Sunday Arvo

Well its Sunday arvo and Megan is working at Terry Whites, Madeleine is in the city with friends and Kay is sat reading next to me on the bench in the garden. The weather is amazing and I have finished setting up this blog stuff. The regular birds are cruising by to see what is on offer and I have decided to write a final blog for the day.

Well… if you look at the video below you can see we are enjoying having birds visit the back garden. We have stopped feeding the Cockatoos as there were too many coming; they are a magnificent bird and are such fun to watch eating crackers. “Polly wants a cracker” is so true but when 20 cockatoos swooped in one day, it was time to call time. We still have one that flies by but he only gets a cracker if no other cockatoos are in sight. The lorikeets don’t arrive in flocks and believe it or not chase the much larger cockatoo away, don’t get between a lorikeet and its food.

Later today I pick Megan up from work (Sunday job) and she has talked me into an hours driving. Never thought I would be a driving instructor, New South Wales require 120 hours of driving logged before a driving test is attempted. So Megan is on her L’s and we will be spending some time together over the coming months.

We have a chook (chicken) about to go in the oven and at some point need to buy some vegetables to go with the chook. Life can be so hectic at times.

As I get to grips with blogging and as the family activities notch up I will update the blog. I don’t see the point of putting lots of stuff we have done in the past on the blog as it would take to long. I will keep this blog for recent and future stuff.

ColKay

Rainbow Lorikeets

We are blessed with several birds that visit our back garden (patio).

The two cheeky birds in this clip we have named Horatio and Harriet.

They go mad for a concoction of biscuit, water and honey.

Beautiful!

Tropical North Queensland

Well only 7 months have passed before I finally write a few lines.

I shall start the blog with our trip to tropical North Queensland, July '09.

A weeks holiday at Palm Cove just north of Cairns staying at the lovely Mango Lagoon Resort.

Highlights were:

Megan's 17th birthday dinner at a nice Greek Restaurant
Swimming with the fish and turtles on the Gt. Barrier Reef (Opal Reef)
Jumping out of a plane at 14,000ft over Mission Beach experiencing 60 secs of free fall and 5 mins of parachuting (wow!)
Skyrail

Apart from going out to the Greek restaurant El Grecho’s for dinner on Megan’s birthday, we surprised her with a gift; she has talked about skydiving for ages, so we booked her a jump, but best of all we all jumped with her. None of us had jumped before but the risk was lowered by jumping tandem.

A life time experience was achieved, such an amazing thing to do. The only part I didn’t like was when I watched Madeleine fall from a plane strapped to guy that we only met 30 minutes before, Kay went next (no I didn’t push her) then I jumped and Megan jumped last. Watching Megan land on Mission Beach was a great moment.

Spending a day on the dive/snorkel boat Calypso was up there too, snorkelling on the Gt. Barrier Reef is like being on a different planet. Three reefs in three hours, lunch and the ride to and from the reef from Port Douglas is a full day for anyone.

Driving through the Daintree Rain Forest to Cape Tribulation dodging crocodiles was fun also, whilst enjoying a coffee I spotted a Giant Golden Orb spider, not the biggest body on a spider but with its long legs and amazing web it looks pretty intimidating. It wasn’t until I got home and looked it up that I found out it is almost harmless to humans.

Driving back from Port Douglas to the Palm Cove we crossed the Mowbray River. Cars had stopped and people were taking photographs as we drove over the bridge. Yep… a 3 - 4 meter croc just below the bridge. A ‘U’ turn was required and a hot drop off on the bridge was manoeuvred as I went and parked the hire car in a safe spot.

Seeing crocodiles in the river below you in their natural habitat makes it very clear that the signs on the beaches are for real.

With day trips to Port Douglas, Cairns, walks along Palm Cove and lounging around the resort pools it was a holiday to remember.

On our last day we took the scenic railway to a village called Kuranda and then returned by the Skyrail which is a cable car ride of 9k above the rain forest. There are two stops along the way for pictures/exploring.

A holiday to remember!!!