Friday 24 May 2013

birthdays and dinner

it was Maz's birthday on the 22 of this month and as she was away we spoke on the phone and arranged to meet for dinner tonight to celebrate her birthday.  i'm usually away when her b/day comes around.  we went to my favourite balinese/indonesian restaurant pondok bali.  we had one of the banquets.  sate chicken and spring rolls, chicken soup, yellow fish, sanur chicken, garlic prawns, beef rendang, spicy vegies with rice.  phew.  the most delicious food ever.  for dessert we had coconut pancakes with icecream.  yum.  nice wine too, a sweet riesling.  i don't remember the name of it but it was very nice.  when i got home i made some decaf coffee.  they are going to sydney soon for a long weekend.  i offered to mind Maz's little doggie Bo,  he's adorable.  he loves me.  we had a great evening and i'm really sleepy now.  too much delicious food :)


Saturday 18 May 2013

cairns


i'm back from my 10 days in cairns.  beautiful place to visit.  weather was not the best, apparently they had a late wet season.  quite a bit of rain but some nice days too.  we did a sunset cruise, a fab all day trip to the tablelands which was spectacular and visited the night markets.  we went to the esplanade a few times and just had a very nice holiday.  i've put the link for the photos below and hope it works.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10201187569397013.1073741825.1403844797&type=1

we stayed at the cairns reef apartments and motel which my dil's sister owns and it was very well appointed with lovely gardens.  we had our own laundry and kitchen.  the bus stops right outside and it's very conveniently located.  flights up and back were smooth and uneventful which is just what you'd like from a flight.  3 hours isn't too long.  some of the places we visited include:

paronella park

botanic gardens

skyrail

railway

esplanade

kuranda definitely my favourite.  a market village in the rainforest.  lots of stalls and just gorgeous.

i stayed a few days with my girlfriend who moved up there seven years ago to be with her daughter.  we went out for a beautiful italian dinner and had a lovely catch up.  the gorgeous very large cat is hers.  his name is cedric and he is an angel.  largest cat i've ever seen.  and, i wasn't allergic (i kept a good distance between us).  he is part maine coon.

all in all we had a great holiday and i'll definitely go back.  i've got another week or so before i go back to work and because i came home with a nasty cold i'm very glad of that.

this post looks very bare so i'll include a few photos.  i hope the links work.

beautiful plants in the garden of my dil's mum's apartment block.  gated community, nine swimming pools.  i want to live there.  

we saw lots of vdubs.  this one is a campervan that extends

gorgeous fig trees full of bats.  just like bali

little cutie at the bus stop

very swish hair salon

cruise on lake barrine where the pythons come down to sun themselves.  very overcast day when we were there.   :)

the curtain fig tree believed to be over 700 years old

two hour steam train trip up to kuranda from cairns central

view from the skyrail going back to cairns.  a must do.  spectacular trip







Thursday 9 May 2013

im in cairns

we are havIng a great time. wiII pOSt piCs next week