The weather since I landed in Cairns has been nothing but perfect. There is a water-hole just down the road from Dave and Elissa's place, we spent the afternoon there on my first day (and a few days since then, actually) and I took a bunch of pics making use of the lovely afternoon light. We also spent a beautiful day at the reef on a friends boat, Calypso. They don't call it the *Great* Barrier Reef for nothing, ya know. So many fish, so much brightly coloured coral. We had a ball.

I've been reminded that Far North Queensland is a seriously beautiful part of the world - not drought affected in any way, it's lush and green, with animals and birds everywhere. On the road from the airport to Mossman we passed by a field full of grazing wallabies. There are birds everywhere - eagles, parrots, ground birds, kookaburras and kingfishers... Other animals like snakes, geckos & lizards, frogs. And wow! The stars. A whole sky of them - one of the things I was most looking forward to. There is such great quality of life here. Everyone is laid back, chatty and has a sense of humour. So refreshing. I love being back here.

The days have passed by in a blur. Tonight we're off to a private mini-rodeo party and the kids get to ride poddy calves and there'll be cowboys everywhere. When asked if I could come along with my family, the party host replied, hell yeah, we might even find 'er a cowboy to ride home! Ha ha. And yes, of course I'm taking my camera.

On Sunday Elissa (my sister-in-law and a veritable amazon warrior-mum), the 3 kids and I are starting off a road trip down to Brisbane. Can't wait to be on the open road again. So many more stories to tell, so little time to sit at a computer are write them all down. I'm enjoying being away from my computer desk too much. I'll post again from Brisbane. またね。

M xo