few stores, but are here mainly because we fly from here to Darwin tomorrow.

Stuart and Fiona live near Cairns and last night at the concert, they invited us to their home for dinner tonight. They had a beautiful home with a killer view and cooked a meal of grilled lamb shanks, chicken, sausage, salads, and homemade sorbet. We enjoyed their two children (ages 15 and 12) and it was a pleasant evening of good wine, good food, good music, and great conversation. We know we will keep in touch with them, and will remember their kindness forever. They are two very wonderful people.

We called our sons tonight and it sure was great to hear their voices. Now we know when to reach them, it was Saturday midnight when we called them.

I feel very pampered tonight. We are once again in a caravan park, but this time we are in a cabin with our own bathroom. And this is the first place we’ve been to in Australia that has FREE INTERNET! We decided we needed to get a cabin to get packed properly for the flight and to get the dear Jucy van ready to be returned. I must admit I will miss it a bit. I am anxious to see Darwin and Kakadu NP, but not anxious to enter the sweltering heat I know awaits us there. Australia’s so big that one can’t have nice weather everywhere in one short visit.

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Photos

Cairns Swimming Lagoon
Since the ocean is off limits so much of the time (stinging things) the city has built this amazing swimming lagoon that supposedly holds 1000 people.

Fiona
This is Fiona's breakfast at Kuranda, a typical Australian one, when dining out.

Wall in Kuranda
Dedicated to children of the area.

Cairns Caravan Park
This is the view from our cabin. I wanted to show you how nice these places are in Australia and why they are so popular.

Park Pool
See our Jucy van behind the pool area. Joe was cleaning it out, hence the board.

Bathroom
Everywhere we've stayed the bathrooms have been this nice.

Laundry Room
These are always kept up and clean, too.

Joe and Stu
On the deck of Stu's home overlooking a beautiful valley. I like how the doors to the home open up to the deck.

Fiona
Fiona and Stu treated us to a wonderful meal...cool kitchen.

More Vegemite
When I said that Vegemite wasn't my favorite, Stu got it out and showed us the proper way to eat it...on a rice cracker with butter. I still didn't touch it.

Potato Gun
Fiona's son showing Joe his latest invention.