Day 12 in Cairns - visiting with our host families

Today was a day that our delegation wasn't together. We spent them with our families - most of which took us out sightseeing. I can only write here about my family - the Parsell's.

Ray, Narelle, and Maddison...Maddison is 11 years old and a dancer. Actually, all the host families have a connection with the dance studio that Maddison attends. Today, after a wonderful breakfast made by Narelle - and great coffee - eaten on the back patio (great weather...and remember it's WINTER!), we took off for Port Douglas.
This is Maddie with TJ and Lucy.
Port Douglas is about 45 minutes north of Cairns. The road there reminded me of parts of Hwy 101 along the Pacific. It was similiar, but with the addition of Palm trees - plus the ocean was on the opposite side! (Cairns is on Australia's east coast).




Port Douglas has turned into a large resort area. There are still locals there, of course, but lots of resorts are there too. We walked around and had a beautiful (that's right, the presentation was BEAUTIFUL) lunch at a restaurant called Salsa. Narelle was kidding around with me when she asked me if I was going to take a photo of the food - I didn't, but now I wish I had of. After lunch we shopped in all the little boutiques and stores. Great place! Narelle is definitely a Shopper with a capital S. She turned me on to an artist - Peter Lik. I liked his work so much I bought 4 of his books. There was a little Catholic Church along the waterfront called St. Mary's by the Sea. It was so sweet. Inside, behind the altar, was a huge window area - minus the window. Instead, it was just open and you looked out at the ocean. A wedding was going to take place that day. I would have loved to have seen it.

Once we left Port Douglas, we stopped in Pine Cove for a cappucino...again, in a little restaurant along the waterfront. Again, we walked around the little town...both of these places were postcard pretty!

Leaving Pine Cove, we stopped at Pebbly Beach. Now there is some Aboriginal lore attached to this beach. It IS a pebbly beach...all pebbles...and they BOUNCE when you throw them. We tried it! They say if you take a pebble from the beach, it will bring you bad luck. Narelle told me many people have MAILED BACK PEBBLES they took because of bad luck happening once they went home! I was tempted...but I did NOT take a pebble! It was beautiful!


Another interesting thing Narelle told me...is that a LOT of people there have swimming pools because in the summer when you want to swim in the ocean - there are 'stingers'...aka jellyfish that STING BAD! In the winter when the water is cooler, you can swim, but no one wants to because they think it's too cold! At one point Narelle said to me - Look at everyone with a jumper (sweater) on, they're locals! Tourists were in short sleeve shirts...it was in the mid 70's!
Nice winter weather to me!

Back at the Parsell's, Narelle and I sat out on the back patio and had cheese, crackers, and something to drink before dinner. It was so relaxing, so enjoyable...and I have told my friends - if Narelle lived here, we'd be great friends.What a wonderful day 'Day 12' was!