PLANES, TRAINS, AUTOMOBILES, SKYRAIL, RIVER RAFT, SAILBOAT

Shelby and Wesley went fishing one day and caught baby black-tipped sharks

Just in case you're wondering, YES IT'S A REAL SHARK!

We stayed overnight in Townsville on the way to Cairns and found a really good Mexican restaurant. Amazing how some good chips and salsa can put a smile on your face!

This picture was taken in Cairns not far from our hotel. We drove past it several times before we figured out what it was(rent a junk car). Probably not a good idea to put up a sign like this with all the terrorism in the world! :)

One night in Cairns we decided to go to a local restaurant and asked our taxi driver for a recommendation. We ended up at the "Cock and Bull", which specialized in prime lean game kangaroo fillet and fresh crocodile schnitzel. Yum Yum! We opted for Australian beef instead...

They also had "bangers, chips and gravy" which is hot dog and french fries, and a dessert called the spotted Dick (custard and ice cream).

We rented a station wagon for the drive from Airlie Beach to Cairns. This would be Clark Griswald at the wheel! For some reason, Wes and Kasey found it funny to drive around in a family station wagon!

Kasey and I took the Kuranda Scenic Rail journey to Kuranda one day to explore the village, which is in the middle of the World Heritage Tropical Rainforest. The rainforest is believed to be 135 million years old, and is the oldest surviving rainforest on earth. The village featured lots of artwork by the Aboriginals in the area.

This photo was taken from the moving train as we passed Barron Falls.

We opted for the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway on the way down, with breathtaking views of the rainforest, tropical Cairns, and the Coral Sea.

Coming out of one of the tunnels

Aerial view of the rainforest from the skyrail

View of the Barron River from the Skyrail

This was a picture taken from a rest stop on the way to Townsville. The town of Bowen is home to the "Big Mango". Betcha didn't know that! Also, on the Bruce Highway between the Whitsunday Islands and Cairns, they have "Driver Reviver" stops along the way with free coffee.

The drive was very pretty and we saw lots and lots of mango trees and fields of sugar cane as far as the eye can see.

Our first day in Cairns we went White Water Rafting on the Tully River. The rapids were a class 3, meaning not too fast. Our guide was American and used to live in Colorado!

Just some random observations that we made while in Australia:

In Australia, breakfast is called "brekkie". "Pokies" are slot machines (they are plentiful!). Apparently shoes are optional wherever you go, as we saw many many barefooted people, even in the malls! A pharmacist is called a "chemist". "Knickers" are underwear. If you tell someone thank you, the response is always "No worries!" Hamburgers are served with sliced beets instead of pickles. Australians say "How're you going?" instead of "how are you" or "how's it going".

Australia was a wonderful trip for us, in many ways. We were needing to get out of Asia and it was like a breath of fresh air. Kasey and Wesley both commented that "we don't stick out here like we do in Singapore". :) The food was good and what we consider "normal" except for the kangaroo filet and the crocodile schnitzel. The shopping was good, with sizes that actually fit! In Singapore the clothing is all made for very small people, so we were thrilled to buy some new clothes. The weather was dry and we did not miss the humidity of Singapore one bit! And the people were so friendly! Sometimes living on a small island with over 4.5 million people can be overwhelming, and we enjoyed the space and the beautiful country of Australia.

CHRISTMAS WILL FIND YOU, WHEREVER YOU ARE

Kasey loved jumping off the rope swing from the boat

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

Can you guess who this is? And no it's not Santa Claus! :)

Wesley was the most daring on the rope swing and finally mastered a back flip into the water!

HANGIN' LOOSE ON THE CORAL TREKKER

Wesley is chillin on Christmas Day!

Sunset on Christmas Day in the Whitsunday Islands, Great Barrier Reef

If you look closely at this photo, you can see Wes hanging from the rope swing!

"CHRISTMAS WILL FIND YOU, WHEREVER YOU ARE". My mom made this wall hanging for me this year and I just love it. How appropriate! Christmas found us alright! Far far from home! Although we were far away from family and the annual traditions we've grown to know and love, this was definitely a Christmas that we'll always remember! I was sad for a few minutes on Christmas morning, but that only lasted until I had a cold beverage and jumped into the water and felt the sun on my face! :) Tanya prepared a special Christmas lunch, including Christmas pudding, which we ate at Blue Pearl Bay on Hayman Island, followed by more snorkeling and rope swinging. It was fun to see people on other boats in their Santa hats and swimsuits, yelling Merry Christmas. All in all, a great Christmas-and we all got what we wanted-a real good tan!

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS A REAL GOOD TAN

Georgie and Ben entertaining us on Christmas Eve, singing Jingle Bells

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE CORAL TREKKER!

Dinnertime on Christmas Eve

Teresa and Mark

Audrey and Mark

Wes and Kasey overlooking Whitehaven Beach

We couldn't get over all the shades of blue in the water!

Yennick and Julie

Yennick, Pierre and Ben

"Stinger suits" were required any time we went into the water, due

to the chance encounter with a deadly jellyfish

Overlooking Whitehaven Beach

"ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS A REAL GOOD TAN"! Have you heard that song by Kenny Chesney? It was our theme song for this trip! Wednesday December 24, Christmas Eve found us at Whitehaven Beach and also Mantaray Bay on Hook Island. The sand was white and soft, and believe it or not, cool to the touch! The water was warm, with so many shades of blue-just like a postcard. We kept pinching ourselves and couldn't believe we were snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef! The snorkeling was unbelievable-there are over 1500 different kinds of tropical fish in the waters here, and we saw so many colorful fish including rainbow fish and clown fish, green sea turtles, even a huge maori wrasse! I personally found the different kinds of coral to be as beautiful as the fish. Christmas Eve was fun - we all wore Santa hats and listened to Christmas music, and were entertained by Georgie and Ben waiting for "Father Christmas".

THE CORAL TREKKER

On Tuesday December 23 we boarded the Coral Trekker for a three night sailing trip thru the islands of the Great Barrier Reef. The Coral Trekker is what they call an Australian "Tallship", which I fondly referred to as the pirate ship. :) The Coral Trekker is an old wooden sailboat with eight sails and holds up to eighteen passengers. It was a bit on the primitive side - no air conditioning or hot showers - but that is exactly what gave this part of our trip a more adventurous touch! Shelby said it felt like "camping on a boat". He and the kids chose to sleep up on deck each night, while I preferred to sweat down below. We've never seen so many stars in the sky as we did those three nights! The weather was perfect, both night and day. We were allowed to help raise the sails if we wanted to, or we could just sit back and watch. There were 14 passengers and 4 crew: Julie and Yennick from France were on their honeymoon, Teresa and Mark from Ireland, Audrey and Mark from England, Amanda and Paul with their two children,Georgie(7) and Ben(5) from England, our skipper Ian from Australia, cook Tanya from New Zealand, crewmember Houka from Germany and crewmember Pierre from Belgium. What a wonderful group of people to spend the Christmas holiday with! We truly enjoyed getting to know one another, and Wesley and Kasey especially liked the late night UNO games with Pierre, Houka, Yennick and Julie. Wesley was doing his best to learn conversational French in three days! The plan was to sail in and around the islands of the Great Barrier Reef, most of which are uninhabited. The first day we stopped at Hook Island and went on a cave walk (see above group pic).

AIRLIE BEACH

On Monday December 22 we flew from Brisbane to Proserpine in the Whitsunday Islands.

We stayed the night at the Whitsunday Moorings Bed and Breakfast in Airlie Beach, overlooking the Airlie Beach marina where we would board our sailboat the next day. Airlie Beach is just that - a beach town full of tourist shops and surfer dudes everywhere, all wearing Santa hats! We had a gorgeous view of the marina down below, and awakened to the sound of dozens of lorakeets feeding just outside our window.