We arrived in the late evening on a Sunday and pretty much came back to the house, had a drink, showered, and went to bed.
Our first day was spent driving around and going to malls. First we stopped into Matt's aunt Linda's house for banana cake. Cairns had a really nice outlet mall, and I found a super great bedtime/sportswear shop, that had an additional 40% off everything, and they had several shops with nice clothing. However, given that I am moving in 6 months I refuse to buy anything that isn't teacher appropriate, unless I'm absolutely in love with it. So I ended up buying very little, which is for the best. I was generally surprised how inexpensive most things were and was happy to get back to some shops like Target and K-mart! We spent our afternoon at the Esplanade, looking at the mud slabs and ducking in and out of tourist shops.
Our evening was spent at the local bowling club as the Rotary Club (Matt's mom is the head) celebrated Christmas. Bowling isn't 10 pin bowling or even 5 pin bowling, it's lawn bowling, similar to Bocce ball, as you play on teams, and aim heavy balls at a lighter target. The difference is that the balls are weighted, and curve as you throw them. It was a good time, but afterwards I came home and passed out!
Our second day was spent doing a few touristy things. Matt knew I loved being outdoors and in fresh water so we packed up and esky(cooler) and headed to the Crystal Cascades. These were very remnant of the Eau Claire Dells, from back home, as there were many small rapids/waterfalls, and you could hop from rock to rock. Matt ended up swimming down the rapids to grab our esky from the truck and brought it back to a rock in the middle of the cascades.
We lunched there, and then left for Palm Cove Beach. Matt was involved in surf life-saving as a teenager and wanted to show me the surf club and beach he used to work at. It wasn't a good idea to swim due to high rates of jellyfish this time of year, so we simply walked along the beach and stopped to have an ice cream. Then we sat and watched the waves and birds, and afterward walked along the street to look into some touristy shops. Matt explained that any profits the surf club makes go to help buy new equipment for the life-savers, so we stopped in for a drink and some chips.
On the drive home we stopped at the Henry Ross Lookout to see the whole of Cairns from up high. We arrived home with enough time for Matt to cook his famous chicken parmesan and to wait up for his sister to arrive from the airport.
The next day we spent with Matt's sister. I woke up and cooked biscuits and gravy, and then we headed out to have a look at the botanical gardens. It wasn't much to see, but I was just happy to be outside and walking around in a shaded area.
We stopped for a lunch of meat pies and stopped at a bottle-o (liquor store) even though it was Christmas eve so that I could purchase some more IPA. The afternoon heat was fought off by drinking a few beers by the pool and getting a bit of a tan. For Christmas eve dinner we went to Dundees, a restaurant on the pier. I had a few glasses of wine and surf and turf for dinner, which is very different from my usual Christmas Eve meal. It was delicious!
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| Merry Christmas to me! |
Christmas day was spent opening presents (in the morning, which is odd for me) and then hanging out until the family began to arrive. I put together part of my present (lego ornaments Matt designed for me after I said I wanted them) skyped with my parents, and then tried to get a bit more involved with the family in Australia. I ate heaps of turkey and chicken and veggies at lunch, but just couldn't get myself to eat seafood on Christmas day. I managed to eat one prawn. After lunch we all hopped in the pool to play with the kids. Then we ate desert, built more lego and went for another swim at the children's insisting. We finished of the night by watching Lampoons Family Christmas.
We spent the 26th and 27th at the Tablelands (see previous blog post.) On the 28th we did more shopping and went to The Pier bar for a few drinks. On the 29th we went skydiving! Such an incredible experience. I had wanted to do it for a long time, and Matt's mom got a buy one jump-get one jump- deal through her business. The freakiest part was honestly getting strapped to my diver. Once it was my turn to go I was ready. The free falling was overwhelming and I felt like my breath was being whipped out of me, but once Charlie (my tandem diver) pulled the chord and let me steer us around I really loved the free feeling of flying. If you want to go skydiving at all, just do it. You will not regret it.
On the 30th we left to go to Brisbane and the Gold Coast!
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