In mid-June we decided enough was enough of this winter Wellington weather! Good thing we had tropical North Queensland to escape too! Joined by our work friends Jason and Sean, we headed off to Cairns, Australia. We had booked 7 nights in a 2 bedroom apartment on Trinity Beach, a small town about 15 minutes from the city. The trip there was comical to say the least. We had to be at the airport at 4am, which meant we were all sleep deprived and a bit loopy. We flew straight from Wellington to Brisbane, where we had to spend 6 hours killing time until the second leg of our flight. Elliot and Sean decided waiting around sucked, and promptly took a nap on the floor of the airport in the middle of a busy gate. We got a lot of weird looks, but at least Sean and Elliot got in some good sleep. Elliot said it was the best sleep he had all week! Imagine that.
Once we finally arrived in Cairns airport we looked around for a guy holding up a sign with Elliot's name. We had arranged with the hotel to be picked up. there were a lot of people around, lots of shuttles, and lots of names. No Elliot Koop though. We found one guy who had the name "Coop" on his board. Elliot's last name is often mispelled, so we thought this might be our guy. We got our bags in the back, took our seats with all the others, and waited to head out. When the guy came around the van to take role call, and he called the name Coop, another group said "here". Damn! There really was another Coop and we were on the wrong bus! We gathered our bags, got off, and headed back in to the airport. By then, most of the other buses had already left, so our ride was gone (if he ever was there). We got in line for a taxi and just called it a bust. The taxi took us to our hotel. Once we told the guy at reception that we had arranged a pick-up and never found the guy with Elliot's name, he upgraded our room for free. We decided it was totally worth it to miss our ride because our room was amazing! It was a big apartment on the top floor (it's only 3 floors, but still, I'll take it). There was a huge kitchen and den area, a big balcony overlooking the beach, and two large bedrooms and bathrooms. It was time to get into vacation mode!
The trip ended up being a little different than we expected. Trinity Beach was beautiful, and there were lots of little shops and restaurants that we enjoyed. I have to say one thing about it though, we rarely saw other young people and the nightlife was non-existent. It may have been because it was winter, but we realized then that we were going to have to make our own fun! And that we did! Most of the days were filled with soaking up the sun on the beach, by the pool, or walking around. We had BBQs, enjoyed naps, and enjoyed our fair share of vino. It was such a relaxing vacation, so no complaints here. The first couple of days Elliot had a stomach bug, so he saw more of the bedroom then the beach, but once he was recovered we started doing some more exploring.
We did a few things outside of laying around on the beach. One day we drove into Cairns, drove around the city, and stopped at a market. The market was pretty cool. There were vendors peddling everything from produce to jewelry. I definitely left a little of my money there! Another day we went to Cairns Tropical Zoo. This was my favorite part of the trip. They have a place where for $15 you can have your picture taken cuddling a Koala. It was awesome. The Koala was so cute and soft, although he wasn't exactly smelling like roses. You'll see the pictures of the Koala cuddles when you click on the picture link. We also saw plenty of crocodiles, wombats, wallabies, and other very Australian animals. They even had an area where you could get in with the kangaroos and wallabies and feed them by hand. I really enjoyed the zoo, and didn't even mind that it was so small. They didn't bother with elephants, giraffes, or even any large cats. They stuck to what was local to their area and it allowed us to see it all in just a couple of hours. Another day the boys decided it was time to do some Go Kart Racing. The four of us geared up, hopped in, and were off. Well, at least 3 of us were, Sean ran into the tire wall on the first turn. I guess he forgot you have to turn the wheel when driving Go Karts! The staff were able to free him and he was back on the chase. A rivalry began shortly after between Jason and Elliot. I started realizing, as they lapped me, that I better get out of the way when they were coming because they meant business. Elliot was able to maintain the lead the whole time, but I was a casualty of Jason trying his hardest to catch up. Apparently I didn't get out of the way fast enough and I was slammed from behind and sent head first into the tire wall. The good news was that on the next lap Jason ran into a wall too, so I thought Karma did it's job! It was all in fun, but I'm sure the Go Kart people were glad when our turn was up, after all, they did have to free us multiple times and may have been wondering if we knew the difference between Go Karts and Bumper Cars!
Well, that is the top line look at our week in Australia. No one got eaten by a crocodile, bitten by a poisonous spider or snake, or stung by a jellyfish, so I consider it a success! Click on the link below for all the fun pictures
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eandleenz/sets/72157630312326816/
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