Australia: Cairns

Happy Hump Day everybody!  I'm back with more Australia today … woot woot :)  In my Australia recap launch Monday I forgot to forewarn everyone of the MASSIVE photo overload and the fact that these posts will be extraordinarily long. Sorry bout that friends … but I like pictures and have a lot to share, there just ain't no two ways about it. And, that brings us to Cairns. 

Originally, I posted here about the layout of the trip and familiarized you with maps, etc. Only to get to Australia and realize I was wrong about the order of the cities we were visiting … whoopsie!  Our first adventure was North Queensland, Australia. We stayed in Cairns and rented a car, so we were able to travel easily to and fro to the surrounding beaches/islands, etc. 

Friday, December 19

We arrived around 4 pm. on December 19th, checked into our hotel and headed straight to dinner so we wouldn't crash!  Immediately after dinner we headed back to the hotel, showered up and snoozed off the rest of the eve, in hopes of waking up refreshed!

Saturday, December 20

The next morning we had an early wake up call to head to Port Douglas for a full day of a chartered catamaran snorkeling/diving the Great Barrier Reef. (We actually have SO many more pictures than just this one below, and they are SOO GOOD …  but my mother is currently hoarding the images on her camera after I have asked her countless times to get them to me …  so I'll show you this one until she decides to share with everyone else … I wrote this because I know you're reading mom ...).  It was GORGEOUS. We saw whales (from the boat!), caught some rays (from the sun!), and I made my baby bro hold my hand the entire time I was in the ocean (because I'm a scardey cat!).  We finished off the evening with some Chinese food for dinner at the hotel (where my child actually ordered a Coke from the waitress … God love him) and called it a night early. It was a great start to the trip!

Sunday, December 21

Day Two in Cairns was another early morning (jet lag…).  We snagged some breakfast from a Restaurant in the hotel, Taramind, where Bennett decided to make it his mission to see how many cocoa pebbles he could spill. And mom and I finished off an entire pot of french press coffee.  After that, we piled into the rental van (which could fit a small army) and headed to Innisfail, South Queensland.

First stop: Paronella Park! (again, we have way better and more cool pics - that include everyone and are really fun … but Penny hasn't shared yet :( …  last time I'll mention it, but you get the idea) It was ridiculously HOT and even more gorgeous.

Side comment: Shane and I are big sushi lovers, so you can imagine our excitement when we saw this:

Ya'll that is GINGER! Before blooming (above) and after (below).

Am I the only one who didn't know it was that gorgeous!?

Okay, back to the picturesque park. This is the swinging bridge that stretches over an enormous waterfall. We had to walk down the historic 47 steps to get into the gardens and then back up them to walk across the swinging bridge. 

Mrs. Penny :) (I'm certain she was screaming .. she's afraid of heights) But mad props to her .. she went SKY DIVING in New Zealand! Sheesh!

Hubs and Moi!

Paronella Park was seriously gorgeous. Beautiful trees, pretty waterfalls, historic buildings, magical gardens … you name it … it was here. I'm unsure why this park hasn't been the setting for a movie, because it was a beautiful set!

After Paronella we piled back into the car and headed to Millaa Millaa, Australia's Tropical Dairyland. We had some burgers for lunch in the tiniest little town, and let mister B take a break from the car to play on the playground in the middle of the city (or street rather).  After that it was waterfall time!

First falls: Millaa Milla Falls

Second falls: Zillions Falls

Third falls: Ellinjaa Falls (and the 68 steps up and down that it took to get there)

Insert adorable entire family photo and sibling pic here (oh wait … Penny didn't send me the photos)

After we were water-falled out, we were headed back to Cairns. On the drive home dad made an impromptu turn to see something called the "Cathedral Fig Tree" … Yawwwwn. We were all half laughing and making fun of him … "really dad?! … a tree? … can we just head back?"

Holy insert foot in mouth moment. We climbed out of the car and were walking along this little trail when all of a sudden Max says, "OH MY AWESOME!"  We all look up … hum, woah. WOW! Amazzzzinnnngggg. 

I've never felt smaller while standing in nature than that moment in the Danbulla Forest under the beautiful Cathedral Fig Tree. 

Honestly, pictures don't even come CLOSE to giving it justice. 

Max, Shane and I climbed up in that bad boy (ahem, picture on mom's camera) only to learn after we got down that the tree is home to 10 FOOT PYTHONS! BAHHHH!!!

Our drive home took place down the Gillies Range - the windiest road in all of Australia. Thank goodness that is done and over with! Although, it did make for some hysterical laughter and gorgeous views.

 After we got home that evening, we meandered through the city and the openaire markets and finished off the day with some good ole' Italian food.

Oh, and some Kangaroo Jerky. GROSS!

 On the walk home, we made funny faces ...

 Tried to feel Christmassy in the heat.

 Held the world's teensy tiniest Ugg boot ...

 And took a picture with a Kangaroo. Goodnight!

Monday, December 22

The next morning we woke up to another beautiful day and had the most delicious breakfast at (what ended up being Shane's favorite restaurant) Perrottas, on the corner of Shield St.  and Abbott St.

After breakfast, we took baby Bennett to play around in the lagoon pool on the Esplanade

After the swimming-scapades we went to meet Marco, the Koala bear :)

 And little man took a little tiger snooze.

 Jet lag was starting to set in and we spent the rest of the day hangin' at the pool and relaxing. And playing with our fatheads. Hehe.

The night was winding down, and we were all hanging by the pool as the sun was going down .. when ya'll I swear 02934092384209348029348 bats flew over our heads for what seemed like an hour. Craziest thing, EVER.

 Later, we headed to dinner at Barnacle Bills.

 And Max ordered Kangaroo, GASP!

 So. Weird.

 But, he ate it.

 And we washed it down with cute Koala chocolates, so it made it all okay.

Tuesday, December 23

Our last morning in Cairns we headed straight to Perrotta's again, per Shane's request.

 And ordered the chocolate filled deliciousness because, Australia.

And before heading to the airport to board our 12:30pm flight to Melbourne, we posed for a pic with our Koala friend, Pavlova.

Cheers to Cairns,  a great kick-off to the trip, and quite possibly the longest post I've ever written … until I recap Melbourne and Sydney, HA!

RM: Wait, The SuperBowl is about Football?

Well my friends, it's Recipe Monday - and I promise in this long winded post to share some recipes - just be patient.  So, unless you are living under a rock - you probably are aware this weekend is host to the biggest annual sporting event by the National Football League in the continental US ~ SUPERBOWL SUNDAY! 

{Alright ladies, if football isn't your forte -I'll help you out with the key points}

• National Football League = NFL
• This year's game = played in New Orleans at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome
• San Francisco 49ers (red/maroon) vs  Baltimore Ravens (black, purple and gold)
• The 2 head coaches of the opposing teams are brothers - and therefore it's a big story

Super Bowl is really the one time of year all of us ladies actually get excited that the entire day revolves around football and every TV in the house is screening the highly anticipated kick-off, the big play touchdown and the ridiculous ref who actually thought that was intentional grounding and there wasn't pass interference on the play - I MEAN DOES THE ZEBRA EVEN HAVE EYES?! Because I'd be happy to buy him a pair of GLASSES (since the previous 8 million dollar commercial informed me it's BOGO time at Mr. Bizer's World! ---- Errrrr, scratch that...

Alright, time to be honest boys.  Yes, we're southern women (or northern -- just referring to the gals that will be in attendance with me), yes we love our football, and truth be told we actually DO know whether or not that was a bad call.  BUT - when it comes to Super Bowl Sunday - there are far too many other things we are interested in, to be solely focused on that game.  And the fact that we get to have a party in honor of them, and our men don't complain about going - WELL - color your ladies happy!

Aside from watching sweaty millionaire men in tight football pants prance around playing one of the manliest games alive (I say one because, have you seen those Aussie rugby players?! WHEW!) there is so much more to Super Bowl Sunday!  Let's talk about some of my faves shall we?

• Friends

• We get to spend an entire Sunday with our best friends standing around a table of delicious food while we talk and catch up on the latest news. Uhmmm is there anything better? No. No there is not. Plus - sometimes we get lucky enough and happen to be hanging at a home where there are numerous leather jackets and mullet wigs, and we get fun little keepsake photos like this :0) 

• Games

• At our annual party we always have games.  If you've followed my blog and are starting to understand some of my family dynamics you probably realize that competition is a big part of my genetic make-up therefore a party without some sort of game and/or competition does not exist to me.  We like to play the betting squares and scores game.  If you're hosting a party this year an need to spice it up - this is fun and not complicated, this includes instructions too - we just make ours on a big poster board and have everyone sign up as they arrive..

• The National Anthem

• After Whitney Houston's ground breaking performance (which I recently found out, thanks to Beyonce's pre-corded Inauguration anthem, was not live - BOOO!) and Christina Aguleira's word flub of a performance last year; this has become an enticing part of the show.  This year Alicia Key's will be singing the National Anthem and has stated she will not perform the song traditionally and instead will perform it as if it were a brand new song!  So, if this is not normally one of your favorite parts - I suggest arriving to your party on time - because I doubt it will be a performance you'll want to miss!

• Half-Time Show

• A-hem, do I need to mention the Janet Jackson/JT boob scandal "wardrobe-malfunction"?  Or can we all agree to disagree that ever since this moment, we vow to never miss another SuperBowl half-time show, regardless of who is performing?! I digress...  Not to mention this year we have Mrs. Beyonce Knowles on stage y'all!!  And collaborating in a bound to be show-stopping performance, we expect to see appearances by a reunited Destiny's Child (sayy whaaaa) and her hubby Jay-Z.  Wooot!

• Commercials

• SuperBowl commercials are the BEST.  I always love to see what the advertisers come up with.  And knowing they spent nearly 4-8 million dollars for :30-:60 spots COMPLETELY blows my mind.  I'm really digging Doritos stance on marketing and letting their customers really speak for the brand. Whatever marketing guru came up with this is brilliant.  If you're not up to speed on what I'm talking about, Doritos let's their customers create a commercial and then they send people to their Facebook page to vote for their favorite. Whichever commercial is chosen is the one that will air during the SuperBowl.  Voting for your favorite is open through January 29th - click here - I voted for the little girl and the dog - too cute. 

• Celebrating/Cheering

• Major sporting events are always a time to put on your best gear, hoot and holler like a crazy person. It's also a time to sit back and watch everyone else do this - which is just as much, if not more fun, than participating yourself.  And if your team pulls it out - I suggest stealing one of these poses to celebrate :0)

• THE FOOD - {Seeeeeee I told you I'd get to recipes :0) ...}

• Clearly, I've saved the best for last. Arguably one of THE BEST things about the SuperBowl.  The plethora of never ending, deliciously concocted, and beautifully arranged foods.  If I had it my way, every meal would be designed in tailgate/buffet style snacky fashion, but alas they are not.  So, I get extra excited for events in which it is MORE than acceptable, and often encouraged, to go after that cheese based dip for a FIFTH time. Of course there are always the staples: Buffalo Chicken Dip, Veggies (so something) and ranch, Queso, Laura's homemade White Castle Cheeseburgers and desserts, amongst the other bazillion delicious apps the gals bring. 
• But this year, since it's the first Super Bowl party in the new house, I'm thinking I need to kick up a notch and try some new recipes.  Here's some website I've been scouring to come up with my top contenders:
1. Top 20 Game Day Recipes
2. 10 Super Dips for Bowl Games
3. 25 Must See Appetizers

So, word to the wise fellas, if you're eager to watch the big game - but your lady friend isn't quite up for another Football Sunday.  I recommend finding a party to attend.  Mention these highlights and the fact that the SuperBowl is INDEED about much more than just chasing after a ball - and you're all set!  Have fun Sunday!