Day One Thousand Two Hundred and Five

Saturday 29th September

AFL Grand Final Day 2012. 

The pre match build up started on the TV at 9am. The day had a bit of a feeling like the FA Cup Final day in UK. We drove over to the pub in Erskinville to join Mike and the others ot watch the game in the pub. Was a good game, the Swannies had a bad start, a good second quarter and then dropped back again in 3rd quarter. 

Final quarter was very close and quite tense but the Swans came through int he end to win. Excellent result. Pub erupted too!

Came home, had some food and watched the final quarter again on the telly.

Day One Thousand Two Hundred and Four

Friday 28th September

A quiet day at work, a lot of people have taken today off as its a public holiday on Monday so are getting a long weekend. It was Cindy's last day today as well, the office sure will be quiet on Tuesday!

Came home and we had a Thai takeaway for dinner.

Day One Thousand Two Hundred and Three

Thursday 27th September

Kate dropped me at the station and I headed into work on the train. Today is the last day of my fellow Ops coordinator in Sydney. In the evening Kate came to the office and joined us for Alanas leaving dinner at Red Lantern on Crown St. Was a very nice meal.

We left the restaurant and the folks form work carried on drinking.Kate and I had tickets to go and see Kelly Clarkson at the Entertainment Centre. After the worlds worst taxi driver dropped us at the venue we caught some of The Fray (support Act), before Kelly came on. Was a very good gig.

Day One Thousand Two Hundred and Two

Wednesday 26th September

Took an unofficial day off today. Was nice to break up the week and spend time with Kate helping her search for jobs. She spoke to Steve (our friend from London and MC at the wedding) about a possible lead.

At lunchtime we caught a train over ot Circular Quay and met another old colleague form Symbian days for lunch. Long time since we had seen Camilla so was nice to catch up with all her news.

We had lunch at the cruise bar near the passenger terminal.

Came home and did a few bits at home before dinner and then skyped UK.

Day One Thousand Two Hundred and One

Tuesday 25th September

Normal day at work so not much to report today.

Day One Thousand Two Hundred

Monday 24th September

Back to work for me and spent most of the day sorting out our storage areas in the car park downstairs, bit of a grubby job but slowly getting space sorted out.

Came home in the evening and chilled out.

Day One Thousand One Hundred and Ninety Nine

Sunday 23rd September

Today we spent a good few hours in Centennial Park to help Caroline celebrate her 32nd Birthday. Was nice catching up with her and others like Pru and Mike. Australia is very geared up in public parks with public BBQs etc.

We headed home as the sun went down and in the evening we skyped the UK.

Day One Thousand One Hundred and Ninety Eight

Saturday 22nd September

Weekend again, got up around 9am and spent most of the morning doing lots of washing.  We headed up to the chase to do some shopping and have some lunch.

A quiet afternoon at home and then in the evening we cooked a Jamie Chicken and Mushroom pie, followed by a movie - Salmon Fishing in the Yemen which was not bad.

Day One Thousand One Hundred and Ninety Seven

Friday 21st September

Caught the train to work and spent all day sorting out gear as usual. Knocked off at 5pm and headed home. We all then went to Homebush to the ANZ stadium at Sydney Olympic Park to watch the AFL Preliminary final between Sydney Swans and Collingwood. An exciting game and the Swans beat Collingwood convincingly.

Below is a video of the Aussies singing the Swans Victory song at the end of the game.

We drove home (the parking was very easy and didn't take long.

Day One Thousand One Hundred and Ninety Six

Thursday 20th September

I drove into work as I had to take the 60+ towels back into work after washing them all post event. Kate helped do alot of the washing so has to take credit. 

Had a team lunch in the Tipple Bar.

Knocked off at about 4.30 so was home just after 5pm.

Day One Thousand One Hundred and Ninety Five

Wednesday 19th September.

Took the train into work and spent all day sorting out more of the supplies from the event. Headed home and had lasagna for dinner. Spoke to folks on Skype in the evening and caught up with all their news from their trip to Italy.

Day One Thousand One Hundred and Ninety Four

Tuesday 18th September

Another relaxed day at work sorting though our kit, stocktaking. Had a meeting in the afternoon to go over some of the future proposal stuff.

Day One Thousand One Hundred and Ninety Three

Monday 17th September

Back to work, spent a lot of my time in the cage in the car park preparing it for moving our gear inthe later in the month. Lots of swapping of storage locations ahead so I've landed task of throwing away years of Oxfam accumulated crap. 

Headed home after work, had dinner and went to bed.

Day One Thousand One Hundred and Ninety Two

Sunday 16th September

Another relaxing day, we did a bit more shopping up at Chatswood Chase. We spent some more time completing our tax returns for 2011/12 financial year. Should get some refunds each in next 10 days or so.

Another long walk around the streets in the afternoon too.

Day One Thousand One Hundred and Ninety One

Saturday 15th September

Weekend, day two of my long weekend. We had lunch at home and spent a lot of time doing our tax returns, always a great fun task. In the evening we watched the movie Margin Call which was quite good, although didn't really come through at the end after a lot of build up.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1615147/

Day One Thousand One Hundred and Ninety

Friday 14th September

 I took the day off today to stay at home and help Kate with some job hunting. It's tough market out there and only a few jobs creep up each day. helped with applications for one which will be submitted Monday. We did some shopping at lunchtime at the Chase. We did a few of the outstanding things on our to do lists too which was good. 

In the evening I cooked a Chicken and Mushroom Risotto for everyone.

Day One Thousand One Hundred and Eighty Nine

Thursday 13th September

Drove into work today as I needed to bring a load of towels from the event home for washing over the weekend (I have tomorrow off). Most of the day was sent stocktaking my supplies and packing them away in my stores.

I drove home and then later in the evening Kate and I went over to Enmore to meet with Pru, Caroline, Mike, Ben and the Andrews for dinner. We went to Emmas on Liberty St a Lebanese place. Food wasn't bad and the company was excellent. 

http://www.emmasonliberty.com.au/

Once done we headed home across the harbour bridge and off to bed.

Day One Thousand One Hundred and Eighty Eight

Wednesday 12th September

Drove to the station and caught the train to work. Finished off lots of documents which are due today for the management. Heard form Kate around lunchtime that she did not get the job she interviewed for on Tuesday. This is a real shame as she was down to last two. Fingers crossed something even better crops up soon.

Came home and we cooked some Mexican for dinner.

Day One Thousand One Hundred and Eighty Seven

Tuesday 11th September

Kate drove me to the station this morning as she needed the car for an interview later in the day. Spent more time writing documents at work and breaking this up by sorting out the massive pile of event equipment left over after the event. Spoke to Kate in the afternoon after her interview which sounded like it went OK.

Caught the train home and Kate picked me up from the station. Had a Thai takeaway for dinner which was nice.

Day One Thousand One Hundred and Eighty Six

Monday 10th September

Back to work.Drove myself to Artarmon and caught the train into the city. Spent most of the day writing documentation for future changes at work. Hard to get back into the swing of work after a week off. Caught the train home, had some dinner and relaxed.

Day One Thousand One Hundred and Eighty Five

Sunday 9th September

A day spent catching up on washing and shopping after our week away. Had a Skype call with the UK in the evening.

Day One Thousand One Hundred and Eighty Four

Saturday 8th September

We got up and packed up before checking out of the hotel.Once we were all done in Port Douglas we drove south back towards Cairns. We spent the day riding the Skyrail cable car from Caravonica to Kuranda. This is a 7.5km cablecar that runs across the rain forest. It was a great experience. Below are some of the pics from the journey to Kuranda. More about what we did later in the day at end of this post.

http://www.skyrail.com.au/

On the way out of station at the bottom.

Me

Kate

Getting Higher

Don't look down

Tightening up a few bolts

Higher Still

Behind the dam

Behind the dam

Crossing the river before Kuranda.

 




Once we were in Kuranda we walked through the shops and markets before getting some lunch. After lunch we decided to check out the southern hemispheres version of Birdworld at the aptly named 'Birdworld'

http://www.birdworldkuranda.com/

We saw lots of cool birds including the Cassowary which we had seen many a sign for earlier in the trip.

We took the cablecar back and then headed to Cairns airport. We watched the second half of the Swans game in the bar and then boarded to fly home. Fairly uneventful flight until last 2-3 kms where the strong winds were throwing the plane around. We were fine with it but people were screaming in fear which was a bit unnerving. A smooth landing though so all good.

We met Bill and Carol at the luggage collection and headed back to reality.

Day One Thousand One Hundred and Eighty Three

Friday 7th September

A lazy day around the hotel and Port Douglas. I wandered up to the local shops to get us some breakfast stuff and then we relaxed by the pool most of the morning and during lunchtime. A meal served up form pool bar/restaurant meant we didn't need to move much.

In the late afternoon we went into Port Douglas and spent some time shopping before going to the 'On The Inlet' restaurant to see if the 250kg Grouper called George turned up to be fed. Alas it was a no show so we headed back to Hotel to get changed for our last dinner in Port Douglas.

Here what we would have seen if he had shown up. ( I say he, in fact its a female fish apparently)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA8iOMuiH8E

We were due to got to the Salsa Bar and Restaurant which was highly rated by Tripadvisor but decided to change after reviewing the menu and went to Seabean instead. It was OK but Service was not up to much.

http://www.seabean.com.au/

With our tummies full we headed back to hotel.

Day One Thousand One Hundred and Eighty Two

Thursday 6th September

Today we drove North form Port Douglas to Cape Tribulation.

We started by driving to the Mossman Gorge and started by going to the Visitor centre.

http://www.mossmangorge.com.au/

We then hopped on one of their shuttle buses and headed up tot he Gorge. Was very pleasant and we walked the board walks up the gorge until we reached the rope bridge (now very much made of steel). Was nice to see the gorge. We walked back down alongside the gorge to spots where people can swim and contains lots of fish. Pics below.

We left the Mossman Gorge and headed North. We caught the ferry across the Daintree River, the same ferry I crossed with Hazel, Nick and Anna some eleven years earlier. It's a bigger ferry now. We then drove North to Cape Tribulation, basically the furthest point on the east cost with tarmac/bitumen road. We stopped at the beach for a while before heading back south. We saw some amusing road signs on route too.

We drove back to Port Douglas and relaxed at the hotel. We then went out for the most amazing dinner ever at a Restaurant called Nautilus. Here is the website, 

http://www.nautilus-restaurant.com.au/

More importantly here is what we ate...best food ever

Crisp Skin Belly of Pork w/Granny Smith apple soufflé, petite piccalilli & cider dressing

Lemon Myrtle Spanner Crab Potstickers w/Shaved palm heart salad, peanut crumble & pineapple caramel

Coral Snapper Fish Special

Lightly Smoked Duck Breast w/Master stock braised leg, sauce bigarade, sweet potato, bok choy & consommé

Pear Tarte Tatin w/
Cinnamon anglaise & burnt honey ice cream

Caramel Banana & Mascarpone Cheesecake w/Vanilla sable & chocolate peanut butter ice cream

Day One Thousand One Hundred and Eighty One

Wednesday 5th September

Today we took a trip out to the Inner Barrier Reef, the low Isles to be precise. Here is a pictorial story of the day

Port Douglas and Low Isles

 








We sailed from Port Douglas to Low Isles. Approx 8 nautical miles. Low Isles is where they brought Steve Irwin to be helicoptered to Hospital after his fatal encounter with a Stingray. Reassuringly as we were snorkeling on the reef they gave us this piece of information and advised us to avoid boxing in any stingrays whilst snorkeling...Great.... Poor old Steve was long gone before he arrived on Low Isle.

Below is the island after we arrived and anchored up. From here we took a small tender boat to the beach form where we both snorkeled before lunch.

Low Isle

On the sail out....

After Lunch the Sharks started to circle the boat, the skipper chucking in prawn heads lured them in...

Our toy island

Our toy boat...

Around this point Kate decides ot go swimming with the Sharks, I stayed firmly on the boat as any good husband would in such a situation.

Crazy wife...

Kate swims off into the distance 

Way too far from the boat...

Mid afternoon we set sail back ot Port Douglas, the wind was up so we did it under sail which was nice.

Once back in Port Douglas we went back to Hotel for a bit then went for an easy dinner at the iron Bar pub. All that sea air meant we were tired and we went to bed at about 10pm.