Invasion of the Grampies...

Invasion is perhaps not the right word to use for people who are warmly invited, eagerly anticipated, and much treasured guests but the title seemed the best to grab attention and give a sense of what this blog is about. Gwen and Vince, Mez's folks arrived in Cairns a couple of weeks ago amid a five day streak of constant rain. Was something of a shame to welcome them with such weather, especially given that most of the grass around these parts has all but died from a lack of such heavenly moisture. But seeing as they've lived in the tropics before and were staying for a couple of weeks there was no particular concern that they wouldn't see the sun, nor that they would have expected anything less of the tropics than a whole load of rain, as well as sun. I asked Gwen what the two of them would like to do while here, and got a reply along the lines of spending time with us... which is well and good, but for the fact that we're notoriously restless and can't sit still in one place for longer than a few minutes. The same question posed to Vince, revealed something we share in common - a love for natural beauty, and since there's no shortage of such natural beauty in and around Cairns we elected to head for some waterfalls on Friday, given the few days of deluge. Babinda boulders was the first stop followed by Josephine falls and the Golden hole before heading back home for a BBQ at Mikaela and John's place with John's folks who had come down from Cooktown to say G'day. I'll go for the better photo's of people given that we've recently posted photos of all such places... Saturday we headed North along a simply stunning stretch of road that winds from here to Port Douglas, including a 16km section that is world heritage listed. We stopped only briefly in Port Douglas, for lunch (which means we'll have to go back another day to explore further) before heading on to the Mossman Gorge national park for a wander, and (for me, at least) a swim. Great spot to visit (and swim) and we were lucky enough to see a wee snake too which was exciting - always cool to see such animals in the wild. Especially when you're on a boardwalk above it and well out of its reach! Sunday was (as God suggested a wee while ago) a day of rest, interspersed only with a touch of painting Abbey's stunning new shelves, and prior to the dunking (Baptism) of (little) John Shay. Great wee service and HEAPS of Pizza ordered in afterwards for dinner, great to catch a few of Mikaela and John's mates too that we'd not seen since living with them! We did attempt a few cutesy photos of Abbey and John which Abbey thwarted by being a little rough in her play. Poor John is having a bit of a rough time with his inquisitive older cousin poking and prodding and playing with him in the way she does. Though she's starting to get the idea of 'gentle.' Slowly. As an aside, this week Abbey has mastered blowing raspberries. Now when we suggest she give baby a morning kiss she bends down and kisses Mez's tummy and then blows him/her a few raspberries before coming up for air and to give us her trademark cheeky grin! Classic stuff!!! Monday we headed for a drive out to Kuranda, while Gwen and Vince took the trip up on the train. Had a beaut day too wandering around the markets, eating hippie food and scones, and visiting the butterfly sanctuary to gain much needed photo's of Birdwings and Ulysses butterflies. Unfortunately the Ulysses shots are staged ones of a butterfly that was slowly dying having been bitten by a spider. Usually they don't land with wings open as they'd be exceedingly easy for any predator to spot! Interestingly enough too we learned that a butterfly's life expectancy is governed by its laziness. The lazier the butterfly, the longer it lives (some up to a year), the more vigorous its flying and wing beating activity, the shorter the lifespan. In the case of the frenetic Ulysses, just a week to twelve days. However this gigantic moth (aptly named the Hercules moth) lives only for three days - after munching away quite happily and growing nice and fat - the caterpillar pictured is of the same moth and was easily a fat sausage size. Not sure it would taste so good though... The moth had a wingspan of up to 27cm though this one was probably only around 20cm! Would give you one hell of a fright buzzing you in the night though! Perhaps it's a good thing they're only around for a few days -much more interested in reproducing than your deck light!!! Also interesting were these specimens in the museum - the butterfly designed as a cat face, the two penguins back to back, and the cobra's on the edges of the moth wings... Nature plays some pretty cool games. I guess it's true of humans too that things are not always as they seem on the surface! The rest of the week Gwen and Vince stayed with Mikaela and John so I have little knowledge of what the craic was - I know they managed a trip to Mareeba for the Coffee works and were impressed, and Mez joined them for a Jaunt up the Gillies to Yungaburra and a Bio-dynamic farm they were interested in seeing. I think there was more cheese to be tasted and eaten (which Abbey clearly enjoyed), rather than things to be learned (which they were less impressed with) - but enjoyed the drive and chill time with kiddies and grandkiddies nonetheless. Saturday we had a lazy BBQ lunch followed by swimming in the pool, then watching the parade in town followed by fireworks for the festival Cairns finale. (Festival Cairns has been on in town while G&V have been here). Sunday was another relaxed affair, mass over at our church followed by more chilling on the deck at our place and swimming in the pool, then a lovely family dinner at Mikaela and John's before saying goodbye to Gwen and Vince. We loved having them here, and, while we're sad to see them go - they've given us much food for thought as we wind our way to a decision over whether to settle in Australia or attempt to relocate ourselves back across the ditch and home again. Needless to say there's a few hundred more snaps added to our hard drive and a back catalogue of precious memories stored somewhere up there in the grey matter of all concerned. Holidays are good like that.