Merry Christmas!

Swimming with my nephews Tom & Harry on Christmas morning at.........

........Silverleaves beach.

Christmas lunch at the May's and.......

........Christmas dinner with the Bosua's!!

Happy Christmas to all!

Congratulations.......a magical day!

Congratulations to Ox & Sue on their wedding day!

The happily married couple.

Back on Phillip Island for 3 weeks......enjoying a drink
at the wedding.

Ox is enjoying this moment....

Almost midnight and we are still partying!

Last week in Cairns......

Not a bad looking vessel, it's an Australian Border Force ship which patrols our waters!

We spent another day in Kuranda and checked out Barron Falls.  It was a massive waterfall which would be quite spectacular in the wet season.

The view through the valley looking back towards Cairns.

Apparently this is what I look like when I'm angry!!  It's actually part of the dinsasour museum in Kuranda.

Tac showing me how it's done on the mini golf course in our resort.

Back in the tinnie.............

It's great to be back in the tinnie.  We have been fishing in Trinity Inlet near Cairns.

Not a bad Mangrove Jack caught on live bite.

Unfortunately this mudcrab was a jenny (female) so we
could not keep her.

Tac catches a nice flattie.

Spent the morning at Port Douglas and then had lunch in Palm Cove.

Another beautiful beach.......... 

My new friend at the market along the esplanade
 at Palm Cove.

Palm cove is full of palms - funny bout that!

Coconuts.......

Arrived in Cairns a few days ago.

We are staying in a fantastic resort called "Coconuts".  It has everything you could possibly need including a restaurant, 2 huge pools, gym, tennis court, mini golf, movies and the list goes on!

Spent a day in Kuranda a small village up in the hills.  We had authentic Indonesian for lunch and it was delicious!!

Had a browse through the Foreshore market that is held every Saturday morning.

There just happened to be a protest to save the Great Barrier Reef on at the same time.  Channel 7 where filming as some of the protestors jumped into the public lagoon pool. 

Mystical Paronella.......

Tac caught this cute little barra with a handline off a Jetty in the seaside town of Cardwell.  We were hoping to get the boat in but the weather was too windy!

Next stop was the gorgeous Mission Beach.

The shallows around the jetty in Mission was a haven for these amazing sea turtles.

Still too windy to put the boat in so more jetty fishing........

....were we both caught a few juvenile golden Trevally.

Dunk Island not far away. 

A picturesque boardwalk along South Mission beach.

We spent a brilliant day and night at Paronella Park.  A very special castle and extensive gardens built in the 1930's by a Spanish man for his wife.  It had been a life long dream and he lived here with his family and also opened it for the public to enjoy too.

This particular building has been used in film sets and the backdrop of many weddings.

The grand staircase was the first structure built at the park.

Dwarfed by a passageway lined by kauri pines in one of the many gardens.

Tac crossing the suspension bridge that overlooks the waterfall below.

The park was also spectacular by night!

A truly magical experience that will remain in our memory's for a long time.

From ghosts to the coast.......

Thinking about a career change.......

but it seems like too hard a work!!!!

Spent the night camped behind this historic pub in outback Ravenswood.  An old mining town famous for its ghosts from the past gold rush days.  We had a few beers with the publican and we both saw a shadow race across the back of the bar.  It was an eerie night camped on our own out the back.  We didn't get a lot of sleep as mysteriously church bells rang in the middle of the night along with a lot of other very strange noises!

On a brighter note we stayed a few days in Townsville and took a trip out to Magnetic Island.

We spent the morning on a scenic walk up to the many forts built to combat the enemy in World War II.  There were some great views of secluded beaches along the way.

Took this photo to show Dad as this bay on the island has the same name!

Magnetic Island was a real gem and we enjoyed getting on and off the local bus checking out the little towns.

Charters Towers.........

Spent the week in Charters Towers an old gold mining town full of  history and amazing old buildings.

We took a guided walking tour around the town which was really interesting.

The post office was very grand.

We watched the Melbourne Cup race in an old pub with a beer or two!

The Stock Exchange was truly amazing and had been restored as accurately as possible.

This is the view from Tower Hill where the first gold was discovered by a young aboriginal boy.

Gorgeous rock wallabies appeared as we watched the sunset over the town.

Old relics from the gold rush.

This is Malcolm who showed us through the Venus Battery where the gold was processed.

This morning we headed out of town to watch the action packed Northern Queensland Dirt Racing event.

There were lots of thrills and spills...........

........red dirt and grunting V8's.

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