so it's june. we went to australia in april. um, surprised i'm even posting this, but it was such a fun trip, i want to document it & relive some of the memories.....
so without further adieu....
we went to cairns for a long weekend & we stayed at the awesome hotel cairns.... the breakfast was phenomenal - fresh watermelon juice, eggs, bacon, pastas, rice, fruit & of course vegimite - which i'm a little embarrassed to admit i didn't even try, not brave enough. (but i did sneak some back & it's still sitting on our kitchen counter, one day, one day)..... but back to the hotel.... the rooms were super cute, with a balcony & mini-kitchen, plus we were able to walk to everything downtown & at the esplanade. the esplanade, you ask? well, that is such a cool part of cairns. it's this salt water lagoon & open park that runs parallel to the boardwalk & the ocean.
we walked around downtown a lot. went to the park & esplanade a lot. went into the grocery store a lot. we ate gelato twice a day - i'm not exaggerating. we really loved the vibe of the place. the locals were cool, the tourists were cool, the students staying at the hostels living it up in an awesome beachy city were cool. we kinda fell in love with australia. cause we're sure all of australia is as awesome as cairns. but cairns has such a smart layout, family friendly, open air restaurants & shops, the esplanade, the laid back, but yet hip-cultural-alive pulse of the city make for a really awesome vacay!! we'll go back in a heartbeat!!
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| the salt water pool at our hotel |
we went to the cairns tropical zoo & cuddled a koala.... lena got so excited & gave the poor guy a little too vigorous of a pat, but he was probably used to it. i was surprised at how soft his fur was. so nice to cuddle with that little guy. we feed some kangaroos, um wallabies, um.... ? they were cool. we saw the cutest animal ever - the red panda! we even got a stuffed red panda to take home with us, um, we got it for lena, yep, for lena.... ;) we saw some huge crocs! not the plastic shoes, the real deal! crazy old dinosaur reptile animals! they amaze me..... from a distance.
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| wish he could have come home with us! |
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| can't tell how huge this guy is in the pic..... probably 13 feet |
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| red panda! |
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| cute cuddles |
we took a boat out to the reef.... we went to green island.... a nice resort area where you can snorkel, dive, swim at the pool, shop, eat..... so fun. except the jelly fish. didn't see any, but the warning was enough to deter me from snorkeling. jeff was brave & went out for the both of us. i think we're spoiled being here in guam, he said it didn't look much different. i'm sure diving would have been amazing - seeing the reef & the life down there up close like that would be awesome, but it was enough for me to swim & splash around with lena near the shore.
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| green island |
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on the boat, headed out to the reef
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| lena loved chasing the birds |
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| peek-a-boo |
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| don't worry, this little lifeguard's got it under control! |
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| little miss sunshine! |
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| someone was tired on the boat ride back, oh & lena fell asleep.... ;) |
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| a friend lena made at the park |
on the boardwalk
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| nice dinner across from the park |
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| beautiful sunsets |
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| loving it at the lagoon |
