Eclectic Brain Salad

So, today was sorting shit out day (tm). We got up, went for breakfast, then got some groceries in for future breakfasts, dinners, etc. Next up was the task of working out what the hell to do for the next few days. We wanted to see some great barrier reef, some rain forests, and some of the cool town, mines, waterfalls, and other awesome stuff that surrounded the area. But there were so many options that we found it hard to work out.

So we again called on the advice of the excellent receptionist to help us out. She gave us good advice, and we ended up booking a day in the rain forests and a day visiting the Franklin Islands part of the reef, with aims to hire a car on another day to go and see some other cool stuff.

We then set off to walk down to the main Cairns centre and see the waterfront. I was surprised at this point - a few people had remarked that Cairns town itself is a bit crap, and it was mainly worth going there for the obvious surrounding tourist attractions. But what I saw on this day was absolutely beautiful. The walk down the waterfront was really pretty, and featured one of the biggest and best kids parks I have ever seen! Gabriel and Elva were in heaven. To top it off, there is a place called The Lagoon right in the centre - a man-made beach/swimming area (there is no real beach as such right in Cairns). It was amazing to see Gabriel swimming by the beach with loads of families having open air picnics and BBQs ... at about 7.30pm!

We also got a chance to check out some cool comedy acts leading up to the opening of the Cairns 15/15 film festival (15 minute films made in 15 hours...)

By this point we started to feel hungry, so we walked back in the direction of home, stopping only to have dinner at the Cock and Bull tavern, an English/American crossover style pub that does good beer on tap, and the most impressive mixed grill meat coma meal I have ever seen! For $23, I got a steak, lamb chops, pork sausages, bacon, grilled tomato, bread and tons of potato wedges. This rounded off the day perfectly!

Today I wanted to do something different in Byron than just splash and build things on the beach! I love playing on the beach with the kids and building things out of sand, but really I am more of an explorer at heart, preferring walks around hillsides, coves and jungles. So today I put my foot down an insisted that the family follow me on one such jaunt.

I checked out the map and saw that the Byron Bay lighthouse was only a few kilometres away - this was to be our destination for today! The lighthouse was a good point to aim for, and there were a few nice small beaches and lookout points on the way to check out.

We went down to the town and chilled for a bit (the family had some beach time while I did some geeking in the Wifi cafe), then we set off on the walk. After the first kilometre or so we had a break at a gorgeous little cafe at Clarke's beach (first beer of the day), then we pressed on, reaching The Pass an hour or so later - there was a lovely beach here, and a nice little set of steps up to the lookout point, which we abandoned the pram to go and check out.

This was a perfect moment, spoilt only slightly by the wild bush Turkeys assaulting our pram and stealing our chocolate while we were distracted ;-)

As we were leaving we had a nice chat with an English lass who had been living and working out here for two years, but had to go back soon due to her visa running out. I can see why she was so down about having to go back...

Onwards we pressed, stepping into the Watego beach area after another kilometre or two. This was an awesome part of the journey, as on the way we saw not one but two really huge lizards (I think they were Geckos). We had another break at Watego, as the travel was starting to get to the kids at this point.

Next up was the final ascent towards the lighthouse. This was the hardest part, as even though the lighthouse was now less than a kilometre away, it was up a huge hill, and we had to carry Elva's pram up loads of steps.....phew! When we...fiiiiiiinally...reached the top, we had a well-deserved ice cream, then walked down the much-quicker route straight down the hill.

At this point we needed some dinner, so we found a nice place just near the beach and ate, then returned home, only stopping to pick up stout and filthy donuts to amuse us at night time.

On to Cairns tomorrow. I kinda wish we'd stayed a bit longer in Byron, as it is such a beautiful place!

Waking up for the first time in Byron Bay was wonderous, with the hot sun and a riot of bright birdsong and colourful plumage. We wandered down to the town centre for "a quick breakfast", which actually ended up being 4 hours of eating, shopping, information gathering and poi lessons (some cool guy was giving free poi lessons in the park).

We then went home to have lunch and drop our shopping off (we had an awesome salad with avocado and tomatoes, some fresh bread, and some very tasty marinated chicken pieces on skewers - honey hoi-sin, satay, and portugese spice).

Then came the mission to get to the beach before it got too late - after all our exploration followed by lunch, it was about 16.15. We rushed back into town to buy some beach towels and hit the beach. It was actually a really nice time to do it, as the sun was less hot by that point, the beach was less crowded, and there was some musicians playing guitar and hand drums at the nearby park.

I spent most of my time taking Elva around the beach to dig sand, get her toes wet, look at seashells, and um, squeal loudly at seagulls!

Gabriel and Kirsty meanwhile build a huge whale model out of sand (this was definitely not a failwhale).

Afterwards we walked around for a bit to hunt down some dinner, and we found a relly nice Italian place with a bar next to it. Gabriel had a wood-fired pizza, Kirsty had a really tasty veal steak, and I tucked in to the pasta buffet - three really gorgeous pasta dishes, all you cna eat, for $12. Quite incredibly cheap! The next door bat also served proper English pints, something I was most appreciative of, as Aussie beer measures are a bit wussy!

The rest of the evening involved sauntering home and getting the kids bathed and put to bed, and then sitting up chatting and chilling in the little outdoor area behind the apartment. Bliss.

On Sunday we had a lovely chillout - we all got up and took the dogs down to the park for a good run about. We dropped Lis, Kirsty, Gabriel, Elva and the kids off, and then Lach and I went off to play hunter gatherers - we men, we bring women and children food! Well, we did have a cafe and a cake shop to help us out, but yah know...

We got back to the park and ate breakfast, then we spent ages chatting to various other dog owners that were out walking. We also saw some jellyfish in the river, and a dead possum (the park ranger seemed very displeased by being summoned to clear it up!), and Gabriel also impressed us by not falling in the river (he seems to have an unerring ability to fall into pretty much any body of water that he gets close to). I really loved the way that the local community around the park seemed so friendly.

After groovin' in the park, Lisa had the great idea of taking Kirsty to a market to have a look round, and Lach decided that a BBQ would be a good idea so we again went into hunter gatherer mode, and forraged around the badlands of Sydney for loads of meat and loads of beer.

We then went to the market to pick the ladies up and have a look ourselves - I was very pleased to come across some dodgy old prog vinyl (Emerson Lake and Palmer, and Mahavishnu Orchestra).

Then the rock and roll BBQ began! We went home to get salads and dips sorted, started drinking beer, cooked loads of amazing meat, talked complete nonsense for ages, listened to some very bizarre eclectic music (and bird calls) thanks to DJ Lisa, then watched more Mighty Boosh and Primus videos. CSS guru Lindsay Evans also came over for a while to share in the jollity - good to chat to him again (hint: follow Lindsay on Twitter - he is bloody hilarious, and spot on). Pretty much the last thing I remember is Lach deciding to fry sausages at 2am, then eating them with tonnes of hot English Mustard. Mmmmmm, firey! after the beer ran out, we stole Scenario Grrrrl's vodka. I think it is fair to say that we were pretty drunk by that point ;-)

With another good night's sleep behind us, we got up, packed, had breakfast, and leisurely got ready to depart from our cute little cottage. I kinda wish we had stayed a bit longer in the Blue Mountains because there is so much to do there. I would've really liked to see the Jenolan caves, but alas there was no time. Oh well, it gives me the perfect excuse to bring the family back again!

The drive back to Sydney was perfectly pleasent, and we got back to Lisa and Lach's place at about 1, with plenty of time to get the car back for 2. But then disaster struck! Our faithful friend the GPS had a real funny turn as we approached the city, went haywire, and then sent us to a different street with the same name as the one we wanted, miles away from the original. We now couldn't get back to where we wanted to go, and it took us another hour and a few frustrated phone calls to sort it out. We eventually navigated back to the Australian museum and I recognised my way from there.

they tried to charge us for privilege of being late, but I declined their kind offer and just settled for paying for the petrol we had used ;-) A word for warning for all your fellow travelers - leave plenty of time to get there if you are using GPS to navigate to a location in a busy city centre, as the volume of signals really confuses it!

After leaving the Thrifty office, we went and had loads of really naughty food in the Queen Victoria Building foodcourt, then picked up some beer on the way home.

Lisa was feeling a bit poorly, but Lach was glad to see the newly-replenished supply, and tucked in merrily. We had some more food, and chatted into the small hours...