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Published: August 18th 2007
Gday possums! Picking up where the last blog finished we’ve had a hectic few months working hard mixed with some prolonged apartment hunting and a fair bit of eager anticipation waiting for our holidays and visitors to arrive. We finally moved into our new pad with a week to spare before our guests hit town - we’re now happily residing on the 45th floor of Aurora Towers (www.auroraapartments.com.au) in the heart of Brisbane with great views of the river, Storey Bridge and across the city and beyond to Moreton Island and the Glasshouse Mountains.
Mum and Dad arrived safely (via Singapore) and had a few days to acclimatise and explore Brissy before we finished work (highlight of those 2 days for them was finding the main Post Office which was amazing apparently!?). First day of our hols we all head down to Surfers Paradise for a whale watching trip as it’s humpback migration season - nice canal cruise (check), seasick tablets (check), sunshine (check), whales (check), dolphins (check), choppy seas (check), 2 of the party being seasick (check), you know who you are (Dad and Heather - check)!!!!
Having traumatised the parents sufficiently we restrict boat related activities to
a gentle trip to New Farm park on the Citycat followed by a wander round the markets, a lovely lunch at Watt Modern Dining (courtesy of the Marley’s - cheers!) and a stroll back to the city via the floating boardwalk. After a night at the pictures to see the new Harry Potter its more markets and strolling around the city the following day topped off with $10 steak BBQ and a few drinkies at Jade Buddha on the river. Mmmmm
After a few chill out days its time for more sightseeing and we head north for the day up to the Glasshouse Mountains and the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. This area is also home to Australia (Steve Irwin) Zoo so a visit there on the way home is a must for any discerning tourists - Crikey! Our next excursion is one we’ve been dying to do since getting to Oz a year ago - Fraser Island 4WD style! This was a 2 day 1 night adventure spent offroading along the beautiful beaches on the east coast of the island before heading inland for a bit of sunbathing at a couple of the crystal clear freshwater lakes and a trek
through the lush rain forest.
After another days downtime in Brissy to recover its north to Airlie Beach to join up with our 3 day sailing trip around the Whitsundays - (http://www.islandive.com/WhitsundayBlue/WhitsundayBlue.php). Again the seas are a bit choppy on some parts of the journey but no casualties this time! Instead we’re treated to an awesome few days sailing and enjoy the great scenery, various wildlife encounters (humpbacks, sea eagles, George the Maori Wrasse and a shark! amongst others), some of the best snorkelling around the islands (even Mum - well done :-) and plenty of good food and fresh air. Highly recommended
Next, and final :-( stage of the hols sees us continuing north to Cairns. We thankfully had a great 2 bedroom apt to relax in with pool, spa, sauna, bbq etc located on the promenade with ocean views from our 2 (!) balconies. Our time there was split between wandering around the town, a visit up to Kuranda on the scenic train ride and a daytrip out to the GBR. Enroute to the latter we spotted another humpback (which was bizarrely vertical with its tail poking out the water for ages) and H and I
took the opportunity to get a few more dives in (most notable sightings were a big loggerhead turtle, giant Moray eel, stingrays, a decent sized white tip reef shark and lots of pretty coral!) The folks once again donned snorkelling gear for a last look at the reef then its back to Cairns for our final night before we go our separate ways :-( Did however have a great 2 weeks and rounded it off with v tasty seafood meal for the last supper!
Phew - sorry if that was a bit short and sweet but its taken weeks to get organised (had to sort through about 1000+ photos) but hopefully the pictures will speak for themselves!
PS Special hello and birthday wishes to Aunt Trish who celebrates the big 50 today!!!!! Don’t let those Marleys lead you astray tonight :-)
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Beth
non-member comment
Strewth!
G'day, Cobbers! Looks like a bonzer time was had by yall, I mean, all. Dagnabbit, I'll never get my accent right at this rate - I guess Texan and Scots is as multi-lingual as I can manage - Aussie is a dialect too far! What a magic trip it must have been; the oldies are full of praise and happy stories. Well done you twa - maybe you ought to abandon those silly jobs and become tour guides (-; Thanks for the blog; it's great to get the chance to be there with you all! Love, Beth xxx (-: