Saturday Feb. 7, 2009

I am having a great time sipping champagne and trying to figure out how these seats work!  My first time in the flat beds!  See you on Monday – hope I don’t miss anything exciting on Sunday! 

Monday Feb. 9, 2009

What a fabulous flight!  The seats are amazing.  I slept 6 hours, watched two movies, ate dinner and breakfast and now it’s just about time to land.  Almost need a couple more hours on the plane so I can fit in one more nap!  Can’t wait to start our holiday!
After a short lay down, without sleep, we went looking for a bite to eat and ended up at a Turkish deli and grabbing a wrap for me and a burger for Damon.
We walked around town all afternoon, in the botanical gardens where we say cockatoos, the biggest bats you will ever see, ducks and birds that I don’t have names for.  We took pictures of the Opera house, walked along the “sea wall” holding hands and enjoying our first day of holidays out of the plane.
We met up with Kate and Eric at their hotel and made plans to get together for dinner the following night since Kate was feeling under the weather.  Of course Eric and I couldn’t make dinner plans without a “couple” glasses of wine.
After a quick visit with our friends we walked back to our hotel(in the rain) and caught up on our sleep. 

Tuesday Feb. 10, 2009

Another showery day so made plans to go to the aquarium.  Saw TONS of fish, a croc, a Dugong(closest relative being the elephant), penguins, rays and sharks which you can get a better look at by going in the underwater tunnel.   Beautiful!

Wednesday Feb. 11, 2009

Damon and I made dinner reservations for 8p.m. at the Wharf restaurant for four.  Damon and the steak, Eric and I had the fish special(a wonderful white fish) and Kate ordered the mussels.  Instead of dessert we ordered another bottle of wine – mmm!  By 11:00p.m. We were ready to hop back on the bus and head back to our hotel.  Can’t wait to meet up again for another dinner at home to exchange travel stories. 
We are now on our plane headed to Brisbane and looking forward to another leg of our journey.  G’day. 

Friday Feb. 13, 2009

Let’s just start out by saying today is Friday the 13^th and all I’m going to say about today at Mackenzie Lake that it was an absolutely beautiful rain water hole, the most gorgeous soft white sand I have ever seen and is now the proud owner of Damon’s wedding band.  Let’s leave it at that.  There have been enough tears shed.
We spent a lot of time driving around in the back of a jeep getting to know the 8 others sardined in there with us.  Thankfully they were all lovely and I will tell you that we were the oldest.  Not that I am bragging about my age or anything but we did leave the young’uns in the dust on our long hike.  We were heading towards Lake Wabby and it was like we were walking in a desert.  The lake was breathtaking and we swam with the catfish and these little fish that would come and eat the dead skin off your toes.  It felt like someone tapping a finger on you - hee hee!
The lodge we stayed in was fairly nice but we only got to enjoy it for one night.  We were exhausted from the birds waking us up so early at Heather and Ian’s that we went to bed at 9:00p.m. and with only a couple “wake ups” between, woke up at 7:00a.m.
Today was quite rainy so we didn’t do as many beach stops today.  Oh well, we had so much driving to do anyway that it didn’t matter much.  Looking forward to spending the weekend with Heath, Ian and the kids.  I hope this rain doesn’t stay.  They are such a great family – I already adore them.
They have made us feel so welcome and as if it is we that are doing them a favour by staying the weekend.  We are just now waiting for Heather to pick us up so we can watch some soccer or football or whatever it is!  They’re here so gotta run! 

Wednesday Feb. 18, 2009

Got an OK start this morning – 8:30a.m. and on the road.  Spent all last night writing postcards so thought I could do some journal writing on the roads.  As long as there aren’t too many roundabouts I shouldn’t start to feel sick.
Had a great time getting to know Heather, Ian, Gracy, Lachy and Hayley.  The mornings in that house are the best!  Hugs and kisses from all the kids.  Best huggers ever!
Drank too much wine with Ian every night but managed to keep somewhat under control and be fine the next morning.  My trick – white wine instead of my preferd red.  Red kills me.
Saturday night we went for dinner at Denis and Jenny’s house.  They live in a rainforest at the edge of Nambour.
Had a nice visit with them.  They are great people and got to spend an entire evening with born and raised Aussies.  I adore the Australian accent and they always laugh when I ask where the washroom is.  They say toilet or loo because generally the toilet is a separate room from the sink and shower.
Woke up sunday morning, had breaky and coffee then made our way to Noosa River for a fundraiser for all the bushfire victims.  Huge tragedy here in Australia.  So far 200 dead and more bodies are expected to be found in the coming weeks.  There have also been amazing stories of survival and it makes you realize what is important.  A lot of people lost EVERYTHING not just a wedding band.  Puts things in perspective.
After a hot and sticky afternoon we went back to our home base and all jumped in the pool.  Gracy had a couple of her mates with her so made for a great game of submarine.
Before having a wonderful dinner of prawn stir-fry we went to Hailey’s school to look for kangaroos since I had never seen one before.  We found two.  A male and female – so cool!  Totally worth the huge bruise I acquired jumping the fence illegally.
Ian made an amazing stir-fry and we of course drank some amazing wine. 
Monday morning we jetted out to the Australian Zoo which the late Steven Irwin started as an animal sanctuary.
We saw birds, elephants(asian), snakes and things I had no idea even existed.  We went to the crocasium to see a wildlife show with birds zipping around your head and of course the croc feeding.  They also showed us how to avoid being eaten by a croc which is to stay at least 4 meters from the waters edge as the crocs are slow on land and humans can easily out run them.  Anywhere near the water and you are toast.  Good to know.
We were able to pet the kangaroos and was not expecting them to be so soft.  They love being scratched behind the ears, just like a cat.  We also got to pet a Koala.  The longer I watched them the cuter they got.  I didn’t realize how tiny they are.  I guess to Canadians bear means big.
The Williams have a beautiful salt water pool in their backyard so after the zoo, Hailey(5) and Lachy(2) came for a swim with us.  So fun!
After yet another great dinner by Ian, we had to get packing so we could start the next leg of our journey.
We went for a hike at Noosa National Park before heading out.  Very sticky but gorgeous.  Good to get a little hike in before sitting in the car all day.
Saying goodbye to the Williams family was really difficult.  I totally fell in love with this family.  They are kind, energetic, welcoming, patient and extremely caring people.  We already miss you.
Yesterday the first half of the drive was miserable.  Narrow roads and rain didn’t make for the best driving conditions but the last half was dry.  Much better.
D is filling up the car and I think it is my turn to drive – yikes!  My first time on the other side of the road.  Wish me luck! 

Friday Feb. 20, 2009

The driving went OK since I didn’t have to turn at all and the weather was beautiful – while I was driving at least.  Damon had a couple wicked storms to get through where we could not see a thing.  Good thing the storms didn’t last longer than 15 minutes.
Made sure to keep really hydrate so had to stop every ½ hour sometimes for a “toilet” break.  Damon had to keep asking “for real?”
As I sit here on our sailboat named Enid I ponder whether I should have a nap or write in my journal.
We are into our second day of sailin’ the Whitsunday Islands and I can’t describe to you how beautiful it is here.  The sand is as soft as flour because it is actually silica(99.8%), not sand.  Cleaned my wedding rings until they gleamed!
Spent most of the day snorkeling yesterday.  We saw the most beautiful coral, tons of colourful fish, a turtle swam right under me (not common) and there were some jealous staff members when Damon and a few of the others saw a white tip reef shark – very rare!
The dolphins were also swimming around however the couple we saw had babies with them so they were being very shy.
Had trouble sleeping last night due to the heat.  Somehow a mosquito found me in the middle of the ocean and woke me up with that high pitch buzzing.  I think he must have got me eventually because he stopped bothering me after awhile.  Tonight I am going to put my mattress on the deck and sleep outside.
This morning we went for a bike to get the picture perfect postcard view.  Think we got it.  Thank goodness the hike was only 10 minutes because even though we were there at 8:00a.m. it was stinking hot!  Perfect for having a dip soon after – with our lovely stinger suits.  I feel like I’m from Star Trek walking on some planet or something.  Really funny to watch.  I may even have pictures!  Anyway the boat is anchoring and I need some sunscreen and a stinger suit. 

Sunday Feb. 22, 2009

Had great weather for the whole sailing trip although the last day was a little more windy so the snorkeling was not as smooth as it had been which  was fine except my snorkel was not working so I had to keep spitting out water every breath which is quite exhausting, and filling!  The staff on Enid was amazing.  Trent was our Captain, Emma was our host and Pierre was the deck hand.  What a fantastic crew.  They really made our trip extra special.  They really made an effort to find us the best and most unique and of course remote snorkeling and beach spots – fantastic!  I can’t say enough good things about that trip.  We were really very lucky as the boat holds 21 people and there were only 7 of us aboard.   I don’t know how it can be fun with that many people on the ship.
We had a 3 hour drive to Townsville yesterday so found an outdoor shower, cleaned up and even got in trouble from this guy who told us they were private showers and we shouldn’t be using them.  Totally worth all the fuss as we hadn’t showered in 3 days – even 2 shampoos didn’t get all that salt water out!  One of the best showers we ever had!
We found this great hotel in Townsville, did some laundry, had dinner and slept in an air conditioned room, heaven.  The room was very spacious and the staff extremely friendly.  When we went to bed last night it started pouring – and I mean pouring!  It rained all night and poured more cats and dogs in the morning.  Glad to be leaving all that rain but too bad because it was a really cute town.  We looked on the internet and knew it wasn’t raining in Cairns so off we went and never looked back at the dark clouds looming over Townsville.
I am now laying in my king size bed in our gorgeous 1 bedroom apartment with kitchen and deck in Port Douglas.  Damon and I got some veggies and chicken and coked up a ton of vegetables (severely lacking by eating out all the time, nobody here eats salad!)  It’s 9:30p.m. and we are relaxing with the AC on and the Aussie news in the background.  We are headed for a snorkeling trip to the outer part of the Great Barrier Reef.  We will be gone all day and back to our lovely apartment tomorrow night where we are going to look at grabbing some kangaroo steaks and cooking up the rest of the veggies.  Can’t wait for more snorkeling!  We are supposed to have nice weather tomorrow and also for the next few days so hopefully our luck will last and we will continue to have good weather when we need it to be.  Cross your fingers! 

February 25, 2009

Loved the snorkeling!  Had an absolutely beautiful day.  Saw some beautiful, colourful coral – blues and pinks – some looked like antlers and others mushrooms.  The fish are used to having people around so they go on pretty much as normal.  I got to touch a sea cucumber and I also saw my second white fin reef shark – cool!  Took tons of pictures and I think we were snorkeling a total of 4 hours that day.  Could have stayed longer but the top of my head was getting really hot except we had to go anyway.  They tell me the water temperature is in the 30s.  Makes it easy to get in anyway.  Spent the day in the car mostly hanging around the Daintree area.  Took a river cruise on the Daintree river looking for crocs and managed to find a little 2 year old croc.  The temperature outside controls the sex of the crocs, same as turtles, so most are female.  The weather and high tide didn’t make for good croc hunting so we settled with seeing a green frog, a couple birds and a couple green snakes too.
Arrived in Cairns around 4:00p.m. and had a few chores to do.  Our underwater camera broke so had to find a place to rent one.  Found dinner, walked around in the sticky heat, found a cool place to check our e-mails and post a few pictures and had to pack our bags(for the umpteenth time) to get ready for our overnight at the Great Barrier Reef. 
We are just now on our 2 hour boat ride to our overnight boat so I thought perfect timing to write in my journal but now that the sea is not being as kind I must put everything away. 

Thursday Feb. 26, 2009.

Love this boat they call Kangaroo.  The rooms are air conditioned and Damon and I are in the “honeymoon suite.”
So excited to say that after years of snorkeling and being scared of diving I finally did it!  I went diving for the first time yesterday.  I was of course calm, cool and collected – until we got 4 meters down and he wanted me to take my air out of my mouth – WHAT?!?!
Took me about one minute before I finally got up the courage and voila, so easy, no problem.  Damon got down to 4 meters no problems but I knew I would have trouble with my ears.  I was determined to finish once I started and managed to wow the dive instructor David by staying at 7 meters for 35 minutes!  Wow!!  Couldn’t stop smiling all day.
Now that I had a taste of diving I of course couldn’t wait to do more.  When the announcement of a night dive came on over the intercom I couldn’t resist.  Unfortunately my ears being so sensitive, two dives within a few hours was to much.  I was about 6 meters for 20 minutes but that was all I could manage.  Too bad, I wanted to do it so bad.
I am sitting on the top deck relaxing by myself after breakfast and a 6:00a.m. snorkel.
Damon has gone diving with David and I thought it was in the best interest of my ears to stay at sea level.  So jealous!  My ears are still plugged from the dive so best no to push my luck.
What an exciting day yesterday and I even forgot to mention that we saw another white tip reef shark.  This one hung around for quite a while so got a good look at it while snorkeling.  I did figure out that the fish are much bigger when diving than snorkeling.  Good thing I was snorkeling when I saw those sharks!
On this morning’s snorkel the cutest yellow and black baby angel fish followed me for 20 minutes all the way back to the boat.  I heard it say “will you be my mommy?”  So had to say no.
Hope all is OK with Damon.  I hope he gets some good pics.

Friday Feb. 27, 2009 

Without me and my ears Damon managed to dive 8 ½ meters!  So jealous!
It feels like our wonderful trip is coming to an end.  We are on our way to Sydney out of Cairns.  We spend on full day in Sydney and then we are out of here.  Kind of sad.  Not feeling an overwhelming urge to get back to work or anything.  This holiday went by so quickly.  I guess that is what happens when you pack your schedule full of activities.  Our last couple days will be geared more to relaxing.  We did a couple loads of laundry last night.  Couldn’t wait as nothing ever dries here and will start to smell quickly.
I also realized why everyone is a blonde – the sun bleaches it!  Even my hair is looking quite light.  The purple streak – blonde!
Damon and I have of course been talking about our holidays next year.  I think it will be more low key since he Olympics are coming and Damon is only allowed a week off at a time.  Did I mention we have bronze medal men’s hockey and men’s final speed skating tickets?!  It looks like two holiday’s next year – a week in Mexico and maybe Hawaii?  I’m even toying with the idea of a girls trip.  Hmmmmm………

Sunday March 1, 2009

Spent yesterday lounging at the Mariott’s roof top pool.  The room was beautiful and the bed so comfortable.  Hadn’t had a chance yet this holiday to lounge by the pool.  Perfect day for it, not too hot and a lovely breeze with a view of the everyone in Sydney who went sailing.
After our lovely day of sun baking, we washed up and went for a walk in King’s Cross where we saw lots of people getting arrested on every corner.  After a few more steps we saw a couple cops with a dog.  Ah-ha, drugs!  Stopped for dinner and watched all the strange people (Saturday night had weirder people than Friday night) and then headed back to our hotel to pack.
I am enjoying a lovely glass of champagne on the plane although it is not a time of celebration.  I enjoyed this time very much.  I loved getting to know the Williams family.  I loved learning about Australia and it’s under sea adventures, and believe it or not I enjoyed spending all this time with my lovely husband, he didn’t even annoy me that much!

Liana, Hailey & Lachey