Australia Recap Part II

As promised here are more pictures from the rest of our trip.

The last day in Cairns we rented a car and drove an hour North to Port Douglas to check out the rainforest. We stopped in town which turned out to be a super cute little town and made me wish we had a little more time before we had to return the rental car but we were able to do some quick window shopping while I sipped my morning latte. Then we headed off the rainforest trailhead and covered ourselves in nasty bug repellent. We hiked for a couple hours taking our time to enjoy all the neat vegetation and keep a look out for creatures.







We also stopped at the Four Mile Beach and took a nice walk and enjoyed the views


The next day we took the "scenic" train to Brisbane which didn't turn out to be very scenic (oh well, live and learn). Brisbane is just another big city but we managed to stay busy exploring. We spent our first day riding around on the CityCat which is a river ferry that takes you along the Brisbane River to different parts of the city. We had some nice meals down on the river and took in the views.


I'll save the rest for one last post which happens to include some of my favorite days from the trip. Wait and see :)

I Work So I Can............PLAY!!!

Maybe not the best attitude to have but these days this is how I feel. Don't get me wrong I love my coworkers they are great people and so much fun and I love my job when I'm busy but I am having a slow time right now and the days are dragging for me. It should pick up soon but until then I come to work everyday looking forward to all the extracurricular activities in my life. I'm still riding high from our Australia trip and looking forward to planning our next adventure.

This week is a very busy one full of extracurriculars. Last night a bunch of our girlfriends got together and went to Pinot's Palette here in Houston. You pick a night you want to go based on the painting you want to paint and then you bring your own wine and snacks. They give you a blank canvas and help you through creating your own masterpiece. I thought it was so fun how we were all painting the same thing but everyone's turned out different. Here are some pictures from the night.

Elsbeth & Laurel's Works in Progress

Our setup

Finishing Touches


The Finished Products


Aly's and mine look the most similar and we weren't even sitting next to each other, it must be a sister thing ;)

Tonight: Book Club for "The Girl Who Played with Fire"

Thursday: Tim's groomsmen/college roommates/childhood friends Rob and Ryan come to visit for the weekend, always lots of laughs with this group of boys.

Until next time..........Kim

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