Dave and I decided late last year that we wanted to know our niece and nephews better so we decide to use our frequent flier miles to make it happen. As soon as school was out flew the oldest of the mob, my nephews Mitch and Ian, over the big pond for a great Australian adventure. For the next couple of weeks, they will be using my blog as a travel log with the occasional commentary from Aunt Paula in red.
Here they go:
Day 1 – June 2 & Day 2 –- June 3 by Ian
We left St. Louis and headed for Los Angles, then after a 4 hour layover, headed for Sydney on a never ending flight! They only got a few hours of June 3rd before they crossed the International Date Line. The direct flight to Sydney got rerouted to Brisbane; where we sat in the plane for a little over an hour. After that, we took off and finally arrived at our destination, Sydney Australia, three hours behind schedule. We were a little scared to face customs but we made it through quite easily. Then we went to carousel 10 and prayed to see our luggage. Mitch found his pretty fast, but I let mine go around 3 or 4 times before I decided to pick it up and look at the tag. Last we went towards the exit and were looking for our aunt Paula. We found her fairly easily and she took our picture right away to prove we arrived safely. We had about an hour and 15 minutes (with just enough time for breakfast and a well needed shower).before we boarded another plane headed back to Brisbane. There we switched planes and we were off to Cairns (only six hours after the scheduled arrival).
Day 3 – June 4. by Mitchel We were both awake wondering what time is really was. It was 6 in the morning and we were pleased to know Fruit Loops did exist in Australia. Then we went for a stroll along the beach and had an Aussie breakfast at Pete’s Place. We checked out some beaches along the way too and decided to only swim where there is lifeguards.
Next we wondered down the main Street in Palm Cove and booked the reef trip for tomorrow. We next drove in to Cairns and walked along downtown. Gelato ice cream is awesome great, even though Ian and I both got very original mint and strawberry ice cream. We also shopped for our new boat, approximately 20 million, it was very flash! (Dinner was a combination of kangaroo, emu, crocodile and barramundi, most amazing Ian ate it!!!! )
Day 4 – June 5 by Ian Today the three of us woke up at 6 a.m. and were off for a fun filled day of snorkeling at Franklin Island. (Part of the inner reef). A bus picked at our condo and then we headed for the boat so we thought! Actually like an hour and a half later, after the bus picked up everyone else, we arrived at the river where the boat was located.
We looked for crocs on the way out but had no luck. At the islands the water was very clear and really pretty calm. First was the snorkeling tour around the different spots of the reef and eventually worked our way out to pretty deep water for a look below us.
We then swam back to shore and waited for the glass bottom boat trip out on the reefs. The boat was fun except for a screaming Asian baby that literally screamed the entire time out there! Then when we got back it was time for lunch. Lunches consist of pasta, potato salad, fried chicken, and fruit. Myself and Mitch ate in our little sun tent on the beach because all the seats were taken in the big tent in the shade. We were busy eating and didn’t bother to listen to the announcement that the big boat we rode out on was broken. So our aunt told us not long after. After lunch we walked on the beach and took a few pictures.
Also we wrote a message in the sand. Then we took a beach walk tour. Mitch and I thought it might be a little boring at first but it was very interesting. We learned and saw a lot of organisms in small water pools. It was interesting to me because I got to see a ton of stuff that I learned about in Marine Biology. I even heard some pistol shrimp. The tour was great up until were we had to walk on all the old coral and rocks. I thought my feet might fall off, but I made it. When we got back to the main beach we took a dip in the water. And then it was time to board the boat. The big boat breaking was a problem but in a way it was good. I say this because now we got to ride in the fast boat with four Yamaha 350 V8 motors.
So we made great time coming back until we got to the river. There we had to go very slow because the tide had not come in yet and we had to avoid sandbars, but we got there. Then we boarded the bus and I thought we may never get off it. We were on the bus a little over 2 hours – It sucked believe me. But we finally made it home to the condo. Were we order food to go at the local diner. We waited for our food then went home. I was so tired I ate, took a shower, and then hit the sack.
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