Home Cooked Meal

Casey & I for the past few days have been blessed to stay at Walter’s place and enjoy the comforts of home while he’s away. We thought what a great opportunity to enjoy a home cooked meal using the oven! Okay so this may seem like nothing no big deal but when your backpacking enjoying food that is cooked in an oven is a rare treat especially one made from scratch since in the hostel kitchens the less time you’re in there the better. So we invited Laura, Adam, Cory, Summer & Olly to enjoy homemade lasagne & apple crumble. It was a rare pleasure that words could not describe. We started with Lasagne, a ton of steamed veggies (which seems to also be missing from the backpacker diet) and Cory’s specialty garlic bread. After indulging in as much as we could eat we tried to make more room for dessert. Warm apple crumble and vanilla ice cream along with a good cup of coffee was icing on the cake. The conversation was little as everyone savoured the moment. We were all so full we could barely move. It was definitely an enjoyable night.

30 Years Young

As many of you already know June 20th was my (Casey) 30th birthday, what an awesome place in the world to celebrate. Although I really missed all of you being with me, we had a wonderful time. Christa totally surprised and spoiled me. All the fun started on the 19th, she booked a rental car here in Cairns and planned to drive up the coast to Port Douglas for a couple of days. Port Douglas is a little resort town an hour north of Cairns. It is home to the world famous 4 mile beach. It has a lot of really nice resorts and the main strip is loaded with really cool cafes, restaurants and shops. We stayed in a beautiful 1 bedroom suite at a resort called Mantra Links. The room was so nice, and when we got there it felt like heaven, I didn’t want to leave the room. You have to understand that we have been living in hostels for 2 months, where the bathrooms & the kitchen are shared, so experiencing cleanliness and our own space was soooooooooo nice. Christa thought it was really funny that I was cool with just chilling as I usually want to go explore and do all that there is to do. So that day we just relaxed and enjoyed the room. The morning of my birthday Christa made me breakfast and we sat on the patio overlooking the pool, in a rainforest setting, reading and talking for a few hours. Afterwards we went for a walk on 4 mile beach then we checked out some of the shops. In the evening we went for appys at a really cool tapas bar then on to a really nice Mediterranean restaurant for a fantastic dinner. After dinner we walked along the shops and found the funkiest restaurant for dessert & coffee. The restaurant had a funky lounge that was open air and the bathroom had a floor to ceiling aquarium, so cool. We sat in the lounge and I had the best Oreo cookies and cream cheese cake. The next day we headed back to Cairns and along the way stopped at Hartley’s crocodile farm where they have over 200 crocodiles. There is 2 parts to the farm, one is where they breed and farm crocodiles for their skin and meat and the other part is a natural habitat that they use to educate people on crocs. My favourite part was the boat ride around the swamp, there are 17 crocs and you get pretty close to them. One part of the tour the guy driving the boat feeds a 4.5 meter croc right beside the boat. He held out a pole with chicken heads on the end of it and gets this massive croc to jump out of the water right beside the boat. It was so amazing to see this huge animal up close. I had a wonderful couple of days and it feels great to be 30, no really it does, maybe because of where I am at in my life or maybe it’s just because everyone that we meet thinks that I look 25. I am so thankful to God for all that He has blessed me with in my life and all that He has in store for me in the years to come. THANK YOU for the many birthday wishes and love that I definitely felt all the way on the other side of the world. I love and miss you all.

Hanging in Cairns

We have had a wonderful time hanging out with a bunch of people from the hostel we’ve been staying at called The Serpent. On Sunday (June 17th) some of us went to the morning service then off to the Esplanade to BBQ. It was raining a bit but we enjoyed hanging out with Adam, Taza, Laura, Jess, Mark, Darren, Greg, Summer, Olly and some of Walters crew. After hanging out for a few hours we picked up, our fellow Canadian, Cory from work & headed to the Green Ant for open mic night (where Walter regularly plays). It was great fun chatting with one another and listening to some great music. Summer who we met through Walter got up there and sang beautifully!

Kuranda & Barron Falls

We also spent a lot of time with a fellow backpacker who was from Sweden named Robin hanging out in Cairns and checking out some cool places. One place was Kuranda which is a really cool little village with a lot of markets and coffee shops etc. We also stopped at an amazing waterfall named the Barron Falls which was breathtaking. Crazy thing was this water fall is a trickle to what it normally is in the wet season.

Mossman Gorge

We’ve been having a great time in Cairns hanging out with some amazing people we’ve met. We went to Mossman Gorge with Walter, a couple from the UK (Steph & Oliver) and a group from a church in Brisbane. Mossman Gorge is a beautiful creek in the rainforest that is Crocodile free and great for swimming. Casey & all the guys had a blast riding down the river in the refreshing cold water.

The Great Barrier Reef

Hey everyone. Christa and I have been having an amazing time here in Cairns. On Monday (June 4) Christa and I did an introduction to scuba diving at the pool. The closest to diving that Christa had been was snorkelling, which she said felt a little safer then diving because you could easily surface. Last time that I came to Australia, I did my diving certification but I hadn’t done it since. Tuesday we had a scuba diving trip booked for the Great Barrier Reef, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. On the way out there Christa couldn’t find her sea legs, even after popping a couple of sea sickness pills and wearing anti sickness wrist bands. She somehow managed to keep her breakfast, but I could tell she would have rather been at the spa at that particular moment or anywhere that was solid land. It took an hour and a half to get to where our dive spot was. We geared up and into the crystal clear water we went. Christa and I went with separate groups. The guide I was with took us to about 15 meters along the reef where we saw some a lion fish (which has poisonous tips on its fins that could make you very sick), we also saw a gigantic sea clam, some beautiful coral and fish of all shapes, sizes and colors. My favourite part of the dive was in the shallow of the reef, my guide moved his hand along the top of an anemone, home to the famous clown fish and there were 3 Nemos’ that swam out from it. After 30 minutes in the beautiful oceanic world we surfaced and hopped back on the boat to share our stories of what we saw. Christa was one of the fortunate one to see a 2 meter white tipped reef shark that was hanging in the area. I say fortunate because I really wanted to see one. The reef shark is pretty harmless. She didn’t freak out at all, what an amazing experience. We had lunch and then I went for another dive, then back to the harbour.

Arrive in Cairns - Rainforest experience

We flew up to Cairns on May 30th which is in the North-Eastern part of Oz. It is much warmer and humid here then Sydney and it’s their winter season. The hostel is pretty cool as all the main parts have no outer walls and is open. We met some really cool people here at the hostel. One guy we have been hanging out with is a real cool guy named Robin from Sweden. We also met a fellow Canadian from Alberta named Jay who we hung out with before he left down the coast. On Friday Casey & I headed up north a bit on a tour to Cape Tribulation and the rainforest. It was amazing!!We had a great guide who told us so much about each place. One thing was to realize that Cairns is really in swamp country and it’s home to crocodiles. We headed up to Cape Trib and stopped in a few really cool places along the way one was Port Douglas which was a cool small town that a really wealthy man saw as a great place to encourage tourism and put the city on the map. We then headed up to Mossman Gorg which was stunning we walked through the rain forest and she showed us some beautiful things it also had a beautiful creek in the forest you could go swimming. There are only very specific places you can swim up here due to the Crocs. We also saw a huge spider with a crazy strong web, the web could be tugged on with your finger and not break! We then headed up to the Daintree River where we took a boat tour and saw 3 female crocodiles (yes in the wild), 1 baby croc, a tree snake & a python. Next we headed up to Cape Kimberly to the Koala Resort for lunch and saw a ton more of those crazy spiders, they are called Orb Web Spiders check them out on the internet, not poisonous but a painful bit. After lunch we headed up and stopped at an ice cream shop where they make their own ice cream from local fruit & seeds. They are also completely self sufficient up there run by solar power and generator. We also stopped at an amazing look out where you could see the mist of the rainforest on the mountains and where Casey licked the butt of a green ant! No really he did, the guide asked him if he trusted her and told him to lick it, he said it tasted like citrus and then his tongue felt numb in that area for a few minutes. Finally we were dropped off at our hostel which was in the rainforest but close to the beach. We walked out to the Myall Beach which was stunning. Cape Tribulation is where the rainforest mets the Great Barrier Reef. To go any farther north you have to have a 4x4 due to the unpaved roads. Our hostel was very interesting it was called PKs Jungle Village and there were some interesting characters there like a local who hung out at the bar night & day with a pointy hat a beard down to his middle chest and a stroller of the cutest puppies. The kitchen was mmm....words can’t describe........let’s say I wanted to find a place to eat out but there was nothing around. When we went back to our room I noticed something on the wall that wasn’t there before and it was big and hairy!!! Yep it was a huntsman spider and Casey my hero killed it after 3 or 4 massive hits with his shoe. Surprisingly I did fall asleep that night. The next morning Casey & I had another wonderful day we went horseback riding through rainforest and on beach, absolutely amazing. We also stopped with the horses at a swimming hole which was tucked away in the forest and was something out of a movie. Then went back to find a little cafe to eat at and then hung out at the amazing pool at our hostel till our pick up. It was an amazing experience.

Sydney City Centre

The City
Casey & I went to the City centre on Friday May 25TH it was a bit of a change from being by the beach. We stayed at a huge hostel in Sydney, Central YHA. We met some people from Germany, US & Sweden. Saturday morning we went to the Power House Museum, then out to hook up with Backpacking United again and met some more awesome people. Sunday we went out to the Shire church and hung out with the awesome friends we met there for a coffee for the last time before we left Sydney. Monday we met up with Stu and Pastor Michael from St. Matthews church in Manly for coffee .We chatted about backpackers and Michael blessed us with some delicious honey that he got from his honey bees. It was cool to hear how he uses it to raise money for micro lending to help people get out of poverty. Tuesday we met up with Aaron & Katrina for lunch on their break and enjoyed a few laughs with them watching Casey & AJ eating with bibs....as we know they needed them.... messy boys! We definitely had an amazing time with them. Then after lunch we headed out to look around the city and walked around The Rocks (older part of the city) which was so cool. We walked to the Sydney Opera house, then through the Botanical Gardens and up to the Hyde Park Barracks where the convicts would have stayed. We walked through the barracks museum which was really amazing to see. We then went to St. Marys Cathedral which you were able to walk through and see the beautiful architecture. We had a great time in the city and are ready for the next part of our trip.