Gold Coast - Days 1 & 2

I didn't really feeling like blogging the last couple days and figured I would just combine the two full days I have here in the Gold Coast into one post. I didn't do anything special here, but just relaxed and enjoyed the room. I did get out to the beach and enjoy some things here, but overall, I have decided to just relax and get ready to return to the grind of the desert.

On day 1, we went to the Hard Rock for lunch. I also got some shirts for myself and Kim so she will have the Hard Rock shirt from the only Hard Rock in Australia. We then walked around a little and saw some shops, but didn't buy anything. Then we went back to the hotel and I sat in the whirlpool for a bit and then relaxed for the night.

Day 2, I got up early to try and get some sunrise pics, but couldn't wake up early enough. It would have been perfect though as there were no clouds in the sky when I opened the curtains about half an hour after sunrise. I then gathered my things and went to the post office to mail stuff to Minnesota and also to Iraq. Cost an arm and a leg, but I couldn't take all that stuff in my bags. I then stopped at the Casino and played a little blackjack. I didn't do too bad, and left when things started to turn.

I came back to the hotel and hung out until supper. Dan and I went back to the casino for supper, and it was pretty good. I tried the tables again, and they were awful. I still wound up ahead for the day, but not as good as I was before that. Then we came back and I relaxed for the night. I got to bed early so I could try to get sunrise pics again.

I did get up early enough and walked the three blocks to the beach. The waves were coming in pretty cool, and it was just lovely. There were clouds on the horizon, so I couldn't get clear sunrise pictures, but I got some good ones I think. I will know when I put them on the computer. I figure I will do some uploading of pictures when I get to Sydney later today.

We fly out this afternoon to Sydney, and I don't plan on anything special these last couple of days. I might see if I can get on a wine tour, but not going to try too hard. That is it for now. Expect one or two more posts from Sydney before we start flying back to the desert.

Until next time.....

Travel day to Gold Coast

The day started fairly early, as we had a flight that left at 10am. I had to pack everything into the one bag, which wasn't fun, but I got it all in there. I didn't want to have to pay the extra charge for another bag. Stupid airlines these days. Anyway, we left Hubred in Cairns for a couple days, as he is getting his diving certification. We will meet up with him in Sydney on Friday.

Got to the airport and took the Quantas flight down to Brisbane. Nothing special about the flight, as it was a short two hour flight. I slept most of the flight, and we landed in Brisbane. Got our bags right away and I rented a car for the drive down to the Gold Coast. I got a Mitsubishi Lancer, brand new, and it is a pretty nice car. Just the steering wheel is on the right side of the car, and we drive on the left side. Different, but I picked it up quickly.

I drove us down to the hotel we had booked, and it was about an hour drive. We could have flown into the area, but it would have been a layover in Brisbane, and just didn't seem worth it. It was a quick drive down, and I only got us turned around twice as we tried to find the hotel. I only turned on the wipers five times by mistake the whole drive down, as the blinker switch was on the wrong side.

We checked in early afternoon and the room is amazing. King sized bed, balcony, whirlpool bath tub, shower, plenty of room to relax in. I had a late lunch and then walked along the beach for a short bit. The sun was going down, so I decided to head back to the room, and just relaxed for the rest of the night.

Today, I woke up early to see the sunrise. There were clouds on the horizon, so I didn't go out to the beach. I did some stretching and then went for a morning run along the beach. It was really cool to run on the beach and listen to music as I went for my run.

I think the plan for the rest of the day is to maybe get some laundry done. I want to go to the Hard Rock cafe to get a shirt and eat. Not sure what we will do tonight, but I am sure we will figure something out. We are here for a couple days and then Friday, head to Sydney for the last couple days of the vacation.

Until next time.....

Day 6 - Food and Wine Tour

Today I had the food and wine tour, and it was pretty good. Our first stop was at a coffee farm, and it was interesting to see the berries and the beans. The whole process by this elderly couple and their daughter in their garage basically. Now I am not a big fan of coffee, but I had a little of it and it was really good. Not bitter at all, so I picked up some for the guys back at the site. I also got some chocolate covered beans that were pretty tasty too.


Then we went to our first wine stop. The wine wasn't too good, but they had some liqueurs that were really good. I wound up buying a couple hoping I will be able to ship them home, as I obviously can't bring them back with Me to Iraq.

From there it was the Macadamia Nut farm. This was interesting to see the trees and hear about how a cyclone a few years ago had taken out a huge bit of the farm. I picked up some packages to send to me in Iraq, and also some bits and pieces to send home to the wife. I am sure she can find some use for the nuts.


After the farm, we had lunch. It was fish and prawns. It wasn't too bad, but it is weird seeing prawns with the heads and feet. There was also a salad and fruit on the plate as well. Not bad for a free meal, or at least a meal as part of the package.

After lunch, we went to a dairy farm where they made fresh cheese, and also molded chocolate. The cheese was ok, but would have been better with crackers or something to eat with it. The chocolate was pretty good, and I had some chocolate macadamia clusters.


After the farm we hit the second wine stop. This one probably would have been better, but we started with a merlot. At least that is what the guy said it was, and it really screwed with my taste buds. I couldn't really taste any of the next wines because it just stuck on my palette. Once we got to the liqueurs though, it finally cleared off since they were a bit thicker and could overpower the merlot. I got a bottle of Hazelnut/Macadamia nut liqueur that was really good.
Almost like a maple syrup you could put on pancakes.

After that we stopped at a crater lake for scones and juice. I could have had tea or coffee, but didn't want to push my luck too much. After that, we stopped at this HUGE fig tree. It was immense, and it was all roots. It looked like something out of a horror flick and I was expecting a root to come out and grab one of us.

Then it was back to the hotel, and the drive was winding. I am not good on that sort of thing as a passenger, and my head started to spin a little, so I closed my eyes and just rode it out. Once we got through that passage, it was better, and we drove back into Cairns.

I then had supper, which was OK, and then I will pack and get ready for the flight tomorrow to Brisbane. I will get us a car there and we will be staying at the Gold Coast. Should be relaxing with the beaches and a lot of fun. The main purpose of this stop is to go to the Hard Rock cafe.


That is it for now. I will keep up the posts, and you guys can just read and be jealous of my trip. Ok, maybe not, but let me have some fun, ok?

Until then.....

Cairns Day 4 & 5 - Relaxing

I skipped a day, sue me.

Things here have been pretty relaxing. Yesterday we left around noon and drove towards Port Douglas. We stopped at a zoo and looked at the animals there. I got my picture with a koala, and saw a bunch of crocs. Then we continued on up to Port Douglas.

It was a winding road up there and even though it was only about sixty kilometers, it took an hour with all the turns. The views were cool, and we stopped at a lookout place to get some pics too. When we got to Port Douglas, we had a late lunch, and it was pretty good. We looked around at some of the shops and then headed back, as it was getting late afternoon.

We drove back and then I just hung out at the hotel for the rest of the evening. A very slow day, which is good when you are trying to relax on vacation. Today was pretty much the same. I hung out by the pool all morning. I then went downtown for a couple hours, looking around and just killing some time with something to do.

I came back and then we went out for supper. We wound up at this bar/pub and had a cheap meal. Cricket was on the tv, as Australia was playing England in a big match. The Aussies were getting their ass kicked, but it was interesting trying to figure out the rules. We got to talking with a couple guys who were up from Melbourne for business, and it was a good conversation. One of the guys rode motorcycles and was a member of a forum talking with people all over the world about them. He even had a buddy he talked with from the Twin Cities. Just shows how the world is getting smaller and smaller with the internet.

Tomorrow is the Food and Wine tour. That is an all day event from 8am until 5pm or so. It should be fun as I will be seeing a Macadamia farm, a couple wineries, a coffee place and then a cheese place. Should be interesting, and I will try to get a bunch of pics as I can. Then Tuesday we fly out to Brisbane and go to the Gold Coast. The Aussie guys said it is a lot like Vegas. I will let you know, as I have been to Vegas a couple of times.

Anyway, that is it for now. I will type again tomorrow after the tour to give an update. Pictures are uploaded on facebook and up to date pretty much. Just look me up, and if you aren't a friend, just add me. I am not fussy who I add to my friends.

Until next time....

Cairns Day 3 - The Reef

Ok, wow. That is how I am starting this post on the reef. Wow wow wow. It was much more fun and amazing than I had thought it would be. I wound up taking over 400 pictures during the day, and I put up only about a 60 of them on facebook. And now, I don't know how much I can put here in a blog post before making it way too long, but here it goes.

We started the day out early in the morning to get on the boat around 8:30am. Loading was quick and easy, and I bought some sea sickness tablets to help keep me from leaning over the railing. We road out on the boat to the pontoon that they had set up near one of the reefs. On the way out, they gave talks on diving, helicopter rides, and other things going on.

I listened to the diving brief, just in case I wanted to do that. They did have some perscription goggles on hand to rent (hire) for the day, but they didn't have my exact perscription. I got the worse that they have, and I could see much better than nothing. Because of this, I didn't do the diving, but it did make my snorkling through the day a lot better.

I then signed up for the 10 minute helicopter ride. This went up to 3000 feet, and then down to 500 feet before landing again. I took pics from the flight, and it was cool to see the reef from that height. You get the prespective of how the reef is so large, but is not one continuous reef.

After landing, I went out and did some snorkling. I tried without the vest, but it was too much of a struggle for me to enjoy, so I put on the vest and went out again. It was a lot easier to move around with the vest keeping me up on the water. I went out a couple of times before lunch and took a whole bunch of pictures. When I was coming out for lunch, I was one of the last people out. One of the crew was diving and taking pictures with this big fish with people, and I got right there and got my pic taken. I am not going to post them, because I hate how I look, but it was cool being that close and touching the fish. Really amazing.

So after lunch, I went out once more snorkling, and then did the semi-submersible tour. That was cool, and then the day was over. Franck went out a couple times, and Hubred did the diving all day. He loved it so much that he is going to do the course for diving here. He will have to stay a couple extra days, but that is fine. He will just meet us in Sydney after he is done with the course.

So we came back, and I realized I lost my wedding ring on the reef. I was upset, but Kim took it in stride when I told her later. I did get her an Opal pendant that I think she will truly like. We just relaxed for the rest of the night, and tomorrow is driving to Port Douglas.

It is tomorrow right now, and I am being lazy this morning and holding us back from leaving when scheduled. I needed to do laundry though, and clean up before we go. I also loaded pics on facebook, and wrote up this blog. Besides, this is vacation. There should be no rush if you are on your own time, right???

Until next time.....

Cairns Day 2 - Relaxation

This was day 2 in Cairns. Nothing was planned, and we really didn't do too much. That isn't a bad thing though because we are here to relax and unwind as we recharge to go back to the desert for another five or six months.

I got out around eight and logged in for a bit. Nothing special was going on, so I hung out in the room until about noon. We then drove downtown and walked around the Esplanade. This is like a boardwalk along the beach. There really isn't much beach there, and it was low tide, so it was really muddy, except through the channel into the inlet. We walked the marina and saw a bunch of boats. It is really lovely around as there are mountains that surround the town. I got a bunch of pictures.

After three hours, we loaded up and headed back to the hotel. Back here, I basically relaxed and logged in for a bit again. At six, we got the underwater cameras that we rented for when we go to the reef tomorrow. Then it was a quiet supper at the bar/lounge, and then going to bed early I think. We have to be up early to head out to the reef tomorrow. It is an all day trip, and should be a fun time. I will take as much pictures as I can, and I hope to start posting some pictures soon if this connection ever gets any better.

Saturday, I think we are going to look at driving up north to Port Douglas. It is through a rainforest, and supposed to be pretty cool. Not sure exactly what else we will do, but we will figure it out. I am looking at trying to do a scenic flight on Sunday, but not sure I will be able to get on what I want, since I am a single, and they have a minimum requirement of two people, and I don't want to pay double to go by myself. Monday I am hoping to try the Food and Wine tour. Now it will be interesting to see how things work out.

That is it for now. Until next time.....

Cairns - Day 1

I woke up fairly early and did a little surfing on the net. Nothing pressing on this day, as we pretty much decided to just relax more here than try and run around too much. Morning was total relaxing in the room and around noon, I took the shuttle downtown to the mall and shops. I needed to get some shorts, and wanted a couple of shirts as well.

I got dropped off at the mall and went in. It was just like malls back home, except that Target was a part of the mall, sort of how Macy's has a corner at the Mall of America. That was different, since Targets back home are usually their own buildings. So I got a pair of shorts, some swim trunks, a couple of shirts, and a belt. Nothing special there, so I left the mall to walk around town and find something to eat.

I got a little turned around in my walk, but got back on track and was back in the shops area. I walked by a few restaurants, but didn't see anything that stuck out. Finally, I was walking by the Sebel hotel where we were first trying to stay, and it was right by the casino. There was a chinese shop there that I decided to eat at, and it was pretty good. I then sat down for an hour and played a little blackjack. I didn't do too bad, and left to catch the shuttle to go back to the hotel.

Back at the hotel, I played on the internet again for a bit until we all went out for supper around six. We got in the car then and drove around just a little. We ate at this place called Wildfire, and I had prime rib. However, when I got it, it wasn't prime rib as I know it, but really a steak. It was good though, and I enjoyed it with a glass of wine. Afterwards, we returned to the hotel and stopped at the booking place to plan the trip to the Reef.

We talked with the booking agent and got input on the different options. We wound up booking with Reef Magic for Friday, all day. Then, I wound up booking a Wine/Food tasting trip for Monday, hoping I will be able to get in. I checked out some of the other things they offered. They had a hot air balloon trip, but I think that would be better if others were going with. I took brochures for some scenic flights and returned to my room for the night.

I have decided to try and book an hour flight to fly over the rain forest and see where it meets the outback. It is a little pricey, but I think it would be really cool, and how often am I going to have an opportunity like this? Tomorrow is another relaxing day I think. We are going to drive downtown again, and do more looking than shopping this time. Friday is the reef, and I think Saturday we are going to go north and see the rain forest and maybe the zoo.

That's it for now. Until next time....