The Mackay Grievesies trek to Cairns...
October usually brings about the Far North Queensland Australian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy John Grieves Memorial Golf Day - what a mouthful!; henceforth referred to as Dad's Golf Day (it is named after John's Dad, after all) - and 2006 was no exception. This year we decided to spend two weeks in Cairns to have a really relaxing break. After packing into Sarah's beasty, the trip was painless and as usual, we stopped for lunch on the outskirts of Townsville (near Dairy Farmer's Stadium for those that like their rugby league).
Some days were busy, some days were quiet, but we had a great time! We were glad to see many familiar faces - our family of course, Judy, Gaja & Taro, as well as friends Shawn & Renee McAtamney & the local reprobates that make up much of the Stratford Shops (the Butchers & Mary-Lou).
We did make it to the beach, with poor Kim (Mum's dog) not feeling so well (too much nice food?); nephew Taro and John enjoyed Playstation, science & maths talks, backyard cricket, thrashing Mum's pool and some golf practice before Dad's golf day (watch out - Taro's a demon mini-putter!); John saw his old high school (St Augustine's College) - recently updated with new improved main hall & theatre - John with his Mum Judy enjoyed a violin recital by world famous Jack Glatzer performing many of Paganini's 24 Caprices (insanely difficult and wonderful pieces composed specifically for the violin) and two pieces by Bach in the theatre - so incredible to have such a brilliant violinist perform at the school!!!
We enjoyed seeing Little Miss Sunshine & The Departed at the cinemas too.
We took the time to enjoy the Tjapukai theatre (a lesson on Aboriginal history in the Cairns district) and the Cairns Tropical Zoo (ex-Wild World - we saw snake show, crocodile feeding, kangaroos galore, bird aviaries, monster cassowaries; but best of all there are Nepalese Red Pandas there right now - so cute!!) on the north side of Cairns with Taro.
The big highlights for the trip were Dad's Golf Day and two trips out west - the first time Sarah's car had been exposed to **GASP** dirt roads!!
Dad's golf day went off without a hitch (although it was raining for half of the day!). The Individuals - this year it was Little John, Colin Johansen (carry over from last year), Russell "Rusty" Ellis & Gil - placed 7th, one place up from last year, in a field of fifteen teams. One of the real highlights was that John & Rusty came home with their own nearest the pin shots on par threes - very exciting as John's golf form isn't all that consistent!!! A lovely day overall that each year is very dear to the family.
The first trip west of Cairns took us out to Mt Surprise, a small town of 62.3 people (0.3 being the one-week old new addition to town!!) to stay at Bedrock Village. On the way we stopped at many of the wonderful falls the Atherton Tablelands have to offer (Millstream, Little Millstream, The Crater, Dinner Falls plus a stop at the Ravenshoe "Windy Hill" Wind Farm).
Mt Surprise is such a quiet town, but very friendly people - around four hours out from Cairns. We travelled to the Undara Caves the following day for a guided tour through the lava tubes (caves) left on the Atherton Tablelands after volcanic activity tens of thousands of years ago. After the morning tour, John headed up one of the more significant craters (Kalkani Crater) for a walk around its rim - kindly, the volcano was quite dormant and had filled with vegetation in the centre!! For anyone with the time and the inclination, the Undara Caves are certainly worth a good look.
Our second trip west of Cairns kept us much closer to the coast and we had Taro along for this trip - we headed up again onto the Tablelands to see the Cairns Wildlife Safari Park (between Mareeba and Kuranda) where we saw lions & brown bears feeding, a great assortment of other animals (including hippos & a rhino, Sumatran tiger) - quite a lovely park. We headed further on to Mareeba itself to have a punt around the world class go-kart track (Makotrac) for three sessions between the lightweight mayhem of Taro and the somewhat controlled (and poor power-to-weight ratio) John. It was a narrow victory to John, but as Taro's experience grows, John might find it hard to keep tabs on the young fella. The facilities also include an 18 hole putt-putt course, so we enjoyed putting around the course in between go-kart sessions.
Our trip sadly had to come to an end, but we made sure we went out in style - a big night at Buckin' Mex, a Mexican restaurant in the heart of Cairns with great food.
Thanks to all our Cairns family and friends for another memorable holiday - we love it up there!
Our first day up to the Atherton Tablelands and beyond, west of Cairns. First photo is The Crater - a hole created by volcanic activity now filled with water (that's duck weed covering the water, in case you're wondering!); Dinner Falls very close to The Crater, including Sarah in front of one part of the falls (many of the falls on the Tablelands are quite beautiful); Ravenshoe's "Windy Farm" wind turbines - 20 such beasts, some of which are captured below on what was turning out to be quite a rainy day around Ravenshoe; John in front of the Little Millstream Falls and; Millstream Falls.
Day two of our first trip west: a kookaburra greeted us at the Undara Caves Lodge car park; next two photos are from inside the lava tubes - these tubes were created by the action of lava flowing over the land surface, the top part of the flow then solidifying as it contacted the atmosphere and cooled below melting point, thus insulating the underlying flow. Once the underlying flow had disappeared due to the action of gravity, the tubes were left behind. The final photo in the series shows some of the landscape, including two dormant volcanoes - note the one on the left is a different shape to your more stereotypical volcanic crater on the right (the Kalkani Crater that John walked up later in the day).
Dad's Golf Day - John in his team shirt from last year; "The Individuals" placing a respectable 7th (from left John, Colin, Gil and Rusty); and Sarah looking suitably pleased at having her photo taken (we love you Sarah!)...
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Cairns Tropical Zoo - photos courtesy the Tropical Zoo web site (we forgot the camera, doh!). First up, the awesomely cute Nepalese Red Panda; Boyd's Dragon; Green Iguana; Cassowary; Coton Top Tamarin; Sea Eagle.
Buddy and Kim run riot around Tanner Crescent at Stratford on a regular basis - and then look at the innocent faces in the second photo: "Who?!? Us?!? NEVER!!!" The Cairns cats and Buddy have somewhat adjusted to one another now - even the old ginger tom Zeb is a little less scared about Buddy's presence and was starting to come back inside the house during our stay.
Cairns Wildlife Safari Park: Sulawese Macaque; peacock; peacock; hippos getting harrassed by Peacock and Peahens (with some ducks in for good measure too); ostrich; Taro & John together (Taro's going to get a lot taller than John by the time he's finished growing!!); Taro and Sarah in front of a backdrop of lions getting hungry in their pen, just before feed time.
Cairns Wildlife Safari Park (continued): Alpha lion on the hunt for food; lioness on the prowl, still hungry; rhino; female brown bear at feeding time; male (left) and female (right) brown bears enjoying their sweet, icy lolly treat; pygmy hippo; spider monkey working the rope course; lemur in the trees; Sumatran tiger after a feed.
The boys hit Makotrac at Mareeba!!
Our last night out at Buckin' Mex...a lovely night indeed! John & Sarah together; Mum flanked by Gaja and John; young whipper-snapper Taro with his Mum Gaja.
Buddy all set to drive us back to Mackay!! Buddy made sure we dropped in on his favourite, Aunty Robin, in Ingham on our way back south. Thanks for the lunch and road treats Aunty Robin!!
Have you read about John's 30th Birthday Bash?
This page was last updated: Sunday, 12 November 2006 18:41:55 +1000