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Published: March 31st 2007
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Our time in Australia could not of got off too a worst start, having discovered that we had lost our Camera along with our pictures from Bali, it was time to head down to the town to see if we could not purchase a new one!! and Jonesy, would you believe it.... We have bought a baby Nikon!!
We spent the rest of the afternoon looking around the place and checked out a few shops (But we were good and managed not too spend anything this time, so we are getting better)... Whilst in Cairn's we were staying at the Fig Tree Lodge, we had our very own appartment/studio with our own kitchen, so in order to save some money, we decided to head out and buy a few bits i.e. Cereal, Bread, Milk & microwavebale meal's..... We were now truly slumming it..... After our gourmet microwaveable pasta we headed into the town, where we went to the night markets and enjoyed our first taste of Oz Ice Cream, it was delicious. After the Ice Cream we went to a pub called PJ O'Brians and had a couple of beer's before heading back to recharge the batteries.
The next
Just call me Gary Dundee!
No Crocodile dundee yet mum, but will this do?? day we headed down the Esplanade and went to the outdoor Lagoon, which is an outdoor swimming pool and they even have public barbeques, we were truly amazed.... We then relaxed and sun bathed for the rest of the day, as we knew we were in for a hectic couple of days!
We were picked up the next morning and taken to Skyrail - this is the longest Cable Car in the world (well that's what they told us).... The cable car took us up over the rainforset and it truly had some fantastic views of the coastline of Cairns. On the way up, there were 2 stop off's where you could jump off and take a wander around the Rainforest or see views of the Baron Gorge and the waterfall's. The last stop was Kuranda Village, there were plenty of little souvenir shops and nice little restaurants, we treated ourselves to a hot dog and a bowl of chips, before catching the Skyrail back down to the bottom!
That evening, not knowing what was planned for her birthday, Mel was in the mood for dancing... But when I revealed that we would have to be up at 3am she
soon changed her tune! After opening her cards and finding out that we were going Hot Air Ballooning (Thanks Mum & Dad (Tina & Brian), she was very excited and so we decided to get an early night and watch Neighbours in bed..... But we won't tell you what happens!
We found it very difficult to wake the next morning, so we snoozed the alarm and finally got up at about 3.15AM!!!!!! We were picked up at 4.15am & we headed for the fields where our balloon awaited us. When we arrived, we was both very excited, it was still dark and all we could see was these 2 huge balloon's that we would very shortly be floating in.... It was soon ready for take off & that's when the nerves statrted to kick in a little, but once we got going... Well words can not describe how this felt. We flew over the Atherton Tablelands, which is supposed to be one of the best places to balloon in the world. We got to see the sun rise over the mountains & as we descended, we even got to see Kangaroo's!! After landing, we were wisked off to a
ranch, where we had a champagne breakfast, which was lovely. It was definetly an experience that we will never forget & it was a birthday to remember for Mel.... We had some time in the afternoon to head down to the Lagoon for a bit more sun bathing, before we headed out for our Dinner Cruise (Thank you Gary). We were picked up at 6.45pm and boarded our boat at 7pm, where we were greeted with a glass of bubley. The dinner was lovely, 4 course buffet, with some live entertainment.... Mel even got to see her first Shooting Star from the back of the boat, which was an added bonus!
Our last day in Cairn's was spent visiting one of the 7 Natural Wonder's of the World...... The Great Barrier Reef! This was very easy to see why they call this the best reef in the world & we were about to swim in it.... We were taken to 2 reef spot's, we spent 3 hour's at the first spot and 2 hour's at the second spot. At the first reef Gary decided that he wanted to Scuba Dive, I mean you can't come all the way to
the barrier reef & not do it.... This was a great experience!! Whilst Gary was diving, Mel got straight in there and spent the whole time snorkelling.... We have never seen so many different varieties of fish & Coral, some of the colour's of the Coral was just amazing. Mel did look rather fetching in her all in one stinger suit!!! Gary managed to be paired with another english lad (Byron) for his dive, who was from Kent, well in fact lives minutes from Blue Water... We spent the rest of our time on the boat with him, snorkelling & then we met up in the evening for a couple a few drinks. We met him at a place called Gilligan's , which is sort of like a local night club. We were very tired from our last few days & only managed to last until about 1am & then we headed back to get some well deserved sleep, before we head off to Brisbane!
Cairn's has been absolutely fantastic, we will definetly not forget our time here, it is a shame that we have to leave.... But, Onwards and Upwards, look out Brisbane, here we come!!!
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Darren Lyons
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Happy Birthday Mel !!!
G'Day Mate's Glad to see you managed to get a new camera, pictures look great, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEL !!! That's one birthday you will never forget, Oz's look's beautiful especially the rainforests and diving the great barrier reef, how good is that!!!, Well i better get off to work now, say hello to Kylie for me, Looking forward to your next blog, lot's of love, Darren xx