Frostbite Anyone?

So in between all the madness of May we headed to New Zealand for my Uncle's surprise 60th. One day I am going to get there in the summer time.

Winter in New Zealand is just so bitterly cold. Now, I have endured standing in the snow for hours and days on end and that just doesn't even compare to the biting cold that I experience each time I go to New Zealand. Apparently when I was there it was quite "warm".

Did I say it was cold?

Here are a couple of shots from my stay there.

The city.

New Zealand Harbour Bridge - sort of like Sydney's but not really. I tried to be arty and get the NZ flag in there.


This place is called Rangitoto. It is an island in the middle of the harbour. It doesn't matter where you are looking from, the island always looks like this:

And my last attempt at being arty - in the mirror of the car you can see a small mountain - I was just on top of that taking pictures.

See you next time in summer New Zealand!!!

Im Tired

What a month was May!! After the fun trip to Cairns my sisters all came down for a visit with their kids.

I got to be the favourite aunty since there were going to be 6 nieces and no other aunties in sight, but come on, like I really had any competition.

I took a week off during their visit and we planned and did some great stuff.

We visited the aquarium and the girls LOVED it. We went on a ferry boat to get there on a cold winters day but no one seemed to mind much.

We also hit up New Zealand for a few days. It was my Uncle's 60th and we had already booked our tickets to surprise him and when my sister from USA decided to come over she thought it would be nice to also be there for him so along she came with her family.

Can I tell you how bitterly cold it was there! I got really sick and was sick the whole time but wanted to get out and see stuff which we did. I will post photos later of the NZ trip.

But for now here are some family shots I was able to get when they were here.

My sister Hannike with her husband Steve and their kids Chloe, Ella and Courtney.

Here is one of my other sister Karen with her husband Mikey and their girls Leilani, Isabella and Gabriella.

And being the favourite aunt I have to show you how cute all these girls are.

Yes, Isabella has food/stuff all over her face - cause that's how she rolls.

And Gabriella and her eyes - that was her look the whole time. So cute.

And now May is over. It was so nice to have 'sisters' around and to be with family. Now we just have plan for the next one!

Part 3 ..... Goodbye Cairns

We had to be up early the next day. We were going snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef!!! It was a beautiful day and we headed up north to get our boat. We chose a smaller tour of about 50 rather than the 800 that usually sign up for these deals. They took us to the outer reef. We took our sea sick tablets and thank goodness because it was kind of rough.

About 1 hour later we reached the middle of nowhere. It was time to snorkel. I wasn't sure how I was going to go since the last time I tried to snorkel was in a Hawaii a few years back and I wasn't very successful. Something about not getting the breathing down without thinking I was suffocating. But I was determined to give it a go. I was ready. I was pumped. And then they gave us the briefing. Here are the hand signals you need if you find yourself in trouble. Stay close to the boat if you are unsure. We will have someone on watch the whole time on the roof of the boat so we can see if you get in trouble. If there is a shark or a stingray, don't swim away from it. just be calm and swim towards it. WHATTTTTT. I am not going in. NO WAY. But then I would have been the only one on the boat. Pride won over fear.

We were then told we might need to rent a wet suit to avoid being stung by jelly fish. Those wet suits are really confronting ....... this time pride lost over fear.

This was the first of 3 stops we were making. I didn't do so well on this leg but it was a start. Everytime I went underwater I saw how close I was to swimming with the school of fish. Amazing and terrifying at the same time. Not a good time to have a conflict of emotions in the middle of the ocean!

The last stop was right at the edge of the continental shelf and the reef and I thought the boat was going to turn over. I didn't want to go in but it was safer in the water than in the boat so off we went.




The ride back was the worst ever. There was a storm and we were all headed back and there were quite a few sick people on this trip. Lucky it was none of us.

What an awesome trip. We did some things we will probably never have the chance to do again and the fact I swam with Nemo and his friends really made the trip worthwhile!

Thanks girls. I look forward to our next adventure.

Part 2 ..... Still in Cairns

So after that "yummy" breakfast we were met at the foyer by an old grumpy man wondering if we were ready to go yet. So we continued to stroll and said yes. ha ha

We were on our way to a day of fun. Well we hoped anyway!

After several hotel pick ups we landed at Freshwater Station. Apparently we were going to get on an old train that took us up the mountain and then we were going to get off and at 1.30pm we were allowed on the Sky Rail (which is a gondola in the sky) to get back down the mountain. Ok, sounded liked heaps of fun.

Here we are at the station.

When the train arrives we get on and lucky us get to sit next to a married couple. Now, I know what you are thinking, but you are WRONG. They took up both sides of the seat so they could get the best picture action. How about sharing??

The train went so slowly and it took about 1 hour to get up that mountain. Still the track was impressive given it was built so many years ago and by hand and there were 15 tunnels that were all dug out by hand! I would have given up and gone home if that was me!

On our one and only stop up that mountain we were allowed to get off and see the waterfall. And some killer ants. And then it started to rain so our 5 mins off the train was cut short to 3 mins.

We ended up at a township called Kuranda. Which has affectionately become known by us as "Kudumba". It had so much promise. We went to the local markets which was as boring as all get out. So we kept walking to see what else we could find. MMM I think I would like an ice-cream. Second thoughts after seeing the guy who was serving it. And there was a lovely aboriginal store that N and C went into. Apparently they nearly didn't make it out of there. The store guy was very eager to become their friends and show them the art work. He might have sold something if he cleaned his teeth and used Listerine. Now this may sound harsh but let's not forget my previous post. He is just lucky I wasn't in the store.

So there we were, walking around trying to kill time when we saw a sign that said a riverboat tour. We were saved from boredom! We find out that this "riverboat" was actually a floating plank with chairs on it and a roof. Umm by the way, we might see some crocodiles. It was our lucky day!

N is not a friend of birds and there were birds making their home on this boat. So between trying to keep "wholly within" the boat for fear of crocs, N was trying NOT to see the birds on the inside incase she had to jump outside! ha ha. We saw a turtle and some fish and lots of trees and a crocodile! Lucky for us it looked like it had passed out on the side of the river bank.

Pictures of the "killer" birds and the "killer" croc.

We then went up to get our sky rail. And we were told we could have got on it any time. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!! So on we get. I think we had the most fun in that little cubicle. Unfortunately they made us get out 2 more times to see the rain forest.

The biggest tree I ever did see!

Picture of Cairns from the SkyRail.

We get back on the ground at 2.30 only to find out that our transfer doesn't get there til 3.30!!! We got a cab and he talked the whole freaking way back. It was kind of reminiscent of the bone collector. I was wondering if we were going to make it back at all. He told us of his cousin that had gone to Dubai to make some money for his wife and kids and ended up falling in love with a prostitute. And then he told us about the lady who drove the cab on the night shift and how she was fat and kept moving the chair and all she did was sit and eat KFC and then he gave us the word of warning to stay away from British backpackers because they all had herpes. I guess I will just stick with the Italians then!

As much as we didn't have fun, we really did have fun!

Stayed tuned to the final and exciting conclusion. Part 3.