So we have some happy news, we are pregnant! We discovered our little blessing a week after we got home from Australia. Our little “Roo” is a world traveler. We are thankful everything has been normal and good so far in the pregnancy. I am hoping the nausea will go away soon, not enjoying throwing up or feeling like I have to every night 🙂
Our due date is Jan 17th.
It took approximately 32.5hrs to travel home. Although the flight was long it was well worth the 15 days we had in Australia. It was such a great trip! Other than running out of gas in the middle of nowhere and being helped by a stranger, we had no problems or delays. We met some wonderful people and experienced some amazing adventures. The Lord kept us safe as he gave Todd & I this opportunity to get away and just enjoy each others company. Thanks for sharing in our adventures by reading this blog!
In case you missed any posts or want to look again, here are the links for each one.
Our last day of touring we woke up early and watched the sunrise from our balcony. It was gorgeous! We then decided to head west about an hour into the Atherton Tablelands. Our first of many stops was Granite Gorge, an area that almost began to look like the outback. It was very dry with giant termite hills scattering the countryside.
We made it to Granite Gorge Nature Park and were pleasantly surprised to find friendly little rock wallabies. I have to say of the all the animals we had seen, I wanted to take of these little guys home. They were adorable, especially the mama with the baby!
We only have 2 days left of touring, Sunday and Monday. Sunday we decided to meet the Smythe family again for their church service. It was wonderful to fellowship with other believers a third around the world. We all praise the same awesome God!
After the service we said our goodbyes and headed north along the coast to the Daintree region. I believe that area has the highest population of crocodiles, we didn’t see any though. Along the way we stopped at Mossman Gorge which reminded us a lot of Washington.
The picture that shows the sand design is actually tiny little sand balls created by tiny little crabs. They must roll the sand up as they dig out their burrows. It was pretty cool.
Our second and last stop was at the outer reef. There we found the most colorful and diverse shapes of coral and fish.
After our boat adventure we met the Smythe family for a BBQ near the water. Todd had previously met Campbell at a Logos seminar and kept in touch through email. We were happy it worked out to meet the whole family. We had a nice visit and even got to try kangaroo steak which was really good.
We were excited to finally see the Great Barrier Reef. Our boat tour held a maximum of 30 people so we got to the reefs faster and had more time in the water. We first stopped at Michaelmas Cay, a white coral sand island home to thousands of birds.
We both snorkeled and Todd scuba dived in the gorgeous reefs. Lots of beautiful fish and coral. We rented an underwater camera and Todd took over to get some cool shots of a clown fish and some other creatures on his dive. He got to touch the giant clam too.
The next morning we rode a tram up to the rainforest village of Kuranda. The tram ride took about an hour each way as we coasted 200+ feet above the forest floor. Along the way there were two platforms to stop off at and walk the trails. Saw lots of cool bugs and a giant spider.
Kuranda was mostly a touristy town with shops and cafes. We walked through a bazaar and had to take pictures of a kangaroo-skin bikini and real cane toad novelties.
Our last five nights in Cairns we decided to stay in a luxury hotel close to the center of town and the harbor. We searched online and found The Sebel which had surprisingly comparable rates to the Comfort Inn type motels we had stayed in. So we booked it with a mountain view to save a little extra money. We pulled up to the entrance and realized it was a very fancy hotel. We get to the front desk and the receptionist upgraded us to an ocean view on the 16th floor (the very top level). It was amazing 🙂
Our last night before heading to Cairns (our final destination) was spent in an eco-cabin in the Eungella National Park. It was a beautiful mountain facility located next to the Broken River which was home to several Platypus.
In the late afternoon we spotted 3 or 4 Platypus. They were very shy, but one surfaced close enough to take some pictures. They were also much smaller than we had thought, only about 17”-20” in length.
The next morning we saw the sunrise over the valley and stopped at a giant Mango on our 9 hour scenic drive to Cairns.
Here are a few road signs we saw along the way. My favorites, of course, were the signs for the native animals. The other signs warned of driver fatigue, they all encouraged drivers to pull over if feeling tired. One of the more popular safety signs (which I didn’t photograph) read “Stop. Revive. Survive.”
La Casa Blanca 