Monday

Monday has been our day of rest. I stayed in bed until 11:30. The boys ventured out to the beach, sat in the jacuzzi, and played around the pool.  Ariel did some research on the internet. We all went to breakfast at Ando's Grill, which is literally a stones throw from our back porch. The weather was cool and blustery, and the weather report sadly shows that the rest of our time in Cairns will be very similar.  Ariel went to the concierge and booked a snorkel trip to the reef tomorrow, but when she returned, she looked unhappy about it. When I found out that said trip would cost us close to $900.00, I too was unhappy.  We all decided to cancel that plan, and find a more cost effective way to experience the Great Barrier Reef.  Henry took some portrait shots across the table, and then it started to rain. We retreated back to the room, and prepared to go to Cole's, the local supermarket, for supplies. 

It was about a 5 minute drive on Cooks Highway, south towards Cairns. The market is in a mini-mall, and Ariel and I grabbed some lattes at Glorious Beans on the way in. We discovered that both produce and Coca-Cola is much more expensive than in the states.  We learned that there are at least 5 different varieties of vegemite, including a Snack-ables lunch pack. We found some humorously named products and Henry, William and I generally goofed around while Ariel tried to corral us all into thinking about what we'd need for the week.  We spent a lot of time choosing the right combinations of breakfast cereals and chips. Ariel was upset that they didn't have frosted mini wheats, only an un-sugar-coated "blackcurrant" variety. We'll report on how that tastes tomorrow...

We returned from the store, and JP fell asleep. Henry, William and I went on a walkabout in search of wild animals. I found my first Australian t-shirt in a local gift shop, and Henry found a really interesting spider.  Henry found a small furry mammal as well, but it disappeared before we could pull out a camera.  We walked back along the beach and picked up shells, a great amount of sand in our shoes, and a latte for Ariel from a nearby café. On returning, Henry and William were planning to hike out to the peer, but Henry found a small skink on the doorstep.  I picked him up, took a few macro shots and we let him go.  

We then woke JP up, and walked down the strip in search of an affordable dinner, which, in Palm Cove appears to be an elusive creature to find.  We settled for semi-expensive, and convenient.   After sitting down and ordering, while waiting for the food, Ariel spread out all the pamphlets that we had collected from the lobby, and we voted on what was options for what to do for the next few days. A large local seabird jumped up on deck looking for dropped chips.  We have broken the next few days into the cardinal directions, so we have a north trip to Daintree, a South trip to Innisfail, an East trip to Karanda, and an east trip, Kayaking around Green Island. This last option is much cheaper than the previous reef idea, and includes reef snorkeling, and the possibility of swimming with rays.  I think we settled on South tomorrow. Time will tell.

After dinner Ariel did some more comparisons of various attractions, and I figured out how to upload videos to YouTube. They are short, and unpolished, but hopefully they give a little bit of variation to the typical photo barrage.  here are the respective links.

•  First-person Wallaby Feeding
•  Pacing Koala
•  Golden Pheasant
•  Tasmanian Devil running laps

Time for sleep, we have an early start tomorrow.