My week in Cairns! (pronounced Cans)

Hello again! Gosh, I bet you are all so excited to see a new post. ;D I’m so sorry I had to post last Thursday instead of Sunday. I HAD to go to Queensland and spend a week in the tropics and relax by the beach and the pool and tour around… ;D Firstly I would like to give a shoutout to some people who have given me the biggest smile this past week: Jonny, Gill and Paul, Johnathon Simmonds, Celina Franke, Sarah Larson, Angelina Eckrich, Aunt Julie, Mum and dad, Alissa Jones, Casadie and Anna, Beth, Andrew and Kaitlyn and the ladies that gave Beth and I our massages. XD (I’m so sad that I wasn’t able to get as many pictures. My phone memory was basically gone because of how many pictures I’ve already taken.) Well here goes my week:

Friday 7/1/16:
We got up about 5–5:30ish and got everything ready to go so we could leave for the airport at 6 and got there about 6:30 and left for Cairns about 7:35. Arrived in Cairns about 11:30, settled in, picked up Beth, went to Gelocchio’s (the best gelato place ever) ate dinner and just hung out for the rest of the night.

(This one goes from last to first: Adelaide, over the Outback, Cairns)

Left to right: Gelocchio’s, Beth with her almost eaten gelato cone, our pool and beach side view out the door.

Saturday 7/2/16:
Andrew, Kaitlyn, Beth and I went to Rusty’s (a big market with food and clothes and jewellery) and walked around and I got 4 pairs of real pearl earrings for $10 (Yes, they really are real), and I got a freshly squeezed sugar cane juice (pure sugar cane with lime, ginger and some other small adds.)I don’t think we did much that day… Gill and Paul went out for dinner and Kaitlyn and Andrew went to the beach so Beth and I stayed back with Jonny and just hung out at the condo.

Pictures Gill sent me while we were at Rusty’s

Rusty’s Market (That is Andrew’s finger next to the “baby carrots”

Freshly squeezed Sugar Cane Juice and some Birds of Paradise

Sunday 7/3/16:
Gill, Paul, Jonny, and Beth went to Port Douglas for the market and Kaitlyn, Andrew and I went to church at this adorable building with a bunch of Aboriginal and Maori people and had so much fun. That ward had some of the most welcoming and kind people I’ve ever met and I met a woman who was like an Australian Sister Hall(my next door neighbor for almost all my life. Mum, you can let her know I found her doppelgänger. ;D). After church, the three of us went on a walk through the Botanic Gardens and tried to walk back to the condo and got about 15% (of a 3 hour walk) of the way back before we stopped at a park so I could rest my feet because I was just wearing flip flop sandals (which are NOT good for walking long distances) and Kaitlyn and Andrew took a nap on the grass and I watched a family play with their dog while we waited for Gill and Paul to pick us up. After getting back, Beth and I went to the beach and kind of went swimming (I didn’t fully emerge myself because the water was freezing and I was afraid of crocodiles… Yup, there are crocodiles here.) and went back to the condo and went into the pool with Andrew, Kaitlyn and Jonny.

That bird is called a Bush Turkey and it has the most pathetic bird call I’ve ever heard

Right: Those are called Lady Finger bananas

Monday 7/4/16:
I flew over the rainforest in a Skylift and it. was. uh-mazing. It is so huge and has different forests in the rainforest. There’s the Eucalyptus forest and the Pine forest and a few others that I can’t remember. There were two stops before we arrived in Kuranda (a small rainforest village/market on the other side of the rainforest) where we were able to get out and walk around and look at the rainforest. When we got to Kuranda we had a wander and decided to get some savoury crepes for lunch (which were huge and delicious) and just had a fun time walking around the markets. After Paul came and walked with us for a while, we went to Smithfield to buy food for our 4th of July BBQ where we made an extremely sugary pie not sugary, had some of the most delicious burgers and hot dogs I’ve ever had and I watched some fireworks that my friend had sent me over text.

Middle: That is called a Cassowary. It is the second largest bird and will retaliate if it feels threatened. It’s claws are so tough that it can kill you, although it is a very shy bird and wont harm you if you leave it alone and don’t aggravate it.

Left&middle: Kaitlyn and I preparing the non-sugary pie. Right: The most beautiful cheeseburger ever.

There was a Scottish Fudge Bar that was horribly tacky and very funny to Gill and Beth who are both Scottish. (They had the most amazing fudge though!)

Left: A few Aboriginal boys were doing a performance, sharing their Dream Time Stories

Tuesday 7/5/16:
I snorkelled the Great Barrier Reef. One of the Seven Wonders of the World, and I snorkelled it. I can’t believe that I did that. Some of you who know me really well know that I have a huge, irrational fear of deep water. I have no idea where it came from, but I am terrified of deep water. But I totally crushed that fear and I got to swim with beautiful fish and I got to swim right above the beautiful coral. So that morning started as Kaitlyn, Beth, Andrew, and I woke up super early and got on the cruise and road over to Green Island and stayed there for two hours and then got on the cruise again and headed out to the reef where we stayed for about 3 or 4 hours and we all ate lunch and just played in the water and it was just so much fun. After we got back to the marina, Gill picked us up at Gelocchio’s and we all got ice cream and headed back.

Wednesday 7/6/16:
On Wednesday Andrew and Kaitlyn went to meet up with Andrew’s cousin for a little while and Beth and I went into the city and got massages (which were amazing) went back to the condo and waited for some of their family friends who were on vacation in Cairns as well to come over. They have twins: Hannah and Charlie. (Charlie has downs as well but it much more high functioning and loves to sing Broadway. Perfect for me, isn’t it? ;D) Well Kaitlyn, Andrew, Beth, Charlie, Hannah, Jonny, and I all went to go watch Finding Dory, which was just so much fun!!! I’ve never cried that much in the cinemas before. After the movie we went back to the condo and Andrew and Charlie went to Domino’s to get pizza while Kaitlyn and I got Jonny to bed so we could have gluten containing food. ;D After dinner Charlie and I got to sing Broadway duets together (by his request that I be the love interest with him ;D) and he performed a song from Legally Blonde (his favorite musical at the moment) and it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen because he had memorized the choreography as well. I don’t have many pictures of today but they actually live in Adelaide so I will post pictures of them the next time I see them. :)

Thursday 7/7/16:
This was our relax day. Beth got up really early and went on an excursion in the city, Gill and Paul went to Kuranda to have a day up there on their own since they had never done that before and Andrew and Kaitlyn went to the beach while I watched Jonny for a little while before Kaitlyn came back to get something and Jonny took off for the beach while I was skyping with my mom and I had to sprint after him and wait for Kaitlyn to bring his swimming clothes and we had to change him on the beach. XD I went back to finish skyping my mom and then swam for a little in the pool and helped Beth when she got back because she wasn’t feeling very well and pretty much just relaxed for the whole day.

It felt weird not putting pictures so here is a picture of me “relaxing” in the living room and a picture of the pool.

Friday 7/8/16:
Friday was our last full day in Cairns. We went to the Tablelands and saw the Cathedral and Curtain fig trees and had lunch in this Mad Hatter cafe that we found and went to The Coffee Works (a super hipster place with metal work and just the coolest tables and chairs in the cafe area) to get some chocolate (perfectly logical, right?) and went to a mango winery to buy some dried mangos (again with the logic) that are just absolutely delicious. Then we went to The Peanut Place. Both Kaitlyn and I get really bad motion sickness so Gill gave us some medicine that if you take a whole one it knocks you out and if you take half it helps with motion sickness. We split it in half and each had a piece and I can’t even count how many times I fell asleep….

Saturday 7/9/16:
We flew home on Qantas and it was Paul’s birthday and on the plane from Cairns to Brisbane they gave him some champagne and on the plane from Brisbane to Adelaide they bumped him up to Business Class and he got a delicious meal and a bottle of wine. When we got home Kaitlyn, Jonny and Gill went to Zoe and Jon’s to pick up Noodle and for Kaitlyn to say goodbye and Paul and I walked over to Allen and Ayesha’s for dinner. We had fish pie and it was amazingly delicious and celebrated his birthday.

Sunday 7/10/16:
I went to church and Kaitlyn gave a talk in sacrament meeting and taught a lesson in gospel principles and I got to sing in the ward Relif Society Choir and spent the rest of the day at home. That night Andrew’s parent’s came over for dinner and we ate a very delicious meal. I wasn’t feeling good by the end of it so I went upstairs and went to sleep.

That was my week!! I’m so sorry it took so long for me to write this, but I hope you enjoy the read! :)