Monday, December 18, 2006

Merry Christmas Everyone.

I've been avoiding the thought of Christmas for a couple of weeks now. But with it only a week away and with my parents arriving in 2 hours I must accept the inevitable.

In my last blog I promised to update you all on my whacky adventures with Lisa and Maria. Well they left over 2 weeks ago now but in the last few weeks I've been flat out like a lizard drinking. I've been trying to win an entry to the Aussie Millions tournament in Melbourne in January. I came third in a tournament that if I'd won I'd get the $10,000 ticket. Unfortunately I got nothing. I've also been fixing a number of websites that google decided weren't good enough to advertise on it's site. The cheek of some companies!

So back to the whacky adventures. The first night I picked up the ladies from the airport and took them straight to the lagoon for a free BBQ. As people in Canberra know a free BBQ seems great, until you arrive there with no paper towel to clean it. If you look closely you'll notice corn on the cob on the BBQ. If you haven't thought of it before I highly recommend it. A little tip I picked up from the Japanese, and you all thought they were useless. Shame on you!

The next day I drove the ladies around Atherton tablelands. Quite a nice scenic drive if you like waterfalls. Luckily I do, so we did the drive, and now here's a picture. The stunning Millaa Millaa falls. I went for a dip in the water though the girls thought it was too cold. Who knew they were going to be such a pair of whingers?

Maria had never even swum in a lake before. So with much coaxing I managed to get them both to have a swim at Lake Eacham. They had to admit it was a great experience, and order was restored in the car. A couple of beers on the bank and it was back to Cairns for dinner and more drinks.

The next day we had to get up early to go diving on the great barrier reef. If you remember last time I went diving I spent a lot of time bent over the side of the boat feeding the fishes. This time I took some ginger tablets to prevent sea sickness. I wonder if the fishes enjoyed the hint of ginger in the food I provided this time.

Maria also felt under the weather, but being the lady that she is managed to slip off to the lavatory without making a fuss. When the diving experience was over it was back to Cairns for dinner and drinks.

It was now Wednesday and this day was spent heading north. First stop was the Tjapukai aboriginal cultural centre. It was really interesting, you can learn how to throw a spear with a woomera, eat food from the land, and of course throw a boomerang.


Then it was on to Mossman Gorge. It was over 30 degrees and about 70% humidity. So after a long walk naturally I had a quick dip in the crystal clear waters of Mossman river. The girls did not?!??!!!

We made our way up to cape tribulation to stay at PK's jungle village, a backpackers in the middle on the daintree forest. On the way we took time to admire the unique wildlife.... road signs. At the PKs pool comp I discovered I was well out of practice. Too much of this easy living has made me soft.

The next day I tried to get the girls to come swimming with me AGAIN. This time in the creek. I tried to convince them there were no crocodiles but they were not having any of it. Trekking through the daintree forest in flip flops and sandals all became a bit too much so we headed back to Cairns for dinner and drinks. Of course we needed to let off a bit of steam Charlies Angels style.

We were now up to Friday and with Lisa and Maria's flights the next day we decided it was OK to snorkle and or dive depending on our preference. This time we went out on to a man made podium next to the reef. Those who were only wanted to snorkle were suitably humiliated with a "stinger suit". Stingers (or boxed jelly fish) are in the waters off the Far North Queensland coast from November to May. Their stings are deadly but was it really worth wearing that suit?

To sum it all up a fine time was had by all. Next Cairns Capers.... The parents edition!