Winter Holidays - Far North Queensland

July brought us the end of term 2 and another 2 week holiday. This time we decided to fly north east to Cairns, QLD and make our way south down past the Whitsundays, Fraser Island, the Sunshine Coast and maybe a day in the Gold Coast before flying back out of Brisbane.

Since we flew out at 6:00 it was 10:00 pm before we landed at Cairns airport, got our rental car and found our holiday park. It was late and we were tired, but great customer service makes it all worth it, we rolled into the Crystal Cascades Big4 and taped to the door was an envelope with a map to our cabin, the lights were on and beds were made.

When the sun came up the next morning, imagine our surprise waking up to the beautiful rainforest and mountains right behind our cabin. 

This part of north Queensland is also big horse country, and there were also a couple of critters that hung out behind our cabin. This dog would wait for our car to pull in after we'd been out and then bark until Hannah got out of the car and came over to pat her. That child is like the pied piper!

After admiring the view and getting some shopping for supplies and groceries out of the way, we headed out and hiked up to the Crystal Cascades waterfalls.

They small right now, but in the rainy season they grow to almost triple this size.

It's all fresh water and there are several spots were you can climb down to the water where it's calmer and have a swim. That is if you're brave enough to get in the cold water like these crazy fishes!

When you're this far north, you of course have to go and see the rainforest! We climbed aboard the Kuranda Scenic Railway through the world heritage listed rainforest across the Barron Gorge and up to the village of Kuranda.

The amazing Barron Falls

 At the top of the mountain is the lovely village of Kuranda and its original railway station from 1915.

Kuranda is a village built for tourists, so there are no shortage of attractions. Scott and I struck up a deal with the kids that so as long as we got to go to the markets in the afternoon, we would do what ever the kids chose first.

First up, the butterfly sanctuary.

Followed by Birdworld and a well earned drink. 

The markets in Kuranda are a truly bohemian adventure.

There are artists, musicians and different shops around each twist and turn of the market in the rainforest.

We got up the mountain riding the train, and to change it up we decided to ride the sky rail down. This is a gondola cable car that goes down over the rainforest canopy on it's way down.

North Queensland is croc country.  So we just had to check them out.  Hartleys Crocodiles is a crocodile farm and wildlife park that is known for being heavily in involved in the preservation of Australia's crocodiles.

We took a boat tour around their lagoon where they fed one of them right beside us...these things are huge! If you'd asked me at home if I would take my kids on a boat ride where they hang a chicken leg on the end of a pole off the side of the boat...I'm not sure I would have said yes...but when in croc country....

And then there was this guy. He's crazy enough to play with them!

Here's a couple of videos for those of you who can get them to play... I do apologize in advance I reckon I don't have much of a future in cinematography :)

There were still a few hours of daylight to enjoy after the crocodiles so we decided to take the opportunity to drive another half hour up the coast to the town of Port Douglas.  It is an amazing place surrounded by both ocean and rainforest.  We had only a few hours to walk the boardwalk and check out the shops before the sunset.  But it was a place we would definitely like to spend more time.

And then the time had finally come to explore the Great Barrier Reef. The reef is the largest world heritage area, world's largest coral reef system

There were lots of options for how to get out to the reef and different lengths of tours, so we chose one that came well recommended by the tour desk at our resort.  We got up early and headed into the Cairns waterfront to board a huge ferry that would take us on a 90 minute ride out to a pontoon on the reef.

The pontoon was well set up with space for up to 200 people to use as a base for the day. There were wetsuits for everyone, tables for lunch, a sun deck to warm up on and a huge platform to make getting into the water easier. There was also a glass bottom boat and a semi-submersible boat that you could take tours on farther our on the reef.

The water was cold, so wetsuits were the order of the day, as was sunning ourselves on the top deck afterwards. 

This is Wally. He's a Maori Wrasse and he's huge! But he's also really friendly, a couple of times each day he swims right up and on to the swim platform where the snorkelers are getting ready to go in the water to visit. And then he swims with the snorkelers and lets you pat him. This huge fish is on all the posters for Reef Magic and the highlight for the kids was to actually see him and pat him.

And if you're feeling like the ferry ride just wasn't up to your standards, you could always take the helicopter back to the mainland...for a small fee of course!

After a long day of sun, wind and saltwater, a little rest and relaxation was on the schedule until our

next exciting stop.

A day at the "G"

Saturday was a big day for us, we went to see our first AFL (Aussie Rules Football) match. It was a cool and drizzly 12 degrees out, but we weren't going to miss this for anything. so we rugged up and caught the train into the city. 

Having an AFL team to support is as important as having an NHL team at home only a lot safer. Nobody gets beat up for picking the wrong team! Tyler and I barrack for the Richmond Tigers, so this was a great game for us since Richmond was playing Adelaide.  Scott has jumped on the Geelong Cats bandwagon and Hannah being ever loyal to her favourite teacher Miss Lively goes for the Carlton Blues, but both were happy to support Richmond for the day.

We were at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground), the famed home of the AFL and Australia's favourite stadium.

This was an event organized by the International Teachers Federation, so it was another great opportunity to get together with the other Canadian teachers and their families down under.

This game is fast paced and exciting. These guys are fast and talented. There's a lot of testosterone on the pitch so of course there's a little pushing and shoving between the players, but since the clock rarely stops counting in this game there's not time for a pissing match fight. For more details on the rules of the game click here.

One of the best parts of the game is the spirit. Absolutely everyone comes dressed up. The 20 Canadians in the crowd were some of the only ones not dressed in team colours! There are hats, scarves, footy socks, jackets, pom poms, and signs. Saturday was a sea of yellow and black!

And last but definately not least each club has a song. One of the most widely recognized theme songs in the AFL is that of the Richmond Tigers. And everyone in the stadium knows the words! Richmond won the match, and 1000s of fans stood up and sang this song:





Oh we’re from Tigerland
A fighting fury we’re from Tigerland
In any weather you will see us with a grin
Risking head and skin
If we’re behind
we’ll never mind
we’ll fight and fight and win
oh where from tigerland
we never weaken til the final siren goes
like the tigers of old
we’re strong and we’re bold
oh we’re from tiger
-YELLOW AND BLACK-
oh we’re from tigerland

(To the tune of ‘Row, Row, Row’)

We had a fantastic day, and I'm sure we'll be back again. It was too much fun not to!

Yay for long weekends!

This past weekend was a long one for us with the Aussies celebrating the Queens Birthday. We originally had plans of leaving on Friday and driving to Canberra to see the nations capital, but with all the other travel planning we were doing for our winter break we didn't manage to get any accommodation booked. So home in Melbourne we stayed. Hannah and Tyler made the big decisions of what to do for the weekend, and they made some great choices!

Saturday morning was a leisurely and lazy start to our day, and then the kids decided we should check out a place called Scienceworks that they had heard about from their friends. It's a science museum with a hands on approach for the kids. There wasn't one exhibit that they couldn't touch and try out. They had so much fun checking out all the exhibits that we didn't even have time to check out the planetarium. Good thing we bought the family membership so that we can go back!

Since when do telephones have a cord and a dial?

Can you find the banana? 

My strongman ;)

Sunday started off slowly too, but once we got ourselves moving we decided to head into the city to the South Melbourne Market. Not as big as the Queen Victoria Market further into the city, but just as fun.  The markets here are amazing, I'm not sure that the Byward is going to cut it after this!

We bought some lovely crisp green apples and Hannah helped me to make them into an apple pie. 

Monday was the public holiday which saw most of the city closed down. Tyler was keen to see some of the dinosaurs he's been reading about in a new book so we decided to hop on the train and head into the city to the Melbourne Museum.

Walking in this city always provides material for great new pictures. There is always so much going on and there's a great mix of space for people, cars, trams and nature. Some of the trees in the city are even showing the autumn colours. 

The dinosaurs were exactly what Tyler was looking for. I always forget how big they are until I see them up close!

This is the ant dome. Since when do ants have iPods?

Heading back to get the train back home.

I thought that I had seen most of the train stations on our line, but this was a new one for me. The Melbourne Central Station has 3 floors of shops on the way down to the train lines and it has the most amazing ceiling! I try hard not to look too much like a tourist, but I just couldn't resist a picture of it.

At the end of the weekend we were glad that we had stayed home instead of travelling. There are still so many things in our very own city that we haven't seen! 

What We've Been up to in the Month of May

While all our Canadian friends and family are enjoying springtime at home, we are enjoying some cooler autumn weather here in Ferntree Gully.

There's just one tree in the neighbourhood that is dropping it's leaves and reminding us of home,

 

and then you look up the mountainside and all you can see is leafy green!

We asked the kids what kind of things they wanted to do on their weekends for term 2. They surprised us with saying they wanted to stay home more and take more day trips since last term they didn't have much time for playdates, sleepovers and birthday parties. 

Cool. We can do that!

On a Friday night a few weeks ago there was a school disco. Given that the word "disco" isn't something our generation uses very often I wasn't sure what to expect! Sure enough it was your normal every day school dance.  But for these kids the real gem was being able to wear "free dress" (translation: no school uniforms!)

So after a quick dinner and some primping (ok maybe a lot of primping), Tyler went with the first group on the early shift from 5:30 to 7:00pm at which point we went and picked him up and dropped Hannah off for the later shift of 7:00 to 9:00.  This may have been the most fun they've had on a Friday night in a long time!

Mother's Day was a real event for me this year. I attended a Mother's Day tea held by Hannah's girl guide troop one night, had morning tea with Tylers preppie class (all devoted to the letter "m"), and had breakfast in bed on Mother's Day. I've loved every minute of being a "mum" so far this year, and it means so much to me to hear straight from the kids how much they appreciate having me close by this year.

Recently on a lovely Sunday afternoon we met up with some friends to go to the Melbourne Zoo. Since the weather was cooler the animals were moving around and there was lots to see. We all agreed that the highlights of the day were the meerkats, and watching the elephants search for the melons hidden around their enclosure. And of course there was the new baby elephant - it's amazing how something that big can be that cute!

One of the wonderful things about the kids school is not only the strong academic focus, but the fantastic arts program. They each get the opportunity to participate in a grade appropriate art class and music class weekly and Hannah also participates in the "Love to Dance"program where she has an hour of dance every week during school hours as part of a collaboration between the phys ed and arts departments.

One evening last week we had the opportunity to attend the Fall Art Show. We were handed a lovely glass of wine on our arrival and took the next hour to wander around the outdoor basketball court that had been transformed into the Ferntree Gully North Art Gallery! We saw the textiles work Tyler had been working on, my Mother's Day portrait, some watercolour scenes that Hannah had done and some line drawings.

After we had taken the opportunity to mingle with the other parents and admire the artwork we were treated to a show by the kids in the school dance program. This was Hannah's first performance and I think for only 5 weeks of practice she did a fantastic job. Here's a little peek (she's in the middle towards the back)

Hannah and her friend Talia were so fired up after their big performance they agreed to pose for a couple of celebrity shots!

June should be another quiet month. We're hoping to get some day trips in, but mostly we're just enjoying spending time with some of the new friends we've made.