Butterflies, Birds, Slot Machines, Oh My!
Welcome back to the 2nd installment of The Sheas Do Cairns...well, I made the pilgramage to the mothership yesterday, to the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary in Kuranda - it was just like old times. I walked in the gift shop and said, "Hey, that's the scarf I bought when I was last here." The woman working the coutner said, "When were you last here?" And I told her it was 5 years ago. She seemed appalled that they had the same souveniers from 5 years back. Hehe ;-)
My dad was less freaked out by the butterflies this time. When we went to the Butterfly Conservatory in in Deerfield Massachusettes, in July, he freaked out and high-tailed it out of there and waited outside. This time he stayed in longer - we're slowly but surely immunising him. After I made my Mecca, we went to Birdworld and saw, well, lots of birds, and we walked around the markets, had lunch etc. It was freaking hot, as we expected it to be - but it was wonderful. We took the scenic railway there and the skyrail (Cable cars) on the way back - my dad once again handled it better than we thought he would. I thought he was going to freak out when we told him we had a 40 minute cable car ride ahead of us, but he was okay, well, except for the times he kept gripping the automatic door so tightly I thought he was going to yank it open while we were floating above the rainforest - ooops.
An amazing thing has happened since coming to Cairns - my parents went a whole 48 hours without gambling. No really- it's true! 48 hours with no slot machines! I was impressed. So of course we had to go to the Casino today. Before we knew it, we had been there for nearly 3 hours. I was shivering and had to go wait outside, but in the end I was the 'big winner.' I made a little over $200 on my favourite machine, "The Amazon Queen" which I chose, of course, because it had butterflies on it - Ulysses Blue butterflies even - my favourite. ;-) So we did more walking, more markets, some walking along the esplanade - another hot but good day. Early this evening we came back and took a swim in one of our resort's pools. It was perfect - just like bath water, yet really refreshing. It's cool - it looks like a lagoon and there's a waterfall, and you're surrounded by palm trees - it was a funny change from the 'Funk Motel' in Perth. I'm used to staying in cheap really dodgy places, which suits me fine when I'm travelling alone, short on cash, and I don't intend on spending much time in the place except to sleep. I had no idea we'd be staying a ressort so big that you need a map so you don't get lost. I still haven't seen the 3rd pool. It's quite a luxurious change to what I'm used to - boy are my parents going to be heartbroken when they get back to Sydney to spend their last week in my tacky 1-star-motel apartment! ;-)
The funniest thing about the resort we're staying in is that it's got a full-on butterfly theme. Butterflies on the tour buses, on the resort buildings, on the napkins, the soaps, even the butter is in the shape of a butterfly. My mum even swiped some butterfly coasters from the dining room to help start me a butterfly coaster collection - hahaha. I asked her if she picked this place on purpose to get on my good side, but she swears she had no idea!
Tomorrow we're going to do a cruise on the Daintree River and then go up to Cape Tribulation. I'm very excited about that! On Tuesday, we're going to go up to the Outer Reef (Great Barrier Reef of course) to do some snorkelling. Should be super! Well, I'm running out of internet time, so more updates soon....cheers!
Welcome back to the 2nd installment of The Sheas Do Cairns...well, I made the pilgramage to the mothership yesterday, to the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary in Kuranda - it was just like old times. I walked in the gift shop and said, "Hey, that's the scarf I bought when I was last here." The woman working the coutner said, "When were you last here?" And I told her it was 5 years ago. She seemed appalled that they had the same souveniers from 5 years back. Hehe ;-)
My dad was less freaked out by the butterflies this time. When we went to the Butterfly Conservatory in in Deerfield Massachusettes, in July, he freaked out and high-tailed it out of there and waited outside. This time he stayed in longer - we're slowly but surely immunising him. After I made my Mecca, we went to Birdworld and saw, well, lots of birds, and we walked around the markets, had lunch etc. It was freaking hot, as we expected it to be - but it was wonderful. We took the scenic railway there and the skyrail (Cable cars) on the way back - my dad once again handled it better than we thought he would. I thought he was going to freak out when we told him we had a 40 minute cable car ride ahead of us, but he was okay, well, except for the times he kept gripping the automatic door so tightly I thought he was going to yank it open while we were floating above the rainforest - ooops.
An amazing thing has happened since coming to Cairns - my parents went a whole 48 hours without gambling. No really- it's true! 48 hours with no slot machines! I was impressed. So of course we had to go to the Casino today. Before we knew it, we had been there for nearly 3 hours. I was shivering and had to go wait outside, but in the end I was the 'big winner.' I made a little over $200 on my favourite machine, "The Amazon Queen" which I chose, of course, because it had butterflies on it - Ulysses Blue butterflies even - my favourite. ;-) So we did more walking, more markets, some walking along the esplanade - another hot but good day. Early this evening we came back and took a swim in one of our resort's pools. It was perfect - just like bath water, yet really refreshing. It's cool - it looks like a lagoon and there's a waterfall, and you're surrounded by palm trees - it was a funny change from the 'Funk Motel' in Perth. I'm used to staying in cheap really dodgy places, which suits me fine when I'm travelling alone, short on cash, and I don't intend on spending much time in the place except to sleep. I had no idea we'd be staying a ressort so big that you need a map so you don't get lost. I still haven't seen the 3rd pool. It's quite a luxurious change to what I'm used to - boy are my parents going to be heartbroken when they get back to Sydney to spend their last week in my tacky 1-star-motel apartment! ;-)
The funniest thing about the resort we're staying in is that it's got a full-on butterfly theme. Butterflies on the tour buses, on the resort buildings, on the napkins, the soaps, even the butter is in the shape of a butterfly. My mum even swiped some butterfly coasters from the dining room to help start me a butterfly coaster collection - hahaha. I asked her if she picked this place on purpose to get on my good side, but she swears she had no idea!
Tomorrow we're going to do a cruise on the Daintree River and then go up to Cape Tribulation. I'm very excited about that! On Tuesday, we're going to go up to the Outer Reef (Great Barrier Reef of course) to do some snorkelling. Should be super! Well, I'm running out of internet time, so more updates soon....cheers!
posted by Lori @ Verbalicious at
9:13 PM
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