Holidays are almost over. We’re back in civilisation today. We had lunch with Andrew and Simone.
Which reminds me of the news of some import that is worthy of note.
Last Monday we had our interview regarding candidacy with the Presbyterian Church of Queensland – we passed. We’ll, if all goes according to plan, be studying at QTC and working at Clayfield (with Andrew and Simone) next year.
Were still on holidays, but Ive got a blogging itch, which Im scratching using my iPhone while I sit in a church waiting for a wedding to start.
Were early because Robyn is an usher.
Ill return to normal posting over the weekend.
Last weekend Hilton and Justina (Robyn’s sister and her husband) came up to visit. It was a surprise (for Robyn).
We went to Magnetic Island for a day.
Stopping at the region’s best restaurant – the Barefoot Art Food Wine, and getting all tropical with a coconut… Here are some photos – and here is a photo summary of the day.
How to eat a coconut
Step 1. Find a coconut
Step 2. Find a big stick and whack the coconut to remove the outer shell
Step 3. Remove the husk – this is a three person job
Step 4. Retrieve your big stick and split the coconut.
Step 5. Eat the coconut
This post is gratuitous. We drove home – as is the case at the end of all driving holidays. We listened to some Mark Driscoll. I played with my iPhone. Twittering the trip home. And we stopped in Cardwell to take some sunset pictures…
Halfway between Cairns and Mareeba you’ll find the little village of Kuranda – it’s perhaps easiest to find if you catch the skyrail. Which we didn’t. We did however find an informative indigenous local while standing at the Barron Falls lookout.
I’m pretty comfortable with my masculinity – so I’m happy to say that I really enjoyed our trip to the butterfly sanctuary. Mostly because I used the opportunity to play with our camera.
Having frolicked with butterflies for quite long enough we went shopping. At the markets. Again, I’m pretty comfortable with my masculinity.
Our base in Port Douglas was the Mantra Links – one of Port Douglas’ many resorts on one of its many golf courses. We were there for three nights thanks to a Getaway special.
Two of the things that came up in our pre-marriage counseling was that Robyn and I have slightly different expectations from our holidays and different ways of using down time (or relaxing) – so one of my goals is to teach Robyn to relax. To discover her inner sloth. It goes both ways… my dream holiday is pretty much a beachside resort with a good cafe and an extensive library… and I’m happy to say we managed a holiday that was finely balanced between Robyn’s need to explore new things and my need to veg out on a beach with a book, or several books.
David Baldacci is my stock standard holiday fare – and I ploughed through three of his books in two days. They’re a continuation of the “Camel Club” series – and feature an aging special forces assassin who’s also a conspiracy theorist. So if you want to borrow The Collectors, Stone Cold, or Divine Justice ahead of your next holiday just let me know. I’ve also got the first couple of books in the series.
We had a couple of nice dinners at Zinc and Watergate – on Port Douglas’ main drag.
The icing on the cake, so to speak, was our final breakfast yesterday at Soul’n’pepper – where the portions were big – and the service interesting.
The staff all looked like pirates on shore leave, and the waiter paid a lot more attention to the two European backpackers at the next table than to us. The food was greasy and the big breakfast was big – and served in a frypan.
Robyn and I spent the last 5 days (not including today) in far north Queensland – that is anywhere north of Mission Beach (actually our boundaries have been redrawn and it’s probably anything north of Cardwell… statistically speaking)… but I digress.
What follows will be a series of reviews of the things we did while exploring the far north.
We spent most of our time away in Port Douglas – but made a couple of journeys to the tablelands, spent time in Cairns and made an eventful trek to the Daintree rainforest.
For the record, I really like going on holidays with my wife.
1807 pages of novels read by both of us.
780 photos taken.
1188km driven.
5000+ unread Google Reader items upon our return.
Back to work I go. For me 2009 starts now. I feel inclined to do the obligatory post mortem on 2008 and predictions for 2009 posts now, 20 days into the year.
I like holidays.
Spy vs Spy
This cartoon reminded me of a scene from NCIS the other night. It’s one of those TV shows I’ve probably under appreciated- the other being Bones. This post is largely about the things that I’ve been occupying my time with so far these holidays. I really like xkcd. I find their blend of stick figures and humour quite appealing.
I’ve been on holidays for a week now – or just over a week. My holidays thus far have consisted of time spent with family celebrating Christmas and having idiosyncratic family “moments” and the inevitable resolutions that follow. I’ve been filling the time reading books, and watching some cricket, and some Prison Break (series 3).
The cricket has been largely frustrating. Honestly, how our bowling attack seemingly duel handedly rested on the shoulders (how’s that for mixed metaphors) of Warne and McGrath for so long without our esteemed selectors doing any succession planning is beyond me. How can we be so devoid of bowling talent in a nation that prides itself on the depth of our domestic competition. I blame twenty20 or however they write the name of that abomination that causes desolation… anyway, I digress.
I’ve also managed to plow through a David Baldacci thriller. I don’t know about you – but I like my holiday reading to be pretty mindless. So “The Whole Truth” appealed to me much more than it did to the reviewer quoted on the Amazon page:
“Usually a sophisticated plotter, bestseller Baldacci (Absolute Power) offers a story line and villain on a par with an average James Bond film in what’s billed as his first international thriller. Nicholas Creel, the head of the Ares Corporation, a huge defense contractor, hires a perception management firm to start a second cold war by planting fake news stories on the Internet about Russian atrocities.”
Really it’s Wag the Dog for the Web 2.0 generation. Where once movie studios were used to create conflict for political gains – the protagonist in this novel employs blogs and youtube. I enjoyed it.
Not quite so mindless was the next holiday read – Final Theory. It’s like science fiction – only fiction about science, rather than the traditional sci-fi.
I find injustice in books slightly frustrating. When the central character is under unwarranted scrutiny or being mistreated by the “good guys” – the authorities. Which is what happens at the start Final Theory.
I watched the Get Smart movie last night for the first time. It was funny, and it’s the common thread that links the title with these other ramblings – other than the fact that they’re what I’ve been “spying” in the last few days. I enjoyed Get Smart.
I am in a little trouble though – I’m now almost at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to the books I have to read during the holidays (and we’ve got a bit of flying and driving ahead of us with our New Zealand jaunt just around the corner). I walked around Angus and Robertson yesterday and was pretty uninspired. Any suggestions would be welcome.
It made me think about what I want in a holiday – and why.
The following are five holidays I’d like to go on before I’m old… a lot of them are currently coffee focused.
1. I’d like to go to England to watch Premier League matches and visit the home town of awesome British bands like Radiohead and Muse.
2. I’d like to visit a coffee plantation in Africa or South America.
3. I’d like to go to Italy and drink Espresso in a little cafe in the middle of nowhere, and visit coffee machine making factories…
4. I’d like to go to Germany and drink German beer in German Beer Breweries.
5. I’d like to do a road trip around and through Australia.
Apparently I’m a “Social Fun Seeker” by market segment – the others are Active Explorers, Unwinders, Self Discoverers, Stylish Travellers, and Connectors.
I’d be interested to know how other people plan their holidays… most of our holidays now seem to be taken up with visiting family members in South East Queensland.