Northern Beaches

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Took off from a wet Melbourne and landed in an even wetter Cairns, but we have made it with all 80kgs of our belongings! Experienced the repercussions of this years first of many (apparently) cyclones! Now enjoying temperatures consistently in the 30’s.

Spent the first couple of nights in the Cairns Central YHA, which was well located although, the resort wide intercom (including in the bedrooms!) was slightly Hi-de-Hi. Then spent four nights up in the Atherton Tablelands whilst on the hunt for somewhere more permanent to live and so that James could visit the school he is going to be working at. Had a whistle stop tour of the tourist sites, including waterfalls and lakes and were pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the area.

Things have been pretty hectic, since we moved down to the Cairns Northern Beaches, but think we are finally sorted, apart from the small issue of Alyson finding a job! We are the owners of two new cars (James has an interesting tan line on his Queensland driving license!) and have purchased some practical early Christmas presents in the form of a telephone, printer, bedding and towels. The apartment thankfully came with everything else. Life in Trinity Beach is all good, evening walks on the beach, a cocktail bar, sports bar and several restaurants. Thus far we have only been to the Thai, at which we may become regulars. There are 12 apartments in our complex, which means we usually have the pool to ourselves. The only hindrance to our al fresco lifestyle is the mosquitoes, but we have taken all the necessary precautions, including yellow light bulbs on the balcony to keep them at bay. Tiled living is taking a bit of getting used to, Aly has taken a fall off the fit ball and has a number of bruises, might need to invest in some rugs!

With the rest of our time, we have been getting to know the local area. We have the resort town of Palm Cove 10 minutes up the road as well as several other beach residential communities nearby.

Yesterday we decided to revive a Melbourne tradition and ventured out for a Sunday breakfast! We made the 45 minute up the coast to Port Douglas where we managed to find a small café serving an excellent all day brekkie! Although it was the most expensive we have bought since arriving in Oz, it was probably the best! Port Douglas was much the same as when we visited two and a half years ago for our honeymoon, although it seemed a lot hotter yesterday!

On our return to Trinity Beach we took a dip in our pool to cool off. James managed to fix the Jacuzzi which hadn’t been working since we arrived. After about 10 minutes of noisy bubbles (and curious glances over the balconies from our neighbours) the jacuzzi finally shut off. James was worried that the button had been welded closed for a reason!

We now have a quiet week planned before leaving Cairns for Brisbane for our Christmas holiday. We will be spending 18 nights between the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Updates to follow…

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Photos

Curtain Fig Tree
Yungaburra