As many of you may know my dad and Joy flew out to Australia this past week for a visit. They arrived last Friday afternoon, where I met them at their hotel. We walked down the beach from Main Beach to Surfers Paradise to go to the Q1 building which was supposed to be really cool but because of a private event the observatory and restaurant were closed to the public.
Instead headed back to Main Beach to go out to dinner at a place called Outback Jacks which I had heard was really good! It's right on the water and has a pretty cool atmosphere. How nice it was to have a nice glass of wine versus the boxed kind! I had steak with garlic prawns in a Bearnaise sauce which was AMAZING! Then we finished off the meal with a piece of apple pie and some coffee.
They wee really tired from the trip so they were going to head to bed early. It was my friend Pontus's birthday so I met up with a bunch of friends in Broadbeach. I met them at the restaurant and then we headed to a bar after a quick stop at the beach. It was a really fun night despite Pontus not feeling too well after eating some oysters!
The next day I took the bus back to their hotel where we spent a little bit hanging out by the pool despite it being cloudy and cool! Then my dad and I headed to my apartment so he could meet a couple of my roommates and see my campus. Only two of my roommates were home so after looking around my small apartment we all headed through campus for a quick tour.
Then it was dinner time and we went out for Italian in Main Beach. I had pumpkin and ricotta filled ravioli with asparagus and chicken which was so good. We also had dessert which was delicious as well.
Then it was back to my apartment as they had an early flight to Cairns in the morning. I had classes Monday and Tuesday so I flew out to Cairns Tuesday night to meet them there. They rented an amazing beach front apartment in Yorkey's Knob which is a small town fifteen minutes north of Cairns. I was exhausted from a long day of class and then traveling and we were getting up at 7 for a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef so we all went to bed early.
Apartment in Yorkey's Knob
view from balcony
Beach across the street
We got up nice and early for our boat trip out to the outer reef. Since I had already been to the inner reef I was looking forward to seeing the outer reef. It was a great day sunny and in the 80's. The ocean was really rough with like six foot waves causing it to be a very rough ride. The boat ride took probably around 2 hours before we stopped at our first dive and snorkel spot. We snorkeled around for a little while and then Joy and I went scuba diving. It was pretty unorganized because of the large amount of people diving for the first time but besides that it was a pretty good dive! After diving we had pasta for lunch and then headed to our second snorkel location. The reefs at his location were amazing and really colorful. I went snorkeling around for over an hour. spent awhile searching for Nemo which I eventually found! haha
My Dad Snorkeling
Giant Clam!
After swallowing a large amount of salt water snorkeling down several feet trying to get good pictures of "Nemo" my stomach wasn't feeling too great which made for a rocky ride back. I survived without getting sick thankfully! We got back to the apartment a little after 5 and decided to just relax and make burgers so we didn't have to go back out. It was nice and relaxing!
Thursday we slept in a little and decided to go up to Kuranda which is an aboriginal type village with a bunch of cool shops and wildlife places to visit. We took the Skyrail there which had some amazing views of the ocean, the rain forest, and Barron Falls! We grabbed lunch at a nice restaurant that was right in the rain forest which was really nice. I decided it was time to try kangaroo! It was alright but I don't think it would be something I would order again.
View from Skyrail to Kuranda
Barron Falls from Skyrail
Kangaroo
After lunch we stopped in a couple cool shops filled with aboriginal arts and crafts. Our last stop at Kuranda was the Venon Museum which housed some of the deadliest snakes in the world. It was pretty freaky. At the end I was able to hold a water python which was awesome!
Water Python
Then we headed back to the skyrail. We made a quick stop at Barron Falls to take some pictures of the waterfalls and walk along the boardwalk through the rainforest.
We got back to the apartment and had a quick shower before dinner. For dinner we were told we should try the Boat club. It was right at the marina and had outside seating which was really nice. Joy and I had oysters as an entree (appetizer) which was my first time eating them and actually thought they were pretty good. For dinner I had the catch of the day and chips which was really fresh and delicious!
Dinner at the Boating Club
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