holiday weekend.

in australia, public holidays for easter include good friday and easter monday.  in fact, we learned that while most places are open on easter, most places were closed on good friday.  which actually makes more sense since Jesus was actually crucified on friday so they look at it more as a day of respect.  anyway, either way, we had a four day weekend to celebrate easter.  so, we decided to take advantage and take a trip to cairns (pronounced cannes).

cairns is about an 8 hour drive from mackay so we left right after work on thursday and split the trip up with a stop in townsville on the way there.  most of the drive on the way to townsville was spent in darkness, but we got a couple cool photos the following morning on the way to cairns.

cool rainbow since we were in the rainforest and, well, it rained.

the trip would not be complete without a little breathalyzer test.  that's right, at around 11am we were motioned over to take a mandatory test.

thankfully, we passed on those early morning shots.  kidding!!

when we arrived in cairns we went straight to the golf course.  since i had the rest of our weekend planned with other activities jim made sure that we squeezed in a round at paradise palms.  this course was AMAZINGLY beautiful and our golf games weren't half bad either.  i think i finally found my groove with my drives, and jim found his again after his hamilton island setback.

on saturday we went to the infamous kuranda.  kuranda is a little town and market in the middle of the rainforest.  All the locals and anyone you talk to about going to cairns recommends that you go here.

here is a little history:

we began our journey to kuranda on an old fashioned scenic train ride.

when we reached the market we were a little disappointed mainly because it was very overcrowded and we wanted some more authentic goods as opposed to the normal cheesy souvenir shops, but it did have some charm that we enjoyed.

and was a slight bit mullet-y...

the best part of the day was our journey home.  we took the sky rail which provided GORGEOUS views of the barron river and cairns.

jim was a little less enthused as he was literally waiting for the cable to snap and us all fall to our death. silly boy...

overall, i am glad we did the kuranda "tour."  the skyrail made it all worth it!

this post got really long really fast so i will post again VERY soon about the rest of our weekend.  i'll give you a hint, though:  the three beginning letters of each word are GBR!!!

we're alive!

yes, we are still alive.  sorry about the absence.  after easter weekend, we lost internet connection from our "not so trusty" wireless modem, and since we work at the mine all week we were not able to get it fixed until this weekend.  buuuuut, after many hours at the internet provider's store (telstra), we're baaaaack!

let's back up to the weekend before easter weekend... we stayed in mackay.

our friends, jo and keith, needed someone to watch their dog, tash, while they went to hayman island for their anniversary.  we were ecstatic to get to spend the weekend with a dog since we have been missing ours terribly (i haven't blogged on that, but it's true... i miss bella as if she were my child - which she kinda is.).  Anyway, so we got to spend the weekend with this cutie patootie:

this is tash.  she is 13 years old and so sweet.  we hung around with her most of the weekend.  keith and jo live about 20 minutes from us and their house is just as luxurious as our apartment.  plus it has a pool in the backyard which we took advantage of on saturday.  looks terrible, right?  ;)

tash loved barking at the water, and when i say loved i mean she literally barked at the water the majority of the time.

we soon realized if threw her in the pool (don't worry, her mom and dad gave us permission) she would come out and lick herself clean for about 10 mintues - bark free!  which led to a very happy jim and sarah.

on sunday, we played some more golf... surprise, surprise!  and ended the weekend with this gorgeous sunset.  life doesn't get any better than this.

Happy Easter!!

happy Easter to you and your families!! hope you are having a very blessed day! love and miss you all! xoxo

golf = fail.

golf = fail.  who knew those two words could be used in the same sentence??  okay, maybe it's not quite a complete sentence, but it doesn't change the results.

remember all the rain i told you about here and here???  Well, two days after the rain stopped jim decided that he just could not go another weekend without golfing.  and since we had been wanting to take another trip to the whitsundays we decided to go golfing at one of the prestigious courses there called hamilton golf club.  it is on dent island.

was it a risky choice?  yes.  not only did it JUST get finished down pouring, but it's also one of the most expensive rounds of golf that we have played.  was it a smart choice?  i'll let you be the judge...

hole # 1:

you might be wondering why jim was holding an umbrella in this photo.  let's just say it wasn't to block the sun...

  

yup, it was actually STILL raining until hole 3ish.

then, around hole 5, it was done raining, but we ran into a little friend.  jim said i was making it hard to concentrate, but what was i supposed to do... it was a snake!!

around hole 7 we started getting some really nice views and the sun started coming out!  this was a nice distraction from the terrible golf that was being played.  

neither one of us were on our game, but considering the conditions of the course i am pretty sure this was expected.  you see, almost every time we hit a ball on the fairway a huge splash of mudwater got all over your clubs, shoes, clothes, FACE... it was a lovely time.  

this last picture was taken the hole before jim lost ALL of the golf balls in his bag.  that was a fun time that resulted in us turning around and heading for hamilton island to enjoy some pool side sun and refreshments.  

was it a smart decision?  i think the answer is obvious, don't you?

rain day... ???

the monday after our townsville trip that i just posted, jim and i tried to go to work only to learn that we had a rain day... not a snow day, but a rain day.  we couldn't get to the mine site because a couple of the creeks were flooded and the roads were closed.  

what was the source of the flooding, you might ask?

days of rain that looked like this...

blah, right??  

i have never seen anything like it.  it was LITERALLY non stop either steady or pouring buckets of rain.  

so, we spent monday just relaxing and hanging out, and we figured that tuesday would be much of the same since the rain still had not let up.   however; at around 11:00 we received a call that i was probably going to brisbane for some training and jim was to try to get to the mine by taking a different route.  

hours later, i was in brisbane and jim was back at our apartment because the driving conditions were not up to par.  

brisbane, my friends, IS AMAZING!  i loved it there... such a big city with lots to do and places to eat, shop and explore.  

oh, and jim got to join me on wednesday night since the rain continued to show no signs of stopping. 

we stayed in a pretty sweet hotel... everyone kept telling us it was the nicest hotel in the city and it did not disappoint.  here are a few pics of our room:

yup, the tv was welcoming me, personally.  i felt special.  

the majority of the trip was work related, but we made some time to eat at some cool restaurants by the river that runs through the city - VERY chicago-like.

this is chicken schnitzel - delicious!

and this was a sampler plate - we were at a bavarian brewery.  that square thing in the middle - pig belly!  never had it before.  tried it and will never have it again.  ha... it was good, but it was really fatty.  people here seem to LOVE it, though.

a few other things we did were run along the path by the river and just enjoyed the city together.  

we flew back to mackay on friday... thankfully the rain was gone!  hello, sun... sort of... more on that in the next post.  stay tuned...