Out and About

Spent the day today out and about near Cairns. We visited a butterfly place, went to the Barron Falls and then to 'Rainforestation'. Here are a few photos.

Winter holiday

Well, the winter holidays have started, not quite the winter holidays we are used to! The first Sunday afternoon we went to the beach and had fish and chips. You can see how cold it is! This is only a two week holiday as the big 'summer' holiday is in December/January.

If you swam from here, you would eventually reach South America!

This weeks headlines

This weeks headlines:

The Wisdom of Teeth
Having been told by dentists in 3 different continents to have my wisdom teeth out, I finally got round to doing it on Friday. The ice pack quickly became my new best friend, along with soup, jelly and ice cream. All I can say is that I am glad I chose to have it done in Australia and not in Tanzania!

In other news we had a great rainbow this week. I took loads of photos, but have not managed to capture the colours, still you get the idea.

Cane & Trains
The sugar cane is being harvested and with it, to the delight of all the boys in the house, the running of the cane train, including the one behind our house. Bethany is not as impressed. The train runs a few times each day and whenever it passes we all have to run to the end of the garden (it's not that far!), climb the fence and see if the driver will wave. It's a bit like being in the 'Railway Children', albeit on a much smaller scale. I have to run too because although I am not that bothered about the train (hard to imagine, I'm sure) Ruben is thrilled by this new development, but needs help climbing the fence. In his words, "Man, train, wave, all gone". of course he says it much more dramatically that I can on paper.

Roo Turns Two
Finally and much more importantly, Ruben turned 2. He is increasingly hard to keep up with and I spend much of the day chasing him round the garden and other people's gardens to get him in the car and watching out for any diggers, lawn mowers and trucks in Cairns. Fortunately there are a lot of them, so we are rarely disappointed. He also loves watching youtube clips of any of the above. Who would have thought that a 10 minute clip of a man mowing his lawn, in real time, with no music or commentary could be so fascinating for a 2 year-old. What is pure joy for Ruben, I have threatened the others with as a punishment.

Of course he had to have a lawn mower cake!

Cane season

It's time to harvest the cane in Cairns. It's so pretty I thought I'd take a few photos on the way to school before they cut it all down.

Kanagaroo and stuff

There are small differences here to life in Europe. For example the spaghetti bolognese we had for dinner made of Kangaroo mince. Quite normal here, but to me it just seems wrong. I bought a kilo, used half, but can't quite bring myself to use the other half yet. Unfortunately it is cheaper than beef with much less fat and with a lot more other things that are good for you. We may just have to get used to it.

This week there was a python stuck in the rafters outside Joshua's classroom. He came home with the story and a photo and I assumed the school would get a 'snake man' in (or whatever they do with snakes here) to deal with it. However, apparently no one is that bothered and they have just left it there.

Another difference is that the post man always delivers the mail on a motorbike. He doesn't get off and just swings by each post box weaving his way (or her way) along the lawns. No one has a letter box.

It is illegal to park on the side of the road in the opposite direction to the traffic. (Just in case you come here, I wouldn't want you to get caught out).

Caleb has started playing AFL. (Australian Football league). I still haven't figured it out. Somewhere between football and rugby, that's all I know. He likes it though. The kids at school all play handball at break times. I've never seen that in the UK, but maybe I am out of touch.

I've mentioned it before, but shorts, t- shirts and thongs (flip flops) are acceptable as work wear pretty much anywhere.

The dustbin man is just a man with a lorry and mechanical arms that pick up the bins to dump the trash. Never seen those in the UK either, but again maybe I just haven't lived there in a while.

All hamburgers have slices of beetroot in them. Beetroot is big over here! 

Joshua reckons that 75% of the parents from his class work in the mines. 

Another hard day in Cairns!!

Today we decided to brave the jellyfish and the saltwater crocs and head to the beach for the day.

This is the type of crocodile that is found in the sea near us. The life guard said he had only seen two on that bit of beach in 8 years, so not a huge risk. Still you wouldn't want to meet one of these whilst having a relaxing swim.

1. Australian saltwater crocodiles are the largest reptile in the world in terms of mass (can be over 1000kg), the males can reach a length of up to 6 or 7 metres.
2. The other main risk is the box jellyfish, but the risk of those today was also apparently low. However if you met one, it could kill you!!
3. 
   
4. 
5. 
   

All that aside it was a beautiful beach and we had a nice day.

Cross country

It seems you can't escape cross country wherever you are in the world. Actually Caleb loves it. We went to watch him run on Wednesday.