Quintessentially Kai: Cairns Road Trip 2007

Quintessentially Kai

My birthmark is in my Savior, where the joy and strength of my heart originate from.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Cairns Road Trip 2007

This is the very much outdated entry on my november road trip. *ashamed* Still, I thought it worthwhile to blog the whole journey. Since it has been a while ago (it is already 2008!), I shall just pen down things worth mentioning.

Day 1: Nov 21 (Start of Road trip - in a rented mini-bus, from Brisbane City)

- Aussie World Beefy's Pie (first resting stop)
- Bundaberg Brewery Tour (when knowing 'saccharomyces cerevisiae' proved to be useful)
- Overnight rest at YHA Rockhampton

Day 2: Nov 22

- Capricorn Dave's Outback Experience in Rockhampton (The group of us had a helluva WILD time, from ant hill dance to putting mud and spiders on face to chasing wild kangaroos with One very unusual and interesting man.)
- Stones' Grill (Steak on hot volcanic brick for dinner -> one of the best steaks ever because the steak is cooked in front of you, according to your own preference. The best part for slow eaters like me is that every bite is hot, so long as the brick remains heated.)
- Overnight drive (hail the drivers)

Day 3: Nov 23

- Fantasea 3 Islands' Cruise: Daydream Island, Hamilton Island, White Haven Beach (sun, sand, frisbee & water all day. So beautiful that I dont even feel like checking out the local beaches anymore.)
- Cruise buffet lunch on board (awesome food, but too bad there wasnt enough time to eat)
- Overnight rest at YHA Arlie Beach (freshest fish & chips in town, ice cream from convenience store, watermelon & oranges at common area)

Day 4: Nov 24

- Arlie Beach Day Market (something like the pasar malam SG has but with more queer goods)
- Rowes Bay Resort Cabin Stay (Everything, including a triple bunk bed, in a container-like cabin. Did I also mention playing mahjong outside our cabin, with the coast line just opposite the road ?)
- Townsville Woolies grocery shopping (Homecooked creamy carbonara + choc mud cake + ribena)

Day 5: Nov 25

- Complementary breakfast in cabin (unforgettable Charming Chef's scramble eggs)
- Magnetic Island (i love this island and am planning to find such a place to retire in future. This was where we jet-skied at Horseshoe bay, rode around the island in Moke, took turns to test-drive the 12-seaters bus and saw the cutest Rock wallabies. I think Jet-skiing is really thrilling and I will definitely want to do it again!)
- Dinner at Chinese Teahouse Restaurant on the way to our final destination, Cairns YHA

Day 6: Nov 26 (We reached Cairns!)

- Thunderbolt and snorkelling at Outer Reef - Great Barrier Reef: Thetford Reef & Moore Reef (honestly, i felt quite afraid to jump off the thunderbolt into the open waters. The vast horizon, plus the upclose encounter with unfamiliar marine life and different corals, was really intimidating for first timers like me. Still, it is one of the highlights of this road trip and Im glad we all did it.)
- Equipment renting at Fitzroy Island (where we picked up dead corals remnants that littered the shore)
- Sumo King Japanese dinner at Orchid Plaza (two thumbs up for the unagi, the pork belly, and the salad!)

Day 7: Nov 27

- Shopping around Cairns Central (Endless summer juice was great! As for souvenirs, it is more or less the same sorta things they sell in every souvenir shops in brisbane. One very obvious thing to us is that Cairns have a lot of japanese residents or tourists.)
- A visit to Royal Flying Doctors visitor centre (Noble organisation whereby flying doctors provide people living in remote areas with primary health care and also emergency services. I truly admire their passion.)
- High-tea at Biscotti, a very cool concept cafe that sells girlies' stuff apart from the gourmet cafe food.
- Dinner at Mexcian Restaurant

Day 8: Nov 28

- White water rafting at Tully River (We had to start off the day at 6am, and ended around 6pm because there was like an hour or so bus journey to the rainforest site. This was the most taxing activity we did. I fell out of the raft a couple of times and even hit my back on a rock. Ouch.. oh the damsel fly and Ulysses butterflies which have brilliant electric blue and black wings are surprisingly harmless looking and beautiful. Not forgetting to mention, our very charismatic instructors - Chris and Marty who created quite a stir among the girls, even when we were back in brissie. After all the sweat and bruises, we would all agree that it was a great finale to our road trip!)
- Beer O'clock (I couldn't join them because i broke out in rashes due to unknown reason. Luckily I had a 'doctor' with me who helped me apply steroid cream. If not, I might have died. LOL.... yar right.)
- Dinner at Korea restaurant Orchid Plaza.

Day 9: 29 Nov (End of Road Trip - say no to driving, say hi to flying.)

- Flight back to Brisbane on board Virgin Blue. (totally reluctant to leave and go back to the hard reality.... travelling is totally my kinda thing.)

Now the pictures!

Let me extend a big thank you to our dear main organisers - Shawn and Esther! This road trip is a great success partly because of your hardwork. (once in our lives, 9 days of our time) The other part, of course, lies in the fun company.. simply miss you guys!

posted by kai @ 6:09 PM

1 Comments:

At January 30, 2008 at 5:53 PM, [E]sAiNt said…

woooooooo.
seems fun!
and im impressed you can actually remember! tell me you're not relying on ur diary! LOL..

meet soon darling =)