Australia Report

We've been back from Australia for a little over a week now and I think we are adjusted and back in our routines. Taupo is thrilled to have us back and we are excited to be here with him, he can't stand to not be by my side all the time and he seems to be more cuddly with us both.


Here's a recap of our trip with lots of pictures


We started out at a B&B in Holloways Beach 10 minutes North of Cairns. This was a tiny little beach town but it was a nice relaxing way to start our trip. We took walks on the beach, had amazing breakfasts and even had a chance to grill some local seafood.







After a couple days at the beach we moved to the Hilton in "downtown" Cairns. We got a beautiful patio with a view of the marina.

We took this day of transition to take the Kuranda Scenic Railway and Skyrail. We got lots of different views of Barron Falls and had a chance to explore the local village of Kuranda.





While staying at the hilton we took two days and one night to go out on a live aboard dive trip. We saw turtles, a shark and lots of other fishies. We got a few good pictures.

We spent the rest of the time exploring Cairns and took our last day to rent a car and drive up to Port Douglas and go hiking in the rainforest. I'll save those pictures and the details of the rest of our trip for another post.


Here are a few more pictures from our time in Cairns:



One of the reefs we went diving at

The Esplanade at Sunset

Our boat trip out to the outer reef

Crafts Weekend

So a few weeks ago I bought this super cute fabric because I wanted to try to make these display plates to put above our kitchen cabinets. I had found this idea awhile back and emailed it to myself but I needed a little extra info and found it here (http://modpodgerocks.blogspot.com/2009/11/guest-blogger-fawnda-from-fireflies.html) (I skipped the monogram part)


Well I thought they turned out super cute and they were really easy so I got motivated to keep going with the extra fabric I had and this is what I came up with.


Here is what I had before I added the letters. I took wooden shapes from Michael's and I glued and stretched the fabric over them and stapled the excess fabric to the back to ensure clean lines. Next we bought a piece of pine at home depot and using wood screws I screwed the fabric covered pieces to the wood from the back. Lastly I spray painted the letters and then glued them with tacky glue.

I'm planning to put this above the cabinets adjacent to the plates but need to wait for them to dry first. I'm also hoping to make a table centerpiece and runner using the same fabric to tie it all together.

This was such a fun project and I think it turned out great. Now for cleaning which I have neglected for this :(

Anniversary Trip to Lake Tahoe

Like I mentioned in my last post we planned a trip to Lake Tahoe for our anniversary many months ago. I'm not sure either one of us really thought about what the weather would be like we just figured it was some place we would like to visit and we liked that the scenery was similar to New Zealand. Well turns out it can still snow in Tahoe at the end of May. We stayed in South Tahoe walking distance to Heavenley Gondola at this great green hotel. I highly suggest this place if you're ever headed that direction, we got the room for less than $100/night on Expedia and we were walking distance to everything. http://www.968parkhotel.com/


The first day we layed pretty low, we took a walk down the the beach, explored town and got groceries for our room. Then we headed to happy hour because it was snowing like crazy. We finished off the evening with some dinner and gambling at Harrah's.

The next day it was still pretty cool and a lot of activities hadn't officially opened for the season so we decided to drive around the lake and see what we could find. We found some beautiful scenery.

The next morning Tim somehow convinced me to go on a helicopter ride despite my car sickness the day before on the very scary mountain passes. I survived and actually enjoyed myself then we took the gondola up the mountain and tested out the snow tubing.






This is the road that made me carsick :( No wonder its a road at the top of the mountain between two lakes with no guard rails and sheer cliffs on each side.


Lastly, we squeezed in a day trip on bikes and a few hikes throughout the trip.




All in all a wonderful trip, a great place to visit!!! (Sorry about the flipped pictures I don't have the time or energy to fix them)