Kuranda

I had to drive pass the Skyrail many times on my previous stay in Cairns.  I was curious but didn't have enough time back then to take the ride.  So when I asked Spu what he wanted to do for our second day of adventure, he asked 'What's there to do in the Daintree forest?'  I said, 'It's a rainforest - not much.  It probably looks like any other rainforest in the area.'  So with that, we decided to go to kill two birds and check out the 'Skyrail Rainforest Cableway'.

We booked a tour which started with a ride up via the Skyrail cable car to the town of Kuranda.  We were given free time to explore the town and then a ride down back to Cairns aboard the Kuranda Scenic Railroad.

I will say one thing - This was frickin expensive.  A one way ticket on the Skyrail was $44!  What the hell, it's only 7.5km of cable and if you opt not to get off at the two stops and instead head directly to Kuranda, this ride would take about 30 minutes tops.  It definitely wasn't on the same level of value of when Moo and I each paid €41 (approx AU$51) to spend an entire day at Parc Asterix.  You could see why it wasn't teeming with tourists.   Is the money going towards conservation?  It better be.  Either that or it's paying off the debt incurred by it's construction.  

Spu in the cable car.  Me in the cable car.  Nice lush views.  

First stop - Red Peak.

Spuey enjoying the boardwalk path.  It felt just like the Daintree!

Treehugger.

Next stop - Barron Falls. 

The gorge/falls was not at it's peak today and the waterfall was more like a water trickle.  From the photos I've seen it looks pretty spectacular when in full force though.  Here at this stop was also a 'state of the art' interpretive centre, where the touch screen computers didn't really work and it more or less felt like a bad kiddie museum.  

Making our way to Kuranda, I crossed the Barron River.  So did Spu. 

Next stop - Kuranda.

Walking up the tree covered path to Kuranda - very nice!  Cooling too.  Spu never realised that trees could be so shady.  A dead amphibian.  Only in the tropics. 

The small community of Kuranda is fairly dependent on tourism with their markets selling plenty of souvenirs and knick knacks.  Good for people into that stuff.  Me and Spu?  Not so much.

Here's a store which has found it's niche between the kangaroo fur and hand made soap stalls - wine... derived from mangoes!  

Spu and I tasted everything Golden Drop had to offer.  All the alcohol was chilled so it all went down a  refreshing treat.  The mango-ey smell was a pleasant bonus on the nose.  I liked the cello least but I could have easily bought their entire range.  The main thing stopping me from doing so is that we didn't want to carry it and secondly ...maybe I should cut back on my alcohol??  So I just settled on a single bottle of the medium dry wine.  

Me and the miner. 

Spu and I decided to overload on tropical rainforests and followed Jum Rum Creek - Jungle - River walk nearby.

Creek pit stop. 

The walk brought us all the way back to Kuranda's train station where waited to board the next Kuranda Scenic Train down back to Cairns.  

All aboard the Hogwar...err. Kuranda Express!

Now at Barron Falls from the opposite side. 

The train curves around the mountain. 

I couldn't get a photo like this from the train, but this was the highlight of the ride.  

The train in total took three hours to get back to Cairns.  Not to undermine the significance of the train's history (it was built to shuttle miners up and down to Cairns) but after about an hour, the train ride got pretty damn boring.  Worse for Spuey, he sat on a seat which didn't get the window breeze (the train carriages weren't air-conditioned) and only realised so when we were about 15 minutes from Cairns!  He'd been sitting and sweating the whole time.  

We pulled into Cairns train station and after having a quick rest, we stuck to our promise of returning to Gunbaranba.

Spu had the cheesy ramen.  Yes it sounded a bit weird but that was part of it's appeal!  The flavours weren't conventional but it still worked!  I had one of the cold soup ramen.  Yum yum! 

Just to be extra greedy, we ordered a side of tuna salad and sushi rice.  They were just ok. 

That's it for the touristy stuff in Cairns.  Spu heads home tomorrow and I return to the work grind.  I'll kinda be glad to leave in a few days - it's nice to wake up in the morning without sweating! 

Snorkelling with Spu

When in Cairns, one must go to the Great Barrier Reef.  I had a most fun time swimming with the fishies last time, I really wanted to go again but not as a Nigel this time.  Cue the Spu.  

Spu was a bit worried that he wasn't a strong enough swimmer for snorkelling.  I said, 'I reckon I'm a worse Asian swimmer than you and if I could snorkel last time, you can do it too.'  We contemplated diving but the health restrictions recommended not flying within 24 hours.  Best not to risk it but anyway, it was much more expensive.

We examined a bunch of brochures and settled on the Moore Reef Cruise from Sunlover.  I had thought my previous tour had a big boat but this Sunlover boat was about double the size.  

Our boat.  Ok, it's a catarmaran. 

Spu sitting next to Mr. Green Sea Turtle.  

First pit stop.  Fitzroy Island!  This seemed more to be where locals got off with their BBQ and cricket bats.  

A good 30-40% of passengers got off the boat at Fitzroy Island, leaving Spu and I with a LOT of rowdy Mainlanders.  Of course we were mistaken for them too.  

Once we reached the Sunlover purpose built pontoon, we all jumped off ready for our chosen activities.  Spu and I decided to snorkel first.  

Spu and I channeling our inner ninja.  Stinger season peeps!  I don't need a stinger bite.  

The view from the pontoon.  Water so clear.  Fish so bright and pretty.  

These pics were taken by a disposable waterproof camera and the grainy appearance is genuine, not Instagram filtered.  

Fishies so close to me!!!  Spu and I each tried to touch them but they were too quick.  

We also saw a Green Sea Turtle :D  I couldn't get a photo but I'm so happy to have seen one especially as I was quite disappointed at missing out last time.  I can die happy.  Content with our snorkel adventure, Spu and I decided to hit the buffet lunch and of course missed out on the fresh prawns because they'd been attacked by the Mainlanders.  Grrrrrrr.  

Next actvity - the semi submersible tour.  It's almost a submarine.  

Spu decided that it was too hot for a shirt.  Mainlander demonstrating a Camera Stance. 

Next activity - Glass bottom boat.  It's so dangerously close, it's a wonder they don't hit any of the coral.

My view through the glass bottom. 

Better idea of the view through the glass bottom.  My favourite coral is there too!  The spaghetti looking coral.  I like how it wafts in the water.  

Next activity - petting zoo.  Ok, it's not a zoo, it was a touch tank.

Spu not enjoying the big black sea cucumber.  Me enjoying it too much.  It was slimy and squishy and we were discouraged from squeezing it.  It would spurt water otherwise. 

Another sea cucumber I think.  It looked like a loaf of bread in the water, but when removed became deflated and bit sad :(  Me so happy to have a baby starfish in my hands.  It was alive! 

Next activity - presentation on the Great Barrier Reef.  Held on the pontoons underwater theatre.  This was very pretty and an excellent way of seeing up close the fish you didn't get to meet while snorkelling.  I could sit here for hours just staring at them..... or I could stare at a screensaver.  Nah, real fish are better.

Look at the parrot fish!  It has human buck teeth!  

I was pretty satisfied that Spu and I did EVERYTHING available on the pontoon bar the extra optional activities.  So with our fours hours up on the reef, we boarded the catamaran and headed back to Cairns.

Now for dinner.  I had eyed a ramen bar near my work and even though it's never soupy weather in Cairns, nothing was stopping Spu and I from scarfing up some tonkotsu goodness.  Hearing Japanese spoken within the restaurant is always encouraging and we were seated promptly.  Spu and I had popped in at a good time because shortly afterwards, a queue formed.  Also, when a ramen bar gives you the option of stipulating how 'hard/chewy' you want your noodles to be.....well that's a good thing.

I ordered the Tonkotsu I think whereas Spu, feeling the heat ordered a cold soup ramen.  He was a bit apprehensive but happy with his very tasty and refreshing choice.  We also ordered a serve of the homemade gyoza.

The reviews for this place are generally positive and while it's probably not the best bowl I've had (soup was tasty but some more topping wouldn't have hurt) I was pretty happy overall and Spu (being the less fussy eater) was super happy.  We shall return!  

Spu's here!

Spu arrived last night with an hour delay *groan* but that didn't really matter because I was only staying a 10 minute drive from the airport.  

Anyway today I worked while Spu spent the day exploring Cairns CBD.  He bought a new mobile phone, checked out Rusty's Markets, took a dip in the lagoon and then lounged poolside reading Harry Potter.  Aaah what a life.  

Then we went for dinner and took advantage of the several Japanese run joints in Cairns by eating at Sushi Train.  I'm still annoyed that no Japanese person has taken this franchise to Melbourne.  It's probably not the best but the quality is decent and consistent.  

Some of our dishes.

Fried salmon skin.  Mmmmm omega three goodness.  The Volcano roll.  It looks like an erupting volcano!  The roll itself was not as spectacular as the appearance.  Karaage chicken (yes fried chicken) and takoyaki balls.  Yum! 

Yah I must make the most of having an eating buddy while in Cairns.  

Mooey's In Town...

.... and that means FOOD!!!!!

Yes that is a whole roast duck.  Don't worry, Smee was there to help us out. 

Detour to DC

Having done most of the touristy stuff in NYC on our previous trip, Smee and I decided to do a whirlwind tour of DC.  I've actually been to DC before, having visited relos there about 10 years ago but you know, Smee needs to see the White House too!  We hit the road and made a pitstop for lunch.  Our meal choices were limited to bad pasta, Subway, Popeyes, Burger King and the like. 

We settled on some Popeye's chicken which satisfied Smee's cravings.  He soon regretted that choice.  I bought the Coke jug only because we would probably never see a jug that size ever again.  After eating our fried chicken, I figured we had already gone too far down a path of artery clogging and bought myself a half-pound Steakhouse XT burger.  Smee begged me to not buy it, but I insisted on trying to kill myself slowly. 

Continuing on with the drive, one of things we did enjoy in the Giant Car was the digital radio system. 

 All the touch-screen goodness made it very easy to scroll through the stations.  There was even an 80s music station! *thumbs up*

Another pitstop later, much to Smee's disapproval I picked up an Oreo Brownie.  I told Smee that I was just looking at the brownie, but it somehow ended up at the cashier desk.  Then I somehow exchanged cash for the brownie. 

Generally I like brownies and I was hoping that this brownie would give me happy vibes but all I felt was... sad-dy vibes.  I was sad because I realised that if I lived in the US, I would descend into Heifer-dom in no time.  Also, despite liking Oreo cookies the brownie itself was not that great.  I'm not sure if it was intentional or if it was part of the settling process but the sugar crystals were visible on my brownie.  I might as well have poured some sugar into a bowl, mixed it with oil and ate it all with a spoon. 

We finally reached DC about an hour later than intended due to the horrendous traffic jams.  We met up with my Cousin T and I got to meet his little ones and play with the latest addition to his family.

Oh hewo, Baby D, you are so cute! 

Tomorrow, the sights of DC! 

Butchers Grill and Arj Barker

Last night Spuey and I hung out.  We had booked tickets to see Flight of the Conchord's Dave (aka Arj Barker) strut his stuff on stage and appropriately thought that we should eat before the show.  We were both pretty geared up to try out Mrs. Parma's but when we strolled inside at 7pm, we both a bit surprised to see it was very pub-by and worse yet, people had reserved tables!  Obviously these parmas must be mighty good if people go to such effort. 

Disappointed, we still wanted a parma fix and searched for a nearby alternative.  We seemed to find salvation in Butcher's Grill who offered a mediterranean-style parma on their menu. 

The restaurant had a pretty nice ambience with it's chandeliers and rustic cigar lounge kinda feel (not that I have been inside a cigar lounge before, but I figure it might be something like this.)  It was a balmy night and the waiter seated us by the open window. 

Waiters often feel obligated to make small talk and ours was no different.  His first question to us was "Is this a special occasion guys?" which made a most inappropriate inference.  Eeeeeerrr... how about a big fat NO, this is most definitely NOT a special occasion because Spuey and I are of the same spawn, you nitwit!! 

After debating whether to order two parmas or just one parma and another dish, we decided that it would be better to try and sample more of the menu and opted for the venison ragout. 

Spuey happy to not be in Geerong and happy to be eating. 

Our fruity drinkies.  Me enjoying my fruity drinkie. 

My parma with proscuitto - nums.  Spuey's ragout and our steak potato chips. 

The food was nice enough and I would consider going there again BUT only on the proviso that their service levels get a major overhaul.   While there was nothing specific to complain about, overall it was just too damn slow.  We were seated and ordered by 8.05pm and given that Arj didn't start until 9.30pm, we figured we'd be in and out by 9pm tops.  There was no excuse for the snail pace either - the restaurant was only half full!  We were served our mains close to 8.45pm and even after that, they'd forgotten our side order of chips! 

Lucky that Spuey and I are pretty fast walkers.  We managed to squeeze in a pre-show pee pee (if only just) and were seated in time for Arj to walk on stage.  I'm not going to delve into the show, but Arj was funny as expected and if you like humour based on 'Balls', you would find it funny too. 

Our night ended with the collection of a drunk Mooey from a house party.

Mooey Submission Pic-a-nic

Mooey had her post submission pic-a-nic today and needless to say, after 6 hours of solid alcohol consumption (in the classy form of Langmeil red wine and Pimms of course!), Mooey and I were hammered.  I shouldn't also forget that our sipping of the juice was accompanied by nummy cheeses, pates, antipasto and dips.

Hooray for food and drinkies!  Hooray for Moo! 

Hutong Dumpling and Ron Mueck

Mooey was pretty quick on the blogging action and has already told her version of today's events heavily focussing on our runchies at Hutong Dumpling.  I will focus a little bit more so on Ron Mueck's exhibition.... in a moment.

Hutong was another restaurant on my 'to eat' list so I was pretty happy to tick it off today. 

Yes, Spuey and I thinking hard about what to order for runch. Hmmmmm *thinking face*

Apart from the standard vegies on the side (kai lan with oyster sauce in case you're wondering), we settled on the boiled pork dumplings, chilli wontons (num num!), zhajiang mian (yes, Chinese spag bol) and of course the signature dish - xiao long bao.

My review?  All the dumplings are definitely worth returning for.  Num, num, nums!  The zhajiang mian however was very disappointing - mainly because I was craving it.  The noodles were not handmade (boo!) and the meat was bland in comparison to others I've had.  But then again, it's not their specialty - it just means I won't order it again.

I'd read some not so nice reviews about Hutong, mainly criticising their service.  A Chinese restaurant with good service?  C'mon people, we all know that's a contradiction.  I've come to expect shite service from Chinese restaurants but today was fine; nothing to complain about at all!  It probably did help that we were eating before the lunch time rush.

My pretty, pretty dumpling (whose skin remained intact) bathing in the vinegar.

All up, lunch was $60 for the four of us.  Something is wrong with my head as I must still be living in 1999 with my povo uni student mindset because I thought that was expensive.  Moo came to the rescue to again and brought me forward to 2010 reality - $15 a head (£9) is expensive by Dirty Dumplings standards but still is cheap, especially by UK standards.  Yay for food! 

After a quick fish ice cream stop, we made our to the NGV for Ron Mueck's art display.  Smee and I had been wanting to see Mueck's stuff for some time now but hadn't managed to do so whilst in London.  When Mooey said there was a temporary exhibit at the NGV I said, "Wait for meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!"  Then Spuey said, "I wanna come tooooooo!!"  So here we are... at the exhibit.... making the most of the awesome photo opportunities.  No flash photography was allowed :( but at least photography WAS allowed! 

Mooey and the Giant Baby. 

Moo and Spu with the Wild Man and the Grim Women.  And now with the two old ladies. 

Hanging with the woman holding sticks.  Spuey and I with the woman in bed.  

Spuey and Mooey check out if Spuey got wounded.  Hmmmm, yes a man on an inflatable pool mattress.

Oh look!  It's a man on a boat.  We all check out what the man is looking out for.  

Moo grows a big head.

Hanging out with the chicken.  The exhibit hall was rather like a library and only low whispers and murmuring was heard.  Spuey almost had to leave the room to stifle his laughter.  Muwahahaha...

Wow, these sculptures were amazing.  Apart from the obvious difference in scale, they all looked so, so real that you were pretty much waiting for one of them to get up and start walking around.  (Cue the screaming the exhibition visitors...... although I'd like to make friends with one of them.)  Each hair follicle was visible and like human hair, it wasn't just all the same colour.... the big face had some white stubble mixed in with the brown stubble!!  The Wild Man had bum fluff!  The little old lady had saggy pantyhose!  The woman with sticks had a mass of pubes! 

We tried to check out the rest of the gallery but given that all three of us have been to European galleries and museums, unfortunately we weren't terribly impressed.  We were ready for something sweet and shuffled our way down to Roule Galette and had a crepe each.  I had mine with the works.  Strawberries, bananas, almond flakes, chocolate and ice cream.

Ok, I couldn't finish it.  I might ease up next time on my order.

So yeah, anyway... Ron Mueck - go see him!  If you can't appreciate any art, you'll at least be fascinated by his work. 

Hampton Court Palace

Ever since I did a bit of research for the Tower of London, I put Hampton Court Palace on my list as one of those places I needed to visit before leaving this place. Why? It's a fairly unknown tourist attraction when compared to Big Ben, The Eye and all the other London-y stuff. However, this palace is the former residence of Henry VIII and having been brought up in one of the youngest countries, it still bewilders me that "Wow! I'm in a really old palace! Wow! I'm where that big, fat, orange-bearded English King with the 6 wives once lived!" Relatively speaking, 500 years is not all that long ago but yeah, I'm fascinated by old stuff in general. Geek.

We managed to suck Kt into coming with us. Well I guess it was more like she didn't have anything else to do today and decided to give 'culture' a go. Lunch was planned for Borough, which may have swayed her too.

Moo being a cannibal.

The best summery conditions were turned on for us and after a short-ish train ride to the outskirts of London we reached our destination. We were all a bit surprised at how quaint and picturesque the whole Hampton Court area was. Where was the smog? Where were the crowds? Where were the knife stabbing gangs? A walk over a stone bridge brought us to the path of the palace. It's not terribly statuesque or pretty but it has the red-brick charm.

Must...do.... audio tour.... touristy stuff......

The fake pies in the kitchen. The fake pot full of fake pie filling.

The palace gardens are free to public entry and were so well manicured, just the perfect place for a picnic or a book reading session. If they had wifi, I could sit here and blog too.

The gardens are meant to have some similarity to those in Versailles. We'll see when I go next week! Look! Triangle trees!

My tulip patch.

Oh that's right. One of the drawing cards to Hampton Court Palace was the garden maze. Don't go out of your way for it. I wanted to go cos it was a childhood fantasy.

Moo and Kt making their way through. Moo attempting to get to the centre more quickly.

We're at the centre! Moo and I doing impersonations of each other.

An ice cream cart was conveniently located outside the palace grounds on the way to the station. You betcha we stopped for ice cream treats.

Frozen Ribena. Really, I could just make that at home. But if it's in a tube, alright, I'll give you some cash.

Kt couldn't even stop for one last pose with the Thames without Frozen Ribena.

It's definitely not an essential on the London To-Do list but if you don't mind the travel, want to see a different side of London or just feel like being 'English', pop down to Hampton Court Palace. I wish I had a dog; I would walk it here!