Hanging with the Harnisch’s

We had another great time in Cairns with Walter, Marty & Tobias. We definitely felt so at home with them and were graciously welcomed into their home again. One morning Joel & Casey had a major water fight outside with Tobias and it lasted over an hour with all three very wet. We enjoyed sharing meals with them, great conversation and a few laughs. Saturday (Sept 15th) Casey & I took Joel & Roxanne to see Mossman Gorge and the four of us spent about 2 hours there. The guys had a great time in the cold water while Roxanne and I sat on the warm rocks chatting. That evening we headed back to Cairns to join Walter & Marty to watch the parade of lights for the end of the Cairns festival. The four of us arrive ½ ways through the parade and worked our way through the crowd to find them. The seven of us watched the parade then grabbed a bit while waiting to watch the fireworks. The next morning was a very exciting Sunday morning for all of us as Joel & Roxanne were being baptized. After the morning sermon Joel & Roxanne were invited to share their stories with the church. It was really amazing. After they shared the entire church went outside to where Joel & Roxanne were baptized. This was a very special time for Joel & Roxanne as it symbolized surrendering their lives completely to Christ in every way and in every part. It was a great celebration!! Sadly the next morning the four of had to leave so we all went to the church had coffee with the Harnisch’s and said our final goodbyes.

Kids at Heart

Arriving in Cairns Tuesday (Sept 11) we pulled in to the best caravan park we have ever seen. It was not just any caravan park but a 5 star caravan resort. We got a tour of the resort in a nemo golf cart and the first thing that caught our eye was the giant jumping pillows. It had everything you would want! So after our tour we set up camp and ran over to the jumping pillows to have some fun. Not realizing how much work it was to jump on these things we were exhausted. It a blast making each other fly in the air. Next we headed to the huge pool where we had a game of piggy in the middle, pretty much the guys keeping the mini soccer ball away from Roxanne and I. After having more fun than the kids around us we got ready for our double date night. The four of us went out for an incredible dinner at this great Greek restaurant. We figured out that the restaurant was owned by the brothers of some famous singer in England so Joel & Roxanne were pretty excited. After dinner we went to a movie that we had been waiting with great anticipation to see ‘Ratatouie’. We grabbed our popcorn and enjoyed our movie.

Our Last Week in Cairns

We have been enjoying Cairns and the wonderful people we have met but feel it’s time to head on. So we had an opportunity to relocate a campervan to Darwin then from Darwin to Alice Springs for super cheap. So as of July 15th we are off on a road trip! So for the last week in Cairns we enjoyed hanging out with Walter and meeting his wife Marty & son Tobias. They have been away at her parents as Walter and Marty are expecting their second baby and she has been extremely sick. It was a wonderful time hanging out with the family and to see Walter so happy to have them home. We have been so blessed and encouraged their friendship and hospitality. We also had a BBQ with some of our fellow backpackers at the Lagoon the night before we left. It was great fun hanging out with them and meeting some more new people. After the BBQ a couple of us went to grab a coffee at Coffee Beans to do the Tim Tam Slam. For those of you who don’t know about the world famous Tim Tam Slam let me enlighten you to the wonderful pleasures of Tim Tams. These are an Australian treat that is kinda a cookie, wafer that is coated in chocolate. Now these are delicious on their own but even more enjoyable, the Tim Tam Slam. To do this you get a good cup of coffee or, if English, tea. You then bit both ends of the Tim Tam place one end of the Tim Tam in the cup of coffee and the other in your mouth. You then suck the coffee through the Tim Tam till you taste coffee, and then quickly put the entire Tim Tam in your mouth before it melts. The taste is indescribable and worth every moment. After the coffee and too much sugar we were a bit wired and the silliness began. We had a wonderful time and will really miss our fun with our backpacker buddies.

Yorkeys Knob

Well this is actually a beautiful beach that Walter took us to check out quickly before he headed off again this time to Sydney for the Hillsong Conference. Casey & I are kicking ourselves for not working something out to go but we got to have a wonderful time with each other this week. Well Tuesday (July 3rd) Casey and I grabbed a couple cups of coffee and headed to relax at this quiet, beautiful beach. When we were done our coffee we decide the sand was perfect for building a sand castle and wouldn’t our empty cups work well! We had a blast building our castle....well our attempt at a castle. We had so much fun that afternoon we decided to go back the next day with a packed lunch and swimsuits and spend the day there. It was amazing!

Skate Competition

Saturday (June 30th) we went down to the Esplanade with Walter who arrived back into town late the night before. At the Esplanade they have an amazing skate park that a Christian organization was putting on a skate competition at. The organization is called Red Frogs and they do these skate comps going up the coast. They invite people there to a youth rally in the evening. The coolest things was that we got to see Andy Sands from back home who is over hear working with reaching out to youth through skateboarding. Andy & another guy brought out a van full of young guys who are passionate about skateboarding. It was great catching up a bit with Andy and hearing how things were going.

Crystal Cascades

Last Thursday (June 28th) a bunch of us headed up to Crystal Cascades. It is absolutely beautiful and the pictures really never do it justice. We went with Cory, Adam, Sienna & Jenna and bumped into Oliver & Steph whose 19th birthday it just happened to be. We went for a beautiful walk and passed a couple areas you can go down to swim and ended up going to this beautiful area that was so surreal with cliffs on either side. Cory and Casey went for a nice dip in the cool water where there were a couple other guys hanging out on the edge. We then headed down to an area where Oliver & Steph said is like a little water slide where the rock is smooth and when its rainy season the water pushes you with great force down this little slide. So all the guys again bared the cold water and had a great time. Later that evening we headed to grab some noodles from the Yummy Noodle House (where Casey & I have started to know the menu pretty well) and headed back down to the Esplanade to enjoy our dinner. Laura joined us and we headed to grab hot chocolate and coffee as it was getting very cool out. We then wandered around the night market and Casey, Adam, Sienna & Jenna got $15 massages at one of the little shops. After Casey’s massage he looked like he had just woken up! It was a great day.....

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.